The crackdown on organized crime began with the arrest of the mother-in-law.

Chapter 1394 Key Inspection

"Teacher Zhang, there are no obvious fatal wounds on the deceased's body. Could it be death by poisoning?" Xiao Lin asked doubtfully, looking at the intact body. Zhang Lin did not answer immediately, but continued to examine key areas such as the head, neck, chest, and abdomen: "No obvious external injury to the head, no hematoma under the scalp, no depressed skull fracture; no signs of mechanical asphyxiation such as ligature marks or strangulation marks on the neck; no puncture wounds or slash wounds on the chest and abdomen. But this does not rule out the possibility of endogenous injury or poisoning. We need to conduct an autopsy to determine this."

At 3:40 PM, the external examination concluded, and Zhang Lin began the autopsy. Holding a scalpel, he made an incision along the midline of the cadaver's chest and abdomen, from the suprasternal notch to the pubic symphysis, sequentially cutting through the skin, subcutaneous tissue, and muscles to expose the thoracic and abdominal cavities. "Xiao Lin, carefully observe the color of the subcutaneous tissue and muscles, for any bleeding or abnormal infiltration," Zhang Lin reminded him as he operated. "The subcutaneous tissue is pale red, with no abnormal bleeding, and the muscle color is normal, ruling out the possibility of blunt force trauma to the chest and abdomen before death."

After opening the chest cavity, Zhang Lin used rib shears to cut the ribs, exposing the internal organs. "Both lungs are of normal volume, dark red in color, and soft in texture. There is no foamy fluid overflowing from the cut surface, ruling out drowning. The heart is of normal size, with a small amount of fatty infiltration on the surface, and no obvious stenosis in the coronary arteries." He carefully removed the heart and placed it on a dissection tray. "The key is to examine the heart for any damage, as this is crucial in determining the cause of death." Zhang Lin used a scalpel to cut open the heart and carefully observed the interior of the heart chambers: "There is an irregular wound on the anterior wall of the left ventricle, approximately 2.8cm x 1cm in size, with irregular edges and crushed myocardial tissue. The wound cavity extends deep into the heart chamber and communicates with the left ventricle. There is a clear bleeding band around the wound, and the myocardial tissue is dark red, consistent with ante-mortem injury characteristics."

Xiao Lin exclaimed, "Teacher Zhang, this is a fatal wound! The wound looks like it was caused by a sharp object?" Zhang Lin nodded and picked up a photo of the folding knife retrieved during the scene investigation: "Look, the folding knife retrieved from the scene has a blade about 15 centimeters long, a single blade, and a sharp edge. The wound has one blunt and one sharp angle, with signs of tissue bruising at the wound edge, and the wound cavity is wedge-shaped, perfectly matching the injury characteristics caused by a single-edged sharp object. This is the fundamental cause of death—a single-edged sharp object causing a rupture of the left ventricle, leading to hemorrhagic shock." He continued to explain, "The core characteristic of death from hemorrhagic shock is a sharp reduction in effective circulating blood volume due to massive blood loss, resulting in insufficient perfusion of tissues and organs. We can further confirm this by examining the blood loss within the body. The deceased's liver, spleen, and other solid organs were pale, and there was a small amount of blood in the abdominal cavity, about 50 milliliters. Combining the size and depth of the heart wound, we estimate that the blood loss was over 2000 milliliters, far exceeding the 1500 milliliters that causes death in adults, which is completely consistent with the death mechanism of hemorrhagic shock."

"Then, could the discarded cardboard box with splattered blood found at the scene be from the blood that splattered there when the victim was stabbed?" Xiao Lin asked. Zhang Lin replied confidently, "Absolutely possible. When a sharp object stabs the heart, the heart's pumping action causes blood to gush out under high pressure, creating splattered blood. The irregular, dotted bloodstains on the cardboard box found at the scene match the characteristics of high-pressure splattered blood. It's likely that the victim's blood splattered onto the box when they were murdered, and the suspect then disposed of it along with the body at the landfill. This perfectly matches our determined cause of death."

After determining the cause of death, Zhang Lin began to refine the estimation of the time of death. "We previously estimated the time of death to be between 24 and 36 hours ago based on rigor mortis, livor mortis, and corneal opacity. Now, we're narrowing it down by considering the degree of digestion of the stomach contents." He cut open the deceased's stomach wall to observe the contents. "There were a small amount of undigested food residue in the stomach, mainly rice, vegetables, and meat. The food was relatively intact, without obvious mushy texture." Xiao Lin asked, puzzled, "Professor Zhang, how do you determine the degree of digestion?"

Zhang Lin patiently explained, "In forensic medicine, based on the degree of digestion and the clearance of stomach contents, the digestive process can be divided into four stages: Stage 1, food remains intact and undigested, corresponding to 1-2 hours after eating; Stage 2, food is partially digested and remains mostly intact, corresponding to 2-4 hours after eating; Stage 3, food is mostly digested and becomes chyme-like, corresponding to 4-6 hours after eating; Stage 4, stomach contents are emptied, leaving only a small amount of digestive juice, corresponding to more than 6 hours after eating. The deceased's stomach contained intact food without chyme-like clearance, placing it in the late stage of Stage 1. It is presumed that at the time of eating..." "The time between the discovery and the time of death is approximately two hours," he continued. "We can deduce this by considering the environment around the landfill and the scavengers' routines. The complainant, Mr. Li, said he saw a suspicious man driving a tricycle into the landfill three days ago. Based on our estimated time of death, the deceased was likely murdered the night before. Assuming the deceased last ate around 7 PM three days ago, the time of death would be around 9 PM three days ago, approximately 33 hours from when the body was discovered at 6 AM this morning, falling within our previously estimated 24-36 hour range."

“Besides these methods, we can also verify this by examining the degree of decomposition of the body,” Zhang Lin said. “The deceased’s body surface showed no obvious green putrefaction spots, only slight greening of the skin in hidden areas such as the groin and armpits. The production of putrefactive gases was minimal, consistent with the characteristics of decomposition 24-36 hours after death. At an ambient temperature of 10-20°C, putrefactive green spots typically begin to appear around 24 hours after death, gradually spreading from hidden areas to the entire body. The deceased currently only shows slight putrefactive green spots, further confirming our estimated time of death.” He added, “Furthermore, we also conducted preliminary tests on the soil and fiber residue extracted from the deceased’s fingernails during the on-site investigation. The soil composition is consistent with that of the landfill soil, and the fiber composition is different from the white synthetic fibers extracted from the site. This suggests that the deceased likely picked up the fibers while struggling in the landfill, which also does not contradict our estimated time of death.”

At 5:30 PM, the autopsy entered its final stage—biological sample extraction. Zhang Lin used sterile cotton swabs to extract oral mucosal cells, blood samples, hair samples, and residual samples from under the fingernails of the deceased, labeling them "Forensic Samples No. 1 to No. 4." "These samples must be immediately sent to the technical department for DNA comparison with bloodstains, hair, fibers, and other evidence collected at the scene to confirm whether the bloodstains collected at the scene belonged to the deceased. At the same time, a DNA profile of the deceased will be established to provide a basis for subsequent identity verification," Zhang Lin told Xiao Lin.