The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

Chapter 23: Chapter 23: Mind-Bending Analysis

In an instant, everyone’s gaze focused on Jiang An.

Yang Guang was taken aback and was just about to say something.

He saw Li Jian and Wu You with very solemn expressions, and the words that had reached his lips were swallowed back.

At this moment, everyone was waiting for Jiang An’s analysis.

After the investigation of the previous Li Rui death case, many people in the criminal investigation team had built a basic trust in Jiang An.

At the very least.

This young man who had just joined the team did have a lot of knowledge.

After organizing his thoughts a bit, Jiang An said, ”I believe this female victim was murdered for the following three reasons.”

”However, the following content is just my own analysis and may not be correct.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Jian said, ”Jiang An, feel free to speak boldly.”

”Although there hasn’t been much work done yet, like the autopsy, preliminary scene investigation, and interviews.”

”Still, this doesn’t affect our criminal analysis.”

Finally, Li Jian said, ”I think detectives should have imagination.”

”Bold inference, careful verification, that’s my basic principle in criminal investigation work.”

Li Jian then looked at Jiang An and softly said, ”Go ahead!”

With Mr. Li as a strong support, Jiang An felt much more confident.

He slowed his speech deliberately, making his words sound deeper.

”First, the items around the victim are very ’new’, as if everything was prepared for this occasion.”

The simple word ”new” piqued the interest of those around.

Some people instinctively glanced at the tent, their gazes wandering back and forth between Jiang An and the tent.

Then, Jiang An pointed at the tent and said, ”This canvas tent is very new, please look here.”

Zhang Yean cooperated seamlessly.

The flashlight in her hand swiftly shifted to illuminate the direction of Jiang An’s finger.

In the area where the light gathered, some stripe-like creases were visible.

Yang Guang looked over and asked, ”A tent would have creases after being used and packed away, right?”

Jiang An shook his head and said, ”Mr. Yang, this crease is very special.”

”Special?”

”Within the range of the light, all the creases are very regular, not messy.”

”If it had been used repeatedly, the creases would be very haphazard.”

”Accurately described, each time it’s folded, the angle is not uniform, leading to very messy creases.”

”However, the creases on this tent right now are very clear, not crossing each other.”

Li Jian listened and secretly marveled at Jiang An’s incredible observational skills.

After a long pause, Yang Guang came to his senses and said, ”It seems to be that way.”

Immediately, Jiang An picked up the flashlight from the evidence bag and said, ”This flashlight is very new.”

The strong light shone on the black flashlight casing, making it appear very clear.

”There’s a label torn off at the tail end of this flashlight.”

”If I’m not mistaken, this white label should have been a factory certification tag.”

”As for why this label was torn off, I’ll analyze that later.”

”For now, I just want to say this white label was torn off not long ago because there is no dust at the tear point, indicating it was newly torn.”

”Jiangcheng City is an industrial city, with coal mines and chemical plants, and lots of dust in the air. From the cleanliness of this flashlight, I deduce that it has been in this tent since the label was torn off.”

Meticulous!

So meticulous!

In addition to admiring Jiang An’s keen observation, Zhang Yean felt that Jiang An must be a meticulous man.

As everyone was nodding, Jiang An continued his analysis, saying, ”The padding under the body is new.”

”I carefully observed the cut surface of the padding earlier and saw no dust attached. Getting close, I could vaguely smell a faint plastic odor, like the kind when something is freshly unpacked.”

Then, Jiang An said, ”I don’t know if you noticed, but the snacks next to the victim–I checked all the packaging, none were opened, as if newly bought from a supermarket.”

”Overall, the common feature among the tent, flashlight, padding, and snacks is that they’re new, as if specially prepared.”

When Jiang An spoke, he emphasized the words ”specially prepared.”

Li Jian and Wu You exchanged glances, and both nodded where their eyes met.

At this moment, Zhang Yean’s eyes were full of admiration and appreciation for Jiang An.

Jiang An then continued, ”Second, the victim’s body exhibits strange characteristics.”

”Judging from the postmortem lividity and corneal clouding, the victim has been dead for more than 48 hours.”

”According to the formation of rigor mortis, it begins 2-3 hours after death, spreads to the whole body in 6-8 hours, peaks in 15-24 hours, and starts to alleviate after 24 hours.”

”Under normal circumstances, the body’s rigidity after 48 hours should have completely alleviated, meaning the muscles should be relaxed.”

Jiang An squatted down and pulled on the victim’s arm.

”However!”

”This victim’s body is very stiff, like meat frozen in a refrigerator.”

”Therefore, I believe there’s a big problem with the victim’s rigor mortis.”

At this moment, Yang Guang suddenly asked, ”Could it be the temperature, given the recent high temperatures?”

Jiang An said, ”High temperatures would actually speed up the onset of rigor mortis.”

”What do you mean?”

”I mean, in high temperatures, rigor mortis forms early and alleviates early as well.”

”Oh!”

Yang Guang scratched his head, embarrassed.

Standing beside, Wu You listened to Jiang An’s analysis, especially impressed with the rigor mortis analysis.

His analysis was more detailed than textbook records.

While everyone was puzzled about the contradiction, Jiang An solemnly said, ”I don’t think this stiffness of the body is rigor mortis.”

Suddenly!

Besides Wu You, everyone was more puzzled by this statement.

Stiffness of the body, not rigor mortis!

What does this mean?

Are you challenging our cognition?

Many faces were filled with question marks.

Jiang An explained, ”The rigor mortis we conventionally understand is a physiological phenomenon after human death.”

”After death, the body initially undergoes muscle relaxation, meaning the body softens.”

”Then, from soft, the body progresses to being rigid.”

”Just as commonly seen in life, if an elder in the family passes away, mourning clothes are worn immediately post-death because prolonged time results in the body being too stiff to dress.”

”There are profound forensic principles behind this.”

”But!”

”This victim didn’t undergo the softening process of the body nor experience stiffness.”

”Due to toxins within the victim’s body, her muscles spasmed and stiffened while she was still alive.”