The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

”Even if it’s a stranger committing the crime, they wouldn’t usually choose such a remote yet not completely hidden location, would they?”

Jiang An shook his head slightly, responding calmly, ”You misunderstood my point.”

He raised the photos in his hand, pointing to the critical parts, and explained, ”Everyone, look closely. These are the original photos of the scene.”

”Although the surface of the body was covered with a thin layer of soil, the depth of the burial is extremely shallow, indicating a hasty attempt.”

”Typically, when we see burial behavior, the perpetrator deliberately digs a deep hole or uses a substantial amount of debris to cover, trying to eliminate traces as much as possible.”

”But the amount of soil on this body falls far short of what constitutes ’burial.’ Therefore, I believe the perpetrator did not complete a full burial process, and might not have even dug a hole.”

”However, if the burial behavior is incomplete, concluding that it’s a discarded body based solely on this might be a bit arbitrary, right?”

Mr. Qin questioned again, his tone still uncertain.

Hearing this, Jiang An gave a slight smile and explained steadily, ”This is precisely why I believe there is a need to find a second key piece of evidence.”

”Please, everyone, closely observe these branches around the scene — although we noticed their existence during the previous examination, through repeatedly comparing the high-resolution photos taken at the scene, I discovered there’s a spatial and hierarchical relationship worth investigating between these branches and the victim’s head and torso.”

He paused briefly, pointing out several detailed areas in the photos, ”Even though some branches have been displaced, or even scattered around the body, in certain local areas — especially the shoulders, neck, and the outer thighs — clear covering marks can still be distinguished. These marks are not incidental formations but rather seem to be artificially arranged and then partially moved by external forces.”

”Covering marks?”

Mr. Qin leaned forward, a trace of confusion in his tone, ”Are you suggesting that the perpetrator used branches to cover the body?”

”Exactly.”

Jiang An nodded in confirmation, tapping his finger lightly on a few critical spots in the photos, ”We can clearly see that in this area, a few thicker branches were obviously moved away from atop the body.”

”Although most of the branches have now scattered around, close observation still reveals the indentation formed at contact points between the branches and the body, and some small branches remain in a covering state.”

”This raises a critical question—”

He looked around at everyone present, his voice growing slightly heavier, ”Since there were originally branches covering, why are most of them scattered now?”

Upon hearing this question, a thoughtful smile appeared on Jiang An’s lips as he continued to explain, ”Considering the crime scene is located in the wild forest, various wild animals are active here.”

”When a human body begins to decompose, the scent it emits is no different from a food signal to nearby animals.”

”In searching for food, these animals could easily uncover or drag away the branches initially covering the body, thereby destroying the original covering layer.”

He picked up a few more close-up photos, ”Of course, this is still just my assumption for now.”

”Next, I plan to conduct a more detailed examination of these branches, focusing on checking for evidence such as gnaw marks, claw prints caused by animals, or bark stripping from trampling.”

”If we can find such micro-evidence on the branches, it would provide significant support for our hypothesis.”

He summarized, ”Therefore, regarding this body, I believe it wasn’t left uncovered. The perpetrator simply didn’t use the common dirt burial method but instead opted for locally-sourced branches for covering.”

”Using branches instead of dirt?”

Mr. Qin instinctively touched his chin, frowning slightly, ”This covering method is indeed quite uncommon.”

Jiang An explained unhurriedly, ”From the forensic perspective, this approach, though rare, is not unprecedented.”

”I believe the main reason may lie in the constraints the perpetrator faced during the act — either a lack of digging tools or an environment inconvenient for obtaining soil.”

”Such on-site resource utilization could reflect the perpetrator’s psychological state and operational conditions at the time.”

While speaking, Jiang An stomped the ground beneath him forcefully, the firm sensation transmitting through the soles of his shoes.

He squatted down, casually grabbing a handful of soil, and rubbed it between his fingers, saying, ”Look, the soil here is mixed tightly with gravel, and the hardness is high.”

”Under normal conditions, digging a hole in this soil to bury a body would be nearly impossible without professional tools like shovels or pickaxes.”

Hearing this, everyone bowed their heads in unison, carefully observing the ground beneath their feet.

A veteran detective tentatively kicked a clod of soil with the toe of his shoe, agreeing, ”Indeed, the compaction level of this land is more severe than I imagined.”

”Look at these exposed stones, varying in size and densely distributed.”

”Excavating in such geological conditions is not only time-consuming and labor-intensive but also likely to leave clear construction traces.”

At this moment, a perplexed voice rose from the crowd, ”But the surface of the body is indeed covered with a layer of dirt. How do we explain that?”

Everyone’s gaze focused on the questioner, quickly turning to Jiang An.

Jiang An walked unhurriedly to a slightly lower area, pointing to the ground, ”Everyone, look at the topography of this dumping point.”

”Though the area seems flat overall, careful comparison reveals that it has sunk a few centimeters compared to the surrounding regions.”

He measured the perimeter with his footsteps as he spoke, ”I suspect the dirt covering the body might have been naturally accumulated from rainwater erosion. Look at these channels formed by rainwater erosion nearby,”

He pointed to a few winding shallow grooves not far away, ”During a downpour, runoff could easily carry the silt from these channels to this spot, forming the covering layer we now see on the body.”

Mr. Qin slapped his thigh abruptly, his voice slightly trembling with excitement, ”This is brilliant! Such reasoning is an eye-opener!”

”Up until now, we kept clinging to the suicide conclusion because the scene didn’t seem to match homicide characteristics.” But

”With your analysis, the entire direction of the investigation must change!”

He looked around at his colleagues and continued, ”To be honest, this case has troubled us for too long.”

”In every task force meeting, everyone hesitated over the possibility of ’homicide,’ and no one dared to be 100% sure.”

Standing not far away, Political Commissioner Li slowly nodded and joined in, ”Now it seems that our initial investigation direction did indeed have biases.”

”Despite the task force being repeatedly reformed and having had in-depth discussions on this case, no one dared firmly to treat homicide as the primary investigative direction.”

”Not until today, Jiang An’s analysis opened up new possibilities for us.”

Director Hou stepped forward and appreciatively patted Jiang An’s shoulder, ”Very well said.”

”If we persisted in concluding it as suicide, many details at the scene indeed couldn’t be reasonably explained.”

”Perhaps, as Jiang An said, this isn’t a typical case of homicide and body disposal— after all, this is neither the ideal location for body disposal nor does it fit the usual characteristics of a burial site.”

”Jiang An, you’ve truly opened up a new line of thought for us this time.”

Jiang An smiled modestly, his gaze shifting to a nearby bush, ”These are still just preliminary assumptions.”

”To verify this hypothesis, we’ll need to look for more evidence.”

”For instance, marks of animal gnawing or dragging on the branches.”

”Or even if there are any bite marks from animal teeth on the White Bone.”

Director Hou laughed and said, ”With the right direction, there’s no fear of not reaching the end.”

”Let’s go! Let’s examine those old pieces of evidence and the White Bone together!”