The Forensic Doctor Better Than a Detective

After a long pause, Qin Feng, who was sitting in the front row, turned around and directed his gaze towards Jiang An beside him.

He pondered for a moment, as if weighing his words carefully, and then slowly spoke, ”Mr. Jiang, while everyone is here, can you go over the situation for us again thoroughly and provide some analysis?”

”After all, at the crime scene just now, the process was tight, and some professional details were somewhat unclear to me, though I firmly remembered the final conclusion.”

”It now appears that there might be significant discrepancies in our initial handling of the case.”

With that, he nodded slightly, giving Jiang An an encouraging look of complete trust.

Jiang An understood, stood up, and faced the audience.

He cleared his throat and spoke steadily and clearly, ”Leaders and colleagues of the Criminal Investigation Brigade, good morning to you all.”

”Today, together with Mr. Qin, I went to the Guangling City Forensic Center to conduct a second, more systematic autopsy on the deceased, Li Yong.”

During this examination, we focused on a critical part that might have been overlooked before—the victim’s neck.”

As he spoke, his gaze slowly swept across each focused face in the hall to ensure engagement, then he continued to elaborate: ”From an anatomical point of view, our necks not only carry vital structures like the trachea, esophagus, and major blood vessels but also protect the central life command of the body—the cervical spinal cord deeply.”

”The cervical spinal cord, especially the upper segment, serves as the core neural hub controlling breathing and heartbeat.”

”An unexpected and severe twist, excessive pull, or direct violent impact on this area can cause shock, hemorrhage, or nerve fiber rupture in the spinal cord without external skin damage, which can promptly lead to respiratory and circulatory failure, causing death.”

”This concept might sound abstract. Let me give an example many might recall: in several film and television works, there is often a scene where an agent or fighter swiftly twists the opponent’s neck from behind.”

”The audience frequently hears a ’crack,’ and the character is instantly killed. Though dramatized, the underlying medical principle is precisely the devastating injury to the cervical spinal cord center I mentioned earlier.”

He paused briefly, then returned to the case of Li Yong: ”Returning to Li Yong’s case.”

”In this meticulous dissection, we identified clear signs of hemorrhage, edema, and localized nerve tissue tear in the deeper layers of his neck, specifically in the spinal cord region corresponding to the second to fourth cervical vertebrae.”

”These damage characteristics perfectly align with pathological changes resulting from severe twisting or stretching leading to spinal cord injury.”

”Hence, I firmly believe that Li Yong’s immediate cause of death should be revised to ’acute respiratory and circulatory failure due to spinal cord injury.’”

”This conclusion rests on solid anatomical observations and robust forensic pathology theoretical foundations.”

As soon as Jiang An finished speaking, a seasoned old detective in the back row raised his hand.

His forehead was furrowed, reflecting professional caution and perplexity.

Jiang An promptly raised his hand and indicated, ”Please go ahead, sir.”

The old gentleman stood, his voice loud and forthright in perplexity: ”Mr. Jiang, your professional judgment is not something we outsiders are equipped to critique.”

”However, there’s a most practical doubt: when we first arrived at the scene, we had thoroughly examined the body.”

”The deceased was dressed neatly, with the neck and limbs exposed. We checked repeatedly, and the skin was intact with no obvious abrasions, bruises, or ligature marks.”

”The skin outside shows no issue, yet how could the internal injuries be so severe?”

”This doesn’t align with our usual experience at all.” His query undeniably aired the shared doubts of many frontline investigators present.

Upon hearing this, Jiang An nodded in agreement, then calmly added, ”The question raised by this gentleman is indeed very crucial.”

”As Mr. Qin mentioned earlier, the professors at Guangling Medical University School of Forensic Medicine made errors in judging the cause of death, primarily due to overlooking the transient skin redness and swelling observed on the deceased’s neck.”

”I emphasize the fleeting nature of this skin change because it essentially represents a localized congestion phenomenon—when subjected to external forces, it often triggers typical local inflammatory responses including redness, swelling, heat, and pain.”

”Such transient swelling is an important indicator of external force, yet due to its limited duration, it might dissipate on its own after some time.”

”If we fail to examine and document them during the phase with visible swelling, by the time of re-examination later on, such traces might no longer be discernible.”

He paused briefly, his gaze sweeping across the attendees before continuing to elaborate: ”Additionally, regarding potential damage to the cervical vertebrae, without specialized dissections and examinations on the vertebrae and extracting spinal cord for detailed inspection, it is exceptionally difficult to detect and confirm structural damage to the neck based merely on external observation or routine checks.”

”In other words, such an injury is highly concealed, necessitating targeted professional operations to potentially recognize.”

Upon hearing Jiang An’s coherent and evidence-based professional explanation, the attendees exchanged glances, nodding in comprehension.

Subsequently, an experienced old detective further inquired: ”According to your interpretation, the cause of death is neck pulling, which we are gradually understanding.”

”However, what’s puzzling is that when we initially arrived at the scene, we found the deceased lying directly on the ground, with the surrounding environment appearing not to contain any facilities or traces capable of causing neck pulling or hanging.”

”It wasn’t likely someone just grabbed his head leading to death, was it?”

”Moreover, the deceased was merely a common construction site worker, seemingly unrelated to extreme scenarios like agent murder, right?”

Jiang An earnestly listened and nodded in response: ”You’re right, he was indeed an ordinary citizen.”

”Nevertheless, scenarios of neck pulling, aside from special techniques, could also occur during seemingly ordinary processes.”

”Any excessive stretching could result in spinal cord damage, thus forming local injuries on the neck.”

”Although I’ve carefully examined the initial photos from the scene, we must recognize: firstly, no apparent injury doesn’t equate to injury absence since some internal injuries may not manifest externally.”

”Secondly, what was observed at the scene might not represent the original state at the time of the incident. The scene could have been inadvertently or deliberately altered, and even the position identified by the reporting witness may not correspond precisely to the factual occurrence location.”

At this point, another officer interjected: ”But according to the reporting person’s statement, he found the deceased at that location, flanked by two excavators, and the surveillance footage we reviewed didn’t reveal any unusual disturbances at the scene.”

This question prompted another round of low murmurs in the conference room.

Everyone was striving to decipher: in such a seemingly ordinary construction site, where could conditions triggering neck pulling be possibly concealed?

Despite gradually accepting Jiang An’s neck pulling-induced death perspective, they remained puzzled regarding how to locate the corresponding objective evidence practically.

Once the murmuring subsided, Jiang An gestured for quiet, and summarized: ”Therefore, our subsequent work focus should divide into two lines: firstly, conduct a thorough analysis of the site environment and meticulously check for any potential conditions causing neck force, no matter how subtle or concealed.”

”Secondly, conduct re-interviews with the reporting person, and if necessary, add interrogation, since we cannot exclude the possibility of the reporting person concealing certain facts or providing false statements. Only by clarifying these segments can we approach closer to the truth.”