Chapter 1198 - 612: Preliminary Case Analysis

At this moment, Jiang An was staring straight at the photo in front of him.

In his opinion, it’s often this original appearance of the scene investigation that can most truly reflect the situation at that time.

If the scene had changed, then many circumstances could not be restored.

This is also why it is crucial to protect the scene during the investigation of criminal cases—because only by protecting the scene can the key trace evidence at the scene be preserved immediately.

In the investigation process of any criminal case, the primary scene is the source of all evidence.

Experts with rich criminal investigation experience always particularly value the importance of the primary scene.

The evidence hidden in the primary scene often proves to be invaluable.

At this moment, Xu Ming was explaining the photo with the laser pointer in his hand.

The report from the informant indicated that the position of this hanging knot hadn’t been moved by anyone.

We also specifically asked why they didn’t call 120 for emergency help immediately?

According to the police investigation at the station, when they touched the body, it was already stiff.

Judging by common knowledge, the body was already deceased, so the informant did not call the police immediately.

Then, Xu Ming turned to the second photo.

"This is the environment around the body."

He said, "When the body was found, there was a stool under the deceased’s legs, which was toppled over.

We retrieved and examined it at that time; according to the site investigation, the stool was from the deceased’s dormitory, which housed three people."

On the night of the incident, the dormitory was empty, as the young men and women had all gone out on dates.

So at that time, only the deceased was inside the dormitory.

By the time they discovered the body, it was only the next day that the stool’s origin was identified.

Continuing, Xu Ming said, "After receiving the report, we immediately contacted the forensic team, trace and major crime detectives, and began investigating the scene’s surroundings.

We found the surrounding environment relatively secluded, with no surveillance, so we couldn’t reconstruct the exact time the deceased entered the center scene.

Also, according to the forensic estimate, the time of the incident should be around midnight. So, there would barely be anyone at that time."

He continued flipping through the images; everyone saw a picture of a rope hanging from the neck.

The spot on the skin where the rope was tightening the neck showed two ligature marks.

Seeing this, Jiang An suddenly frowned—knowing that typically in hangings, there’s only one ligature mark.

The sudden appearance of two ligature marks on the neck indeed gave him pause. However, he didn’t immediately voice his doubts.

At this moment, Xu Ming also seemed to notice the perplexed expressions on the faces of both Jiang An and Director Hou, and he quickly explained, "When we found two ligature marks on the deceased’s neck, we too considered it might be homicide, so we treated it as a homicide case.

However, after all city forensic experts jointly studied it, they found these two ligature marks quite distinct.

It turned out the rope was doubled at that time; we merely saw one overlapping the other.

Of course, we also can’t rule out a slight slipping during the deceased’s struggle.

For instance, when the neck was compressed, the body, due to a rapid struggle, caused the area with the ligature mark to slip slightly, thereby creating a new ligature mark in a new area."

Upon hearing this, Director Hou frowned and asked, "Did you consider it might be a murder disguised as suicide?"

As soon as the words fell, Xu Ming promptly replied, "Director Hou, we considered that possibility at the time.

On one hand, based on the forensic autopsy, it was concluded that such markings could form naturally, with no major doubts.

On the other hand, our subsequent investigation of the surrounding environment of the body revealed no suspicious individuals; this point, I will certainly provide you with a detailed report later."

Then, he clicked the mouse to slide through the images, showing the process of the autopsy.

At this moment, a female corpse lay on a stainless steel table.

The skin of the female corpse was very pale, with relatively long hair.

However, at this moment, her lips appeared cyanotic, and her nails were noticeably cyanotic.

Clicking on the image, Xu Ming began to speak, "For this corpse, we performed the autopsy immediately the following day.

At the time, the forensic examination clearly determined that the cause of death was mechanical asphyxiation."

Speaking, he clicked the marker in his hand.

The lividity on the back of the deceased was noticeably dark red, and the location of the lividity was still on the lower limb, while no lividity was observed on the back.

After seeing this photo, Xu Ming immediately said, "Look, the distribution of the lividity is very consistent with the characteristics of hanging, rather than on the chest or back."

He continued, "The deceased’s lungs show significant congestion, with cyanotic fingers and lips, subconjunctival hemorrhage, all indicating distinct signs of mechanical asphyxiation. Therefore, we determined this was a death caused by mechanical asphyxiation.

Moreover, you can see a clear ligature furrow on the neck of the deceased, so based on the body’s condition and the characteristics of the deceased’s lips, we conclude it corresponds to a mechanical asphyxiation caused by the ligature furrow, consistent with the characteristics of hanging.