Chapter 448 Overly Clean Corpses and Chloroform
"Could it be a human skin patch? The murderer was influenced by that kind of horror movie, or maybe it was simply a collection." Rossi also began to use his imagination.
“It’s hard to say.” Rhett frowned and thought, “From the photos, the area of skin removed from the sole of the victim’s foot was at most 2X2 inches, and it was only on the right foot.
That’s it. A small piece of skin will soon lose its activity after being separated from the tissue, and will completely atrophy, making it difficult to preserve."
"Maybe this is the reason why the murderer keeps committing crimes," Emily finished. Everyone seemed to think that this conjecture was unreliable, curled their lips, and said no more.
Jack was considering the difficulty of finding the murderer. "From the report, there seems to be no connection between the murderer's kidnapping and the location where the body was dumped. Red's map mark may need a big map this time.
Los Angeles The total area of the metropolitan area seems to be 5,000 square miles. Even if we only count Los Angeles, it is 500 square miles."
Reed nodded in agreement, "The only thing that can be determined now is that the murderer should be a local or a long-term resident. Here, a person who is very familiar with the surrounding environment, because no one witnessed him kidnapping and dumping the body, shows that he knows this city very well.”
That’s about it for the preliminary discussion, Hotchner also said. He is recuperating at home, so Rossi is temporarily arranging work.
Red was left at the headquarters, and Jiejie found him several large maps so that he could conduct his map analysis directly here.
Jiejie and Emily went to the LAPD headquarters called "Parker Center", where several police detectives from the Metropolitan Division were waiting to meet them. Later, they would also meet with the victim's family to learn about the specific situation.
Because the murderer committed each crime in less than 24 hours, the family members of the first two victims did not even have time to report their disappearance to the police.
In the LAPD's internal system process, less than 24 hours also means that the disappearance cannot be confirmed in time, so the LAPD is not even sure whether there are more victims who have not yet been discovered.
Jack and Rosie went to the crime laboratory affiliated with the LAPD, where all three corpses were sent for autopsy. They needed to communicate face-to-face with the forensic doctor responsible for the case.
——
"The cause of death of the three victims was obviously drowning, but there was no water in their lungs, but 100% anhydrous methanol, which completely penetrated the skin.
They were soaked for a long time, So the symptoms you see similar to floating corpses are not only the water in the skin being separated, but also part of the subcutaneous The fat was also dissolved.”
The middle-aged bald forensic doctor who was eating instant noodles by the autopsy table saw the two FBI agents, drank the noodle soup in three gulps, and then burped very uncharacteristically. , tidied it up, put on gloves, pulled out a body covered with white cloth from the upright freezer, and began to explain.
Jack has long been accustomed to seeing corpses, but he can never do it to this extent, although he knows that the cleaned and disinfected stainless steel dissecting table is probably cleaner than the kitchen chopping board in any restaurant.
Rosie had long been accustomed to the behavior of these forensic doctors, and asked without changing her expression, "So rather than saying that the purpose of soaking in methanol is to drown the victims, it is better to say that it is just to soak them?"< br>
The forensic doctor hesitated for a moment and nodded to express his approval of this statement.
"In fact, this is indeed an effective way to eliminate evidence. At least it makes it impossible for me to obtain any valid DNA information from the corpses. Methanol dissolves everything, even the makeup on their faces."
Jack also nodded to express his understanding. Apart from the frightening look of the whitish and wrinkled skin, the corpse in front of him could actually be said to be extremely clean.
This victim is Linda Dean who was killed two days ago. Jack observed the wounds on the soles of her feet and compared them with the photos of the wounds on the other two deceased people he had seen before. He had a rough idea. He had a conclusion, but he still wanted to confirm it further.
“In your opinion, how did the murderer cut off the skin from the sole of the victim’s foot?”
The forensic doctor seemed to have considered this question and answered almost without thinking, "The edges of the wounds of the first two victims were uneven, but the edges of the latest one were much smoother. The murderer's skill and confidence have obviously improved."
Rosie knew the purpose of Jack's question and continued to ask, "In my opinion, this level of skin removal does not require any professional medical training, right?"
Forensic Medicine Shaking his head, "No need, as long as the tool is sharp enough."
Rosie and Jack looked at each other, both a little disappointed, which meant that they could not narrow down the suspects. Jack looked at the wrinkled skin around the wound and suddenly thought, "Did the murderer cut off the skin first and then soak it in methanol, or the other way around?"
The forensic doctor was stunned for a moment, then realized, "I only found a trace amount of methanol in the wound, which means that the murderer removed the skin after the victim died. But does this mean anything?"
" "Of course." Jack explained, "If the resection was performed after death, the purpose of the murder has nothing to do with torture and pain."
The forensic doctor thought deeply and then walked to the desk excitedly. In front of him, he picked up a report, "Speaking of this, I just made a new discovery."
He handed the report to Jack, "This is the toxicology report of the first victim. A large amount of chloroform was found in the blood of the other two victims.
So I also tested the blood of the other two victims, and their blood also contained large amounts of chloroform.
This explains why the facial expressions of the three victims were relatively peaceful after death. It was obvious that they did not suffer much pain when they were suffocated to death by methanol. "
Unlike methanol, the FBI has received basic training on chloroform, a chemical that is often used as one of the tools for kidnapping.
People often use it in film and television works I saw a thing that can make people unconscious by pouring a little bit from a small bottle on a handkerchief and covering the victim's face. This is it.
Rosie and Jack subconsciously looked at the face of the corpse, not at the expression, but at the position of the mouth and nose, and then both showed confused expressions.
" If the murderer used chloroform for anesthesia, shouldn't there be red spots or blisters on the skin near the victim's nose and mouth? ”
Chloroform, whose scientific name is chloroform, is the second synthetic compound used to anesthetize patients after ether. Queen Victoria of England once used chloroform for painless delivery when she gave birth to her eighth child.
But because chloroform has a certain degree of toxicity, it was eliminated after humans discovered better anesthetics.
Although this compound smells sweet, it is very unfriendly to sensitive skin. When it comes into contact with the skin in fragile areas such as the mouth and nose, it will cause allergic-like redness, swelling and even blisters.
The forensic doctor shrugged, "I didn't realize this problem at first. It wasn't until I found burn marks in the victim's nasal cavity that I confirmed this."
Not after all. Forensics or forensic researchers everywhere are like CSI who follow a case from beginning to end. In most cases, they only provide evidence and are not responsible for solving the case, so someone can only use their own brains.
"Did the murderer create a sealed environment and then release spray chloroform into it?" Jack guessed.
"That makes sense." The forensic doctor smiled and nodded, seemingly because he felt relaxed communicating with smart people.
There is no anesthetic in this world that can make people faint just by spraying it into their noses. The human body has conditioned reflexes. When a stranger suddenly touches someone like this, a normal person’s first reaction is to hold their breath. Cover your mouth and nose.
Even if you accidentally take a sip, the dose is not enough to cause someone to fall into coma immediately.
Rather than imitating the kind of operation in movies and television works, it may be more effective to directly stun or press the carotid sinus. At least you don’t have to worry about the person you want to kidnap falling asleep due to excessive dosage.
"So we are facing an expert who is proficient in chemistry." Rossi took a deep breath and finally made a breakthrough.
Vote, please give me some monthly votes. I am about to fall off the monthly vote list. I don’t want to get out!
(End of this chapter)