The crackdown on organized crime began with the arrest of the mother-in-law.

Chapter 952 The Clues End, Forensic Autopsy

Unfortunately, there is only one surveillance camera in the stone storage area of ​​the cement plant.

This is likely the main reason why the murderer chose to dump the body at the feed mill, where there are many blind spots in the surveillance system, making it difficult to expose the murderer's identity. However, at the same time, it also alerted the police, indicating that the perpetrator seemed to be quite familiar with the distribution of surveillance cameras at the cement plant.

An investigation can be conducted focusing on Li Dejun's interpersonal relationships at the cement factory; this line of inquiry is unlikely to go astray.

You called Qin Chuan and gave him a detailed account of the situation, reporting the relevant details. We still need to wait for the forensic autopsy results and the final experimental conclusions from the on-site investigation before we can have a definite direction for the case investigation. Qin Chuan was also very clear about this case-handling process, so after giving Li Ming a few words of encouragement on the phone, he told him to go directly to the Municipal Bureau to report once he had some information the next day.

The body was moved back to the Criminal Investigation Division that afternoon.

The operating lights in the dissection room cast a stark white glow across the entire worktable. Zhang Lin, wearing goggles and a medical mask, listened intently as his rubber gloves clattered against the metal instruments. Li Ming and Yang Sen stood by, their eyes fixed on the dissection process.

"In addition to blunt force trauma to the head, the deceased's body showed multiple irregular abrasions and crush injuries, consistent with the struggle characteristics when buried by stones." Zhang Lin used tweezers to pick up the deceased's scalp tissue, exposing the depression in the skull. "But these are not fatal injuries. We will now perform a craniotomy."

He picked up the electric craniotomy saw, the sound of its teeth cutting into the skull making his teeth ache. Yang Sen frowned and noted: "The skull fracture lines are radial, with the fracture area concentrated in the parietal bone, consistent with multiple blunt force traumas."

“No.” Zhang Lin suddenly stopped and carefully separated the broken skull fragments with a probe. “The bleeding at the fracture site was minimal, indicating that these blows were caused after death or in the near-death period. The real cause of death is something else entirely.”

Li Ming leaned closer to examine the wounds: "You mean, these wounds were faked by the murderer?"

Zhang Lin did not answer, but instead picked up a scalpel and cut open the deceased's chest and abdominal cavity. "Check the internal organs first." He skillfully cut the costal cartilage and lifted the sternum. "The liver and spleen were not ruptured, ruling out death from massive internal bleeding. But..." His forceps stopped at the deceased's heart. "There is a small tear in the right atrial wall, which is rare in blunt force trauma."

Yang Sen immediately raised his camera to take pictures: "There are bleeding points on the surface of the heart, which looks like symptoms of air embolism."

"Perform a cardiac ventricle puncture." Zhang Lin inserted the syringe into the right ventricle, and sure enough, the extracted blood contained fine air bubbles. "This confirms that the deceased died of air embolism. Someone injected air into his blood vessels, causing cardiac arrest."

Li Ming frowned in thought: "Air embolism requires precise operation, so the perpetrator should have some medical knowledge. But what about the blunt force trauma to the head?"

“This is precisely where the murderer’s cunning lies.” Zhang Lin began to dissect the victim’s neck. “Through tracheotomy, we can see that there is almost no inhaled cement dust in the trachea, indicating that the victim had already stopped breathing when buried. These blunt force injuries were to cover up the real cause of death, disguising the death as an accident or a fight.”

Yang Sen suddenly remembered something: "Captain Li, could the needle hole we found behind the deceased's ear be the site where air was injected?"

“Very likely.” Zhang Lin switched to microscopic dissection mode and used a magnifying glass to observe the tissue around the needle hole. “The needle hole is about 0.3 millimeters in diameter, with neat edges, which is consistent with the characteristics of subcutaneous injection. Moreover, it is near the jugular vein, which is an ideal location for injecting air.”

After determining the cause of death, Zhang Lin began to estimate the time of death. "First, we need to check the degree of rigor mortis." He moved the deceased's joints. "The muscles throughout the body were completely stiff. According to the development pattern of rigor mortis, the time of death was around 12 to 16 hours ago. But this is only a preliminary judgment."

He extracted the stomach contents for analysis: "There was a small amount of undigested rice and vegetables remaining in the stomach. Combined with the duodenal emptying, the last meal should have been 3-4 hours before death. Combined with the liver temperature measurement..." Zhang Lin inserted a probe into the liver, "The current liver temperature is 28°C. Based on the body's cooling curve and considering the low temperature environment at night in the cement plant, the time of death can be accurate to 14 hours ago, with an error of no more than 1 hour."

Li Ming quickly wrote in his notebook: "In other words, the deceased was murdered around 7 p.m. last night, and then buried with stones and the scene was staged."

“There’s another discovery.” Zhang Lin held up a test tube containing tissue samples. “Insulin was detected in the victim’s myocardial tissue. Although the level was low, it was enough to cause a sudden drop in blood sugar and induce a coma. The murderer likely injected insulin first to render the victim unable to resist, and then performed an air embolism.”

Yang Sen suddenly realized: "So the insulin purchase record found at the scene was a deliberate distraction left by the murderer!"

At the end of the autopsy, Zhang Lin removed his mask: "To summarize, the true cause of death was air embolism, and the time of death was approximately 7 p.m. last night. The blunt force trauma to the head and the insulin marks were fabricated and misleading evidence by the murderer. The murderer possessed certain medical knowledge and counter-surveillance capabilities, and the crime was meticulously planned."

Li Ming looked at the corpse on the autopsy table, his expression grave: "It seems we're not dealing with an ordinary murderer. Immediately report these results to the entire team, and focus on investigating anyone around the victim who has medical knowledge and had the opportunity to commit the crime. We must act quickly in this case."

Meanwhile, investigations into Li Dejun's interpersonal relationships have been a key focus of ongoing efforts.

Xiao Zhou and Xiao Wang decided to start with Li Dejun's work circle. They first went to the cement plant's crushing workshop. The roar of the machines was ear-piercing, and cement dust floated in the air like a thick fog. Inside the workshop, workers wearing thick dust masks were busy moving around among the huge machines.

Xiao Zhou stopped a young worker who was pushing a tool cart: "Brother, excuse me, we're police officers. We want to ask about Director Li Dejun. Have you had much contact with him?"

The young worker stopped, his eyes filled with wariness: "Director Li, I'm just an ordinary worker. I usually just follow his instructions. He's quite strict. He demands that we be meticulous in our work, and he'll criticize us if we make even the slightest mistake. But to be honest, he's doing it for the job, and he is indeed quite capable in his work."

Xiao Wang pressed further: "Has he been acting strangely lately? For example, with mood swings, or has he had a major conflict with anyone?"

The young worker scratched his head, thought for a moment, and said, "I don't feel anything special. It's just the same as usual, arranging work and checking quality. But about half a month ago, he and Lao Zhang from the packaging workshop next door had a big argument over the quality of a batch of stones. The argument was quite loud, and the whole workshop could hear it. But I think it was just a disagreement about work, and it shouldn't have led to any enmity."