Super Time Detective

Next, Ye Huairui had a brief understanding of the case and found that it was indeed a very miraculous case.

The name of the deceased was Wang Xiaowu, 14 years old, and a second grader in a middle school in the west of the city.

This kid is not very good at school, and he doesn't care much about his family. He often skips classes and skips school. He meets a few young people from society, and he plays with them all day long, doing all sorts of nonsense.

In short, Wang Xiaowu is a punk.

Last night, Wang Xiaowu and two "brothers" went to an Internet cafe to play games until after four o'clock in the morning. The three of them felt hungry, so they planned to go out for supper.

Since it's supper, it costs money.

The three gangsters ran out of money, so they spotted a passerby who was alone halfway, trying to get some money from him to spend.

The man they were targeting was named Ban Zhong, a migrant worker from Siam who worked in a bar, and he was not a fuel-efficient lamp.

Ban Zhong saw himself surrounded by three people in an alley, and the leader was still carrying a knife, so he pulled out a pistol from his jacket and pulled the trigger on them.

With a bang, the three young men were frightened out of their wits.

The older two turned their heads and ran away, while Wang Xiaowu yelled, fell to the ground, and did not move anymore.

The boy's screams alerted a passerby nearby, who immediately called the police.

Police cars and ambulances rushed to the scene almost one after another, less than 10 minutes after the gunfire.

The police arrested Ban Zhong who was guarding Wang Xiaowu at the scene, but the doctor failed to save the boy's life after a lot of efforts.

After being arrested, Ban Zhong confessed that he was taken aback by Wang Xiaowu's reaction. He quickly put away his pistol, ran to the boy, and turned him over. Nose, has died.

"Shot dead?"

Hearing this, Zhang Mingming couldn't help but guess. At the same time, he scanned the corpse on the dissecting table several times, "...But, I didn't see any blood."

"Yes, this is the strangest place."

Officer Huang replied:

"Because what Ban Zhong is wearing is just a simulated toy gun, the kind with 4.6mm BB bullets."

Zhang Mingming raised his eyebrows, showing surprise, "Toy gun?"

"That's right, it's a toy gun."

Police officer Huang raised his hand in a "shooting" gesture, "The BB bullet may hurt the eye, but it directly kills the person..."

Yes, 4.6mm BB rounds are nearly impossible to kill with one shot, that's common sense.

"Now the child's family is making a fuss, insisting that he was shot."

Officer Huang smiled wryly and shook his head:

"The deceased was a minor, the suspect was a foreigner, and the way of death was extremely bizarre. Fuck it, this is the media's favorite material! If you don't hurry to find out the cause of the child's death, things will be very troublesome!"

Ye Huairui understood.

No wonder the body was sent to them for an autopsy early in the morning. After all, the police are not afraid of anything, except that the case will be overly exaggerated by the media before the case is clear, and it will not end well if it becomes a big mess.

"Okay, let's do it then."

Ye Huairui put on the gloves and tucked the cuffs of the surgical gown into the gloves.

"Let's see how this little brother died."

&&&&&&&&&

The teenager lying on the autopsy table was wearing an ordinary blue short-sleeved T-shirt, a pair of knee-length cropped wide-leg pants, a running shoe on his foot was missing, the clothes were covered with dust, and both hands There were some irregular flaky abrasions on the elbows and calves, which appeared to be from the fall.

Ye Huairui and Ouyang Tingting removed all the clothes from the deceased and carefully inspected the body for wounds.

Wang Xiaowu is 147 cm tall, with normal development and moderate nutrition. He has dark red corpse spots on his back, which can fade with finger pressure, which coincides with the time of death.

In addition, there was a shallow bruise on the chest of the deceased, also dark red in color, located in the middle and lower part of the sternum, about half the size of a palm, in a non-standard funnel shape, with unclear edges.

"This should be a bruise from chest compressions during rescue."

Ye Huairui signaled Zhang Mingming to take a photo, "Apart from this, no other traces of trauma were found on the body surface."

Then he examined other parts of the body.

The skin color of the deceased was normal, the conjunctiva and bulbar conjunctiva were pale, there was no jaundice, and no hemorrhage was seen, and the skull, sternum, spine and long bones of the limbs were not fractured; most importantly, no bullet holes were found in the boy Or traces of suspected rubber bullets.

"In this way, the cause of death does not seem to be shot."

Ouyang Tingting said:

"Could it be sudden death?"

In fact, in forensic autopsy work, it is not uncommon for cases of sudden death to be finally confirmed.

The essence of sudden death is a natural non-violent death caused by internal diseases, which often arouses suspicion because the deceased appears to be healthy and dies suddenly without warning.

There are many reasons for sudden death. Clinical and forensic practice has proved that almost all systemic diseases of the human body may cause sudden death.

The most common are various cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, followed by nervous system and respiratory system lesions, and rarer are infection, immunity, endocrine and other factors.

If the deceased is suspected of sudden death, forensic medical identification becomes very important.

"Has Wang Xiaowu ever been sick or injured before?"

Ye Huairui asked Police Officer Huang who was sitting on the side:

"How was his mental state before he died? Did you mention any discomfort to your companions?"

"No."

Police Officer Huang replied very quickly, obviously he had already understood the situation:

"His parents and two sisters said that the child is usually quite healthy, and he rarely even has a cold. His two 'buddies' didn't find anything wrong with him before he died."

He made a gesture of "falling to the ground".

"It is said that the child collapsed with a loud yell, without any warning at all."

Officer Huang paused, and then added:

"Besides, when the ambulance arrived, Wang Xiaowu had no heartbeat or breathing. According to the suspect's statement, he would die if he fell down."

"Ok."

Ye Huairui nodded and laughed at himself:

"Now the pressure is back on us."

When the relatives, friends and even medical staff of the deceased cannot provide a reliable medical history, and the only witness happens to be the suspect, the forensic autopsy and histopathological examination are the key to confirm whether there is a sudden death.

Fortunately, Wang Xiaowu was delivered to the autopsy table less than six hours after his death. The corpse was fresh and well preserved. The impact of tissue autolysis and corruption on the histological findings after death was negligible. Related tests such as drugs and poisons accuracy will be higher.

The autopsy process is particularly lengthy and cumbersome for corpses suspected of sudden death of unknown cause.

Because it has to be credible only after a comprehensive and systematic examination.

In particular, the deceased was a lively and healthy 14-year-old boy. To convince the family that the child died of a sudden illness, sufficient and strong evidence must be presented.

But God also wanted to embarrass them, and it was surprisingly difficult to determine the cause of Wang Xiaowu's death.

At first, Ye Huairui and Ouyang Tingting opened the dead man's head.

There was no injury or hemorrhage in the subcutaneous and galeal aponeurosis, the skull was intact, and there were no signs of fracture; no lesions or hemorrhages were found on the dura mater, arachnoid mater, pia mater, brain, cerebellum, brainstem, and pituitary gland; the cerebrospinal fluid was also clear .

Although the brain tissue had to be fixed with formaldehyde solution, no incision had been made, but based on Ye's experience, it shouldn't be a brain problem.

Next, they opened the neck, chest, abdomen and pelvis of the deceased.

Ye Huairui systematically ruled out the common causes of sudden death one by one.

He carefully checked the opening, course, and lumen of Wang Xiaowu's pulmonary artery and coronary artery to see if there were any lesions or deformities in the heart valve, myocardium, and aorta, and he also paid attention to whether the general structure of the sinoatrial node was abnormal.

Then he checked the boy's airway again.

There was no edema in the larynx, no foreign objects in the trachea and bronchi, the back of the pharynx was clean, the bilateral lung lobes were intact, there were no ruptured bullae, and no mass, inflammation, exudation or hemorrhage visible to the naked eye.

Next comes the digestive tract, the genitourinary system...

Officer Huang sat in the dissecting room, watching the pointer turn round and round, from the beginning of work to the lunch break, and then went straight to the meal time...

"The only positive sign."

Ye Huairui finally announced his autopsy findings:

"Decedent had enlarged thymus."

Officer Huang: "'Thymus'?"

He is a native of Jincheng, he is used to speaking dialect, and his spoken Mandarin is completely at the level of "Do you have a reason to die (do you have a travel history)?" In addition, "thymus" is not a common skill for non-medical police officers. The nouns he was exposed to, so he wasn't even sure which two words he heard.

"What is 'thymus'?"

"The thymus is an immunoregulatory organ in the human body, and it's probably here -- behind the manubrium."

Ye Huairui tapped the center of his heart with his index finger, and explained to the bewildered police officer Huang:

"The thymus is relatively large in newborns and infants, it is the largest in adolescence, it will gradually shrink in adulthood, and it is almost completely replaced by fat in old age."

He pointed to the free piece of gray-red meat on the tray, and continued:

"At Wang Xiaowu's age, the thymus tissue is generally about 25 to 40 grams, with an average value of 30 grams, but his thymus is a full 55 grams, which obviously exceeds the average."

Officer Huang nodded again and again:

"So what? Does an enlarged thymus cause sudden death?"

"Unfortunately, I can only answer you, not sure."

Ye Huairui smiled, "Because, this is a very controversial issue."

Officer Huang: "???"

He stood up from the chair, opened his eyes wide, and stared at Ye Huairui in shock.

"Dr. Ye, please."

After waiting for several hours, just waiting for such an answer, the elder brother of the police officer almost wanted to be frustrated and bent forward:

"The family members and the media are watching this case. Can't you give me a definite answer?"

The author has something to say:

The cases in this chapter are adapted from "Journal of Forensic Medicine", Volume 2008, Issue 24, 3, reported by Li Jianliang, a forensic doctor.