Chapter 67

Chapter 67 6. The Silence of the Lambs-0

The skeleton delivered to Liu Yi had already been pretreated at the East City Suburb police forensic department.

Residual soil and soft tissue on the bones had been thoroughly washed clean. Although the skeleton was not degreased or bleached, the bones were organized. Large long bones and flat bones were placed directly in the box, while smaller bones, such as hand bones, foot bones, and vertebrae, were separately stored in specimen boxes. Cotton was stuffed into the external auditory canals of the skull to prevent the tiny ear bones from being lost.

Liu Yi and Jiang Xiaoyuan found an empty autopsy table and quickly reconstructed the skeleton into human form.

“Indeed, clear evidence of homicide.”

Once the skeleton was reassembled, signs of homicide became immediately obvious.

On the ribs, vertebrae, skull, and bilateral metacarpals and ulnae, there were linear or punctate fracture marks of varying lengths and depths, clearly made by a sharp instrument like a knife.

Moreover, the perpetrator’s attack had been extremely violent, with many cuts penetrating skin, muscle, fat, and tendon, leaving marks on the bones themselves. It was evident that the assailant exerted tremendous force and left no margin for mercy.

One could imagine the victim’s death scene—covered in blood, grotesque and terrifying.

“Hmm, the perpetrator was probably an adult male.”

Liu Yi ran his finger over a V-shaped fracture on the sternum and murmured, “A woman would rarely be able to cut this deep.”

Even more obvious evidence of homicide was on the victim’s hands.

All the middle and distal phalanges were missing, and the ten proximal phalanges had been cleanly cut roughly at the lower third, meaning the victim’s ten fingers had been severed at the root by someone, and the severed fingers were not buried with the body.

“Boss, why would the killer, after murdering someone, bother to cut off the fingers?”

Jiang Xiaoyuan shuddered at the sight of the neatly severed bones. “They killed him, and then went through this extra step—what’s the point?”

Liu Yi shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe as a keepsake.”

He smiled at Jiang Xiaoyuan. “Isn’t that how detective shows depict it?”

Jiang Xiaoyuan’s hair stood on end, and he rubbed his teeth hard, unable to appreciate his boss’s inopportune sense of dark humor.

“Also, aside from these haphazard cuts, there are other markings on these bones that are quite interesting…”

Liu Yi set down a bone and clapped his hands.

“Alright, back to work. Let’s determine this gentleman’s age first.”

For unidentified skeletal remains, key identification features include time of death, sex, age, height, and dental characteristics.

Sex is the easiest to determine.

The principle of sex identification: for prepubescent skeletons, determine age first, then sex; postpubescent skeletons, determine sex first, then age.

This skeleton’s epiphyseal cartilage had fully ossified, indicating age over 25, well past puberty, making sex determination straightforward.

Adult skeletal sex determination relies most on the pelvis.

Individual bones such as the hip, skull, mandible, and sternum can also be used, but accuracy decreases.

Fortunately, this skeleton was well-preserved; the pelvis alone sufficed.

The pelvis was robust, with prominent muscle spines, thick bone, heart-shaped pelvic inlet, high and narrow pelvic cavity like a funnel, small pelvic outlet, prominent ischial spines, a V-shaped subpubic angle, large upper sacral articular surface, straight iliac wings, thick and high, large and straight auricular surfaces.

Even the inexperienced Jiang Xiaoyuan could see that this skeleton belonged to an adult male.

To estimate height, adult skeletal age must first be determined.

Height varies regionally: Caucasians and Negroes are taller than Mongoloids. In China, northerners are taller than those north of the Yellow River, who are taller than those north of the Yangtze, with people south of the Yangtze generally shorter.

Height helps narrow the identity and sometimes even the region of origin.

For complete skeletal remains, measuring total bone height plus five centimeters for soft tissue gives body height. One can also sum skull height, vertebrae lengths, femur and tibia lengths, talus and calcaneus heights, and use a formula to calculate height.

However, adult height correlates with age: peak height occurs around 18–20 years. After 30, height decreases by roughly 0.6 mm per year, about 1.2 cm every 20 years.

These factors can introduce errors in height estimates up to 10 cm—potentially critical in police investigations.

Thus, for unidentified skeletons with uncertain age, age is first estimated, then compared to bone measurements for a comprehensive judgment.

The main challenge lies in age determination.

Anthropology has detailed methods. The four most common: pubic symphysis, sternum, rib morphology, and molar wear.

Molar wear varies with diet; rib morphology changes little after 45, making it unreliable for older skeletons.

Thus, pubic symphysis is primary, sternum morphology auxiliary, cross-checked for accuracy.

Although methods exist, bone changes aren’t as clear-cut as levels in a cultivation novel; judgments rely on the observer, leading to discrepancies of up to ten years between examiners.

Liu Yi guessed the East City Suburb police sent the skeleton to the institute due to uncertainty in age estimation from bones.

He may not have the field experience of lifelong forensic experts, but as head of the pathology identification department, he was confident.

His confidence came from intelligence, strong memory, observation, analysis, and years of diligent study.

Since childhood, Liu Yi’s competitive nature drove him to excel, ultimately earning dual doctorates. While peers enjoyed campus life, he spent countless hours studying with anatomy specimens.

At Dundee University in Britain, he spent six months comparing baskets of bones in the specimen room. He was once invited by an anthropology professor to join their lab post-graduation, but he didn’t. This meticulous training now proved useful.

Liu Yi began with the pubic symphysis.

Protected deep within the pelvis, covered by cartilage, its morphology is minimally affected by lifestyle, reflecting true physiological changes better than other bones.

“The symphyseal surface is flat, no depression… upper lateral margin forming, upper boundary clear, no posterior expansion… lower boundary acute… symphyseal edge fully formed.”

He examined the bone under a magnifying glass, marking records on an age estimation chart and noting two coefficients.

Next, he examined the sternum as auxiliary evidence.

“Costal-sternal joints starting to form projections… sternal body joint projections noticeably increased, posterior sternum dense and smooth.”

Confirming consistency on both charts, he calculated the results.

The pubic symphysis indicated 29.85 years, the sternum 30.37 years; averaging 30.11 ± 2 years.

“I estimate this deceased was around 30 years old,” Liu Yi circled the final result.

Jiang Xiaoyuan nodded repeatedly and quickly calculated height using the formula.

“So this skeleton’s identity: a male, about 178 cm tall, around 30 years old, died roughly five to eight years ago, right?”

He nodded with satisfaction, as if he himself had solved it.

“Narrowing the range this much should make identification much easier!”

“Not just that.”

Liu Yi smiled, tapping a bone on the table.

“This person was probably an athlete, likely engaged in a lower-body-focused sport.”

Author’s note: References for this chapter: Forensic Anthropology and Manual of Human Bones.

Writing this chapter brought back memories of the grueling study sessions of that time.

When writing, no need to hand me an actual bone for analysis; just stating the conclusions suffices.