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🕑 Added 2025-03-30 06:50:06 +0000 UTCAnatomy of a Killer
Chapter 35 - Pond, Part 2
Larry paused for a moment before suggesting firmly:
"Based on the estimated time, we can adjust the investigation line and reduce the margin of error. This pond is in a fairly isolated location."
"Yes, if you're not a local or someone who knows the area well, it would be difficult to find this place," Ángel affirmed, observing the surroundings.
Larry nodded and crossed his arms. "The choice of the killer is interesting. They could have hidden the body in a more accessible place, but instead, they threw it far from any housing or obvious landmarks. That indicates they didn’t want the body to be found easily, but they weren’t familiar with the area. Maybe they thought we would never find it."
At that moment, Ángel leaned over the body and used a magnifying glass to inspect a mark on the inside of the victim’s neckcloth, then asked, "Can we get any information if we analyze their clothing?"
Max, who had a good eye for fashion, examined the sweater carefully. "It’s a spring model, I’ve seen it before. It costs around four hundred dollars."
"I don’t recognize the logo. Also, it’s not common to see this kind of clothing in Miami…"
The suffocating heat of the city made it unlikely that anyone would wear a thick sweater for long, unless they weren’t used to the climate. Larry leaned in and looked closer at the label.
"This is French… look at the ‘e’ with the umlaut. If the victim was wearing this sweater, they likely had a good economic status. That leaves us with two possibilities: either they recently traveled and bought it in another country, or they were foreign. Either way, it complicates identification."
Larry waved his hand to signal the others to step away, while his thoughts focused on reconstructing the victim’s profile.
The scalpel in Larry’s hand slid with surgical precision over the victim’s abdomen, and as the skin and tissue separated, an unbearable stench filled the autopsy room.
Ángel instinctively stepped back, covering his nose. The putrid odor of decomposition hit him so intensely that he felt his stomach churn.
"I can’t…" Ángel murmured before quickly turning and leaving the room.
Max and Larry, more accustomed to these situations, moved to one of the air extractors, where the foul smell was slightly more tolerable.
About ten minutes passed before everyone returned to continue with the autopsy.
"I’m sorry… just now…" Ángel apologized, still looking a bit pale.
"It’s okay, it's a normal human reaction," Larry replied indifferently, waving his hand to downplay it. Then, without wasting any more time, he resumed the dissection.
He examined the victim’s larynx and neck, but found no signs of strangulation. There were no fractures in the thyroid cartilage or hyoid bone. Everything indicated that the cause of death wasn’t mechanical asphyxiation.
When he opened the trachea, he discovered a significant amount of thick foam blocking the airways.
"Drowning liquid…" Larry murmured, frowning.
Then, his hand paused for a moment over the lifeless body.
Something didn’t add up.
His intuition told him that the victim had been murdered before being thrown into the pond. From the rigidity and state of the body, he strongly suspected that the body had been frozen before being abandoned. But the presence of drowning liquid in the lungs confused him.
"If they died before falling into the water… how is this possible?" he thought, feeling like the key piece of the puzzle was still out of reach.
They examined the lungs. Pulmonary edema was evident, and they were saturated with foam, a finding characteristic of death by drowning. However, there was something else in the picture that felt unsettling.
They took samples of the lung tissue and extracted intracardiac blood, handing them to Max for analysis.
"I want a full toxicology report," Larry ordered. He was still a little confused that his instincts were wrong with the real data.
Meanwhile, the examination of the digestive tract revealed that, due to the advanced state of putrefaction, there were no signs of drowning in that area. As expected, the stomach contents had been expelled through the mouth due to the gases generated in the decomposition process.
Before finishing, they photographed a surgical scar on the victim’s abdomen, indicative of a previous hernia surgery.
Larry stepped back, wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. There were too many loose pieces in this case. And his instincts told him that the answer was closer than it seemed.
Larry made a lateral incision with precision. Despite the severe decomposition in the abdominal cavity, his trained eye soon detected something unusual: a wavy surgical mesh attached to the deceased’s groin.
Carefully, he removed it and rinsed it before placing it under the high-powered magnifying glass.
He frowned as he analyzed the structure of the implant.
"This isn’t a regular patch…"
The size was considerably larger than usual. Judging by the texture and pattern of its surface, it appeared to be an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene patch. They were only used in severe hernia surgeries or cases requiring reinforced repair.
To confirm his hypothesis, he asked the other forensic experts to help turn the body.
The sticky touch of the decomposing skin was an unpleasant sensation, but it wasn’t the first time Larry dealt with it. Not everyone shared his resilience; some technicians barely managed to hold back their nausea and left the room again.
However, Larry remained steadfast. Something caught his attention.
Behind the deceased’s ears, just beneath the skin, there were two spots of a dark green color, subtle but noticeable.
"Max, photograph these areas."
The flashes lit up the room as Max captured the images.
Larry glanced at his team. They were at their limit. The stench, the grotesque sight of the decomposition, and the tension of the autopsy were wearing on everyone.
But the final step remained.
The brain.
The very thought of opening that swollen and deformed skull was unpleasant even for him.
He took two deep breaths, adjusted his posture, and slid his gloved fingers over the head of the corpse, feeling the soft and putrefied texture of the scalp.
"Alright… let’s continue with this."
