American forensics, but the gourmet system

Brooklyn Medical Examiner's Center, basement level.

Russell stood before the autopsy table, holding a thick stack of documents in his hand. On the table were...

One leg.

The superficial muscle tissue and blood vessels of the leg have disappeared, and about 50% of the surface is covered with a black carbonized layer, making it look particularly eerie.

Behind Russell was a table with dozens of evidence bags in a box. These were physical evidence left by forensic technicians when the leg was discovered two years ago.

While the officers of the Major Crimes Unit were still writing the case report on the murder of Joey Cruz by Carey Rupert, Russell, who had some free time, was called back to the forensic center by Dr. Beckman to investigate a two-year-old cold case.

The unsolved cases cannot remain unsolved, and the formal forensic pathologist Russell cannot remain idle indefinitely.

However, the backlog of cases that Dr. Beckman assigned to Russell was indeed quite difficult.

Two years ago, this human leg was discovered in the sewers of the old industrial area of ​​Bushwick, Brooklyn, when a drunk worker vomited into the sewer drain.

The initial on-site investigation yielded no results. The foul-smelling sewage in the sewer had long since destroyed the traces on the surface of the limb, and the leg had also been scorched at high temperatures with an alcohol spray gun, causing all the skin to peel off and the surface of the muscle tissue to be covered with a carbonized layer.

The scope of the in-depth on-site investigation was expanded to include sewers, garbage cans, and storage rooms within a radius of 500 meters, but nothing was found.

It looked as if this human's right leg had fallen from the sky.

The forensic examination yielded more conclusions than the on-site investigation. They peeled back some of the carbonized tissue on the surface of the thigh, examined the fracture site, and analyzed the DNA of the severed leg.

Judging from the extent to which the sewage permeated the carbonized tissue on the surface and the degree of decay of the limb, the leg was probably discarded in the sewer about 3-4 days before it was discovered.

The NYPD retrieved nearby surveillance footage based on the time estimated by the forensic pathologist, but due to the numerous blind spots in the surveillance system, they found nothing.

The forensic pathologist continued to determine from the length of the tibia that the leg belonged to a male who was five feet nine inches tall (approximately 1.75 meters; Russell abhorred imperial units, but the United States officially does not use metric units). The leg was cut off from where it should have been using a handheld chainsaw, with the cut occurring ten inches (approximately 25.4 centimeters) above the knee.

Bone samples were taken from the incision site to test bone density, which determined that the leg belonged to a young person between 22 and 28 years old.

Samples taken from the carbonized surface revealed 26 different trace evidences, but the value of these surface-residual evidences was not high. The reason is simple: the situation in the sewers was too complicated. In addition to sewage sludge of unknown origin, there was even vomit from intoxicated workers...

  

There is no way to determine whether these trace pieces of evidence were brought from the crime scene or were contaminated in the sewage sludge of the sewer.

In addition, at the same time the leg was discovered, there were five other murder cases in Brooklyn that needed to be solved. So after the above routine tests were completed, the limb was put aside.

It was kept frozen in the freezer at the forensic center until today.

In fact, this leg has been in service for more than a year longer than Russell's.

In the past two years, OCME has also organized two reinvestigations into the remains, but because there was too much lack of evidence when they were first discovered, these two reinvestigations have yielded little result.

However, these two reopened investigations were not entirely fruitless; 17 of the 26 types of trace evidence were detected during these two investigations.

Russell was somewhat surprised when he received the case file from Dr. Beckman. At least five formal forensic doctors had handled the leg, and none of them had been able to find any clues, or even confirm the identity of the deceased.

Russell didn't quite believe he was better than the five certified medical examiners combined.

But Dr. Beckman pulled him aside and whispered:

"These kinds of cold cases are the hardest to solve, everyone knows that, so you don't need to feel too much pressure..."

Russell suddenly realized that this was a paid opportunity for him to slack off, as arranged by Dr. Beckman.

"However..." Dr. Beckman changed the subject, "if you could have another epiphany and solve this cold case, it would be good for your future promotion."

Bertrand Russell wholeheartedly agreed.

The promotion criteria at OCME are extremely stringent; Russell's outstanding performance in the last case didn't even earn him an internal commendation.

Forensic pathologists do have performance evaluations, but unlike what most people understand, their performance evaluations are not based on their specific performance in cases. Instead, they look at quantifiable indicators such as the timeliness of autopsy report completion, the accuracy rate of cause of death determination, and the acceptance rate of testimony in court.

Anyone who has experienced performance appraisals understands that performance indicators are often not directly correlated with actual work performance.

For a newly appointed forensic pathologist to quickly gain the attention of OCME's senior management, solving long-standing cold cases is an essential step, rather than relying on seniority for promotion and salary increases.

"And..." Dr. Beckman added at the end, "the official reward for this case has been increased to thirty thousand US dollars..."

Russell was immediately filled with enthusiasm.

For the sake of the $30,000, Russell took the case file and took the leg out of the freezer.

However, even with the $30,000 bait in hand, Russell still felt like a dog biting a hedgehog when looking at this leg that had been with him for longer than he had.

It's really hard to know where to begin.

Russell put on nitrile gloves and, while the severed leg thawed, bent down to examine its appearance closely. He couldn't help but think of those beef shanks soaking in marinade…

After all, beef shank also comes from the cow's thigh, and it's pretty much the same as the remaining muscle tissue on this leg...

Russell shook his head, banishing these chaotic thoughts from his mind, and began to observe again.

Observe and think at the same time.

He was reflecting on his strengths.

In terms of experience and forensic knowledge, Russell was certainly no match for the previous forensic doctors. However, Russell wasn't entirely without advantages; his advantage lay in possessing a powerful... gourmet system.

The system currently grants Russell two abilities: the skill of a master butcher (beginner level) and the technique of controlling the heat (master level).

Russell was 100% certain that he was far superior to other forensic doctors in these two skills.

However, how do these two abilities help in solving cases?

The butcher's knife skills are temporarily useless, and the heat control technique... Yes, this leg was indeed heated with an alcohol spray gun, but the problem is that the original appearance of this leg when it was discovered has long been destroyed by multiple examinations and evidence collection.

Even with Russell's masterful eye for controlling the heat, he couldn't see anything wrong with the carbonized layer remaining on this leg.

Russell reopened the case file, which indeed contained numerous photographs of the leg: crime scene photos, detailed photos, examination photos… horizontal, vertical, diagonal, photos with the surface carbonized layer peeled away…

He flipped through the photos, his brows slowly furrowing.

He did indeed discover the problem.

Judging from the color of the carbonized layer on the surface of these photos, although they are all pitch black, Russell's masterful control of the heat indicates that the carbonized layer on the side of the calf is darker.

This means that the carbonized layer on the deceased's lower leg appears to be thicker than that on his thigh...

Neither the forensic examination report nor the on-site investigation report mentioned this point.

"The carbonized layer thickness is between 0.3 and 0.7 inches..." Russell continued flipping through the reports in the file, muttering to himself, "Damn imperial units... This report doesn't say where the carbonized layer is thickest, no, no, not here either... Don't blame the forensic doctor, even the carbonized layer thickness on the calf is uneven, the outer part of the calf has a thicker carbonized layer than the other parts... If I'm not mistaken..."

Russell decided to trust his eyes.

So, what does a thicker carbonized layer mean?

Russell shifted his leg, and the frozen, stiff leg collided with the dismemberment table with a dull thud.

He stared at the outside of his calf, where the carbonized layer had been completely stripped away, leaving only a thin layer of muscle tissue covering the tibia.

Russell took out his phone and dialed Dr. Beckman.