TRACE EVIDENCE: The Hunt for the I-5 Serial Killer by Bruce Henderson Read Free Book Online
Authors: Bruce Henderson
the left anterior neck but also present on the right anterior neck. On the posterior surface of the neck, the abrasion is seen to continue around the left side, where it’s quite definite. There’s a faint discontinuous extension around the right posterior side. The mark encircles the neck in a discontinuous fashion at the level of the cricothyroid junction.”
The detectives had noticed at the scene that the ligature marks around the neck were irregular, which seemed odd. When someone is strangled with a ligature, in most cases the red, ugly band extends uninterrupted all the way around the neck. It had been Rosenquist who ventured that perhaps something had gotten caught between the skin and garrote in those areas where the skin showed no ligature marks.
The pathologist offered no opinion on the matter, and moved on. “There are no fingernail scratch marks or other marks about the neck,” he recited. “On the tip of the chin there is a three-quarter-inch mottled abrasion.”
Bertocchini leaned in for a closer look. Medical double-talk aside, to the experienced street cop it looked as if the young woman had been slugged squarely on the jaw.
“On the top of the right shoulder at the acromioclavicular joint, there is a 3-inch cluster of three light purple bruises, faint.”
She’d been held tightly.
“On the right distal forearm near the ulnar styloid, there is a 1-inch group of horizontal scratch abrasions. Above this, there is a faint 1-inch pink bruise.”
These scratches and bruises on her right wrist looked as if she’d been bound.
“On the knees, just above each kneecap, there are brush abrasions measuring an inch and a quarter on the right, 2 inches on the left. Along the left anterior thigh there are faint vertically oriented parallel scratch abrasions. There is also a suggestion of scratch marks oriented vertically on the anterior right thigh. On the medial left thigh, just below midlevel, there is a resolving 1½-inch green-brown bruise with a central area of pallor. Above the right knee on the lower anterior thigh, there is a 1¼-inch pink-brown bruise.”
Bertocchini was trying to put some of the scattered pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together. She had been bound, punched, and roughly grabbed. She’d been made to kneel, long and hard enough to leave bruises on her knees, and perhaps forced to lie on the ground face first, as all the scratches and bruises were on the front of her. When her attacker was finished doing all the terrible things he did, he tightened the ligature around her neck—probably from behind—until she could no longer breathe. Her death had not been painless or quick.
“On the knees just below the kneecaps, there are irregular postmortem pressure marks …”
Marks left after death. Bertocchini could picture it: The killer had a dead body he wanted to stash so he held her by the legs, under the knees, and dragged her on her back down the steep embankment.
The pathologist removed a fresh blade from a silver packet on the small adjacent table and snapped it onto a scalpel handle. It was time to go internal.
From a point above each breast, he made the traditional opening incision, which met at the sternum and sliced downward to the pubis. The large cut formed a perfect Y. He then carved through the fatty tissue that still held the incision together, not with the delicate, deliberate touch of a surgeon, but with the sure-handedness of a butcher dressing a side of beef.
The rib cage was opened with oversized pruning shears, amid loud snapping and cracking noises. In less than a minute, it was cut free and placed intact at the foot of the gurney. After the autopsy, it would be placed back in the body, which at that point would look more like a hand-carved canoe than a human being. The body would then be sewn up before being released to the family for funeral services.
The pathologist examined the various internal organs, finding them normal and free of any disease. He also
The detectives had noticed at the scene that the ligature marks around the neck were irregular, which seemed odd. When someone is strangled with a ligature, in most cases the red, ugly band extends uninterrupted all the way around the neck. It had been Rosenquist who ventured that perhaps something had gotten caught between the skin and garrote in those areas where the skin showed no ligature marks.
The pathologist offered no opinion on the matter, and moved on. “There are no fingernail scratch marks or other marks about the neck,” he recited. “On the tip of the chin there is a three-quarter-inch mottled abrasion.”
Bertocchini leaned in for a closer look. Medical double-talk aside, to the experienced street cop it looked as if the young woman had been slugged squarely on the jaw.
“On the top of the right shoulder at the acromioclavicular joint, there is a 3-inch cluster of three light purple bruises, faint.”
She’d been held tightly.
“On the right distal forearm near the ulnar styloid, there is a 1-inch group of horizontal scratch abrasions. Above this, there is a faint 1-inch pink bruise.”
These scratches and bruises on her right wrist looked as if she’d been bound.
“On the knees, just above each kneecap, there are brush abrasions measuring an inch and a quarter on the right, 2 inches on the left. Along the left anterior thigh there are faint vertically oriented parallel scratch abrasions. There is also a suggestion of scratch marks oriented vertically on the anterior right thigh. On the medial left thigh, just below midlevel, there is a resolving 1½-inch green-brown bruise with a central area of pallor. Above the right knee on the lower anterior thigh, there is a 1¼-inch pink-brown bruise.”
Bertocchini was trying to put some of the scattered pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together. She had been bound, punched, and roughly grabbed. She’d been made to kneel, long and hard enough to leave bruises on her knees, and perhaps forced to lie on the ground face first, as all the scratches and bruises were on the front of her. When her attacker was finished doing all the terrible things he did, he tightened the ligature around her neck—probably from behind—until she could no longer breathe. Her death had not been painless or quick.
“On the knees just below the kneecaps, there are irregular postmortem pressure marks …”
Marks left after death. Bertocchini could picture it: The killer had a dead body he wanted to stash so he held her by the legs, under the knees, and dragged her on her back down the steep embankment.
The pathologist removed a fresh blade from a silver packet on the small adjacent table and snapped it onto a scalpel handle. It was time to go internal.
From a point above each breast, he made the traditional opening incision, which met at the sternum and sliced downward to the pubis. The large cut formed a perfect Y. He then carved through the fatty tissue that still held the incision together, not with the delicate, deliberate touch of a surgeon, but with the sure-handedness of a butcher dressing a side of beef.
The rib cage was opened with oversized pruning shears, amid loud snapping and cracking noises. In less than a minute, it was cut free and placed intact at the foot of the gurney. After the autopsy, it would be placed back in the body, which at that point would look more like a hand-carved canoe than a human being. The body would then be sewn up before being released to the family for funeral services.
The pathologist examined the various internal organs, finding them normal and free of any disease. He also
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