Chapter 424 The real cause of death

Chapter 424 The real cause of death

No murderer?

Was this an accident?

But Ritsuko Usui is in good health and has no record of past illnesses.

Could it be

"Did she really die of acute alcohol poisoning?"

Saku Hashi's expression was a little strange:

He went to such great lengths to fake the scene and sacrificed himself to take the blame, but in the end Ritsuko Usui drank himself to death?

Lin Xinyi neither agreed nor objected to this question.

He just said carefully:

"According to my speculation, Ritsuko Usui's death is indeed inseparable from her drunkenness."

"As for whether there is a combined effect of alcohol poisoning, I can't make an accurate conclusion just by examining the body surface."

"In short, what we know for sure now is:"

"Ritsuko Usui drank a lot during her lifetime."

"So there was still a strong smell of alcohol on her body, and several bottles of wine were consumed in the small wine cabinet in the room."

Ritsuko Usui drank a lot of wine at the dinner party.

Several empty wine bottles were left in the room.

Exclude the small chance that Wu Song could slip and shovel a tiger after drinking 18 bowls of wine.

So much alcohol poured into the stomach is enough to make any adult feel dizzy and weak.

"And after getting drunk, Ritsuko Usui staggered to the bed and wanted to lie down and rest."

"But before she could successfully touch her bed, she accidentally fell to the ground beside the bed."

"And he still landed face first."

"This" Mao Lilan was a little confused: "Mr. Lin, you said she once fell down on her face?"

"But there doesn't seem to be any obvious trauma on Ms. Ritsuko Usui's body, right?"

The carpet in this room is thick and soft.

So even if someone falls on it, there is a high probability that there will be no trauma on the body.

Mao Lilan knows this.

What's strange about her is:

Since there were no obvious external injuries on Ritsuko Usui's body, Lin Xinyi, who had only performed a postmortem examination, was on what basis to infer that she had had a fall before her death?

"Because of the bleeding inside her mouth."

Lin Xinyi explained calmly.

"Bleeding?"

"The bleeding is not due to suffocation."

Mao Lilan subconsciously questioned, but suddenly reacted:

She had previously concluded that Ritsuko Usui died of suffocation because she found signs of bleeding in the mouth of the corpse.

Now, Lin Xinyi has ruled out the possibility of murder.

Obviously, the bleeding in the mouth could no longer be caused by someone suffocating the deceased's mouth and nose.

Oral formation occurs due to

"Ritsuko Usui once fell on her face."

Lin Xinyi gave the final answer,

"Forcibly suffocating the mouth and nose will cause widespread spot and patchy bleeding in the lips and nasal mucosa. The amount of bleeding will not be so small, and the location will be limited to the front end."

"In this case, the bleeding in the mucosa and muscles at the front edge of the tongue of the deceased was limited, the damage was deep, and the amount of bleeding was relatively small."

"This is obviously caused by violent collision between the oral mucosa and the corresponding teeth."

"So it can be ruled out that stuffing the mouth and nose causes suffocation."

"And her teeth collided violently with the oral mucosa. When the body was found, it was still in a prone position with her face down. We can basically determine that she had fallen face down."

"Well" Mao Lilan lowered his head in embarrassment.

Saku Hashi's expression was also complicated and awkward.

They all relied on their inexperienced and half-baked forensic knowledge. When they saw signs of suffocation and bleeding from the mouth, they subconsciously judged that the deceased died of suffocation.

As a result, one almost led the investigation astray, and the other almost cheated himself to death.

"Then why did Ritsuko Usui suffocate?"

Mao Lilan had greater doubts in her heart

The possibility of suffocation was ruled out, and there were no marks of strangulation, strangulation, or covering on the surface of the body.

So how did she suffocate?

Is it because of drugs, illness, or acute alcoholism?

All of these are possible, but they cannot be determined by examining the corpse.

Could it be

Mao Lilan thought of a term that she had only seen in books:

"Is it because of positional asphyxia?"

"That's right."

Lin Xinyi nodded with satisfaction:

"It's because of positional asphyxia."

Orthostatic asphyxia is a suffocation death caused by the body being restricted in an abnormal position for a long time, which blocks respiratory movement and venous return.

Among the common "abnormal postures" are:

Bind the upper limbs for a suspension, bind the chest and abdomen for a horizontal suspension, and secure the limbs to the back.

Most of the people who died because of this were corporal punishment, torture, and bondage for some strange reasons.

This time, Ritsuko Usui's body position and cause of death were relatively rare:

"She was drunk after landing on her face, and her neck was excessively flexed for a long time, resulting in positional asphyxia."

"We can tell this from the corpse spots on the side of her chest."

Corpse stains are helpful evidence that helps forensic scientists infer the posture of the deceased's body.

Although due to the principle of "water flows to lower places", the blood will accumulate to a lower level under the action of gravity, forming spots on the lower parts of the body.

But generally speaking, when a corpse is in a prone position, its chest, abdomen, arms, thighs and other parts that seem to be the lowest and most likely to form corpse spots will be in direct contact with the ground.

The weight of the corpse presses on these parts that are close to the ground. The tissues in these parts are like sponges that are always pressed hard and cannot absorb water at all.

If blood cannot flow in, corpse spots will naturally not form.

Therefore, it is difficult for corpse spots to form in these parts that are directly under pressure. Blood will only accumulate around these parts, or on the sides of the corpse, and cannot be poured through.

"But Ritsuko Usui is different."

"Her chest was covered in cadaverous plaque."

"This means that during the time when she was lying prone on the ground after her death, her upper body should have been slightly suspended in the air."

The upper body is slightly suspended in the air and remains prone.

The weight of the body must naturally be borne by the arms, head, and neck.

"Mr. Saku."

Lin Xinyi did not directly tell his speculation, but turned to look at Saku Hoshi:

"You are the only one who has seen the body in its original form."

"And you just said that Ritsuko Usui was lying on the ground at first."

"So, can you describe in detail how she was lying on her stomach at that time?"

"Uh" Saku Hoshi was slightly startled: "Okay."

He told what he saw at that time.

And his description was almost the same as Lin Xinyi’s guess:

That is, the arms are supported on the ground, the head is pressed hard on the ground, the neck is deeply bent, and the chin is pressed against the chest.

This position is very uncomfortable.

Because all the weight is placed on the neck, the neck will soon feel sore and it will be difficult to breathe.

Even if an average person accidentally fell down and fell into this position, they would probably instinctively adjust quickly.

Dan Usui Ritsuko.

"She was too drunk."

"People cannot even do the most instinctive self-rescue after being severely drunk."

"She was so drunk that she completely lost consciousness. She fell down there and took advantage of the situation to sleep there."

"But this sleeping posture of excessively bending her neck put tremendous pressure on her neck, and also blocked the airway in her throat, making it difficult to breathe."

"Maintaining this position for a long time can impede airway ventilation and cause fatal suffocation."

"Long-term breathing obstruction will lead to hypoxia and carbon dioxide retention in the body, causing respiratory acidosis. Hydrogen ions in the plasma will increase and transfer to the cells. Potassium ions in the cells will escape, causing hyperkalemia, causing myocardial excitation, Arrhythmia.”

Lin Xinyi explained the cause of death of Ritsuko Usui in detail.

Some of the people present were amazed, but some were still doubtful.

Someone quietly looked at Lin Xinyi and Fei Yingli, as if they had doubts about both of them.

"I know what you are suspecting:"

"First of all, I doubt whether my speculation of 'postural asphyxia' is correct."

"About this, I can't really draw a conclusion now."

"Because this must be answered through rigorous autopsy."

Based on simple body surface examination, we can only make speculations but not conclusions.

To make a conclusion about positional asphyxia:

First of all, it is necessary to rule out some diseases that may cause suffocation and lead to short-term death after confirming that there is only suffocation and no pathological changes.

Secondly, the possibility of sudden death caused by alcohol, drugs and other drugs must be ruled out.

"These can all be addressed through an autopsy."

"And the most important thing is:"

Lin Xinyi pointed at Ritsuko Usui's neck from afar:

Ritsuko Usui's neck was clean, and she didn't seem to have any injuries.

but

"If my guess is correct, she died of positional asphyxia caused by excessive neck flexion for a long time."

"Then her neck organs were compressed for a long time in the neck flexion state, venous return was blocked, tracheal ventilation dysfunction, and the pressure in the submucosal blood vessels of local tissues and organs increased, which would definitely lead to extensive blood vessel rupture and bleeding."

"These hemorrhages occur inside the neck and cannot be seen with the naked eye on the surface of the body."

"But as long as an autopsy is performed, extensive spot-like bleeding will definitely be found in the base of the tongue, laryngeal cavity wall, epiglottis cartilage, trachea and esophagus of the deceased."

What he says now is just speculation.

But as long as further autopsy is done, it will be easy to find evidence for his speculation.

It's easy to verify this:

"So, based on the clues available so far, I speculate:"

"Ritsuko Usui died of positional asphyxia caused by an accident."

"There may also be a co-occurring effect of alcoholism."

“But no matter what”

Lin Xinyi concluded in a serious tone:

"This should all be just an accident."