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🕑 Added 2025-04-20 03:56:36 +0000 UTCAnatomy of a Killer
Chapter 61 - The Mystery of Road
When Ángel made an observation that seemed more like a relevant clue to the case than a simple question, Larry looked at him with interest and replied, “Good observation.”
Larry approached the remains with a thoughtful expression and continued, “The deceased was missing several teeth, but not due to professional extraction or obvious trauma. Rather, it seems she suffered premature loss of baby teeth. This caused the dental arch to shorten, suggesting issues with maxillofacial development.”
Getting a little closer, Larry explained in detail: “The optimal time to treat these malformations is between 7 and 11 years old. The correction of permanent teeth is typically done between 12 and 18. If treatment starts during growth, stabilization is much more effective.”
“Then…”
“In this case, the deceased was about 21 years old. At that age, orthodontic corrections are possible, but they take more time, and the result is not always ideal.”
Larry paused, as if savoring the deduction he was about to reveal. “But this gives us an important clue.”
Masuka frowned, intrigued. “What kind of clue?”
Larry focused on the lower jaw of the skull, squinting and said, “Going to the dentist isn’t cheap, in any country. And getting orthodontic treatment as an adult is even more expensive. I paid over a thousand dollars for a wisdom tooth extraction. So if this young woman decided to undergo treatment recently, it’s likely that her family couldn’t afford it when she was a child.”
After saying that, Larry gestured with his hand as if pushing aside an invisible curtain. “This indicates that she grew up in an economically disadvantaged environment, her situation was so bad that even having insurance was impossible for her. It’s possible her parents didn’t have an education or awareness of the importance of dental care. Perhaps she was raised by her father, since these kinds of decisions often fall on the mother, if she’s present.”
Larry leaned closer to the jaw again: “Also, she’s wearing homemade or low-cost braces, which confirms that she now has income, but limited. She doesn’t go to a specialized clinic. She doesn’t have access to the best.”
Finishing his explanation, Larry turned to the others with a serious expression and concluded: “My preliminary profile is as follows:
Gender: Female.
Height: Between 162 and 164 centimeters.
Age: Between 20 and 21 years old.
Education level: Low.
Occupation: Likely works in the urban-rural outskirts of Florida.
Socioeconomic level: Low.
Family background: Orphan or only has one relative.
Physical appearance: Average.
Personal life: Likely has a partner or emotional interest.”
Then, as if Larry had remembered something crucial, he added: “Oh, I almost forgot. The hair… There’s more than six centimeters of natural black roots, and the rest is dyed brown. That indicates a deliberate aesthetic change, probably done for a special event two or three months ago.”
Ángel looked at him, surprised, almost incredulous. “You can deduce all that… Just from a skeleton?”
Larry raised an eyebrow, not responding. The answer was obvious to him.
The dead are just bones, yes. But when read correctly, they tell stories. Real stories that can be written on paper and used in court. That’s the power Larry has gained through years of study and professional practice in his field.
Max, who had been watching, seemed amazed, as if witnessing a magic trick. Although it all sounded mystical, his deductions were solid and logical if one stopped to think about them.
“I detected several of those things…” Masuka envied Larry in that regard, but he definitely wouldn’t want to be as intelligent as him. “But I didn’t come to that conclusion.”
Larry said nothing. He just looked at him with a mixture of respect. After all, Masuka wasn’t a criminal profiler. When you combine a profiler with a pathologist, the things one notices are much more evident than what a pathologist would see.
Shortly after, Max returned with the items he had sent for inspection. He handed Larry several devices he had requested and carefully placed them in evidence bags.
Along with Masuka and Max, Larry began reviewing the long bones of the extremities and torso. They found no fractures or signs of mechanical violence.
Masuka, who had been taking notes, straightened up with difficulty, complaining of back pain from having been bent over for so long.
“There was no struggle…” Larry continued pulling out details.
“The body shows no signs of resistance.”
“Look at the skull!” Larry suddenly said.
He placed the skull under a high-precision magnifying glass he had installed next to the dissection table. The LED light ring surrounded the lens, allowing him to adjust the intensity as needed. It was an expensive piece of equipment, but the only one he had specifically requested upon arriving at the center.
Simple in appearance, but invaluable to a good forensic scientist.
In addition to the holes caused by the screwdriver, a small semicircular indentation was found on the top of the skull. The mark was so shallow that it was almost imperceptible to the naked eye and could only be detected by carefully turning the skull.
At the same time, a very small linear fracture in the left parietal bone was noticed.
“This is a linear fracture,” Masuka said, visibly excited, pointing to the area with bright eyes.
Larry examined the spot carefully and nodded. “Yes, this could explain why the victim was so injured but showed no signs of resistance. It’s most likely that she lost consciousness after a direct blow to the head and was then repeatedly stabbed without the chance to defend herself.”
But something didn’t quite add up. Larry held a pen and placed it along the direction of the fracture. However, the semicircular indentation didn’t match the impact plane, and even if the line of the blow was extended, it wasn’t possible to reach that exact angle.
This meant that at least three different objects had been involved in the assault: a screwdriver, a wooden object, probably a stick, and a third unknown instrument, semicircular in shape.
“Could the fracture and the semicircular mark have been caused by the same tool?” Larry asked aloud.
Masuka stepped forward, took another pen, and crossed it with Larry’s, forming a “T.” He then mimicked a downward movement, showing how two impacts could have occurred simultaneously.
Both said in unison: “A hammer!”
Ángel furrowed his brow as he looked at the skull in the hands of the two men.
“Not necessarily!”
After saying that, Ángel explained from his personal knowledge:
“If someone wanted to knock out the victim with a hammer, logically they would use the metal part. That would cause more damage and increase the chances of rendering her unconscious. Why use the wooden handle and then switch to another tool to kill her? It doesn’t make sense.”
“I asked myself the same question.”
“Look here,” Larry said, showing them a specific point on the skull, and then explained: “This is exactly the point that worries me.”
“The wound on the top of the skull and the puncture from the screwdriver show clear differences in force and angle. This leaves two possibilities: either there was a third attacker, or the assailant didn’t use all their strength when striking her.”
“Hit without full force?” Ángel repeated, puzzled, then asked: “If your intention is to kill, why not use all the available force?”
“It doesn’t make sense for someone to hit the victim with a hammer ‘half-heartedly,’ as if they were casually chatting while doing it,” Larry said, thoughtfully.
He knew Ángel was right.
The truth would only come to light when they caught the killer.
At that moment, Dexter arrived with his report.
“Dexter, you arrived just in time, tell me about the bloodstains you found at the scene!” Ángel said, crossing his arms with an expectant expression.
“About ten meters from the crime scene, just at nine o’clock,” Dexter began to place the photographs he had taken on a whiteboard and then said: “We found a blood pool in the shape of a pumpkin.”
“There were numerous drops scattered among the leaves, bushes, and the surrounding grass. Next to the blood pool shaped like a pumpkin, there was only a clean area, with no traces. It’s clear that this was the spot where the killer stood.”
“Also, on the trunk of a nearby tree, there were bloodstains that seemed to have been left erratically, as if someone staggered while leaving them. A trail of blood drops led from there to where the victim’s remains were found, and then disappeared.”
“The killer deliberately chose that spot to hide the body,” Larry added, then said: “The forest is denser in that area, with good coverage from above. If it weren’t for the city planning to urbanize the area and make it part of the city, the cleanup workers would have never gone there. The bloodstains were covered with dry leaves during the winter and were almost completely erased.”
Larry fell silent for a few seconds, observing the bone joints of the skull with a serious expression. Then he murmured to himself: “If two people attacked the victim… One of them clearly left no clue, other than the wound they caused. They didn’t say anything. They didn’t leave any direct evidence. If that second person was a man, then the victim probably knew him well. Maybe she trusted him, that’s why she agreed to meet him in such a secluded place, which is likely unless it was a kidnapping. But once again, there’s no sign of self-defense in her bones.”
After thinking about that, Larry paused and reflected aloud: “The killer and the victim knew each other. It could have been a coworker, someone from the village, an ex-classmate… Even a friend.”
At that moment, as he clicked on a photograph of the crime scene, the LCD screen next to the autopsy table displayed the position where the victim’s remains were found.
“Look at this!” Larry pointed, enlarging the image: “The deceased’s right leg was bent and tied with stockings. The left leg was extended in the opposite direction. When we were at the scene, I didn’t dare make any assumptions... But now I’m sure.”
“What do you conclude?” Ángel asked, frowning.
“The victim was sexually assaulted before dying,” Larry said seriously, then condensed everything he knew, explaining: “This was a rape followed by a murder. The first blow with the hammer could have been accidental, something that happened during the struggle. But then, for some reason, maybe a gesture, a word, a plea, the attacker lost control… And killed her.”
Larry looked at his assistant and asked: “Max, do we have any results from the analysis the lab was doing?”
