Diary of a Criminal Investigator

Chapter 699: Chapter 699: Ruling Out Accidental Death

After a person is poisoned by carbon monoxide, they experience symptoms such as nausea and vomiting.

Severe carbon monoxide poisoning can gradually lead to loss of consciousness and eventually death by asphyxiation.

The surface characteristics of a body that died from carbon monoxide poisoning are very obvious.

The blood vessels on the skin surface appear distinctly in a linear pattern and exhibit a dark red color.

The mucous membranes, and inside the nasal cavity, present a delicate pink color.

Examining a body that died from carbon monoxide poisoning is the first lesson for a forensic doctor and crime scene investigation police.

Or put another way, any criminal police officer can generally recognize the characteristics of a body that died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

After putting on gloves, Lu Chuan stepped forward to examine the two corpses, prying open their eyelids and opening their mouths to check the condition inside.

After just a moment, it was basically determined that both victims indeed died from carbon monoxide poisoning.

The police officers from the local station, responsible for maintaining order, had already set up a police line around the area.

There were relatively fewer people from the community coming to watch the commotion.

After all, it was at the entrance of the City Public Security Bureau’s housing complex.

When Lu Chuan came to pick up Shen Yan in the morning, he made a phone call to her.

Vice Director Shen also learned that Lu Chuan had unexpectedly discovered two corpses at the entrance of the complex.

Within the community, many of the city bureau’s leaders resided, and they all gradually got the news.

Therefore, the leaders were now most concerned about the identities of the deceased.

Were they police officers or family members?

The identities of the two deceased were quickly confirmed.

Fortunately, neither of them were police officers.

However, the woman who died in the car lived in this community, but she had moved in from outside and was not a family member.

"Lu Chuan, are you saying that you saw someone in the car last night and only thought something was wrong when you saw people inside this morning, right?"

Zhang Hui asked.

Lu Chuan nodded.

"Shen Yan and I were working overtime last night, and when we returned, it was around 10 pm, and there was already someone in the car."

"This morning when I came to pick up Shen Yan and saw someone still in the car, it seemed a bit off."

Zhang Hui thought for a moment and then asked, "Do you think it was murder or an accident?"

Just because someone dies doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a criminal case.

Especially when the two victims died inside a car at night from carbon monoxide poisoning.

There’s a possibility that poor vehicle chassis sealing could have allowed exhaust gas to enter the car, and the two did not notice, ultimately leading to carbon monoxide poisoning.

"It’s hard to say; both are possible."

Lu Chuan did not provide a definite answer.

After examining the corpses, Lu Chuan walked around the car to conduct an inspection and examination of the vehicle.

The vehicle driven by the deceased was relatively old, and its sealing was undoubtedly poor, as Zhang Hui mentioned. If there was an exhaust leak, it could have led to unconsciousness and accidental carbon monoxide poisoning and death.

However, in recent years, cases of carbon monoxide poisoning have become less frequent compared to earlier times.

In the past years, due to inadequate economic and societal development, private cars were not fully popularized.

Common people mostly traveled by taking buses or long-distance coaches.

During operation, especially in winter, long-distance buses were often sealed with plastic or other windproof materials for warmth.

The chassis sealing of those long-distance buses was very poor, allowing exhaust fumes to enter the passenger compartment, but the compartment itself was well-sealed, preventing the fumes from escaping, often resulting in collective carbon monoxide poisoning.

However, in recent years, cases of carbon monoxide poisoning in private cars are extremely rare by comparison.

"Check the surveillance."

Zhang Hui also felt that the cause of death and place of death alone weren’t enough to determine whether the deaths were accidental or murders.

"Brother Hui, send a team to gather information from the families."

While checking the bodies, Lu Chuan found a condom in the male victim’s jacket pocket.

When confirming their identities, Lu Chuan realized that the relationship between the two victims seemed quite complicated.

Meeting in a car on the roadside late at night and then dying together didn’t seem like a normal scenario.

While the action team started their investigation, Lu Chuan didn’t remain idle either.

He meticulously examined the vehicle.

Lu Chuan recalled what he saw the night before.

When he drove into the community, the car was parked on the roadside.

Due to the cold weather these days, Lu Chuan noticed heavy exhaust emissions from the car.

In other words, when Lu Chuan came to the community last night, the car appeared to be running.

But when he checked this morning, the car was off.

If the cause of death for the two individuals was carbon monoxide poisoning and accidental,

the source of carbon monoxide should’ve been exhaust fumes entering the vehicle.

Carbon monoxide poisoning causes victims to be unaware during the process of dying.

Suggesting that individuals poisoned by carbon monoxide might struggle to self-rescue because the initial symptoms are subtle.

By the time significant symptoms appear, the person is already losing consciousness.

Even if the brain has a self-rescue impulse, the body’s lack of oxygen makes it difficult to respond effectively.

Previously, some carbon monoxide poisoning victims were found dead just at the brink of opening a door, for this very reason.

Therefore, the reason the car turned off from running the previous night until this morning was likely not due to the driver consciously turning it off.

Instead, it was because the fuel burned out completely, forcing the vehicle to stop.

Therefore, Lu Chuan needed to check whether there was still fuel in the vehicle’s tank.

If there wasn’t, it would mean the fuel was entirely consumed.

Implying the car was running continually from the previous night.

This aligns with the external logic of the two dying from accidental carbon monoxide poisoning.

However, if the fuel was not completely used up, then the deaths might not be mere accidents.

The reason being if they died from carbon monoxide produced by engine exhaust,

and if the car still had fuel after their deaths, the question would arise: who turned off the car’s engine?

The test method was simple; Lu Chuan turned the ignition key to start the car.

Crunch, crunch...

The engine roared, long and sustained.

Although the bodies had been removed, Lu Chuan did not sit directly in the driver’s seat but hovered over it, with his left foot outside the car and his right foot pressing the brake inside, as he started the car.

Since it was a cold start, the vehicle seemed to struggle to ignite...

But then!

Vroom!

Just when it seemed like the battery would deplete, the engine roared to life.

Lu Chuan looked up at the dashboard.

The fuel gauge indicated that half the tank was still full!

With so much fuel left in the tank, it showed that the vehicle didn’t stop naturally.

The deaths of the two individuals couldn’t have been accidental.