victim's right wrist gave a tentative
identification and an estimated ageþthirty-seven. She was still
dressed in the blood-soaked clothing she had worn when she was found: a
pullover, a T-shirt, blue jeans (zipped), a white bra, beige bikini
panties, black socks and loafers. She wore a gold chain with a pendant
containing clear stones around her neck, and a watch on her left
wrist.
There was a blue cord with a key attached to it wrapped around her
other wrist.
Undressed, the dead woman was almost anorexically thin, so thin that
her ribs and hip bones glowed through her skin. She was five feet five
and one-half inches in height, but she weighed a mere hundred pounds.
Only her face was swollen and puffy. There, Dr. Gunson saw a mass of
injuriesþlacerations, contusions, and abrasions. She counted five
different shapes of lacerations on the top of the head, some were
linear, some were IJ-shaped, and some were too ragged to label
accurately. The facial bones themselves had been fractured, but the
skull had not.
Dr. Gunson dictated into a tape recorder as she listed the fractures
to the left mastoidal areaþsix in all, "lour horizontal and roughly
linear, one oblique, one vertical." There were bruises on the left
upper neck. The cartilage on the top of the left ear was fractured.
"There are a series of lacerations and contusions involving all planes
of the faceþlinear, Y-shaped, triangular, all full thickness
lacerations . . .
including contours of the upper and lower eyelids . . . Iacerations of
both cheeks, multiple small and large lacerations around the mouth .
.
."
The dead woman had four broken teeth, her upper jaw was broken, her
right lower jaw was broken, and the force of that blow had even
displaced her teeth.
Dr. Gunson continued the postmortem procedure with an internal
examination of the skull. She cut the skin at the back of the dead
woman's neck with a scalpel and peeled away the entire scalp like a
tight latex mask, up over the top of the skull, and inside out, down
over the face. She then sawed away the tOp of the skull so that the
brain itself was exposccl. The smell of burned bone, no longer
noticeable to experienced pathologists! filled the room.
Dr. Gunson found extensive hemorrhaging all over the surface of the
brain, but, again, no fracture of the skull itself Like a thousand
other variable characteristics that differentiate one human body from
another, thickness of the skull is one. This victim had a rather thick
bony calvarium, it had done her no good. Ironically, her strong skull
had been an unyielding force that helped to destroy her brain.
Dr. Gunson noted the thick subdural hematoma (large blood clot) over
the right side of the brain. The dead woman's brain had been literally
displaced and squeezed because of traumatic swelling and tremendous
bleeding. "The subject . . . has suffered contra coup injuries. The
head was supported on the right and struck on the left," Dr. Gunson
recorded.
A contra coup injuta to the brain occurs when the head is hit on one
side and the brain is then macerated as it is slammed forcibly against
the opposite side, it is an injury seen often, tragically, in battered
infants and children, inflictcd when they are shaken violently. At the
time this victim was struck repeatedly, the right side of her head had
probably been trapped against some unyielding object. When her head
did not move, her brain had bounced again and again into that side of
her skull.
It was obvious that this shockingly slender victim had not gone down
easily. Her hands and left arm and shoulder bore defense wounds, even
her lower legs and feet were bruisedþinjuries that had occurred,
perhaps, as she fought her attacker or struggled to get away. There
was a peculiar linear abrasion near her waist, a scarlet line
identification and an estimated ageþthirty-seven. She was still
dressed in the blood-soaked clothing she had worn when she was found: a
pullover, a T-shirt, blue jeans (zipped), a white bra, beige bikini
panties, black socks and loafers. She wore a gold chain with a pendant
containing clear stones around her neck, and a watch on her left
wrist.
There was a blue cord with a key attached to it wrapped around her
other wrist.
Undressed, the dead woman was almost anorexically thin, so thin that
her ribs and hip bones glowed through her skin. She was five feet five
and one-half inches in height, but she weighed a mere hundred pounds.
Only her face was swollen and puffy. There, Dr. Gunson saw a mass of
injuriesþlacerations, contusions, and abrasions. She counted five
different shapes of lacerations on the top of the head, some were
linear, some were IJ-shaped, and some were too ragged to label
accurately. The facial bones themselves had been fractured, but the
skull had not.
Dr. Gunson dictated into a tape recorder as she listed the fractures
to the left mastoidal areaþsix in all, "lour horizontal and roughly
linear, one oblique, one vertical." There were bruises on the left
upper neck. The cartilage on the top of the left ear was fractured.
"There are a series of lacerations and contusions involving all planes
of the faceþlinear, Y-shaped, triangular, all full thickness
lacerations . . .
including contours of the upper and lower eyelids . . . Iacerations of
both cheeks, multiple small and large lacerations around the mouth .
.
."
The dead woman had four broken teeth, her upper jaw was broken, her
right lower jaw was broken, and the force of that blow had even
displaced her teeth.
Dr. Gunson continued the postmortem procedure with an internal
examination of the skull. She cut the skin at the back of the dead
woman's neck with a scalpel and peeled away the entire scalp like a
tight latex mask, up over the top of the skull, and inside out, down
over the face. She then sawed away the tOp of the skull so that the
brain itself was exposccl. The smell of burned bone, no longer
noticeable to experienced pathologists! filled the room.
Dr. Gunson found extensive hemorrhaging all over the surface of the
brain, but, again, no fracture of the skull itself Like a thousand
other variable characteristics that differentiate one human body from
another, thickness of the skull is one. This victim had a rather thick
bony calvarium, it had done her no good. Ironically, her strong skull
had been an unyielding force that helped to destroy her brain.
Dr. Gunson noted the thick subdural hematoma (large blood clot) over
the right side of the brain. The dead woman's brain had been literally
displaced and squeezed because of traumatic swelling and tremendous
bleeding. "The subject . . . has suffered contra coup injuries. The
head was supported on the right and struck on the left," Dr. Gunson
recorded.
A contra coup injuta to the brain occurs when the head is hit on one
side and the brain is then macerated as it is slammed forcibly against
the opposite side, it is an injury seen often, tragically, in battered
infants and children, inflictcd when they are shaken violently. At the
time this victim was struck repeatedly, the right side of her head had
probably been trapped against some unyielding object. When her head
did not move, her brain had bounced again and again into that side of
her skull.
It was obvious that this shockingly slender victim had not gone down
easily. Her hands and left arm and shoulder bore defense wounds, even
her lower legs and feet were bruisedþinjuries that had occurred,
perhaps, as she fought her attacker or struggled to get away. There
was a peculiar linear abrasion near her waist, a scarlet line
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