if that’s what killed her. Drugs. Alcohol. Whatever she ate for her last meal. Semen, if the killer left any behind.’ She ran a small high-intensity light over the body and began her examination.
‘She is dead, isn’t she?’ asked Maggie. ‘None of this “Frozen corpse comes back to life. Leaps off autopsy table”?’
Terri looked up, amused. ‘Y’mean, like you see in the Enquirer ?’
‘Yeah. Like that.’
‘Sorry, Mag. No leaping for this lady. She’s dead.’
‘Any idea what killed her?’ asked McCabe.
‘Yes.’ Terri was now leaning deep into the trunk. She was holding Jane Doe’s hair up with one gloved hand and shining the light on the back of her neck with the other. ‘It looks like the killer knew what he was doing. Here. Take a look.’
McCabe squeezed in next to Terri. She pointed a gloved finger to a wound in the small indentation in the back of Jane Doe’s neck. Right where the head and the neck connect. A small wound, no more than half an inch across. ‘That’s what killed her?’ he asked.
‘Yes. Looks like the killer pushed a thin-bladed knife or possibly an ice pick up into the base of her skull at the C1 vertebra. Probably went through the foramen magnum and into the brain stem.’
‘The foramen what?’
‘The foramen magnum. It’s a small opening at the base of the skull. The spinal cord goes through it to attach to the brain stem. If the killer gets it right, he severs the spine from the brain; cardiac and respiratory systems stop working. The victim falls to the ground dead.’
‘Just like that?’
‘Just like that.’
‘Doesn’t look like there was much bleeding.’
‘He didn’t hit any major blood vessels.’
‘Death was instantaneous?’ asked Maggie.
‘Yes. It’s called pithing. It’s one of the very few injuries that cause virtually instantaneous death. Victim goes down like a rag doll.’
‘If he hits the wrong spot?’
‘He ends up with a messy, possibly nonlethal wound.’
‘So the creep knows his anatomy.’
‘Yes. Unless he was just lucky, he knows his anatomy well enough to know the effect. Though, if the victim is immobilized, and it looks like she may have been, it’s pretty easy to put the knife where you want it.’
‘You’re sure that’s what killed her?’
‘About as sure as I can be until I get her in for the autopsy, and we can’t do that until she thaws out. It’ll be three or four days at the very least. Probably more like a week.’
‘A week? Jesus. Can’t we do it faster?’ asked Maggie. ‘Maybe soak her in a tub under running water? That’s how my mom handled the Butterballs.’
‘Unfortunately, she’s not a turkey. We thaw her too fast and we end up with tissue damage. The outside starts decomposing while the internal organs are still frozen. That’ll interfere with some of the tests I need to run. Plus, soaking her in water could wash away any trace evidence on or in the body. We’ll just have to wait.’
‘A week?’
‘For a total thaw, yes. We’ll put her in the refrigeration unit at the lab, and at a constant thirty-eight degrees, it’ll take about a week. Doing it that way minimizes decomp. Helps us learn more about what or who killed her. However, we should be able to get some information sooner.’
‘Like what?’
‘Well, I’ll be able to check the body surface almost immediately, and clip her nails in case she scratched her attacker. If there’s any hair or saliva or skin cells that aren’t hers, we’ll find them. Also I should be able to move her limbs enough in a day or so to do an internal swab and check for semen.’ Even going over the gory details Terri sounded cheerful. She was one of those people who loved her job. Unraveling the mysteries of the dead , as they might have said on the Discovery Channel. McCabe found forensic pathology a strange way to get your jollies, but he guessed that’s what made Terri so good at it.
She went back to her task of looking over the
‘She is dead, isn’t she?’ asked Maggie. ‘None of this “Frozen corpse comes back to life. Leaps off autopsy table”?’
Terri looked up, amused. ‘Y’mean, like you see in the Enquirer ?’
‘Yeah. Like that.’
‘Sorry, Mag. No leaping for this lady. She’s dead.’
‘Any idea what killed her?’ asked McCabe.
‘Yes.’ Terri was now leaning deep into the trunk. She was holding Jane Doe’s hair up with one gloved hand and shining the light on the back of her neck with the other. ‘It looks like the killer knew what he was doing. Here. Take a look.’
McCabe squeezed in next to Terri. She pointed a gloved finger to a wound in the small indentation in the back of Jane Doe’s neck. Right where the head and the neck connect. A small wound, no more than half an inch across. ‘That’s what killed her?’ he asked.
‘Yes. Looks like the killer pushed a thin-bladed knife or possibly an ice pick up into the base of her skull at the C1 vertebra. Probably went through the foramen magnum and into the brain stem.’
‘The foramen what?’
‘The foramen magnum. It’s a small opening at the base of the skull. The spinal cord goes through it to attach to the brain stem. If the killer gets it right, he severs the spine from the brain; cardiac and respiratory systems stop working. The victim falls to the ground dead.’
‘Just like that?’
‘Just like that.’
‘Doesn’t look like there was much bleeding.’
‘He didn’t hit any major blood vessels.’
‘Death was instantaneous?’ asked Maggie.
‘Yes. It’s called pithing. It’s one of the very few injuries that cause virtually instantaneous death. Victim goes down like a rag doll.’
‘If he hits the wrong spot?’
‘He ends up with a messy, possibly nonlethal wound.’
‘So the creep knows his anatomy.’
‘Yes. Unless he was just lucky, he knows his anatomy well enough to know the effect. Though, if the victim is immobilized, and it looks like she may have been, it’s pretty easy to put the knife where you want it.’
‘You’re sure that’s what killed her?’
‘About as sure as I can be until I get her in for the autopsy, and we can’t do that until she thaws out. It’ll be three or four days at the very least. Probably more like a week.’
‘A week? Jesus. Can’t we do it faster?’ asked Maggie. ‘Maybe soak her in a tub under running water? That’s how my mom handled the Butterballs.’
‘Unfortunately, she’s not a turkey. We thaw her too fast and we end up with tissue damage. The outside starts decomposing while the internal organs are still frozen. That’ll interfere with some of the tests I need to run. Plus, soaking her in water could wash away any trace evidence on or in the body. We’ll just have to wait.’
‘A week?’
‘For a total thaw, yes. We’ll put her in the refrigeration unit at the lab, and at a constant thirty-eight degrees, it’ll take about a week. Doing it that way minimizes decomp. Helps us learn more about what or who killed her. However, we should be able to get some information sooner.’
‘Like what?’
‘Well, I’ll be able to check the body surface almost immediately, and clip her nails in case she scratched her attacker. If there’s any hair or saliva or skin cells that aren’t hers, we’ll find them. Also I should be able to move her limbs enough in a day or so to do an internal swab and check for semen.’ Even going over the gory details Terri sounded cheerful. She was one of those people who loved her job. Unraveling the mysteries of the dead , as they might have said on the Discovery Channel. McCabe found forensic pathology a strange way to get your jollies, but he guessed that’s what made Terri so good at it.
She went back to her task of looking over the
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