Present Times,
Nevada, Los Angeles
Leia's eyes were fixed on the body before them, but her attention was not. The coroner was saying a lot of things and circling the dark spots on the body with a pen. The class of seven walked around the body trying to follow closely what the coroner had been saying. Some took notes but Leia could care less.
"Leia!" She heard her name.
"Mmm?" She looked up in askance, all eyes seemed to be on her.
"Were you not paying attention?"
Their T.A said.
She cleared her throat…
"Of course I was"
"So, would you mind telling us how she died?"
Leia took one look at the body of the female who seemed to be her age.
"Manual strangulation"
Leia said.
"Explain"
"The lacerations on her head arent deep enough to have killed her, however these marks are evidence of a fracture in the hyoid. The lacerations in this area right here, she circled the area on the side of her head…. don't seem to be made by intent…Leia leaned closer and frowned. These ought to have been caused by sharp small objects, my guess, shards of glass. That will explain the cuts we saw earlier on her back and right here on her arms. Another evidence of manual strangulation would be in and around her eyes, presence of petechiae, the red marks around the eyes definitely strike a score to strangulation.
"That is correct" Pieces of glass were pulled from her skull.
"How do you know that she was strangled manually?" A student asked a question.
"Easy, a ligature strangulation can only cause a fracture in the neck if the victim committed suicide by hanging or was dragged or pulled around by something of great weight, if this was a ligature the marks of a single chord would tell us, but these marks definitely are proof of hands.
"I don't see hands"
"Then you probbaly have eyes in the back of your head" Leia said matter of factly and caused a few giggles.
The Asian girl didn't look amused.
"That’s right, everything shows a manual strangulation and good work on detecting the glass" The coroner said to Leia, she smiled at him and went back to listening.
"So we are saying she was murdered?"
"Homicide, that is correct"
"That is cruel"
"Yes Matt, it is, now you see why our job is very important, one wrong word from us could start a legal war that would create avenue for pointing fingers, this is why we need to be accurate as doctors in declaring a final result. Very important.
"That is the lesson today, now, any questions?"
Leia's hand shot up.
"Yes Leia….?"
"Why are we learning about dead bodies?"
Her question seemed to have thrown everyone off balance.
"Well, its part of your syllabus, that is one, secondly I think Mr. Diggory has done a good job explaining why it is important to be exact and careful with especially our prognosis."
"But dead bodies, really?" Leia cocked an eye and David almost laughed.
"I can understand how you feel, very few people appreciate working with dead people"
YOU ARE READING
BLOOD BY THE HAND OF GUILT
Mystery / Thriller"Blood by the hand of guilt" tells a story of a girl whose world is torn apart by greed corruption and blood shed. Her faith becomes the only barrier between her and vengeance. But when her veil and family are snatched from her she makes a vow that...
