Chapter 905 - 843: Determining Time of Death
Liu Jinghui also came over and asked, "What do you mean?"
"The victim was injected with a large amount of antibiotics, cefoperazone sodium and tazobactam sodium, which are types of third-generation cephalosporin mostly used in hospitals and less often in small clinics," Jiang Yuan explained to Liu Jinghui before adding, "But the management of antibiotics in the country is not strict, making it easy to purchase cefoperazone."
Liu Jinghui was surprised, "Was it administered after death?"
"How could that be possible," Jiang Yuan shook his head, "Once a person is dead, normal fluid injections are not feasible. Moreover, the marks left by the needles would be different. If the needle had been inserted post-mortem, it would have been discovered. This victim, Li Yanmin, was injected with fluids before death, and likely over several days. After death, as metabolism stops, large amounts of antibiotics would spread throughout the body tissues, acting as an antibacterial agent. Looking at this physical and chemical report, the last samples used were extracted on the first day..."
Liu Jinghui then slightly understood and asked, "So, you mean, Li Yanmin was receiving fluid injections for several days before death? Was he really sick, or was he forced to be on drip?"
"It appears he was really sick; indications of an infection were found in his lungs during the autopsy, though it was mild. Moreover, the needle marks on the back of his hand were also confirmed during the first autopsy, but at that time, we didn’t consider this angle and didn’t screen for his medication use," Jiang Yuan said as he shook his head, adding that ordinary cold medicine would have been metabolized in a few days, so there wasn’t a need to screen for it.
Units like the Physical and Chemical Laboratory are always extremely busy; it’s not like detectives can just bring a bunch of stuff over and expect them to check everything. It’s more likely they’d get scolded terribly.
Demanding detailed investigations of criminal cases and even homicides by police is ultimately a result of the "CSI effect," reflecting public’s excessive expectations of forensic science, whereas real criminal cases can’t possibly get the level of technical resources seen on TV shows, and some techniques aren’t even feasible.