The CSI Effect

The recently reunited couple pulled up in one of the wealthiest neigbourhoods in the city, the large, six bedroomed home typical of both the area and street. There were several squad cars already littering the driveway,a dazed looking man sitting in the back of one of them. A bored and tired looking officer stood at the front of the house, logging all those that entered the crime scene. Adrienne showed her credentials and signed her name while Billie Joe headed over to talk to a former colleague who was loading evidence into the back of her SUV,secured before it could be scrutinised back at the lab.

The entrance hall was as grand as expected, with a precocious chandelier dangling garishly from the high-rise ceiling. The room was packed full of possessions that seemed to serve no purpose other than to remind the visitor that this was the home of someone wealthy. They seemed even more garish in light of the scene that now greeted visitors at the bottom of the long, spiral staircase. A woman, most likely well into her forties,lay dead, a pool of blood surrounding a head wound. A man who was quite clearly in charge looked round, and,spotting Adrienne headed in her direction.

"I'm Detective Frost,we spoke on the phone" He said, shaking her hand vigorously.

"The husband is claiming that she was drunk and fell down the stairs but I suspect otherwise, that's why I have him in one of the cars, right now my money is on him. Anyway, can you take a look at out vic and tell me which scenario her injuries are consistent with?"

It was clear to anyone, even without her medical training that the cause of death was trauma to the head but it was only to the expert eye that red flags would be raised. Adrienne spotted immediately what had made the detective suspicious; there were spots of blood on the victim's clothing that did not fit with the passive dripping of blood that would occur had this been an accident but still, by itself was not enough to prove foul play. A closer inspection revealed further clues, even ones the victim herself had attempted to cover up. Despite her makeup and high end concealer the tell tale signs of a black eye was visible and Adrienne had a fair idea of how she had gotten it. It was a sad fact but over the course of her career she had autopsied many a victim who had died at the hands of the man who supposedly loved them and it was beginning to become clear that this was one of those cases. A preliminary examination of the rest of the body told a similar story, many more bruises lining her petite frame. She had seen all she needed to see, now she needed to get the body to the morgue in order to study the damage to the skull in more detail and hopefully then they would have all the evidence required to rule this death as a homicide.

Adrienne headed back outside to find out what Billie Joe had learned on the forensic evidence from the rest of the house. He was still chatting to the same examiner but they had now been joined by Det. Frost. Again, it was him who addressed her first.

"Did you find any evidence that supports homicide?"

"Yes, I would say so, she was covered in old bruises and the blood spatter was inconsistent with the husband's account"

"That seems to fit with the rest of the evidence we found, Dr Ramirez found a blood smear on one of the kitchen cupboards where the wine glasses are kept, two of which were on the table. Sounds to me like he killed her then staged the glasses so he could spin his concocted story once we got here".

The detective sounded spot on.

A few hours later and Adrienne was carrying out the horrible and unfortunate task of boiling the skull cap to remove all soft tissue and clean the bones so that the full extend of the injuries would become clear. She often wondered if people could witness this process if even the most ruthless of killers would think twice. The autopsy so far had revealed further evidence of a beating: under UV light the unmistakable pattern of a shoe print became visible on the victim's back and X-rays revealed long-term injuries, bones that had been broken and healed on several occasions.

Finally, the skull was ready and willing to offer up its secrets that it held. The victim had been killed when a section of her skull had been crushed, forcing bone fragments violently into her brain. But it could not have occurred in the manner in which the husband claimed. The wound was irregular and rather peculiar: deliberate not accidental.