However, just as I was preparing to investigate the causes and consequences of her blind date with Lu Minghao, something unexpected happened.
Zhang Ying is dead.
According to the call records, Zhang Ying dialed the 120 emergency hotline at home ten days after Lu Minghao's death. She was quickly sent to the hospital, but she fell into a coma during the process of being sent to the hospital, and eventually died after resuscitation failed.
According to hospital records, her death was caused by liver damage. She had severe edema all over her body when she was sent to the hospital, and food poisoning was suspected. After that, we sent her body to the forensic identification center for an autopsy by a forensic doctor. At the same time, we
Zhang Ying's house was sealed off. Although the possibility of homicide by Lu Minghao has not yet been found, with the death of Zhang Ying, this possibility has greatly increased.
But the murderer was not Zhang Ying, and there was no possibility of insurance fraud. The couple died one after another. What happened? Is it really just an accident?
Or is there an enemy coming for you?
We thoroughly investigated the crime scene. No one came to Zhang Ying's house before and after she reported the crime. There were no signs of intrusion at the crime scene. We found almost nothing at the crime scene.
It is impossible for outsiders to kill Zhang Ying.
The forensic doctor conducted an autopsy on Zhang Ying's body and found the cause of her death.
Zhang Ying died of acute aflatoxin poisoning.
Aflatoxin is the most carcinogenic chemical substance known. Long-term ingestion of small doses can induce cancer. However, Zhang Ying died of acute aflatoxin poisoning because she ingested a lethal dose in one go.
This toxin is generally produced in moldy food, especially contaminated grain and oil, moldy peanuts and corn.
After obtaining the cause of Zhang Ying's death, we returned to the crime scene to conduct a targeted search and took back all the existing food from Zhang Ying's family, especially the remaining meals, for identification. During this period, the forensic doctor also completed an examination of the undigested contents of Zhang Ying's stomach.
Food identification.
It is estimated that due to Lu Minghao's death, Zhang Ying had no intention of cooking, and most of the food previously stored in the refrigerator at home had become moldy. This was the environment where aflatoxin breeds.
Is it really just simple food poisoning?
I always feel that things are not that simple. Ordinary people have an instinctive resistance to moldy things, and this is even more true for food. Basically, they will throw it away the next second they see it. So, will Zhang Ying eat moldy food?
?
In order to find clues as soon as possible, I found the forensic doctor as soon as possible after the examination of those foods was completed, and obtained a detailed report from here.
"The food found in the refrigerator did contain aflatoxin, including boiled peanuts and leftover rice. There was no such toxin in the chicken."
"So, it's just food poisoning?"
While I felt disappointed, the forensic doctor shook his head at me: "She didn't eat these things at all."
He pointed out the report sheet to me: "After autopsy, I found ingredients of celery, pork and wheat in the deceased's stomach. The deceased's last meal was stir-fried pork with celery and noodles, and he did not eat boiled peanuts.
Rice, celery and pork were not found in the moldy food in the refrigerator, nor were the noodles, but aflatoxin was detected in the food in the stomach."
"Did you take out the pork, celery and noodles from the refrigerator and cook them?"
"Generally speaking, no one will eat moldy food."
"I thought so too." I replied.
"What's more, eating cooked food. Some people may be too busy and don't pay attention and eat some ready-made leftovers. These foods may contain aflatoxin, but the raw vegetable dishes are already spoiled.
No one will cook it fresh and eat it.”
"This is more likely. Boiling bad things will make them edible. This is the concept of a large number of people, and it is also a habit of saving money."
"But the temperature of cooking cannot kill aflatoxin."
"Almost no one understands this." I said, "Your conditions may be too advantageous."
When the economy was backward in the past, the leftovers would be steamed and cooked for several meals and continued to be eaten until the food was finished. Some of the food had a rancid smell, which would disappear as soon as it was steamed. I have also experienced this, and some people still have it.
Such a habit.
For foreigners, such behavior is indeed a bit bizarre.
The forensic doctor thinks it is even more impossible because he has never experienced that the economic situation will affect many personal habits, and personal habits will also affect the way of thinking.
"But she is a nurse, she must understand."
I added: "Some unscrupulous vendors will mix bad food with good food and sell it. Even if the deceased does not eat it, if she unknowingly purchased food containing aflatoxin
Woolen cloth?"
"Let's let the evidence speak for itself."
The forensic doctor pointed to the trash can I brought back: "I found the food parts that the deceased had cut off while cooking. No aflatoxin was found in it, but there was still the leftover food and this pot.
He picked up the iron pot we brought back and said, "It all contains aflatoxin."
I frowned.
The medical examiner added: "When the deceased was cooking, there was no aflatoxin in the ingredients."
"After she made the meal, it was ready?"
"Aflatoxin cannot be synthesized under the conditions used in cooking."
"She was poisoned?"
"correct."
"But there are no traces of outsiders breaking into the crime scene. It is impossible to be poisoned, unless she... committed suicide? If she committed suicide, she would not have called 120 for emergency treatment. She had poisoned the pornographic song without knowing it.
Mycomycin was mixed into the food!”
The forensic doctor teased me for having learned to ask and answer questions for myself, but I was in no mood to refute. After deducing this condition, I immediately led people back to the scene of the crime.
Toxins are added to food without knowing it. Where are the toxins hidden and are they mixed in during cooking?
The answer is condiments!
I took all the condiments on site for identification one by one, and found a large amount of aflatoxin in the cooking oil.
Zhang Ying's cooking oil is a 1.8-liter medium-barrel brand. After quality testing, there is almost no possibility of containing a lethal amount of aflatoxin.
The most likely possibility is that someone mixed aflatoxin into cooking oil, causing Zhang Ying to pour it into the food while cooking, causing acute poisoning and death.
This is pure murder.
Who would want to kill Zhang Ying?
The answer to this question is forensic medicine.
The results of Lu Minghao’s second detailed autopsy have come out.
The results are surprising.
Forensic doctors found a trace amount of aflatoxin in the nail of Lu Minghao's right index finger. The molecular formula of its toxin is B1, which is the most toxic substance. Zhang Ying died at his hands.