“We have estimated that he has been buried anywhere from six months to possibly two years. He was buried in an area with large amounts of shale and rock, and this can protect the body from the natural process of decomposition despite being buried in a shallow grave. I’m leaning toward the lesser time. I’m sorry I can’t be more precise for your investigation.”
McGaven had retrieved his notebook and was jotting down notes.
“No, this is quite helpful,” Katie said. It meant that Ian Griffin had been murdered and buried more recently. The big question was why. Was it the same killer who had killed his sister and niece almost twenty years before?
Dean went to the laptop that was sitting on the counter and flipped up the monitor. “Here are pieces of the clothes he was wearing and the contents of his jeans pockets. I’ve sent these to John for further investigation.”
“Noted,” she said. For an instant, she remembered howsweet John was to fix them on-the-go breakfast sandwiches that morning.
“The contents of his pocket were an empty silver money clip, thirty-five cents in change, and a faded piece of paper. It’s mostly disintegrated. John might be able to reconstruct it.”
Katie took a closer look at the computer screen. The money clip was silver and distinctly resembled the bracelets his sister and niece were wearing. “The money clip and bracelets look like they might be made by the same designer,” she said to McGaven.
He wrote that note down and said, “I’m sure John is looking into that.”
“Dr. Dean, so the big question is—” Katie started.
“Ah, the best for last.” He turned the skull slightly and it was clear there was a bullet hole in the back of the head. “I was able to retrieve a nine-millimeter bullet and send it to forensics. This is not a self-inflicted wound. It’s ruled a homicide.”
Katie figured as much, but having an official manner and cause of death helped them to move forward in the right direction.
“Was there anything else?” she asked.
“The only other factor was that his right pinky metatarsal was missing. I thought perhaps it somehow was broken during the burial or excavation. But”—he showed the detectives the hand—“it’s clear he had been missing his finger for some time. You can see it’s been healed over. How he lost it could have a million answers, but he went into that grave without that finger.”
“Can you tell if it was severed by something like a knife or some kind of high-powered tool?”
“I really can’t give you a precise analysis with what’s here, but if I had to take an educated guess it wasn’t an accident of tearing the appendage; it definitely looks like it was a clean cut. It could have been a tool of some kind.” Dr. Dean paused for amoment, giving the detectives a few moments to ask more questions. Then he covered Griffin and went to the other gurney.
Both Katie and McGaven took a couple of steps back to avoid the removal of the sheet, however this time, for whatever reason, the medical examiner rolled it back, revealing a body lying on its stomach.
With curiosity, Katie moved in closer. There were strange markings on what was left of the shirt and jeans. The rib bones protruded through the sparse clothing. More unusual markings were on the back of the skull.
“This body has been identified as Bruce Collins,” said Dean. “He had a great set of teeth that had recent dental work before death. He was a thirty-six-year-old Caucasian male, in good health.”
Katie was shocked. The body found in a deep hole at the Collins property was that of the owner and Meredith’s husband. She observed McGaven.
“Seems someone is eliminating this family,” said McGaven.
Katie asked the obvious. “What are those markings?”
Dr. Dean sighed. “Separating those injuries took some time.”
“There’s more than one injury?” said McGaven.
“This man was, without a doubt, tortured numerous times. It was difficult to figure out what was used on him to cause these marks through the skin and flesh to the bone.”
Katie thought that whatever the killer was trying to accomplish, they were trying to either make an example out of Bruce Collins or make the torture last for their own pleasure. Either way, it was a grisly death.
“With most of the skin and tissue gone, it was difficult to tell the layers of the torture. But through various lighting, I surmised he was first beaten with, most likely, something fairly lightweight. Anything heavier would have broken up the skeleton. Then the second layer, there was deep cutting, andfinally it appears something was used to scourge him—that’s where you see the damage to the bones.”
“And to imagine that Collins was aware while it was happening,” she said, shocked.
“He would probably have passed out from the pain and then regained consciousness on and off,” said Dean. “And the process continued over and over, so it’s not hard to believe that this case is homicide.”
“Was there any other damage to his body?” said McGaven.
“No, his skull and extremities were not damaged,” said Dean. “It is estimated that he was tortured for many hours, possibly days. Again, his time of death was anywhere between six months and two years ago.”
