How Chinese forensics team ruled out murder in mystery of a dismembered woman
Police investigating the discovery of the mutilated remains in a suitcase turned to forensic science for clues, with surprising results
When a villager in the southern province of Guangdong was walking near his home on a mild day shortly after Christmas in 2019, he noticed a yellow suitcase beneath an expressway embankment.
Inside was the headless body of a woman. When police arrived and searched the area, they found the head inside a red travel bag alongside the highway, about 1km south of the villager’s discovery.
Nearly seven years later, details of the forensic investigation have been revealed in a peer-reviewed paper that has some surprising answers to the questions of who she was, who killed her, and who cut up her body before dumping it along the roadside.
According to the paper, published this month as a rare case of forensic science in the journal Guangdong Police Science and Technology, the investigation revealed a stunning conclusion: the woman was not murdered at all. She had taken her own life.
The case unfolded in Lianzhou, a small city in Qingyuan. Police quickly sealed off the area and forensic specialists soon arrived to examine the yellow suitcase, which measured 73cm x 43cm x 33cm and was still partially covered by fresh transparent protective film.
Large abrasion marks covered the exterior surface, while the handle near the combination lock was missing. Inside was a green woven bloodstained sack containing the headless body of an adult woman.