“I can’t see Oscar surrendering that easily.” Bree frowned. “Even to an armed intruder.”
“Unless the assailant grabbed his mother first,” Matt suggested.
Bree’s frown deepened. “Yes. A gun to his mother’s head might have persuaded him to give up without a fight.”
Matt envisioned someone aiming a gun at the old woman and giving Oscar instructions. “I can see that working.”
Bree moved closer to examine the binds used to restrain both victims. “These knots are distinctive and identical on both victims, as if they were tied up by the same person.”
“Can’t tie someone up and hold a gun against their head at the same time,” Todd said.
“Those knots will need to be preserved.” Bree stepped back. “We’ll consider both single and multiple assailants at this time. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find prints.”
But Matt doubted anyone who had orchestrated this crime would have left prints. The overall scene was too organized. This killer had successfully killed two people, one of them former law enforcement, with little fuss. He checked Oscar’s hands. The fingers were purple and bloated, but Matt didn’t see any scrapes on the knuckles that would indicate Oscar had fought back. The assailants had known what they were doing. Matt thought it likely they’d killed before.
He spotted a hole in the plaster wall. “There’s one bullet.”
“I see another down by the baseboard,” Todd said. “Might have ricocheted after it hit one of his legs.”
Bree’s radio crackled and a voice said, “The medical examiner is here.”
A few minutes later, Dr. Serena Jones appeared in the doorway. The tall African American woman wore scrubs and carried her kit. Her assistant followed, carrying an additional kit and standing aside to wait for the ME to complete her initial assessment. The group exchanged professional greetings, and then Dr. Jones paused to scan the overall scene before advancing closer to the bodies and giving them a cursory inspection using her own flashlight.
Dr. Jones drew back. “Is that Deputy Oscar?”
“Yes,” Bree said. “The vehicle in the barn is registered to him, and the neighbor confirmed the older woman is his mother, Camilla Brown.”
The ME nodded. “I recognize him, but given the obvious beating and the beginning of bloat, I’ll confirm the IDs of both victims medically.” The ME was all about dotting i’s and crossing t’s.
“Property records show the female has owned this property for twenty years,” Bree said. “She should have local medical or dental records.”
Matt knew Oscar had worked for the sheriff’s office for more than two decades and had lived in the area his whole life. His health records should also be easy to obtain.
Dr. Jones continued. “Cause of death appears to be gunshot wounds, to be confirmed upon autopsy. Considering the amount of blood on the floor, it appears that the bullet wounds to the male’s body bled considerably, indicating his heart was still beating. The head shot bled very little and was likely the fatal wound.” Once a person was dead, their wounds didn’t bleed much.
“Can you give us an approximate time of death?” Bree asked.
Avoiding the blood on the floor, the ME walked a slow circle around the victims. “The house isn’t air-conditioned, and the weather has been moderate this week. I doubt temperature significantly affected the rate of decomposition.”
Bodies exposed to exceptionally warm temperatures would decay faster. The opposite was true of bodies in cold atmospheres. But early September had been comfortable, with daily temps fluctuating between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
Dr. Jones used two gloved hands to slightly turn the female victim’s head. “Rigor mortis has come and gone, so we’re probably beyond thirty-six hours postmortem.”
Rigor mortis, or the chemical stiffening of the muscles after death, generally peaked around twelve hours after death, remained for twelve hours, and gradually released over the next twelve.
The ME pursed her lips. “Body temperature won’t be helpful after this many hours. At room temperature, an average human body cools 1.5 degrees per hour. These two normal-weight, normally dressed bodies would have reached room temp by eighteen hours or so.”
Dr. Jones lifted the hem of the female victim’s blouse to examine the abdomen. “The first signs of decomp begin at that stage.”
Matt saw green-tinted skin as well as a few green-and-black streaks known as marbling that marked the breaking down of blood vessels.