The Autopsy

May 6th, 2001

Dr. Ellis, a pathologist at a hospital located in West Valley City, Utah, had received the bodies of two teenage victims of a double murder. Dr. Ellis and the medical examiner, Dr. Reid, are to perform a forensic autopsy to collect any potential evidence. The two doctors had finished up the examination for one of the victims, a male with dark brown hair and freckled skin named Peter. Peter had his abdomen jaggedly ripped open with his entrails pulled out along with several deep bite and claw marks, all of which were human. Peter’s approximate time of death was around 1 A.M. of that same day. After cleaning and disinfecting the work area the doctors moved onto the next victim. Dr. Ellis sullenly gazed down into the body bag of a female named Blair. Blair was in much more disarray than her male counterpart. Dr. Ellis and Dr. Reid have seen plenty of grotesque cases throughout their careers but it’s the cases that involve young folk which hit both doctors the hardest. Both victims were only 17-years-old.

Blair had been dismembered; both her hands were chopped off above the wrists, her arms chopped off below the shoulders, and both legs were cut off at the thighs. Dr. Reid began to photograph the body along with taking notes of the victim’s clothing. Blair had black hair cut to her shoulders and wore a short, sleeveless black dress that had been cut open on the abdomen. Blair’s underwear remained intact ruling away the possibility of sexual assault although the doctors will still perform tests to make sure. After Dr. Reid finished up his notes about the clothing, Dr. Ellis then removed the victim’s clothing so they could examine her wounds.

“The victim has a clean cut running from the center of her chest down to below her belly button.” Dr. Ellis announced to Dr. Reid who scribbled down the notes. “It’s odd how Peter had his abdomen so viciously ripped open, like someone used their hands, and his entrails pulled out but on the female victim she has a clean cut that was done with a blade and her entrails were left intact.” Dr. Ellis noted to Dr. Reid who nodded in agreement. “Blair also has no bite or claw marks but her throat was slit so deep I can see her cervical.” Dr. Ellis said to Dr. Reid who copied down the information into his notepad. “Right eyeball has been cut out of the socket and there’s a clean carving into each of her cheeks from the corner’s of her mouth up to her ears. There is also a long clean gash from her left hairline diagonally down to the right side’s jaw. A second diagonal cut which connects with the first cut on the bridge of her nose and runs down to her left side jaw.” Dr. Ellis described. As Dr. Ellis continued with the examination she found blood and flesh under the Blair’s fingernails. Dr. Ellis found this to be strange and took some samples. The doctors finished up the external examination then washed and weighed the body in preparation for the internal examination. Before starting the internal examination Dr. Ellis took a blood sample and passed it on to her assistant along with he flesh sample from Blair’s fingernails to run some tests.

Dr. Ellis made a cut from Blair’s shoulders down to the cut that was already present. Dr. Ellis peeled back the skin and began to remove organs for examination. Dr. Ellis noted again to Dr. Reid that Blair’s entrails had not been disturbed minus from damage that had been done when she was cut open. As Dr. Ellis examined the stomach, she had found something…odd. Dr. Ellis removed the contents of the stomach as she narrated to Dr. Reid of her findings.

“Cooked salmon and steamed broccoli. There’s also what seems to be raw meat.” Dr. Ellis removed the raw meat and placed it into a metal tray. Dr. Ellis began to poke around at the meat with a puzzled look on her face. “It appears to look like beef, but it doesn’t have the same texture or constancy.” Dr. Ellis called in her assistant and gave them a sample of the raw meat. “Run some tests on this to determine what it is.” She ordered handing the sample to the assistant who hurried off to complete their orders. Dr. Ellis continued the examination for the rest of the organs before placing them back inside the victim. As Dr. Ellis examined the inside of Blair’s mouth she found the same raw red meat stuck between her teeth. Dr. Ellis removed the meat as Dr. Reid took notes of the detail. The female victim’s approximate time of death was around 12:40 A.M. of that same day. As Dr. Ellis began sewing the victim’s chest back up the assistant arrived back with the blood results and the results of the meat sample.

“The blood tests showed that the female victim had traces of alcohol and Rohypnol in her system. The meat sample you gave me was, get ready for this, human. The blood and DNA in the meat found in the stomach matched the male victim and so did the flesh sample from the under female’s fingernails.” both doctors shot puzzled looks the the assistant who handed the test result’s to Dr. Reid who furrowed his eyebrows as he read over the results.

“How on earth could this girl take a chunk out of the other victim with the state that she was in? You can barely walk with Rohypnol in your system much less scratch up and bite chunks out of people.” Dr. Reid scratched his head perplexed by the information. “And if she died first, then who killed the boy? The police told me that only the boy’s finger prints were found on the murder weapons.” Dr. Reid exasperated. Dr. Ellis couldn’t think of any explanation either, she gazed down at the young woman laying on the metal table wishing she could see into her memories of the night she died.

“All I can say is the police are going to have a fun time solving this one.” Dr. Ellis muttered as she worked on sewing Blair together. As Dr. Ellis sewed up the girl’s face, for a brief moment Dr. Ellis sworn she saw Blair’s intact eye move. Dr. Ellis stared into the girl’s eye but had only saw the blank, dead stare that all of her patients wore. Dr. Ellis shrugged it off as her imagination and finished preparing the body to be sent off to the morgue. By now it was almost nine o’clock at night and the bodies won’t be sent off until the morning. Dr. Ellis laid a white sheet over the young girl’s body then rolled her into one of the large, metal cabinets where she will rest for the night.

Dr. Ellis and Dr. Reid sat in Dr. Ellis’s office as they finished up their reports of the autopsy. Dr. Reid sat with his back to the door and continued on about how strange this case was. “Their DNA was found on each other but no DNA of a third party. Why was the girl cut up but the boy ripped up?” Dr. Reid said to Dr. Ellis who had seen many strange deaths in her time but she had to agree with Dr. Reid that the evidence they found did not stack up. As Dr. Reid continued his rant while Dr. Ellis worked on her report, Dr. Ellis briefly looked up at Dr. Reid in time to see someone with short black hair running past her office through the window on the door. Dr. Ellis excused herself then walked over to the door and poked her head out of her office. The hallway was completely empty.

“Everything alright?” Dr. Reid asked.

“Yeah… I just thought I saw someone out here.” Dr. Ellis sighed as she closed the door and returned to her report. After finishing, Dr. Ellis locked up her office and said her goodnights to Dr. Reid. Dr. Reid left the corridor leaving Dr. Ellis alone, but instead of leaving for the exit Dr. Ellis walked back to the autopsy room. The door to the autopsy room was left wide open; panic shot through Dr. Ellis as she ran inside and switched on the lights. Everything in the autopsy room remained untouched and in order. When Dr. Ellis turned her head to the large metal cabinets where she saw that the cabinet that should have contained Blair had the door swung wide open revealing the table inside to be empty.