I work at a medical examiner's office in a large metropolitan area in the United States.

You'll have to excuse the vagueness, but I value my job and safety.

My safety is also the reason why I'm recording my recounting of what happened in the first

place.

I'm not sure what to do next, or who may be coming for me.

And my hope is that having some evidence, even if it's only my word at this point,

may help me stay alive, given what I know, and it's a very small hope.

Yesterday, a body came into the lab, badly burned, it had been found in a shallow grave

out in the middle of nowhere woods.

The only reason it was found at all was because the fire burning the body had spread to a

nearby tree and then burned several acres before fire streak got the call.

It took two days to stop the fire spread, and it wasn't until they were investigating

the source that they found the twisted remains of a man, legs and arms broken and bound

by barbed wire that had melted into his flesh after he was set ablaze.

Identifying the corpse was going to be difficult.

Any idea of facial recognition or fingerprints was out of the window, and whatever blunt instrument

had been used that break his limbs had also been used on his teeth.

Still, his torso was partially intact, and after taking the initial round of external photos,

I assisted the senior army in conducting the autopsy.

Fire and heat changed the body in a variety of ways, and because of all the variables,

whether clothing, ignition catalysts, body shape and mass, plus the inherent thickness

of fire, you never can be sure what you're going to find during a burn autopsy.

...