Webnovel Series by A Amankwaa
©2025 A Amankwaa. All rights reserved.
The tropical morning sun slanted through the dense forest canopy, bathing the revered Big Tree in dappled light as tourists milled about, taking pictures. Twelve-year-old Jane, however, was drawn away from the crowd by a brilliant splash of colour, a flower blossoming on a low, grassy mound nearby.
Kneeling to pluck the bloom for her mother, her fingers encountered something hard and unnaturally smooth beneath the soil’s surface. A bone. Overcome by a potent mix of fascination and dread, she scraped away the loose earth until the unmistakable shape of a human skull began to emerge.
Her piercing cry instantly shattered the tranquil morning. Tour guides, alerted by the commotion, quickly realised the discovery was no artifact but a human remain. The scene was immediately secured, and law enforcement was called.
Within the hour, a preliminary search by the responding officers confirmed their fears: Jane’s simple act of curiosity had unearthed the first of five shallow graves, formally commencing the investigation into the chilling Big Tree Murders.
The only sound in the makeshift briefing room was the erratic tap of Ansah’s index finger against the wood. Detective Chief Superintendent (DCS) Brako leaned over the table, his thumb tracing the blurred edges of the scene photos. He lingered on the shallow depth of the grave and the twisted positions of the remains. Beside his elbow, his Hausa koko had grown cold, a leathery skin sealing the surface of the cup. His koose remained untouched.
Detective Superintendent (DS) Ntim gestured toward a preliminary sketch of the finds with flashbacks of the horror he had just seen at the scene “Two of the skeletal remains appear to have been interred with their hands deliberately bound behind them, consistent with a rope or a strong cord.” he murmured to himself. A grim silence settled over the room and the sound of the clock was as loud as the Adhan, the Muslim call to prayer at dawn.
DCS Brako slammed a hand on the table, his left leg shaking in a rapid nervous oscillation as he thought of the pain these victims may have endured. “Okay, first things first. We need identification. Inspector Ansah, how do we begin identifying these remains when all we have is bone?” “Forensics, Chief,” Inspector Ansah replied firmly. “We need to commission immediate genetic analysis for a DNA profile on every set of remains. But before we draft any long-term investigation strategy, we need to understand the crime scene and the remains completely. We have to bring in our consultant. I recommend we call Dr. Nhyira immediately.”
Dr. Nhyira’s reputation as an incorruptible forensic consultant preceded her by a country mile. She was the one who had successfully navigated the labyrinthine evidence of the Atumpan Family Murders, later dubbed “Operation Castle,” and delivered the definitive forensic report that located the President’s daughter, the case known as “Operation Waterfalls.”
She was, however, not thinking about accolades now. She was enjoying the quiet solitude of Busia Island when the call came through from Amos, her newly assigned forensic intern. “What is it, Amos? This better be urgent,” Nhyira answered, annoyed at the intrusion on her first real vacation in two years.
Amos’s voice was shaky but determined. “Doc, it’s the police o. They’ve discovered five human remains… skeletons, at the site of the Big Tree, and DCS Brako wants you on the case immediately. They need a forensic strategy.”
Nhyira sighed, closing her eyes against the turquoise view. “Tell them I’m on vacation. I need this time off with my family, Amos. Just file the report and say I’m unavailable.” There was a slight pause on the line, a hesitation that told Nhyira the next piece of information was the real kicker.
“Doc, they also said that… two of the remains appear to be children.” Nhyira opened her eyes slowly. The word children cut through the fog of her vacation plans like a flash of cold steel. She pushed a hand through her hair, the refusal dying in her throat. “When is the meeting scheduled?” “This Friday morning, Doc.” “Right. Clear my schedule. Book the first bus to Oda tomorrow morning. And Amos, start pulling all historical missing persons data for the past two decades in the region. The Big Tree just got a lot bigger.”
On Thursday afternoon, the preliminary DNA analysis report landed on the desk of DCS Brako. The findings were immediate and chilling: all five skeletal remains were genetically linked, strongly suggesting they were members of the same immediate family.
The analyst’s summary detailed the relationship probabilities: three of the remains, provisionally identified as female based on Amelogenin results, and two remains, tentatively male, showed significant genetic sharing. Crucially, all but one pair of remains shared 50% or more of their DNA, a metric consistent with first-degree relatives, such as siblings or parent-child pairs. Only one pair, a possible male and female, showed less than 5% shared DNA, which might indicate a more distant, or possibly a step-family, relationship.
DCS Brako reread the final line: a thorough search of the national police intelligence DNA database had yielded no full or partial matches.
The five individuals were relatives, possibly an entire immediate family, but their identities remained a total mystery, deepening the enigma surrounding the Big Tree Murders.
On Friday morning, just hours before Dr. Nhyira’s 1 PM consultation, the formal forensic anthropology report arrived via the secure internal fax system at the command post of DS Ntim. The contents immediately generated a serious confusion.
The anthropological assessment, based on skeletal morphology and epiphyseal fusion, appeared to contradict the initial DNA sex-typing (Amelogenin) results:
- ER/1: Remains 1 (Female): Estimated age range 34–40 years.
- AP/1: Remains 2 (Female): Estimated age range 11–15 years.
- SD/1: Remains 3 (Male): Estimated age range 41–45 years.
- TT/1: Remains 4 (Male): Estimated age range 16–19 years.
- DPA/1: Remains 5 (Male): Estimated age range 8–11 years.
All remains were consistently identified as being of West African ancestral origin. The team was now faced with two irreconcilable facts: the DNA results indicated three females and two males, while the anthropological findings strongly suggested three males and two females. The entire investigation strategy hung on this discrepancy, and the team waited with palpable anxiety for Dr. Nhyira’s arrival.
This conflict, the Amelogenin sex-typing results, was the first technical hurdle presented to Dr. Nhyira during the afternoon meeting. She listened patiently before explaining, “The Amelogenin system, while reliable, can present false-negative male results. Specifically, a deletion of the Amelogenin gene in the Y chromosome can cause a male sample to display only the X chromosome marker, resulting in a profile that mistakenly presents as female.”
Her solution was immediate and definitive: “We must bypass the initial findings. I recommend running an exhaustive Short Tandem Repeat (STR) analysis using a commercial, advanced forensic DNA kit. This will provide a full genetic profile, confirm the true sex, and give us high-confidence familial relationship statistics.”
Dr. Nhyira tapped the anthropology report, her eyes narrowed in thought. “What does the report conclude regarding the Post-Mortem Interval (PMI)?” she asked, using the professional term for the time since death. “How long were they estimated to have been buried?”
DCS Brako replied gravely, “The initial assessment suggests an approximate time frame of three months. No more than six, given the environment.” Nhyira nodded, instantly shifting to strategy mode. “The priority, above all else, remains the certain identification of the deceased. We must run parallel investigations: the scientific and the conventional.”
She laid out the immediate plan:
The Media Appeal: “We must immediately initiate a comprehensive media appeal. Release the estimated profiles, a family unit of three adults and two children/adolescents, and specifically ask for families searching for loved ones missing within the three-to-six-month window. We need names.”
The Scientific Trawl: “If your budget and logistics allow, a DNA mass screening, or at least a familial search, in the surrounding villages is essential. Even a distant relative could provide the link we need to establish their identity.”
The Scene: “Were any binding materials, ropes, or fragments of clothing recovered from the grave sites that we can send for trace evidence analysis? We need to know what they were wearing, or what they were bound with.”
“And of course,” she concluded, “traditional detective work must continue unabated. Interview every tour guide, every groundskeeper, and every villager who might have seen or heard anything unusual around the Big Tree in the last six months.”
DCS Brako confirmed, “The Scientific Support Team is still processing the site. The scene is secure.” “Good,” Nhyira stated, rising from the table. “Then before we formalise the investigation strategy, I need to see the burial site. Let’s go to the Big Tree.”
The actual burial site was proving a logistical nightmare. The exposed graves, degraded by the three-month PMI and the disruption caused by the initial discovery, presented a complex, compromised crime scene.
While the primary team meticulously worked the main site, Dr. Nhyira initiated a wider, five-kilometre reconnaissance sweep. It was her sharp, lateral focus that led her away from the main forensic grid and onto a barely visible footpath tracing its way toward a distant stream, roughly seven kilometres from the Big Tree.
Later, during the evening debrief, Crime Scene Examiner (CSE) Aboagye delivered the results of his team’s expanded search. “We recovered three items near the stream, Chief. A shovel, a work glove, and a knit hat. All were relatively exposed.” He added, almost dismissively, “The shovel handle and the glove both showed dark brown stains that tested presumptive positive for blood using the Kastle-Meyer test. We’ve logged them for lab transport, but given the distance, they may not be linked to the incident.”
“We cannot afford to rule out anything, Aboagye,” Dr. Nhyira interjected immediately, her voice cutting through the exhaustion in the room. “Seven kilometres is the distance a perpetrator might travel to safely dispose of tools. The handle of that shovel, the interior of the glove, and the hat’s lining are prime candidates for trace DNA evidence. Fibre analysis on the hat could also lead us to an environment, a home, a vehicle, a workplace.”
DCS Brako rubbed his temples. The day had been long, complex, and dark. “It’s getting late. We’ll call today a wrap for now.” He offered Nhyira a genuine, weary smile. “Thank you, Dr. Nhyira. Your instincts have already proven invaluable.”
As the team dispersed into the cooling evening air, the fate of the five remains discovered beneath the legendary Big Tree now hinged on the microscopic clues awaiting analysis in the police forensic science laboratory (FSL).
Scientect 
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