What The Trajectory Suggests

One of the details that the CT imaging and reconstruction work made possible was an analysis of the trajectory by which the embedded object had entered the rib.

The geometry of the penetration channel — its angle relative to the long axis of the rib, the direction from which it had entered, the depth to which the fragments had penetrated — provided information about the attack that would otherwise have been completely invisible.

The fragments had entered the rib from a specific direction, at a specific angle.