How a patch of moss helped the police bust a grave robbery
According to a study published in Forensic researcha small clump of moss helped police uncover a major grave-robbering operation at Burr Oak Cemetery near Chicago. That little patch of green fuzz helped secure convictions against four cemetery workers.
The investigation was made public recently, but it concerns a case dating back to 2009, where investigators found evidence that employees had dug up older graves, moved the remains and resold the burial plots. Prosecutors later determined that about 1,500 bones of those 29 people were disturbed and reburied elsewhere on the plot.
Exhausting every possible resource, the FBI brought in Matt von Konrat, a botanist from Chicago’s Field Museum. von Konrat analyzed a small piece of moss found buried with some moved remains. He identified it as Fissiden’s taxafoliusmore commonly known as pocket moss.
It was a small, seemingly insignificant discovery, but one that broke the case wide open. That moss did not grow where the remains were found. It was growing in another part of the cemetery, which led investigators to immediately suspect that it was from the person’s original burial site.
The Moss served as both a Time Capsule and an Apple AirTag
So that connection established that there was some movement. When that movement took place was another matter entirely. In court, the defense argued that the disturbance preceded the worker’s employment. An easy argument to make when you know the prosecution can prove movement, but not when it happened.
However, the prosecution had a trick up its sleeve. Scientists returned to the moss, this time to its chemistry. Chlorophyll breaks down over time. By measuring how the pigment absorbed light and comparing it to known samples, the researchers estimated that the moss was only one to two years old. It’s a timeline that fits perfectly with the disturbance of this moss within the defendants’ time at the cemetery.
The moss served as both a time capsule and an Apple AirTag, leading to the conviction of the cemetery workers in 2015, who were found guilty of desecrating human remains. The forensic sciences have gotten so good that it’s really a shock that people even try to commit crimes anymore. If the DNA evidence doesn’t seal your fate, a stupid little patch of moss you never noticed sure will.
