Overview
- The peer-reviewed paper, published November 10 in Forensic Sciences Research by Field Museum botanist Matt von Konrat, Jenna Merkel, and colleagues, compiles historical and modern casework using bryophytes.
- The authors identified at least ten documented applications across Finland, Sweden, Italy, China, and the United States, showing how mosses can inform location or time since death.
- The earliest case found dates to 1929, when moss growth on a decomposing skeleton was used to estimate the postmortem interval.
- In a Michigan homicide investigation tied to a 2011 abduction, plant fragments on a suspect’s shoes helped narrow a search from seven counties to about 50 square feet, a spot the father later confirmed in a police interview even as the child’s remains have not been recovered.
- The study argues bryophytes are underused because few investigators collect or identify botanical evidence, and it urges training to leverage traits such as habitat specificity, persistence, and ease of adherence.