28 Aug Pollen as a Forensic Tool
After a cold Armidale winter, we cannot wait for spring, when the weather warms up and the flowers bloom. But some of us will feel uncomfortable during spring as we will develop hay-fever, an allergy to pollen. Pollen is produced by plants and is carried by wind and insects to other plants for pollination, to produce new seeds.
Did you know that pollen can also help solve crimes?
Let us introduce you to Dr. Lynn Milne, an Australian palynologist (a pollen specialist) who helped solve a criminal case using pollen analysis.
The crime happened in Noosa, in Southeast Queensland, in 1996. The body of 27-year-old Samantha Bodsworth was found in a parkland surrounded by wattle trees. Police suspected she was killed. But the questions were, who did it, where and why? Police collected scientific evidence to solve this case including shoe prints, soil and vegetation from around the area where her body was found.
The police discovered Samantha’s car parked away from the crime scene – outside a nightclub in Gympie, the town where she lived. They found a wattle flower on the driver’s side floor. Police contacted Dr. Milne and she told the police that the flower found in Samantha’s car was similar to the pollen found on the dead body. However, at that time, wattle flowers were not flowering in Gympie. Wattles were flowering in Noosa, and this particular wattle species was found only in Noosa, a 1-hour drive from Gympie.
Image: Acacia sophorae (the type of wattle found near Noosa)
Source: Australian Plant Society
Police suspected that Samantha was not killed at the place where her body was found, and the car was used by the murderer to carry her to the final location. They suspected the murderer was someone known to her who was staying at a motel in Gympie. Although the suspect washed the clothes worn while he committed the murder to remove any evidence, he did not know that pollen grains are resistant to damage. Pollen grains matching those collected from the victim’s body and surroundings were recovered from the clothing, proving this person had been in Noosa in the location of the crime scene. He had committed this crime after an argument with Samantha.
This case was the first time in Australia where pollen helped solved a murder mystery. Microscopic pollens are excellent forensic evidence because they are morphologically distinct, resistant to decay and damage and are produced in large quantities. Forensic scientists examine pollen samples from crime scenes and suspects, as these pollen samples can give clues to where a person or an object has been. Some scientists call pollen “the fingerprints of plants”.
Image: Pollen from a variety of common plants: sunflower (Helianthus annuus), morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea), hollyhock (Sildalcea malviflora), lily (Lilium auratum), primrose (Oenothera fruiticosa) and castor bean (Ricinus communis). This image is falsely coloured to highlight the shape of the spores and used here to demonstrate the details of different types of pollen that can be seen through a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Reference: Australian Geographic.
Interested to know more about using pollens to solve mysteries? UNE Discovery offers Crime Scene Investigation as an activity for primary and secondary level, which incorporates observations of different beautiful pollen models.
References:
https://www.uwa.edu.au/study/-/media/faculties/science/docs/fact-sheet-forensic-palynology.pdf