User:Bends25/Forensic palynology

United States, 2015
A modern application of forsenic palynology occured in 2015, in the city of Boston, Massachusetts. A body of a young female child was discovered by law enforemcent in the Boston Harbour, but no identifying features remained as the body was in the late stages of decomposition. Investigators submitted samples taken from the clothes of the victim, a blanket found alongside the body, as well as a small amount of recovered hair to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection directorate labratory in Houston, Texas, for pollen analysis. The report from the submitted samples provided investigators with information they could use to identify the unknown victim.

The pollen assemblage created from the submitted samples indicated the vicitm was in the north-eastern United States before her death. The indivudal taxa of plant species observed in the assemblage also indicated that the victim lived in, or spent much of her time, in an developed, urban environment. The assemblage also captured pollen of the Lebanese cedar tree (Cedrus libani), native to the Eastern Mediterranean region of Europe. The species of cedar observed in the assemblage was found by investigators. to most likley be from an ornamental peice in a park or other conservation area. This is when the investigators discovered indivduals of the Lebanese cedar tree in the Arnold Arboretum, a public park that is a part of Harvard University.

Investigators then asked around the neighborhoods surrounding the arboretum, and a tip led them to a resident who, after questioning, admitted that her boyfriend at the time had abused the child, which resulted in the child's death. The man who murdered the child was sentenced to serve a minimum of 20 years for second degree murder. The mother's involvemnt in the crime is not reported, though she served 2 years probation for accessory after a plea deal for providing information about her then boyfriend who had commited the act.