#forensic-botany

#forensic-botany

"It had its own biography, its own deep history. It seemed like an archaeological site between covers," recalls Stinson, who is now a medievalist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.

A maggot's age and species can give essential information to forensic entomologists investigating murders. Combing through these fly larvae, investigators can potentially learn when and where a crime happened, whether the body has been moved or whether toxins were involved. For example, blowflies are among the earliest insect colonizers of corpses; they typically sniff out and lay eggs on a dead body within minutes to hours.

They asked if I knew about moss and brought the evidence to the museum. An investigation by local police had found human remains buried under inches of earth at the cemetery, a site of enormous historical importance. Several prominent African Americans are buried at the cemetery, including Emmett Till, whose murder in 1955 became a catalyst for the civil rights movement, and the blues singer Dinah Washington.

We don't know what exactly investigators found or whether they are in any way harmful. However, we do have an intriguing clue. The property was linked to Jia Bei Zhu, a 62-year-old Chinese citizen who was arrested in October 2023 on charges of manufacturing and distributing misbranded medical devices and making false statements to the FDA, according to NBC News.