Blood, fingerprints and weapons aren’t the only evidence crime scene investigators look for; Pollen is another thing. Pollen is one of the pieces of evidence that has helped solve some of the most famous murder cases in recent years, one grain at a time.
Tiny grains that may be invisible to the naked eye actually shine and reveal a lot to experts.
A murder solved with pollen
In 2014, gang member Moha Huataki Fawcett was convicted of Manning’s murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Milori Manning, a 27-year-old woman, was assaulted and killed in 2008 while working as a prostitute in Christchurch, New Zealand. The police investigated and interviewed hundreds of people, but months later, they were still short of evidence. They approach an unusual specialist, Dallas Mildenhall, a white-haired scientist in his seventies who works as a forensic pathologist, an expert on pollen and spores who has helped solve numerous murders around the world.One of the main reasons the investigation stopped was because the police were unable to determine where the woman was killed. “They were very suspicious early on of a gang called the Mongrel Mob because they were involved in prostitution, and they had this kind of warehouse not far from where the body was found,” David Woolman wrote in Matter magazine. “Yet they didn’t have the evidence to prove that connection. All they had were assumptions.”
Mildenhall took pollen samples from Milori’s nasal passages and clothing and began researching.He was examining a type of pollen that usually has only one pore. But Mildenhall “noticed a pollen grain that appeared to have two pores.” Mildenhall examined pollen taken from Manning’s body and noted multiple examples of unusual pollen grains with two pores. He shared his theory with police: The herbicide caused a mutation in the pollen, giving it more than one pore.The area adjacent to the Mongrel Mob store and warehouse would certainly have been sprayed at that time of year. Police asked Mildenhall to re-examine pollen samples collected from the gang’s warehouse, where he ended up finding significant concentrations of two-pore pollen. In 2014, gang member Moha Huataki Fawcett was convicted of Manning’s murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Pollen: the silent and granular evidence
For biologists, pollen is evidence that has helped catch thieves and murderers.
Pollen can play a crucial role in resolving cases. For most people, pollen is the yellow substance that bees collect or the substance that plants need to complete fertilization and produce the food we eat.
Others end up hating pollen because of the allergies it causes. But for biologists, pollen is the evidence that helped catch thieves and murderers.The technology of using pollen as a guide is relatively new. It was first used in 1959 to solve a murder in Austria. While countries like New Zealand have been using it for several decades, it is now being used in countries like the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and the United States.
But why is pollen such a good legitimate secret?
Many pollen species and spore-producing plants release a large amount of these ancient forms into the air.
Once in the air, it is carried by air currents and eventually falls to the ground in a thin layer called “pollen rain.” In some areas, the amount of pollen and spores dispersed is so great that exposed ground or water turns yellow. This coating is a snapshot of the area and becomes its “pollen imprint”. They can be used to identify and mark an area, as was done in the Manning murder.Since most pollen and spores are microscopic in size and can attach to any type of surface, they remain invisible to humans.
Pollen is also resistant to decomposition due to its cell wall composed of cellulose and sporopollenin – one of the most chemically resistant organic molecules known. A person will have no idea about all the pollen on their clothes, thus making it impossible for them to be able to remove pollen from their clothes and belongings.A forensic pathologist can find out the source of pollen or spores found at a crime scene or on a criminal and use them as evidence to link a suspect or object to the crime scene.
There are approximately half a million different plant species that produce either pollen or spores, each of which can be identified as coming from the parent plant. While some can be identified using simple microscopes, others require special instruments such as electron microscopes (SEM) or transmission electron microscopes (TEM), according to Arizona State University.But evidence is not used often. This is because, like other forensic evidence, it can be difficult for judges and juries to understand. Moreover, studying pollen is difficult and time-consuming work with scientists who have the rarest experience in the world, as much as they do with bi-pore pollen.