A Piece of Wooden Stick as a Crime Scene Evidence to Solve The Murder Mystery

Forensic botany is defined as the use of plant evidence in court. Forensic botany encompasses many sub-disciplines, including plant anatomy, plant ecology, plant systematic, plant molecular biology, palynology, and limnology. Although the field of forensic botany has been recognized, the use of trace plant material as physical evidence in criminal casework is still novel. Plant anatomy uses tree growth ring patterns, to aid in species identification and in performing physical matches of evidence. The physical clues left at the crime scene can assist in determining what transpired at the scene and who was (and was not) involved. The forensic clues challenge experts to analyze evidence from crime scenes.

Herein, we report a piece of wooden stick that was retrieved from the crime scene; and another wooden stick that was used as a weapon and seized from the accused, both belonged to the same plant material. First we performed the physical comparison of the crime scene exhibit and the exhibit collected from accused. The macerated plant material from both the wood samples was used for the morphological and microscopic examination.

A single wooden piece (bark) provided the link between the criminal, the victim and the scene of occurrence.