How Forensic Botany Catches Killers
Silent witnesses stood sentinel in a backyard in Davie, Florida. The witnesses had no verbal communication skills, but they could speak.
In fact, police believed these witnesses could unlock the mystery of a retiree whose murderer scattered his body parts across South Florida.
On Nov. 6, 2011, a Fort Lauderdale homeowner noticed a container bobbing in the canal near his home. When he peered inside the box, he found two human arms and two legs encased in concrete. A week later, employees of a Dania Beach auto supply store discovered a severed head and human hand in a bucket, also covered in concrete. Two fishermen unearthed a male torso in a concrete-filled container near a canal in Northwest Miami-Dade later that month.
DNA and fingerprints confirmed the body parts all belonged to the same victim, Warren Danzig.
Could Plants Solve the Case?
Police asked Botanist John Pipoly to identify the leaves and plant material tangled within the concreted body parts. And he did. The two witnesses—Schefflera actinophylla, the common umbrella tree, and Ligustrum sinese, a large invasive shrub called Chinese Privet—chatted at length with the botanist.
When detectives arrived at Danzig’s last known address, the homeowner met them on the doorstep. Jamie Saffran explained how his longtime friend lived in the Dominican Republic but used his address to get mail.
Suspicious, detectives roamed around the property. In the backyard they found an umbrella tree shading the shed, surrounded by several different floras.
Further investigation revealed Saffron had been using Danzig’s credit card to pay for everything from tires to his daughter’s college tuition. When police executed the search warrant, they headed straight for the shed. Inside, they found a bag of concrete, blue rope similar to the rope recovered with the head and hand, and a sledgehammer and shovel painted in dried concrete.
Since Saffron dismembered and disposed of Danzig’s remains, the case hinged on finding irrefutable evidence to link him to the severed body parts. Detectives took clippings from several plants found on Saffron’s property. To further evaluate the flora found with the body parts, Pipoly headed to the Fairchild Herbarium in Coral Gables to examine roughly 15,000 plant samples.
That’s when Pipoly confirmed the leaf material was, in fact, Chinese Privet. This invasive plant is common in the Florida Panhandle, not in Broward County where the crime occurred. Yet, Saffran did have Chinese Privet growing in his backyard. This evidence played a key role in convicting Saffran for 2nd degree murder/dangerous act. According to his inmate record, he’ll be released on February 17, 2034, if he doesn’t rack up other charges while incarcerated.
This is one recent example of a growing field of detective work: forensic botany, the use of plants to help solve crimes.
“Plants in general are overlooked by most people, let alone people who should be looking for the material,” said Barney Lipscomb, a Dallas-area botanist whose expertise has been utilized in Texas criminal cases. “Plants are ubiquitous. It stands to reason any crime could have been committed where plant material can be connected to it—not only outdoor plants, but indoor plants.”
Origins of Forensic Botany
The origins of modern forensic botany date back to “The Trial of the Century”—the 1935 trial of the man charged with kidnapping and murdering the Lindbergh baby in New Jersey.
A botanist testified how the wood used to construct the ladder that allowed the kidnapper to climb to the nursery window matched wood flooring in Bruno Hauptmann’s attic. This evidence helped send Hauptmann to the electric chair.
Forensic Botany & Serial Killers
When Florida detectives were trying to track down the last victim of serial killer Ted Bundy, they enlisted then-Florida State University law professor Loran Anderson to examine plant fragments found in the undercarriage of Bundy’s vehicle. The esteemed botanist’s cases range from using twigs to establish how long marijuana’s been growing in a field to linking pollen in a murder victim’s throat to the suspect’s clothing.
Plants never lie or obscure the truth.
“Forensic botany is great in destroying alibis and frequently helps determine time since death,” said David Hall, a Gainesville-based botanist.
Hall testified as a state witness in one of Florida’s most-closely watched murder trials—Casey Anthony, the mother charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. Hall examined the vegetation at the dumpsite and testified the body could not have been in the woods for months like the prosecution argued. The silent witnesses showed Caylee lay in her grave for less than two weeks. Heartbreaking case.
While writing my Grafton County Series, I delve into all kinds of forensics to add realism to the plot. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with forensic taphonomy, forensic archaeology, forensic anthropology, identifying skeletal remains, forensic botany, and how (not if) climate change impacts outdoor forensics.
Most of my research won’t make it into book #5, but I need to learn it for a new anthropologist character. I may also need a climate change expert to consult, if my anthropologist can’t pull off the scene(s) in a realistic way. Still mulling it over. 😉
In the real world, New Hampshire has one State Anthropologist, and I’ve conversed with her in the past. Wicked nice, super smart. She’s the expert who helped with my research for RACKED, Grafton County #4, and why I wrote a post about the decomposition process called adipocere.
Many of these fields are tricky to blog about in a compelling way, but I love sharing my research. After all, Murder Blog started as strictly a crime resource blog. Over time it’s grown and expanded to include true crime stories, all about crows, writing tips, flash fiction, and various other topics.
My main focus has, and will always be, on you. With that in mind, please let me know in the comments if any of these fields interest you. If they do, I’ll write future posts about outdoor forensics. 🙂
In other news, I AM MAYHEM is a semi-finalist in the 2021 Kindle Book Review Awards. Fingers crossed for the next round!
If you enjoyed this post, please share. Thank you!
Sue Coletta
Sue Coletta is an award-winning crime writer and an active member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. Feedspot and Expertido.org named her Murder Blog as “Best 100 Crime Blogs on the Net.” She also blogs on the Kill Zone (Writer's Digest "101 Best Websites for Writers"), Writers Helping Writers, and StoryEmpire. Sue lives with her husband in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire. Her backlist includes psychological thrillers, the Mayhem Series (books 1-3) and Grafton County Series, and true crime/narrative nonfiction. Now, she exclusively writes eco-thrillers, Mayhem Series (books 4-9 and continuing). Sue's appeared on the Emmy award-winning true crime series, Storm of Suspicion, and three episodes of A Time to Kill on Investigation Discovery. When she's not writing, she loves spending time with her murder of crows, who live free but come when called by name. And nature feeds her soul.
19 Comments
sherry fundin
congrats on i am mayhem. you deserve it. i love reading everything you write about. i love crawling through the dark and ugly with you characters. true crime stories have always held an interest with me. i love your blog. you talk about things i don’t usually see much about and i find it all verrrrry interesting
sherry fundin recently posted…Giveaway – Death Rang The Bell by Carol Pouliot @partnersincr1me
Sue Coletta
Aww, such a sweet thing to say, Sherry. Thank you!!!
Staci Troilo
All of this appeals to me, so write away.
I always wondered how realistic the plant evidence was in Bones when Dr. Jack Hodges came up with a weird seed or pollen that wasn’t indigenous to the area the body was found, then pinpointed it to a specific location. I’m sure there was some creative liberties, but it sounds like there’s actually some truth to the science. So cool! Thanks, Sue.
Staci Troilo recently posted…Rebecca Zanetti’s YOU CAN RUN #bookreview #thriller
Sue Coletta
Thanks, Staci! Yes, I’m sure Hodges discoveries were based in truth since forensic botany has been around for decades.
Staci Troilo
There’s a show on Hulu called Harrow that reminds me of Bones, though it’s a little darker. Ioan Gruffudd stars in it. If you liked Bones, you’d probably enjoy it.
Staci Troilo recently posted…Rebecca Zanetti’s YOU CAN RUN #bookreview #thriller
Sue Coletta
Cool! We just switched to Hulu, so I’ve been searching for new binge series. Thanks, Staci!
Staci Troilo
🙂
Debbie Burke
Who needs Google when you have Sue Coletta to come up with fascinating subjects?
On to the finals and the win!
Sue Coletta
Hahaha. Thanks, Debbie! Best. Compliment. Ever. 🙂
And thanks for the good wishes! *fingers crossed*
Marcia Meara
Big congratulations on I Am Mayhem, Sue! Wonderful news.
And thanks for a really fascinating post! So interesting, and SO cool to know more about forensic botany. I’m all in favor of better ways to track down the guilty! Thoroughly enjoyed reading about this one. As a gardener, myself, I guess I shall have to be very, very careful if I decide to off someone in my backyard! 😜😁
Good luck with I Am Mayhem in the finals!! 😀 <3
Sue Coletta
Thanks, Marcia! I’m fascinating by forensic botany, too. Glad you enjoyed the post. Have an awesome Sunday!
CS Boyack
Very cool issues. I remember reading one where some wood chips stuck to someone’s 4×4 helped finger the killer. Congratulations on ‘I Am Mayhem.’
Sue Coletta
I wouldn’t doubt it, Craig. I was surprised to learn how many cases involved forensic botany. Thank you!
Garry Rodgers
Good stuff, Sue. You probably know of the archeological case of Otzi The Iceman – the 5,000-year-old mummified corpse found in the Alps. There were pollens still preserved in his gut track that allowed forensic botanists to trace his movements from the valley-floor village up to the top of the mountain pass where he was killed – 50 centuries later. Ain’t nature grand!
Sue Coletta
It’s amazing! Yeah, I remember the post about Otzi The Iceman. Very cool indeed. Happy Sunday, my friend. 🙂
Margot Kinberg
This really is fascinating, Sue! Each place is a unique blend of plant life, soil, and so on, so it makes sense that forensics could make use of that to work out how long a body’s been somewhere, or where else a body might have come from, etc.. Killers don’t always pay attention to plants, insects, and so on – until they poke holes in someone’s alibi….
Sue Coletta
Exactly, Margot. Plants and soil are probably the last things a killer would notice, which makes them ideal witnesses. Enjoy your Sunday!
Priscilla Bettis
Forensic botany is a fascinating subject. I hope you post more about it in the future.
Congrats on I Am Mayham making the semifinalist round!
Priscilla Bettis recently posted…Four Fab Dark Fiction E-Zines
Sue Coletta
Thanks, Priscilla! I find forensic botany fascinating, too. Enjoy your Sunday!