Botanical Evidence in Accidental Death Investigations: A Case Report

The omnipresence of plant-based matter results in it being encountered at most crime scenes. Despite this, the exploration of the forensic significance of botanical evidence has not yet reached its peak. Such materials, although innocuous, often yield surprising insights into various aspects of the crime, including the identity of perpetrators and their relationship with the victim, apart from the cause and place of occurrence. This case report presents one such instance where the microscopic analysis of the bark of Azadirachta indica (neem tree) helped to establish vehicular tree collision as the cause of death of the victim. The forensic match of the bark samples hanging onto the point of collision on the tree trunk and scattered around the accident site with those retrieved from parts of the vehicle involved in the collision proved to be the turning point in the case in the absence of other corroborative factors. This was especially important owing to the fact that the vehicle involved was not seized by the police immediately after the accident, and still the botanical evidence helped to establish the cause of death in spite of the delay in collecting it. The botanical study was able to successfully identify the site of the accident and established the fact that the woman was injured as her car hit the neem tree, which led to her demise.