Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Science

How moss helped solve a grave-robbing mystery

In 2009, a scandal was exposed at a cemetery just outside of Chicago. Workers at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, were accused of exhuming old graves, dumping the remains elsewhere on the cemetery grounds, and reselling the burial plots. When the case went to trial in 2015, one key piece of evi...

How moss helped solve a grave-robbing mystery
Image: Phys.org
In 2009, a scandal was exposed at a cemetery just outside of Chicago. Workers at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, were accused of exhuming old graves, dumping the remains elsewhere on the cemetery grounds, and reselling the burial plots. When the case went to trial in 2015, one key piece of evidence was a tiny clump of moss.

Originally published at Phys.org

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