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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Science
Ian Sample Science editor

How a clump of moss helped convict grave robbers in Illinois

Men clean a tomb at Burr Oak cemetery.
A police investigation found remains buried under inches of earth at Burr Oak cemetery. Photograph: Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

It was a particularly heinous crime. Four workers at a cemetery near Chicago dug up more than 100 bodies and dumped the remains elsewhere in the grounds, in order to resell the burial plots for profit.

Now, nearly two decades after the scandal broke at Burr Oak cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, scientists have released details of how a tiny clump of moss became crucial forensic evidence that helped convict the grave robbers.

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