NCJ Number
226916
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 54 Issue: 3 Dated: May 2009 Pages: 721-727
Date Published
May 2009
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This paper reports on a case in which dandelion juice was detected in the gastric contents of a deceased person through the use of direct sequencing and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) methods.
Abstract
Detectives suspected that the victim had been murdered by poisoning with an excess amount of sleeping medication, which had been homogenized with dandelion. Forensic pathologists were asked to determine whether or not the victim’s gastric contents contained drugs and dandelion material. Using GC-MS analysis and direct sequencing analysis of plant genetic markers--such as intergenic transcribed spacer, 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA), rbcL, and trnLF--the analysis confirmed that the gastric contents of the victim contained taraxasterol. This is one of the marker compounds for dandelion and contained dandelion species-specific rbcL and trnL-trnF IGS (trnLF) sequences. The concentrations of 11.4 and 27.5 mg/kg of doxylamine detected from the victim’s spleen and liver were far higher than the assumed therapeutic concentration. Raw dandelion was assumed to have been used as a masking vehicle for the ingestion of an excess amount of the sleeping drug doxylamine. Detailed descriptions of materials and methods used address DNA analysis (sample collection, DNA extraction, molecular markers and PCR amplification, DNA sequencing, and alignments and BLAST query); and chemical analysis (extraction procedure and GC-MS system and condition). 7 figures, 2 tables, and 27 references