HOME THE SCIENCE SERVICES LINKS ... CONTACT A man with a bad reputation as a poacher was under investigation for the murder of Margaeth Filbert in Bavaria, Germany. Investigating mud on the suspect's shoes, Georg Popp, a chemist and geologist in Frankfort, used geology to help solve the case. The suspect's wife testified that she had dutifully cleaned her husband's shoes the day before the crime. Those shoes had three layers of soil adhering to the leather in front of the heel. Popp reasoned that the innermost layer was the oldest. It contained goose droppings and other earth materials, matching samples from the walk outside the suspect's home. The second layer contained red sandstone fragments and other particles that compared with samples taken where Filbert's body had been found. The last layer and thus, Popp said, the youngest, contained brick, coal dust, cement and a series of other materials that matched samples taken outside a castle where the suspect's gun and clothing had been found. The suspect claimed he'd been walking in his fields the day of the crime. The lie didn't stick. Those fields were underlain by porphyry with milky quartz, and the soil had been wet that day. But Popp found no such material on the suspect's shoes. Case closed. | |
|