Criminal - The Botanist

Episode Date: November 3, 2017

In 1993, Gerald Boggs of Steamboat Springs, Colorado was found dead in his home. He'd been burned with a stun gun, hit with a shovel, and shot several times. The victim's wife, Jill Coit, was the primary suspect, but she had an alibi for the estimated time of death: she was camping with her boyfriend Michael Backus. Investigators were at a loss, and turned to two very unlikely people for help. Today, we know Jill Coit as the Black Widow.  Forensic Plant Science, by Jane H Bock and David Norris Say hello on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Sign up for our occasional newsletter, The Accomplice. Follow the show and review us on Apple Podcasts: iTunes.com/CriminalShow. We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery. Artwork by Julienne Alexander. Check out our online shop.  Episode transcripts are posted on our website. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Botox Cosmetic, Adabotulinum Toxin A, FDA approved for over 20 years. So, talk to your specialist to see if Botox Cosmetic is right for you. For full prescribing information, including boxed warning, visit BotoxCosmetic.com or call 877-351-0300. Remember to ask for Botox Cosmetic by name. To see for yourself and learn more, visit BotoxCosmetic.com. That's BotoxCosmetic.com. Support for Criminal comes from Apple Podcasts. Each month, Apple Podcasts highlights one series

worth your attention, and they call these series essentials. This month, they recommend Wondery's Ghost Story, a seven-part series that follows journalist Tristan Redman as he tries to get to the bottom of a ghostly presence in his childhood home. His investigation takes him on a journey

involving homicide detectives, ghost hunters, and even psychic mediums, and leads him to a dark secret about his own family. Check out Ghost Story, a series essential pick, completely ad-free on Apple Podcasts. This episode contains descriptions of violence and post-mortem forensic examinations.

It might not be appropriate for everyone. Please use discretion. She really enjoyed getting married a lot. She'd been married 11 times to 9 different men. You can do the math on that one. She sometimes was a little careless about whether one marriage was over before she began another one. Jill Coit got married for the first time before she was 20. That first marriage didn't last long. She soon married her second husband, and then her third. Almost three weeks after she filed for divorce from husband number three, he was dead.

His name was William Clark Coit, and he'd been shot in his home by someone who'd come through an unlocked back door. Police suspected that his wife was involved in his death, but she checked herself into a psychiatric facility and somehow avoided further questioning. From there, she somehow convinced a wealthy elderly man to adopt her. He passed away a year later, and she received a large portion of his estate. She then married a Marine Corps major. They divorced. Her fifth husband was her lawyer. She actually married him twice. Husband number seven told the L.A. Times, if you were to meet her and talk to her, you'd think she's just the greatest person you ever met. In 1991, she married a man named Gerald Boggs in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. When Gerald Boggs learned that she was also married to someone else,

he hired a private investigator to look into her past. He annulled the marriage and had all of her assets frozen. In response, she sued him for $100,000. About two weeks before the trial was set to begin in October of 1993, Gerald Boggs seemed to be trying to go back to his normal life. He had come into work, as he always did. He ran a hardware store in town. We're hearing the story from Dave Norris.

He spent more than 40 years as a professor of integrative physiology at the University of Colorado. And he would come in in the morning and he would open up the shop, and his brother, who ran the store with him he would come in in the morning and he would open up the shop and his brother who ran the store with him would come in later and take over and then he would go to the restaurant just down the street called The Shack and there he would have his usual breakfast. In fact, it was so standard that when they saw him coming down the street, the waitress would even tell the cook to go ahead and prepare his breakfast, which was always hash browns, eggs, and toast. On this particular day, Gerald Boggs wasn't feeling well. He went

home from the hardware store early. The next morning, when his brother got to the store, he found it was still closed. And so he opened it up and when his brother got to the store, he found it was still closed. And so he opened it up and called his brother, but he got no answer. He tried several times during the day to contact his brother and got no answer. So at the end of the day, he closed up the store and went to his brother's home where he found him. He had been burned with a stun gun, he'd been hit on the head with a shovel, and he'd been shot three times. Needless to say, he was dead. His wife, Jill Coit, was the primary suspect. But she had an alibi for that evening. She was on a camping trip with her new boyfriend, more than 150 miles away.

Investigators went around and around, trying to piece together what happened hour by hour on the day he was killed. All they knew for sure was that he'd been seen at the shack, having his usual eggs, toast, and hash browns. And so the question was, had he had another meal before he was killed? And in this particular case, we were asked to look at the stomach contents. The we he's referring to is himself and a botanist named Jane Bogg. They were colleagues at the University of Colorado. And when they looked at the contents of Gerald Bogg's stomach, they found two things, potatoes and onions. Now it turns out that the shack claimed that they never put onions in their hash browns.

So that could have suggested a later meal that also had potatoes in it. Which would mean he was killed in the evening, the time when his wife had her camping alibi. However, we asked them to go and get us a sample of the hash browns from the shack. And so the investigator went there, and he had them cook him up some hash browns, and he watched the chef prepare them. And on one side of the grill, he was cooking onions. And on the other side, he was doing hash brown potatoes. And then he took a spatula and he turned the potatoes. He took the same spatula and turned the onions. And then again, he turned the potatoes. And when we got the sample, of course, it contained potatoes and onions. Which meant his last meal was what he'd eaten at the shack,

and that he was likely killed during the day, a time when his wife had no alibi. This was sufficient evidence to get a search warrant for her property, where investigators found a stun gun and charged her with murder. Jill Coit was found guilty and is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Incidentally, about three years into her sentence, she put out a personal ad to see if anyone else wanted to get get married. Dave tells me we've done probably a hundred cases, but I would guess it's 60 to 70 of them were stomach contents. Jane Bach. Does digestion stop when you die? Yes, it's interesting because there's a valve that leads from the stomach to the small intestine.

And that valve snaps shut at death. The valve is a band of smooth muscle. And when it snaps shut, it creates a perfect little evidence locker for those willing to look inside. I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal. The first time forensic botany was used in a courtroom in the United States was after Charles Lindbergh's infant son was kidnapped in 1932. He was taken from his nursery on the second floor of the Lindbergh's home. Someone had placed a homemade ladder under the window, and a ransom note for $50,000 was found on the windowsill. The baby was found a

little over two months later, buried on the side of the road. Police traced the ransom money back to a German man named Bruno Hoppmann. A plant anatomist named Arthur Kohler compared the wood on the homemade ladder to the wood in Hopman's attic, and it was a match. Kohler's testimony set a precedent for the admission of botanical evidence in trial. But Jane Bach and Dave Norris weren't trying to follow in Arthur Kohler's footsteps. They loved teaching, loved their students, they liked mystery novels, but had no interest in real detective work. Until 1982, Jane got a call from a coroner friend in Denver.

He played a trick on me, kind of. He said, I'm dealing with a homicide here of a young woman. We want to know what her last meal was. Do you think you could look at her stomach contents and tell me what kind of plant food she ate at her last meal? And I said, no. And he said, why not? And I said, because it'll look bad and smell bad. That's why I'm a botanist. And he said, what if I just sent you slides? And I said, oh, okay, sure. I love the microscope. I'll be glad to take a look. So I thought, since we don't really have that varied a diet in plant foods, maybe 75 species at most, I might be able to help him. She put the slides under her microscope,

and while she didn't know exactly what she was looking for, something was familiar. We had just looked at some cabbage in one of my anatomy classes, and I said, gee, that's a ringer for cabbage. And the bean was so much intact that it just made sense that that's what it was. But that was strictly hunch and seat of the pants stuff. She wanted to be sure.

So she went to the store and picked up some cabbage and pinto beans and chewed them up herself. Then she made her own slides to compare. And very quickly I knew I was in over my head because I have all these degrees in botany, and I know absolutely nothing about the intricacies of human digestion. That's when she called her colleague Dave Norris. She knew plants. He knew the body. My first thought was this would be a very interesting way to help determine time of death.

Because if you know the last known meal and the stomach contents match that meal, you can fix time of death within two to four hours or maybe less. On the other hand, if it doesn't match, you know that the person had at least one additional meal before they were killed. And in this particular case, the last known meal was with her boyfriend at McDonald's. And often the first suspect is going to be the male associate. And at that time, McDonald's was not a health food restaurant like it is today. And so he thought she must have eaten a different meal. And it turned out that, in fact, she had eaten a different meal.

That placed her time of death in the evening. At which time, he was well alibied, and so he was no longer considered a suspect in the crime. It later turned out that she was killed by a serial killer, who several years later confessed to the crime and indicated that her last meal had been at Wendy's, which in those days did have a salad bar. That was Dave and Jane's first case. And after that, the phone just kept ringing. We had sort of thought this was, you know, interesting

and it's sort of a one-time deal, but it turned out not to be. Support for Criminal comes from Apple Podcasts. Each month, Apple Podcasts. Each month, Apple Podcasts highlights one series worth your attention, and they call these Series Essentials. This month they recommend Wondery's Ghost Story, a seven-part series that follows

journalist Tristan Redman as he tries to get to the bottom of a ghostly presence in his childhood home. His investigation takes him on a journey involving homicide detectives, ghost hunters, and even psychic mediums His investigation takes him on a journey involving homicide detectives, ghost hunters, and even psychic mediums, and leads him to a dark secret about his own family. Check out Ghost Story, a series essential pick,

completely ad-free on Apple Podcasts. Subtle results, still you, but with fewer lines. Botox Cosmetic, adipotulinum Toxin A, is a prescription medicine used to temporarily make moderate to severe frown lines, crow's feet, and forehead lines look better in adults. Effects of Botox Cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness may be a sign of a life-threatening condition.

Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Don't receive Botox Cosmetic if you have a skin infection. Side effects may include allergic reactions, injection site pain, headache, eyebrow and eyelid drooping, and eyelid swelling. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms, and dizziness. Tell your doctor about medical history, muscle or nerve conditions including ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, myasthenia gravis, or Lambert-Eden syndrome in medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. For full safety information, visit BotoxCosmetic.com or call 877-351-0300.

See for yourself at BotoxCosmetic.com. It's so, you know, with all of this, the world today where DNA testing and toxicology and blood, you know, sample, this is one of the simplest things you can do looking for the plants, it seems. It's also one of the cheapest. And the irony is that there are no botanists on staff at the finest, I think it's the finest, although I have some doubts, FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, where they can do all sorts of wonderful things. I keep encountering them in cases, but they don't have any botanists. And I see them do things where they have a serious lapse of the treating of a crime scene or even of the victims when they ignore botany.

What's your favorite part of this work? Wondering what in the hell kind of, pardon me, wondering what in the heck kind of a plant that was in somebody's stomach contents and figuring it out. What if it was like a marshmallow? You know, something that seems so fake. It's not a plant. So things like that, meat, marshmallow, you can't tell. Nobody could, I don't think. And the trick is with meats, you might say, oh, well, they had a big steak.

Not if it's been in the stomach very long it just turns to gush because they don't have cell walls proteins break down but the cell walls of plants remain visible under a microscope they're just beautiful to look at They're like little sculptures. There's nothing that's gross for a biologist. The only times that I'm aware of someone being grossed out were situations where we were having dinner at our house, we had some guests there, and someone asked what I did and we had someone have to leave the table. But other than that usually people are not obviously grossed out. But maybe they don't want to hear about it over their dinner.

Right. In fact, there was a, we had a case of a person who robbed the poor box in the Catholic church in the town where he lived. And he also suffered from a disorder known as Crohn's disease, which means when you get very excited, you can't necessarily control your bowel movements. And he had a bout of diarrhea, and he left behind some fecal material in the church, which we were able to match to the fecal material that was associated with the pair of blue jeans that he threw into a dumpster. When he was presented with the similarity, he confessed. That was kind of a memorable case. We prefer the cases where there are confessions,

so we don't have to go to court. By 1995, Jane and Dave had been working on forensic botany for 13 years, and they were often frustrated that law enforcement and attorneys didn't see its potential. And it makes me so cross. There was one very famous case, and Dave and I were actually going to call up and volunteer our services. It was a TV case. The entire case was on TV ad nauseum. Is this the O.J. Simpson case?

Yes, it is. And we called to say, could we please see the stomach contents of the two victims that resulted from their autopsies? Because we thought maybe we could add a little something to the narrowing down of the time of death. And they weren't eligible. They weren't available because they were gone. There's no reason ever to throw out the stomach contents. It might have been one more piece of evidence that at least the jury could understand. They put a DNA expert in there who totally bored the jury to extreme.

They made it too complex for them to interpret. We thought that some stomach content data would have pinned down better the time of death. It didn't matter that much to us which side we were looking at his stomach contents for. We just wanted to see what was there and what it might tell about the case. You're on the side of the stomach. That's the most important thing. Absolutely. They have worked on a number of other high-profile homicides, John Benet Ramsey, Casey Anthony. And in 2016, they published a book called Forensic Plant Science, where they describe many of the cases they've worked on over the last 30 years. One of the cases they write about that really shows how specialized their work is happened in 2002 in California.

A 15-month-old was found dead in a creek. The toddler's mother told police that she'd been in a park near a fountain when a man came, grabbed the toddler, and ran off. She told police she chased after the man until her sides hurt. The forensic pathologist on the case thought there was something odd about the body. There wasn't as much water in the stomach as you might normally see. He described it as looking like a, quote, gentle drowning. He asked for advice on a medical examiner's listserv, and someone gave him Jane's number. She examined the water in the toddler's stomach and found microalgae that matched the water in the creek where the toddler was found, but she also found microalgae from the fountain in the park. When investigators

confronted the mother with evidence that the baby had ingested water from both the creek and the fountain, she confessed that she had killed her child and made up the abduction story. She pled guilty to first-degree murder. Jane says the story still haunts her, but when she's in the lab, she just tries to focus on the work. I'm not thinking about some poor soul, but if you go in the courtroom, you have to.

You just have to, because there are all these people involved in the courtroom, you have to. You just have to because there are all these people involved in the case. And, you know, maybe the mother of the victim or the dad or the children of the victim. And then the people that love the suspect and believe in her or him. Oh, that makes it very, very hard. It makes it as serious as it should be, of course, no matter which side you're working for. She retired from teaching in 2000 and devoted herself to forensic work. She splits her time between Colorado and the Florida Keys. At some point, Jane and Dave stopped chewing up food to make their slides.

They got graduate students to do it for them. We had a grad student that got very bullish about chewing up... What is that stuff that's in gumbo? Okra? Okra. But we put the pressure on him because we were paying him by the hour. And he finally went along with it.

He didn't like okra? No. I like it. I like it too. I should have chewed it up for him. Well, this has been such a nice talk with you. And I thank you for taking all this time to talk with us. It was really interesting. Good.

We will put this recording together to make it sound like you and I are kind of in the same room. I wish we were, Phoebe. I'd love to know you. I would like to know you. I mean, this is so fascinating. I would like to be chewing up food for you. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Criminal is produced by Lauren Spohr, Nadia Wilson, and me. Audio mix by Rob Byers.

Our intern is Matilda Erfolino. Julian Alexander makes original illustrations for each episode of Criminal. You can see them at thisiscriminal.com. We're on Facebook and Twitter at Criminal Show. Criminal is recorded in the studios of North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC. We're a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collection of the best podcasts around. Special thanks to AdCirc for providing their ad-serving platform to Radiotopia. I'm Phoebe Judge. This is Criminal. Radiotopia. From PRX.

The number one selling product of its kind with over 20 years of research and innovation. Botox Cosmetic, Adabotulinum Toxin A, is a prescription medicine used to temporarily make moderate to severe frown lines, crow's feet, and forehead lines look better in adults. Effects of Botox Cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness may be a sign of a life-threatening condition. Patients with these conditions before injection are at highest risk. Don't receive Botox cosmetic if you have a skin infection. Side effects may include allergic reactions, injection site pain, headache, eyebrow and eyelid drooping, and eyelid swelling. Allergic reactions can include rash, welts, asthma symptoms, and dizziness.

Tell your doctor about medical history, muscle or nerve conditions including ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, myasthenia gravis, or Lambert-Eaton syndrome in medications, including botulinum toxins, as these may increase the risk of serious side effects. For full safety information, visit BotoxCosmetic.com or call 877-351-0300. See for yourself at BotoxCosmetic.com. Hey, it's Scott Galloway, and on our podcast, Pivot, we are bringing you a special series about the basics of artificial intelligence. We're answering all your questions. What should you use it for? What tools are right for you?

And what privacy issues should you ultimately watch out for? And to help us out, we are joined by Kylie Robeson, the senior AI reporter for The Verge, to give you a primer on how to integrate AI into your life. So, tune into AI Basics, How and When to Use AI, a special series from Pivot sponsored by AWS, wherever you get your podcasts.