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Management of a crime is the process of ensuring accurate and effective collection and preservation of physical evidence. Forensic botany can provide significant supporting evidences during criminal investigations. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the importance of forensic botany in the crime scene. We reported a case of a woman affected by dementia who had disappeared from nursing care and was found dead near the banks of a river that flowed under a railroad. Two possible ways of access to crime scene were identified and denominated "Path A" and "Path B." Both types of soil and plants were identified. Botanical survey was performed. Some samples of Xanthium Orientalis subsp. Italicum were identified. The fall of woman resulted in external injuries and vertebral fracture at autopsy. The botanical evidence is important when crime scene and autopsy findings are not sufficient to define the dynamics and the modality of death.

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Venous disease, including varicose veins and chronic venous insufficiency, is one of the most common chronic medical conditions. Haemorrhage from rupture of varicose veins in the legs is rare and can lead to sudden death. Nevertheless, this condition is not included among the causes of sudden death. In this case, an 88-year-old man was found dead in a large pool of blood at home. Initially, investigators mistakenly assumed that it was a case of homicide. Bloodstain pattern analysis was performed. An external examination of the victim showed an ulcer on the left foot and evident varicose veins untreated on the lower limbs. The aim of this study is to emphasize the role of treatment of varicose veins in the prevention of adverse events such as sudden death from acute haemorrhage.

Bone is a hard biological tissue and a precious reservoir of information in forensic investigations as it retains key biomolecules commonly used for identification purposes. Bone proteins have recently attracted significant interest for their potential in estimating post-mortem interval (PMI) and age at death (AAD). However, the preservation of such proteins is highly dependent on intrinsic and extrinsic factors that can hinder the potential application of molecular techniques to forensic sciences. The present study aims at investigating the effects that two commonly used types of burial practices (entombment and inhumation) have on bone protein survival. The sample consists of 14 exhumed individuals from cemeteries in Southern Italy with different AADs (29–85 years) and PMIs (1–37 years). LC-MS/MS analyses show that 16 proteins are better preserved under the entombed conditions and 4 proteins are better preserved under the inhumed conditions, whereas no clear differences are detected for post-translational protein modifications. Furthermore, several potential “stable” protein markers ( i.e ., proteins not affected by the burial environment) are identified for PMI and AAD estimation. Overall, these results show that the two burial environments play a role in the differential preservation of noncollagenous proteins, confirming the potential of LC-MS/MS-based proteomics in forensic sciences.