The sweet scent of death?

This story "Joan of Arc remains are fakes" on the BBC news website had me intrigued, in particular this segment:

Dr Charlier also recruited two smell experts, Sylvaine Delacourte and Jean-Michel Duriez, from the perfume industry. They were independently asked to sniff the relics as well as nine other samples of bone and hair from Dr Charlier's lab without being told what they were. Both smelled hints of "burnt plaster" and "vanilla" in the samples. The plaster smell backs up claims that Joan was burnt on a plaster stake, to make the spectacle last longer. But a vanilla smell is inconsistent with cremation. It comes from the compound vanillin, which is released during the decomposition of a body.

Blimey! I will add this to my short list of amazing facts! And just how good are their noses?!

I suppose it's just another aromatic compound based around the benzene ring...a comparitavely quite a simple one really, chemical name 4-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde. I studied organic chemistry once, and in the five minutes when I understood it I could have told you how to make it. But my knowledge has fizzled out now; you could say it was a result of someone pissing on my bonfire... but that's a whole other aroma...

vanillin molecule