Forensics Applied Sciences & Technology (F.A.S.T.) Team

Digging a hole is easy. Locating clandestine graves is extremely difficult, especially if several years or decades old. However locating the remains is crucial to the adjudication of a criminal. Memories fade with time, the environment changes, and even when the suspect is brought to the scene, the victim is never found or is later found nowhere close to where initially indicated.

Techniques or methods used to find clandestine graves have been unreliable, conflicting and are only suitable for small search areas. Random digging is physically demanding, expensive, time-consuming, and requires significant manpower resources which, for LE, is better served assisting the living.

There is no one technology that can be used for every scenario since each death scene is unique and poses its unique challenges, whether man-made or environmental. Technology which can be applied to locating human remains (whether buried or on the surface) changes based on soil type, terrain, size of the search area, the manner of death, the age of scene, moisture, flora, fauna, etc.

In order to be most effective in locating human remains, you must have an intimate knowledge of the decomposition process (what we break down into and where do these products go). We combine a multitude of technologies with a team of experienced, dedicated individuals who have a strong background in various scientific fields.

These disciplines include; biology, microbiology, chemistry, physics, geology, botany, in addition to instrumentation, mapping techniques, research design, and implementation, etc. Even with all of this, success is NOT guaranteed, but the likelihood of finding missing grave sites has never been better with a multi-disciplined approach.