Journal of Forensic Science and Medicine (Sep 2024)
Geoforensic Methods for Detecting Clandestine Graves and Buried Forensic Objects in Criminal Investigations – A Review
Abstract
Geoforensic techniques are being deployed in searches for hidden objects to counteract the shortcomings of conventional blunderbuss methods. Processing of crime scenes during searches for clandestine graves and buried objects is often destructive. Manual excavation and other invasive methods are restricted in many contemporary situations, and the location of a body is essential for forensic investigations. Geoforensics and geophysical surveys are important tools for assisting law enforcement agencies in locating crime scenes, clandestine graves, drugs, artifacts, hazardous waste, and illegal weapons and ammunitions stored underground in preparation for terrorist attacks. Geoscience search techniques such as the geoforensic search strategy are among many models used to help find mass graves, locate missing persons, and verify information acquired from incomplete intelligence. Trace amounts of soils, sediments, and other geological materials can provide geolocations and aid in the development of a primary search area. Forensic geoscience techniques and equipment such as metal detectors, magnetic surveys, electromagnetic conductivity surveys, ground penetrating radar surveys, augering (probing), detector dogs surveys, and gravity and seismic fluctuation monitoring are discussed in this paper. In addition to the location of potential graves and ambush sites, the soil beneath the decomposing cadavers can be used to predict the postmortem interval for the deceased. Soil information and geo-mapping data can provide productive intelligence for military and national security agencies. Antiquities crimes and crimes involving gemstones in which the evidence passes through many hands can be traced back to the place of origin by checking for their geo-morphology. Serious crimes, including murder, genocide, and terrorism, can be prevented by the use of operational and decisive geoforensic techniques. This paper highlights the multidisciplinary information exchange that occurs between forensic burial science, forensic geology, and trace evidence in criminal investigations. The paper also focuses on geoforensic approaches to clandestine grave searching, underwater investigations, forensic engineering fallacies, military intelligence, ambush detection, and weapons mining.
Keywords
