Murderers' Hidden Graves Could be Uncovered with New Geophysical Tools

The best way to hide a murder is to hide the evidence--in this case, the body. And what's the best way to hide a body? Bury it. Now, though, crime stoppers may have a new tool in their arsenal that could help them uncover clandestine graves that could hold dozens of bodies.

Don't think that there are many undiscovered bodies? Think again, According to Jamie Pringle, lecturer in geoscience at the School of Physical Sciences and Geography at Keele University, these graves are more common than you might expect.

"Nowadays, there are thousands of missing people around the world that could have been tortured and killed and buried in clandestine graves," said Pringle in a news release. "This is a huge problem for their families and governments that are responsible for the human rights for everybody. These people need to be found and the related crime cases need to be resolved."

Traditional techniques for locating mass graves involve the use of metal detectors, large-scale excavations and cadaver dogs that can sniff out buried bodies. Yet these techniques aren't always full proof, and graves can often remained hidden for years, according to LiveScience.

Now, researchers have thought of a novel new way to locate these graves--by burying pigs. More specifically, they plan to bury these mammals in eight different simulated clandestine mass grave scenarios in different types of soils and climates in Columbia. It's these different scenarios that will help them develop techniques that can be used when actually locating real mass graves.

Using geophysical methods like ground-penetrating radar, the researchers will survey the pig graves over a course of 18 months. The data that they collect will be used to map the mass pig graves and compare them, adjusting for site variables like soil type and rainfall. With the data, the scientists will hopefully be able to apply their findings to real graves.

"The project's integrated geophysical survey results will support the search for mass graves and thus help find missing people, bring perpetrators to justice and provide closure for families," said Carlos Melina, one of the researchers, in a new release.

The new plans for the study will be presented at the Meeting of the Americas in Cancun, Mexico.