Analysis of Soil Following the Search and Recovery of a Cold Case Homicide Grave:Potential Implications for Police Led Open Area Ground Searches for Burials

Police received intelligence giving the location of a grave believed to contain the remains of a person previously reported as missing several years ago and now believed to be a victim of homicide. The location was accessible by a few roads and tracks. An open-area, scenario-based, search strategy was designed and deployed to locate the grave. This comprised the delineation of the outer search boundary, the removal of dense vegetation, the systematic deployment of detector dogs, geophysics and soil probing. Following a systematic search, the murder victim's body was found at a shallow depth, less than approximately 1m. Following the forensic recovery of the body soil samples were collected at, beneath the floor, of the grave, along strike of the grave, downslope and upslope. Analysis of the soil samples showed elevated levels of putrescine, at nearly 150 ppb at the grave, downslope and for several meters upslope at localities where detector dogs had showed an 'interest' before the grave was discovered. The mineralogical analysis, using integrated automated mineralogy and petrology (QEMSCAN), detected the presence of diagentic calcite in the soil profile beneath the grave. Additionally, the organic analysis detected the presence of elevated stanols at the grave site and downslope.