@article{ref1,
title="Soilwater conductivity analysis to date and locate clandestine graves of homicide victims",
journal="Journal of forensic sciences",
year="2015",
author="Pringle, Jamie K. and Cassella, John P. and Jervis, John R. and Williams, Anna and Cross, Peter and Cassidy, Nigel J.",
volume="60",
number="4",
pages="1052-1060",
abstract="In homicide investigations, it is critically important that postmortem interval and postburial interval (PBI) of buried victims are determined accurately. However, clandestine graves can be difficult to locate; and the detection rates for a variety of search methods (ranging from simple ground probing through to remote imaging and near-surface geophysics) can be very low. In this study, simulated graves of homicide victims were emplaced in three sites with contrasting soil types, bedrock, and depositional environments. The long-term monthly in situ monitoring of grave soil water revealed rapid increases in conductivity up to 2 years after burial, with the longest study evidencing declining values to background levels after 4.25 years. <br><br>RESULTS were corrected for site temperatures and rainfall to produce generic models of fluid conductivity as a function of time. The research suggests soilwater conductivity can give reliable PBI estimates for clandestine burials and therefore be used as a grave detection method.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0022-1198",
doi="10.1111/1556-4029.12802",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1556-4029.12802"
}