Electrical resistivity survey to search for a recent clandestine burial of a homicide victim, UK

This case report details an electrical resistivity survey to assist the search for a suspected 1-year-old clandestine burial of a murder victim in North Wales in the UK. Conventional search techniques (victim recovery dogs and probing) proved unsuccessful, and with a significant survey area and a high clay content soil precluding GPR as a geophysical search method, a resistivity survey was instead trialled. Ten resistivity grids were collected and site detrended with user-specified, contoured anomalies being generated. The resulting anomalies were compared to anomalies derived from similar-aged, simulated clandestine burial surveys. Seven anomalies with comparative sizes and amplitudes (+/- 3 Omega) of the simulated burials were identified within the search area and prioritised for further investigation. The shallowly buried victim was subsequently recovered outside the survey area. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.