Screening Eagle's Subsurface Mapping GPR Used to Assist with Cold Case Investigations and Clandestine Grave Research

Screening Eagle’s subsurface mapping ground penetrating radar (GPR), the Proceq GS8000, has recently been used to assist law enforcement with the location of clandestine graves and is currently being used in a major forensic geology research project at Youngstown State University (YSU).

The extensive research project at YSU has two main goals: (1) to better understand geophysical signatures associated with various states of human decomposition in shallow burials; and (2) to educate students and train law enforcement on the use of geophysics in forensic geology.

Professors of Geology at YSU, Jeff Dick and Tom Jordan, are leading this research project which involves the burial of pigs in different forensic and geological scenarios to simulate clandestine graves, then assessing their decomposition using non-invasive methods including the GPR.

The clear subsurface visualizations collected with the GS8000 GPR have allowed the team at YSU to significantly enhance their research and their forensic geophysics work with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have recently resulted in special recognition.

YSU's Department of Physics, Astronomy, Geology and Environmental Science received the FBI Director's Community Leadership Award, which officially recognizes the university for assisting the FBI's Evidence Response Team (ERT) using GPR and other devices.

Jeff Dick explained to local media in Youngstown, Ohio, “This is an important award for us. The academic mission of our program is focused on providing students with exciting real-world applications of Geology. Our work with the FBI is directly reflective of that mission.”

Screening Eagle Technologies have been used in several similar projects around the world, including the investigation of the first tomb of Christopher Columbus and other forensic police training to locate clandestine graves with GPR.

Read the full case study for this project and see real GPR data results from the Youngstown State University research project and others on our Inspection Space.