Historic child homicide burial search in rural woodland

Jamie K Pringle; Alastair Ruffell; Kristopher D Wisniewski; Ben Davenward; Vivienne Heaton; Luke Hobson

doi:10.1016/j.fsir.2023.100324

Historic child homicide burial search in rural woodland

Jamie K Pringle^*, Alastair Ruffell^*, Kristopher D Wisniewski^*, Ben Davenward^*, Vivienne Heaton^*, Luke Hobson^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

School of Natural and Built Environment

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The cold case search for clandestine graves can be challenging due to the length of time elapsed since the crime and the search environment changing itself. This paper reports on a cold case search for “Christine”, a young girl who was reported missing in the mid-1970s in the East Midlands, UK. Once a search sub-area was determined by case reports and new intelligence in rural woodland, a police ground search proved unsuccessful. A multi-phased geoforensic search investigation, using remote sensing and UAV drones, metal detector, EM and dGPS surveys, was subsequently undertaken, with collected data processed and analysed. Results showed 36 discrete dGPS-surveyed metal detector and 3 EM priority targets to be identified which were all intrusively investigated but nothing case-relevant was found. Study implications suggest careful multi-phase remote and geoforensic investigations can give confidence in cold case no-body searches, saving police operational time and costs in such cold case investigations.

Original language	English
Article number	100324
Journal	Forensic Science International: Reports
Early online date	17 Jun 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fsir.2023.100324
Publication status	Early online date - 17 Jun 2023

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Cite this

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title = "Historic child homicide burial search in rural woodland",

abstract = "The cold case search for clandestine graves can be challenging due to the length of time elapsed since the crime and the search environment changing itself. This paper reports on a cold case search for “Christine”, a young girl who was reported missing in the mid-1970s in the East Midlands, UK. Once a search sub-area was determined by case reports and new intelligence in rural woodland, a police ground search proved unsuccessful. A multi-phased geoforensic search investigation, using remote sensing and UAV drones, metal detector, EM and dGPS surveys, was subsequently undertaken, with collected data processed and analysed. Results showed 36 discrete dGPS-surveyed metal detector and 3 EM priority targets to be identified which were all intrusively investigated but nothing case-relevant was found. Study implications suggest careful multi-phase remote and geoforensic investigations can give confidence in cold case no-body searches, saving police operational time and costs in such cold case investigations.",

author = "Pringle, {Jamie K} and Alastair Ruffell and Wisniewski, {Kristopher D} and Ben Davenward and Vivienne Heaton and Luke Hobson",

year = "2023",

month = jun,

day = "17",

doi = "10.1016/j.fsir.2023.100324",

language = "English",

journal = "Forensic Science International: Reports",

issn = "2665-9107",

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T1 - Historic child homicide burial search in rural woodland

AU - Pringle, Jamie K

AU - Ruffell, Alastair

AU - Wisniewski, Kristopher D

AU - Davenward, Ben

AU - Heaton, Vivienne

AU - Hobson, Luke

PY - 2023/6/17

Y1 - 2023/6/17

N2 - The cold case search for clandestine graves can be challenging due to the length of time elapsed since the crime and the search environment changing itself. This paper reports on a cold case search for “Christine”, a young girl who was reported missing in the mid-1970s in the East Midlands, UK. Once a search sub-area was determined by case reports and new intelligence in rural woodland, a police ground search proved unsuccessful. A multi-phased geoforensic search investigation, using remote sensing and UAV drones, metal detector, EM and dGPS surveys, was subsequently undertaken, with collected data processed and analysed. Results showed 36 discrete dGPS-surveyed metal detector and 3 EM priority targets to be identified which were all intrusively investigated but nothing case-relevant was found. Study implications suggest careful multi-phase remote and geoforensic investigations can give confidence in cold case no-body searches, saving police operational time and costs in such cold case investigations.

AB - The cold case search for clandestine graves can be challenging due to the length of time elapsed since the crime and the search environment changing itself. This paper reports on a cold case search for “Christine”, a young girl who was reported missing in the mid-1970s in the East Midlands, UK. Once a search sub-area was determined by case reports and new intelligence in rural woodland, a police ground search proved unsuccessful. A multi-phased geoforensic search investigation, using remote sensing and UAV drones, metal detector, EM and dGPS surveys, was subsequently undertaken, with collected data processed and analysed. Results showed 36 discrete dGPS-surveyed metal detector and 3 EM priority targets to be identified which were all intrusively investigated but nothing case-relevant was found. Study implications suggest careful multi-phase remote and geoforensic investigations can give confidence in cold case no-body searches, saving police operational time and costs in such cold case investigations.

U2 - 10.1016/j.fsir.2023.100324

DO - 10.1016/j.fsir.2023.100324

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SN - 2665-9107

JO - Forensic Science International: Reports

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Historic child homicide burial search in rural woodland

Abstract

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