Geophysical investigation for detecting buried human remains after eight years of burial in Owo, Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

A geophysical investigation for buried human remains after 8 years of burial involving the use of Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) was carried out at Owo, Ondo State, Southwestern Nigeria. This study was aimed at identifying the burial location of a corpse buried in a coffin about 8 years ago for exhumation and reburial in another location consequent upon litigations and controversies surrounding the land of the burial. The results obtained were used to generate 2D model and different resistivity maps which were able to identify suspected zone. Excavation of the suspected zone was carried out for the exhumed and relocation of the buried human remains. Electrical Resistivity has therefore been found useful in search for detecting human remains buried in a coffin with the key indicator being lower electrical resistivity relative to the surrounding area.

A synthesis of carcass decomposition studies conducted at a tropical (Aw) taphonomy facility: 2013–2022

“…Several decomposition studies have been conducted in the tropics, particularly in Brazil [ 38 ], Malaysia [ 39 ], Nigeria [ 40 ], and the USA – Hawaii [ 41 ]. These studies focused on a wide range of questions related to medicolegal death investigation [ 42 ], forensic microbiology [ 43 ], forensic entomology [ 44 ], scavenger ecology [ 45 ] cemetery planning [ 46 ], and public health [ 47 ].…”

“…Lira et al [ 38 ] observed that the skeletonization of pig carcasses in the Brazilian Cerrado during the dry season (April–September) required nearly double the time to decompose relative to the wet season (October–March). Otherwise, tropical decomposition studies have been conducted to investigate the effect of other variables, such as placement in a built environment [ 39 ], burial [ 40 ], embalming [ 50 ], or clothing [ 51 ], without an analysis of seasonal influences.…”

Time-Lapse Electrical Resistivity Tomography Imaging of Buried Human Remains in Simulated Mass and Individual Graves

“…These complex processes and byproducts within the graves mean they produce resistivity anomalies that contrast with the surrounding soils. Relying on this contrast, electrical resistivity has been used in experimental (Molina et al, 2016;Cavalcanti et al, 2018;Pringle et al, 2020) and real forensic search cases (Bawallah et al, 2021). Pringle et al (2008), Jervis et al (2009), Pringle et al (2012), andCavalcanti et al (2018) presented detailed studies on assessing the use of horizontal profiling of resistivity using an approach with four electrodes with fixed separation and a multielectrode imaging to monitor simulated clandestine graves using pigs as proxies and mimicking different burial scenarios including different burial depths and wrapping the pigs with tarpaulin.…”