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 Ω) 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.