Hydroinformatic tools and their potential in the search for missing persons in rivers.

This research proposes a methodological approach to search floating bodies or floating body parts in rivers using hydroinformatic tools. These tools may allow possible search locations and potential release sites to be determined. The approach draws from hydrometric field information, two-dimensional (2D) hydrodynamic modeling, particle tracking (PT) models, and large-scale particle image velocimetry (LSPIV). This methodology was applied to a case study of the La Miel river in Colombia, where existing reports of deceased persons are available. A series of hydraulic accidents have been defined to represent the hydrodynamic and transport processes that occur in such situations. The results indicate that potential search locations, namely places where human floating bodies or floating body parts may be found, are principally on the left and right shores of recirculation systems.

Testing Application of Geographical Information Systems, Forensic Geomorphology and Electrical Resistivity Tomography to Investigate Clandestine Grave Sites in Colombia, South America.

Colombian forensic investigators required assistance locating clandestine burials of missing persons related to human right atrocities from 14 years ago. Geoscientific search methods were trialled, including a predictive spatial statistical model, using various input and database information, to select the most likely grave locations in difficult mountainous terrain. Groundwork using forensic geomorphology, near-surface geophysics (ERT) and subsequent probing identified suspect burial positions. One site was in mountainous terrain and the other in former school grounds, both difficult to access and in poor weather conditions. In the mountainous area, a negative resistivity anomaly area was identified and intrusively investigated, found to be a buried rock. In school grounds, after MESP and intelligence were used to identify a burial site, surface depressions were identified, and ERT datasets collected over the highest priority depression; intrusive investigations discovered a hand-dug pit containing animal bones. This approach is suggested for Latin American searches.