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Outdoor Crime Scene Recoveries

Searches

Surface Scatters

Burial Features

Fatal Fires

Outdoor crime scenes typically include human remains (decomposing soft tissue and skeletal tissues), that have been altered by a variety of factors such as animal activity (removing, scattering remains), weather (rain, snow), water (slope wash), gravity, and even human activity. Like an indoor scene, the processing of the outdoor scene is focused on constructing a detailed story of what happened at the scene in the past. The best approach to outdoor crime scene reconstruction (surface scatters, buried body features, fatal fires, mass disaster scenes) is the careful consideration of the scene context, the spatial distribution of the evidence (through mapping procedures), and the construction of scientific explanations (hypotheses) of what happened in the past at these crime scenes. Unfortunately, law enforcement and medicolegal death investigators are typically not trained to deal with these scenes and the variety of the forensically-significant evidence associated with these outdoor scenes. Forensic anthropology, however, is uniquely positioned to deal with these scenes, since the subdisciplines of forensic archaeology and forensic taphonomy have been added to the field of forensic anthropology.

Forensic Scene Mapping

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HD Forensics is trained to properly and comprehensively document scenes, including the context and association of all evidence, for all types of forensic cases. Our methods include traditional grid and baseline mapping, as well as using a Trimble R8 GPS Unit and Nikon Electronic Total Station.
If you would like to contact HD Forensics about these services, please fill out our contact sheet.
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