Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) Methods for Locating Clandestine Graves and Other Buried Objects of Interest
Presenter
Tom Jordan, Ph.D., P.G.
Supervising Geologist
KEY Environmental, Inc.
PCPG will circulate a PDH certificate documenting registrant’s participation time, not to exceed 60 minutes, within 72 hours of the conclusion of the webinar.
Level: Introductory to Intermediate
Who should attend: Engineers, hydrologists, geologists, law enforcement officers and anyone who enjoys forensic investigation themed media
Webinar Overview: This webinar builds upon a previous introduction to forensic geophysics webinar presented to friends and members of the PCPG in October 2022. The previous webinar introduced our on-going clandestine grave research project at Youngstown State University (YSU). This webinar introduces the attendees to data collection and process methods including how to approach collecting and processing ground penetrating radar (GPR) data for forensic and other types of near surface investigations. A more thorough hands-on experience collecting and processing GPR data using various devices for forensic and other types of near surface investigations will be offered in 2025 as an in-person PCPG short course.
This Halloween webinar will provide background information on the YSU clandestine grave research project including some grisly details on our human proxies and how gases released during decomposition can be used to locate and determine the target’s stage of decomposition. We will also discuss the different GPR devices we use for our research, our data collection methods, and our GPR data processing work flow. The methods and approach discussed during this webinar can be applied to forensic, archeological, environmental, and other types of near surface investigations.
Locating clandestine graves through the use of geophysics and cadaver dogs is expensive (~$100,000 per case) and problematic with reported success rate of approximately 30%. The outcomes from the YSU clandestine grave research project will be used to optimize the approach and methodologies based on inputs such as elapsed time since burial and responses due to seasonality in an effort to improve success rates and reduce government agency costs. This webinar will include a discussion of new technologies with applications beyond forensic investigations such as stepped frequency continuous wave (SFCW) GPR and an example from our high sensitivity potassium vapor gradiometer as well as our electromagnetic induction (EMI) device. This talk will also provide an overview of our recent award winning criminal investigation work with various law enforcement agencies in support of their efforts to solve current and cold case murders. Background information including some rather grisly details involving research completed by others along with interesting details on our clandestine grave research facility that is located in rural northeastern Ohio will also be discussed.
About our presenter: Dr. Tom Jordan is part-time teaching and graduate school research faculty at Youngstown State University and a Supervising Geologist / Geophysicist with Key Environmental, Inc. located in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. He has a B.A. in geology from Alfred University, an MS in geology from SUNY at Fredonia, and a Ph.D. in geology / geophysics from the University at Buffalo. Dr. Jordan, his co-principal investigator Dr. Jeffrey Dick, and the Physics, Astronomy, Geology, and Environmental Sciences (PAGES) department at YSU were recently awarded the FBI Directors Community Leadership award for providing their forensic geophysics expertise to various law enforcement entities including the FBI’s Evidence Response Team.
Dr. Jordan is a licensed PG in 10 states by ASBOG examination or reciprocity and has many years of professional experience working on geophysical projects for clients in the environmental, engineering, and resource exploration sectors. He has served as an expert witness for various matters and has withstood cross examinations by some of the best legal minds money can buy. Dr. Jordan is also a past member of the Board of Directors of the PCPG. He also serves on the Board of Directors for a local community water authority and In his spare time enjoys researching and presenting talks on obscure and very interesting local historical characters, is active in various fraternal and community organizations, and is constantly testing and developing new approaches for teaching dry topics.
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