CSB #7: Science Used to Solve a Serial Killing?

One of the helicopters the FBI used for aerial searches. 

10 dead bodies have been found in coastal brush on Long Island, which are currently thought to be the work of a serial killer, or someone who murders several people. The FBI are searching for other bodies and they are using several methods. One of the tactics that they have already been employed was using a helicopter to perform aerial searches, or searches done in the air. In the helicopters, they used "high-tech imaging" gear which the federal agency will not reveal. Although the technology they used was not disclosed, the two aerial techniques that are usually used are high-resolution photography, and infrared thermal imaging. The first of the two, high-resolution photography which produces pictures with very fine detail is most useful in finding skeletons. This is because the bright white bones contrast well against the dark colored plants, making them easy to spot in high-resolution pictures taken from helicopters. The second of the two technologies, infrared thermal imaging, or using heat recognizing equipment is most useful in finding live people or corpses which still have flesh left on them. This is because as long as there is still flesh on a being, it still has a thermal signature. If something has a thermal signature, it has a large enough amount of heat coming from it that it can be detected by using infrared thermal imaging technology. In addition, this technology can also help to find areas of soil in which the killer may have buried bodies because the dirt would have significant differences in heat. In this case, high-resolution photography may be the most useful because the FBI thinks that they are looking for skeletons, rather than bodies with flesh. Although the searchers have access to this high tech equipment, they say that they have been doing a fair amount of straight forward manned grid searches as well. To help, they have also used cadaver dogs to smell the victims and fire ladders of firetrucks to view the area from higher levels. Hopefully, technology will not only find the victims, but it will also find the killer.

Sources:

Article:

• Matson, John. "Searches for Human Remains Combine High-Tech with Low-Tech."
       Scientific American . Scientific American , 19 Apr. 2011. Web. 6 May
       2011. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/
       article.cfm?id=long-island-serial-killer>.

Images:

• http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=long-island-serial-killer