Forensic secrets from the grave
Forensic science is not a job for the faint-hearted – or for people who like cookies and cream cheesecake. With the sun beaming down and the Wellington winds taking no prisoners, about 11 forensic scientists – mostly millennials and a few Gen Xers – gathered at the Institute of Environmental Science and Research’s (ESR) campus in Porirua yesterday to dig up corpses.
Two pigs dressed as humans in jumpers and pants, a headless sheep and an artificial human skeleton were the victims.
While those in the field described the experience as fun and exciting, the smell of the rain-soaked earth combined with the stench of rotting meat was never too far away – wafting over to the people standing outside the yellow police crime scene tape.
Groups of three to four scientists could be seen bent over, digging out dirt and removing water from the trenches.
By digging up a grave and examining its surroundings, forensic scientists can help discover things such as how the body was transported to the scene and how many people had touched it.
By 10am, Bradley Ivory’s group had uncovered the pig’s snout and the clothes it was dressed in – a black jersey and pants.
Pigs were chosen because they share a similar body mass, skin type and blood, and a similar decomposition process to humans when they are buried.
Without knowing it is a pig, its body is not easy to make out as brown water has built up in its crevices and its fatty tissue, known casually as ‘‘fat wax’’ looks like cookies and cream cheesecake.
‘‘I don’t want to say what drew me to become a forensic scientist ... but I watched CSI when I was little,’’ Ivory said.
At 23, Laura Laurenson is the baby of the group, having only started working four months ago.
Yellow string crosses over the grave she is working at and patches of grass are lined up on a blue tarpaulin. Her group had uncovered the headless, woolless sheep early on.
Unlike the glitz and the glam – and speed – of crime television shows, the job required patience and being precise, she said.
‘‘I have wanted to do this since I was 12 – I was part of an extension programme and forensic science was one of the topics with police.
‘‘I did a ‘spot the difference’ and the police said I was really good, and that is when it became my calling.’’
She was following her dream and using science to help people, Laurenson said.
During a homicide investigation, exhuming and excavating a body takes about a week and involves a large group of staff.
Janina Hopkins, forensic technician leader based in Wellington, has worked on 100 homicide cases, including the murder of Dean Browne who was killed in Wellington.
His body was taken by car to New Plymouth by a group calling themselves the Killer Clown Fiends.
The job was about using science in a practical way to answer questions and to help society, Hopkins said.
Another person digging away at the grave of the second pig said it was about wanting to help people and to help society.
Senior forensic scientist and crime scene technical leader Rian Morgan-Smith said the work could be very unpleasant and refresher courses were important to make sure everyone felt prepared.
‘‘If it is for you, you are there for life; otherwise you move on quite quickly,’’ Morgan-Smith said.
‘‘Don’t do murder, we will figure you out.’’