How to find human remains in a landfill

The other day the TV Show Nancy Grace asked me to come on the air and talk about how search dogs are used to find human remains in landfills.

With the search for 10-year-old Zahra Baker turning to the landfill and with one of my team members having to work another missing person’s case in a landfill near her home in Kentucky, I decided to write the proper way to search a landfill with a search dog.

First obtain a map from the landfill site manager of where the suspect(s) trash would have been dumped in what part of the landfill.

Next make sure all of your search team members, support team members are all up to date on their tetnus and hep ABCDEF shots,

Searcher attire. Heavy lugged soled boots, thick wool socks, coveralls or body recovery disposable overalls, face mask, safety glasses, hat to protect from the rain/heat. Safety gloves. Also bring a complete change of clothing for returning home or back to the office.

Your own day pack with the ten essentials. First aid, water, note book, write anywhere pen/pencil, compass, camera, toilet paper,food, hand cleaner, pocket knife, etc.

Next have the land fill owner / operator take a heavy machinery cat and expose the area to be searched with the cat. Pick up the suspected areas and pile them into several workable searchable piles about five feet high.

Note there are many hazards in working a landfill. Poisonous snakes eatting the rats which are eatting the body parts. There’s broken glass, sharp metal, hazardous bio waste from the hospitals and clinics, hazardous cleaning supplies just to name some of the crap you’ll find in the landfill.

Next place a little VICKS in your nose to numb up the horrendous nasty smells of decomposing compost, bodies, animals, dirty diapers, food, etc that you are going to have to smell. Try not to get any maggots in your mouth they taste nasty unless you have some tabasco sauce to go with them. (Just joking).

Before you search, try to get a scent article of the missing person. Try not to use psuedo scent as your dog will be going nuts with all the decomposing human waste, body parts discarded by medical facitlities, fetus, afterbirth, etc.

This way your dog will only focus on just the victim(s) scent and nothing else.

Work your search like you would a disaster site. Slow methodical and check each pile or section into the wind. If you dog alerts, pull back and let your ground teams rake out the pile and see what is in there.

Have your diagramer or evidence officer note the date, time, location, grid of the find, should you make a successful find.

This is why each time I get a missng persons report across my desk I plead with the family, friends of the family, search and rescue teams, law enforcement teams to immediately go check all local area dumptsers immediately. It’s not uncommon for a bad person to dump the victim in a dumptser.

It’s a lot easier to search early on, then having to go through a landfill for weeks on end to try and weed through the trash and hazourdous materials to find human remains.

After you’ve searched for the day, make sure you change into an entirely different change of clothing and footware.

Make sure you bath when you get home and bath your dog from nose to tail. Also check your dog for cuts, abrasions, puncture wounds etc.

Also make sure you end each day with a live runaway find for your dog away from the search area to end the day for your dog on a positive note.

Good luck, work slow and be safe.

Respectfully

Mr. Harry Oakes.
SAR Coordinator I.K.9.S.A.R.S.