Last month, deep in the woods of Northern Virginia, the bodies of two men were moved to a secluded spot amongst trees and left to decompose. Through the natural process, the bodies release organic compounds into the air and soil. Nearby flowers absorb these traces of decay, which pollinating bees carry to their hives.
Forensic researchers from George Mason University plan to examine bees, honey and hives near a new “body farm” burial site in Manassas, Virginia, about 25 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. Because bees forage within close proximity of hives, the researchers hope to create a formula for human decomposition that investigators can use as they search. A vast expanse of land that hides the dead.
“The bees will bring back any chemical signals they find in the decomposing human body,” said Dr. Brian A. Ekenrode, an associate professor in the forensic sciences program at George Mason University's College of Science. “This could be very useful in large-area search operations.”
Or, as Mary Ellen O'Toole, director of the forensic science program at George Mason University, puts it, bees are “little crime fighters with wings.”
The university's forensic science program has been working for several years to open the body farm, one of more than half a dozen labs across the U.S. designed to recreate outdoor crime scenes where human remains are found. The George Mason University team hopes that their work in the Northern Virginia environment can one day add to the toolbox of methods investigators use in their searches.
“We're the first body farm on the Atlantic coast, so we have a lot to learn,” said Dr. O'Toole, a former FBI agent and profiler who worked the Green River murders.
Forensic researchers have long studied the science of human decomposition in search of clues that can unlock the mysteries of death. Researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have used an “electronic nose” equipped with sensors that detect foul-smelling substances emanating from a decaying corpse, allowing investigators to pinpoint exactly how long someone has been dead.
A study conducted at Texas State University's “Carcass Ranch” outside San Marcos, Texas, looked at how interactions between deer, vultures and insects affect the decomposition process.
Work on the bodies provided by George Mason's Body Farm (formally the Forensic Research and Training Institute) began May 28. A van loaded with the two bodies backed up to the boundary of the property, a five-acre wooded area surrounded by a chain-link fence and padlocks topped with barbed wire, near a performing arts center and construction site.
With faculty, students, law enforcement officials and the Virginia State Anatomy Program standing by, Dr. O'Toole gave a few brief remarks. It was a solemn moment.
“Some may say this is a cruel science, but it is actually a life-giving science,” she said. “By doing all this, we can save lives by identifying and prosecuting those responsible for the untimely deaths and murders of loved ones left behind in open-air crime scenes or secret graves, some of whom are sadly never found and lost forever.”
The bodies of both donors, both men, were removed from the van in body bags, carried on stretchers by four people on each side, through dense vegetation. The site and route were deliberately left unexplored to give the appearance of a crime scene, as a killer keen to maintain secrecy would be unlikely to choose a well-traveled route.
After carrying the bodies across several acres of land, the team arrived at a second fenced-in area, where one body was buried in clay soil and the other was left on the ground wearing a long shirt.
(Dr. O'Toole and his team described the handover and operations to a New York Times reporter during a visit to the site on June 3. The bodies were not viewed or photographed.)
Their forest haven is now baked by the sun, drenched with rain, and shaded by a dense canopy of towering native trees like aspens, hollies and hickories, leaving their carcasses exposed to leaf litter, eaten by insects and gnawed by predators.
As the carcasses decompose, organic matter seeps into the air and surrounding foliage. Bees land on native goldenrods and coneflowers planted in a circle around the carcasses to attract insects.
Assistant professor Molly Kilker and forensic science professor Emily Rancourt visit regularly, recording data on insect activity and collecting hair strands, fingerprints and nail clippings to document the progressing decay.
Ekenrode said the team will be examining the hives, located just outside the locked gate, to see if the honey contains traces of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are released as human bodies decay. By identifying which compounds are human-derived and distinguishing them from VOCs produced by other animals, the researchers hope to help investigators narrow the area of their search.
This knowledge may help future researchers use honeybees as sentinels, but insects have long been studied for their role as little detectives.
Forensic entomology studies in Europe, the United States and elsewhere have shown that the developmental age of blowflies and their larvae can help determine the age of a body and whether it has been moved, providing clues to investigators. In the UK, entomologists have studied blowfly larvae on decomposing bodies, including those found zipped up in suitcases, to determine how long people have been dead.
Honeybees are also used in areas other than criminal science: They act as “biomarkers” to monitor air quality at airports, detect contamination from weapons testing at an Army base in Maryland, and are trained to detect illegal drugs and track elephants to prevent poaching.
Dr. Wayne Lord, an associate professor of forensic and biological sciences at the University of Central Oklahoma, whose research involved training honeybees to associate the smell of dead animals with a high-quality food source, said investigators might be able to use such bees to “see where they're going and follow them,” he said, adding that the insects might be able to “get a rough idea” of the location of human remains.
Dr O'Toole said with time and further research, honeybees could provide a scientific basis for obtaining search warrants.
Investigators could also ask local beekeepers for access to hives near areas where they are searching for clues.
That could help investigators in Northern Virginia narrow the search area after a man named Donald Belew confessed in 2007 to shooting a woman in the head in the 1960s and burying her in Prince William Forest, about 13 miles southeast of Manassas.
Brew, a former Army sergeant, led a team that included Professor Rancourt, who was working with Prince William County investigators at the time, and spent hours walking through the park's woods searching for the burial site from 40 years ago.
But over time, his memory faded and the terrain changed. Surveyors reported that all he could describe was a downed tree and a ditch covered with leaves. That was all they could rely on.
Cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar did not find the woman's body, and Belew told investigators the woman had asked to be prayed for before she was shot.
“I just thought that if we had gone there, found the hive and got a five-mile radius, this might have played out differently,” Professor Rancourt said, “but we were there aimlessly,” she added.