Abstract
Searching for missing persons can be resource intensive, requiring a multi-agency approach to locate the person alive. Typically, fewer than 0.5% of reported missing persons are found to be deceased, with suicide as the most prevalent cause of death (Whibley et al., 2023). In cases of homicide, these may or may not be reported as missing persons, and concealment of their remains by a third party can frustrate search efforts to locate them (Harrison, 2021). In recent years, methods for searching and locating the remains of deceased missing persons and homicide victims have been improved by integrating investigative, geoforensic, and intelligence practices. This thesis brings together journal articles, textbooks, policing policies, and police practice guides that represent the author's 22 years of reflexive and tacit experiential knowledge of police missing body searches. The publications were arranged across three themes: criminal investigation, geoforensics, and criminal intelligence. Practice advice on search management procedures and the management, recording, and investigation of missing persons set the context for the publication on buried homicide victims, introducing scientific thinking using hypothesis generation to aid search (Harrison, 2008). The 2021 publication on the Geoforensic Search Strategy and Guide to Forensic Geology (Harrison, 2021a) reflect two decades of research and casework influenced by geology and their application to missing body searches describing the interdisciplinary aspects of geoforensicsThis thesis examines the wider policing and research context during this period, highlighting significant developments in criminal investigation, geoforensics, and criminal intelligence that have impacted missing body search practices. An epistemological and ontological inventory was examined to identify knowledge gaps and group the subdisciplines into themes.
Summaries and key findings from the submitted publications detail their integral contributions to missing body searches, through the generation of knowledge and the production of doctrinal standards and practice guides across the three themes.
The development of an integrative approach for missing body searches, combining investigation, geoforensics, and intelligence, is explored. This integrative approach reduces time, resources, and costs, while improving the likelihood of successful victim recovery.
Recommendations for future research include further integration of the Geoforensic Search Strategy into training programmes, developing geoforensic degrees, and exploring advancements in remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to aid in predicting offender behaviour and optimising search methods.
| Date of Award | 6 May 2025 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Karen Shalev (Supervisor) & Becky Milne (Supervisor) |