Shallow graves: How a spoonful of soil could help solve Ireland's missing murder victims

It’s hard to imagine how just one spoonful could help find a missing person and end the anguish for their loved ones, but that’s exactly what Professor John Cassella has spent years of his career dedicated to

Superintendent Tim Burke and Detective Superintendent Eddie Carroll at a public appeal for information on 30th anniversary of the disappearance of Annie McCarrick last year. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

Picture the scenario: Gardaí receive a tip-off that there’s a shallow grave somewhere but in an area the size of a football pitch. It could be dense woodland, brush or bog. Where to start digging?

They can bring in a JCB and dig the whole site up, lose all the evidence, ruin the environment and waste valuable Garda time and money, according to Atlantic Technological University Sligo forensics scientist Professor John Cassella. They can even bring in drones, cadaver dogs, fingertip searches. Or, they could simply take and analyse a spoonful of soil to help them pinpoint where the body is most likely to be secretly buried.