Since the ‘war on drugs’ was declared in 2006, disappearances have been one of the most critical issues in Mexico. There are currently 117,000 individuals reported as dissapeared, and the impact on their families is enormous. Through our FOUND project, we leverage technology to collaborate with mothers in their search for missing sons and daughters, working together to bring closure.
‘I found my son in the flowers’
Womens’ search groups currently use their empirical knowledge to identify potential clandestine graves. For example, in open areas, they look for natural indicators – which they call signs – such as off-season green plants or unusually blooming flowers, which may signal bodies are buried below. They then insert a T-shaped metal stake into the ground and smell it upon removal to detect any scent of decomposition. If decomposition is detected, they proceed to recover the remains.
Body decomposition alters the soil’s moisture and produces nitrogen-rich areas. These anomalies can be detected using multispectral cameras mounted on drones, which identify nitrogen and chlorophyll anomalies in plants by measuring subtle differences in light reflections.
The FOUND project [ESP] (Interpretar la Naturaleza para Encontrar a Quienes nos Faltan), launched in 2023, aims to tackle Mexico’s crisis of disappearances by combining the research expertise of these search groups with technology. Based in Jalisco, the state with highest number of recorded disappearances (more than 16,000), FOUND has established two experimental sites and is testing a range of technological methods – including multispectral and thermal imaging, seismic noise analysis, electrical resistivity tomography, forensic entomology and botany, territorial analysis, and soil studies – to help locate clandestine graves.
The book
The book ‘Interpreting Nature to Locate Those We Are Missing’ (Interpretar la Naturaleza para Encontrar a Quienes nos Faltan), presents the findings on the application of biological, physical, and earth sciences in the detection of clandestine graves.
