Cold Case Squad detectives love going back to the crime scene, even when there’s nothing left. ADA’s are baffled by the practice, and there hasn’t been a time in anyone’s memory where detectives have recovered any valuable evidence, but this is one of the ways they psych themselves up to begin. They are mustering with the past before resuming the battle.

Besides, if there’s even the remotest possibility that something remains, the detectives have to try. If it’s still there, with the right tools they can recover it, and use it as one piece of physical, irrefutable evidence, bringing at least some measure of peace to a family that has been waiting so long for resolution.

The pictures here were taken at a dig. The Cold Case Squad was following up on a lead about someone who was murdered elsewhere, but dumped here. That’s a cadaver dog in the first shot (cadaver dogs were explained thoroughly in an earlier post).

Depending on what the detectives are trying to find, they might bring teams of personnel and equipment, like a device called a surface penetrating radar, pictured above. “We’re looking for shadows,” one guy said, describing how it works. They’re so poetic sometimes.