“For instance, while working a case searching for a gun used in a homicide, I found just the barrel in the mud. But that was enough for the crime lab, which confirmed through ballistics that it came from the gun used in the shooting.”
Says Lundborg, “You never know what you’re going to find under the water. About 20 years ago, before my time, one of our divers found a bucket full of concrete which he thought was an anchor—but there was a head inside.”
What Lies Beneath: How to Set Up a Police Dive Unit
All criminal investigations and crime scene investigations work on the premise of Locard’s Theory: (Oversimplified), “. This can be summarized as, “An exchange takes place between the person and the object or environment when they come into contact with one another.”
For example, when a person stands on the shore and throws an object into the water, the person’s fingerprints, sweat, skin and even minute fragments of fabric, from their clothing may be found on the item. Additionally, the soil, water, and microscopic materials in the environment may attach the subject’s shoes, pant legs, clothing, and skin. As such, every item has the potential to contain smaller minute items of forensic interest. This can include items such as:
- Fingerprints
- Trace evidence
- Tool marks
Evidence Recovery: What You Need to Know Solve the Crime - SDI | TDI | ERDI | PFI
A gun isn’t sitting there on the sand for you to see it. It’s below the silt layers, and we have to get down there and search by feel. A lot of our waterways are contaminated and we have to wear special drysuits and full face masks. The idea is to not let the water touch you and definitely not to ingest it.
Evidence is always going to be hiding in the water. It surrounds us and it’s an easy dumping ground. You don’t have to dig a hole—you just flick your wrist. The people who put these items in the water never think that there are divers trained to go down there and find them. I’ve had murderers tell me, “You’ll never find it.” And then we do.
It’s about helping other people. I get to use my love for diving to solve someone’s problem—it could be an investigator looking for a murder weapon that was thrown off a bridge, or it could be a family that lost a loved one and won’t have closure until the body’s recovered.
The strangest thing I ever found was a wooden box duct-taped to a brick. In the box was a tiny bag with some candles and a male voodoo doll with a needle right in its groin. You don’t find that every day. I pulled out the needle and told everyone on the boat that somewhere a man was thanking me.
Coastal Job: Underwater Criminal Investigator | Hakai Magazine
Underwater evidence is difficult to see because most canal and lake bottoms in Broward County are a foot deep in soft, mud-brown silt. Even a careful diver inching along the muddy bottom stirs up clouds of swirling silt as he kicks his fins, making limited visibility even worse.
"That silt will hide a gun," said George Ferguson, a dive team instructor in charge of training.
"It's a matter of getting down into the mud and sweeping with your hands," said Sgt. Larry Whitford, the marine unit's chief diver. "It's a matter of feeling the bottom."
HIDDEN CLUES SHERIFF'S DIVERS FACE UNDERWATER MYSTERIES.
