Welcome to the Body Farm | Explorer

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FRANCESCA FIORENTINI (VOICEOVER): That's how I ended up in a body farm, the biggest one in the country. The Forensic Anthropology Research Center in South Texas studies how bodies decompose, and why. Their research helps law enforcement officers, forensic specialists, and scientists figure out when and how a person died. I don't know if you've ever tried digging holes, especially in Texas. It's a pretty difficult thing to do with all the limestone we have around here. Totally.

So another way that perpetrators tend to cover the bodies is by throwing refuse on it, you know, whatever's around, just to try to conceal the body.

FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: Perpetrators.

KRYSTLE LEWIS: Right.

FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: So murderers.

KRYSTLE LEWIS: Exactly. So what this thesis project is attempting to replicate is, in that instance, that they throw a mattress on top of the body, how that affects the decomposition rate of these humans.

FRANCESCA FIORENTINI: Wow. So if I donated my body here, I could help solve a murder from beyond the grave. What other good deeds can my rotting corpse do for humanity?

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That's-- that's real. OK. I am studying how the clothing will affect vultures' scavenging, if clothing, like, impedes their ability to access the body. They have a very strong sense of smell. Are they just, like-- are they watching us right now?

KRYSTLE LEWIS: They could be.

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