A case study comparing the detection ability of cadaver detection dogs and electronic nose technology to a clandestine grave
8 affiliations
- 1Centre for Forensic Sciences, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- 2University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, United States of America.
- 3Hyperion Data, Griffith, New South Wales, Australia.
- 4NSW Police Force Canine Unit, Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia.
- 5School of Information Mechanics and Sensing Engineering, Xidian University, Xi'an, China.
- 6School of Mathematical and Physical Science, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- 7Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
- 8College of Medical Information and AI, Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, Shandong, China.
Abstract
Cadaver detection dogs (CDDs) are one of the best tools to locate clandestinely buried human remains. However, large data gaps exist in what VOC classes and concentrations are targeted by CDDs for detection. This study compared the alert responses produced by CDDs used by the New South Wales Police Force to responses generated by an electronic nose (named the NOS.E) with metal oxide sensors to a clandestine burial. For confirmatory analysis, VOC samples of the clandestine burial were taken, and compounds were identified using GC × GC-TOFMS. While statistical work was limited due to sample sizes, inferences were made about VOC presence and concentration to NOS.E and detection dog ability. Both CDDs and NOS.E were able to detect targeted chemical classes (sulfur and nitrogen containing compounds, alcohols, alkanes and aldehydes) which was supported by GC × GC-TOFMS. Correlation analyses demonstrated non-significant, but observational patterns that CDDs true positive alerts were associated with higher NOS.E responses to sulfur and nitrogen containing compounds, alcohols and alkanes. Additionally, a “no alert” or “False Positive” alert was associated with lower NOS.E responses. This work supports that it is both the presence and abundance of VOC chemical classes that influence true positive alerts from CDDs to buried human remains.
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BibTeX
@article{brown2026case,
title = {{A case study comparing the detection ability of cadaver detection dogs and electronic nose technology to a clandestine grave}},
author = {Amber O Brown and Sandali Alahakone and Erin Lamb and Daniel Pasin and Darryl Hawker and Taoping Liu and Wentian Zhang and Shari L Forbes and Steven Su and Maiken Ueland},
journal = {PLOS One},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0360233},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0360233},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A case study comparing the detection ability of cadaver detection dogs and electronic nose technology to a clandestine grave
AU - Amber O Brown
AU - Sandali Alahakone
AU - Erin Lamb
AU - Daniel Pasin
AU - Darryl Hawker
AU - Taoping Liu
AU - Wentian Zhang
AU - Shari L Forbes
AU - Steven Su
AU - Maiken Ueland
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
JO - PLOS One
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0360233
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0360233
AB - Cadaver detection dogs (CDDs) are one of the best tools to locate clandestinely buried human remains. However, large data gaps exist in what VOC classes and concentrations are targeted by CDDs for detection. This study compared the alert responses produced by CDDs used by the New South Wales Police Force to responses generated by an electronic nose (named the NOS.E) with metal oxide sensors to a clandestine burial. For confirmatory analysis, VOC samples of the clandestine burial were taken, and compounds were identified using GC × GC-TOFMS. While statistical work was limited due to sample sizes, inferences were made about VOC presence and concentration to NOS.E and detection dog ability. Both CDDs and NOS.E were able to detect targeted chemical classes (sulfur and nitrogen containing compounds, alcohols, alkanes and aldehydes) which was supported by GC × GC-TOFMS. Correlation analyses demonstrated non-significant, but observational patterns that CDDs true positive alerts were associated with higher NOS.E responses to sulfur and nitrogen containing compounds, alcohols and alkanes. Additionally, a “no alert” or “False Positive” alert was associated with lower NOS.E responses. This work supports that it is both the presence and abundance of VOC chemical classes that influence true positive alerts from CDDs to buried human remains.
SN - 1932-6203
ER -