FBI Agents Train at Tx State Body Farm

Agents from the FBI Evidence Recovery Team are training in San Marcos this week at the Texas State University body farm. The agents are learning about fingerprint recovery and will use that knowledge in natural disasters and terrorist attacks.

Forensic Anthropologist Kate Spradley will donate her body to Texas State University.

"I want to give back to my profession to my discipline."

The University has a body farm.

“Some people who donate to our program, they donate their loved ones because maybe a tragedy has happened and they want to reflect positively," Spradley said.

The bodies are put to good use at the school's Forensic Anthropology lab.

Michelle Hamilton, the Center's Director, says they are hosting a three day training for the FBI's Evidence Recovery Team (ERT). They are learning about fingerprint recovery.

"If you are talking about natural disasters or mass disasters floods for example, you might have people who are deceased and very difficult to identify so this team trains their agents on how to better identify and better recover those finger prints using a bunch of different techniques," Michelle Hamilton, Forensic Anthropology Center Director said.

The agents are training at Texas State because they are one of three schools in the country with such an extensive lab.

What they learn here will be used at crime scenes or at catastrophes like Hurricane Katrina or even the War in Afghanistan.

All the donations for science research could help bring closure to a family that's lost a loved one to a tragedy.

"Very Fascinating, the fact that what we learn here can be applied to casework and that can eventually ya know hopefully help somebody, ya know help a family find a loved one or help identify an individual," Kelly Sauerwein, a grad student said.

Since they started accepting donations two years ago, the school has received 24 bodies.