Body disposal

[kengr]

I was reading something with the typical "put the body in the hole before they pour the concrete bit.

This is practically a cliche, and the void that will result in the concrete could cause the foundation to fail. Which gets things looked at. Not good.

Then I recalled a scene I've seen in downtown Portland several times over the years when they were putting up skyscrapers. Piledrivers driving pilings for the foundations.

Now, I'm not certain how they start that process, but I'm assuming they dig a hole to act as a starter, then lower the piling in and start pounding on it to drive it deeper until it is deep enough (or hits bedrock).

So it occurred to me that dropping the body in the pilot hole, with a foot or two of dirt over it ought to work nicely,

Shouldn't take long for the body to be mush and bone chips. Even if anybody was going to dig down that for to look, I doubt there'd be much identifiable left.

Comments

[siliconshaman]

The trick with putting a body in a foundation hole, is you actually dig a shallow hole in the bottom of trench to be filled and cover it over with dirt, so the body is actually under the foundation. Then when it rots down it doesn't create a void, and the concrete slab over it stops it being discovered.

Plus, the construction crew isn't going to notice this body in their trench.

[skjam]

Read a story a bit back where the criminal buries the corpse under a shallow hole that's going to be paved over as a tennis court. Only to find out the property owner's daughter changed her mind and now they're going to dig it out to be a swimming pool.

[kengr]

My thought is that if I could get enough of the right pigments (without the purchases being traceable, which is fairly difficult, alas)

I'd dig a hole somewhere isolate and half fill it with the thermite mix, dump in the body, fill the rest of the hole, insert the igniter and dump the dirt on top.

Then touch of the igniter.

Yeah, if somebody found the site, it'd be suspicious as all get out, but just *try* getting forensics on a chunk of iron with alumina slag on top.

You might be able to prove there'd been a body disposed off (via chemical analysis) but IDing it would be right out.

[stickmaker]

BSCE writing, here. However, I have very little actual experience with heavy construction.

I'm reminded of the reaction of the foreman of the concrete pouring for the Hoover Dam to rumors about workers being drowned and buried in the concrete and the bodies just left: "That would weaken the concrete!"

Anway, there is so much work done with modern concrete (for example, most foundations for large buildings have reinforcing steel put in place before the pour, then the concrete is tamped or vibrated to ensure there are no voids) that having a body go unnoticed is unlikely. OTOH, for an older building, or a large, modern home (especially one with unusual specifications by the architect or contractor) which has massive, non-reinforced concrete foundations such a disposal might be feasible. There is a black comedy movie (I want to say _The Gazebo_ with Jack Lemmon in the Sixties, but am far from sure) about a guy who buries a body in the poured concrete foundation of a new gazebo on his property. This backfires when the foundation literally falls apart during a heavy rain, probably because of the body. ("The savage gazebo attacks!")

More feasible is finding a body (probably just bones and teeth even after only a few years, unless the soil blocks decay) which is uncovered by modern excavation. I read about that happening pretty frequently. It's usually prehistoric, early historic or medieval, but sometimes later. Rarely, much later.

I believe the method of starting a pile varies with the constructor. Some may have a reusable guide to start flush with the ground for each piling.