Dogs help authorities search landfill for couple’s remains

[Daryl]

Dogs help authorities search landfill for couple’s remains Retrieved from http://www.thestate.com/local/story/348520.html

HILTON HEAD ISLAND — Searchers will resume sorting through a large landfill southwest of Savannah today to try to find the remains of John and Elizabeth Calvert, the Hilton Head Island couple last seen March 3.

Authorities and their cadaver dogs converged on the Broadhurst Environmental Landfill near Jesup, Ga., on Saturday after the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office received a tip late Friday, according to Capt. Toby McSwain.

Five law enforcement agencies are participating in the search. They took Sunday off.

The 2,500-acre landfill about 100 miles southwest of Hilton Head receives trash from more than 20 counties in Georgia and several counties in Florida and South Carolina, including part of Beaufort County.

The trash deposited there each day is compacted and covered with a foam-rubber material to absorb moisture. Dirt is then put on top of the foam.

McSwain said investigators would continue to search the landfill as long as it takes to cover all of the ground.

While it might seem like a fruitless effort because of the sheer volume of trash and the amount of time that has elapsed since the businessman and his attorney wife disappeared, the leader of a local canine search and rescue team says it’s still possible for dogs to detect their remains, if they are there.

Most landfills keep track of where particular trucks dump, and even more commonly, where a certain day’s trash is buried, said Dan Fuller, director of Beaufort County-based Urban Search and Rescue, one of four nonprofit networks of dog-handlers in the state specializing in finding missing persons.

Provided authorities are able to peel back the layers of trash, a specially trained dog can detect the scent of bodies buried deep in a dump, Fuller said.

Urban Search and Rescue, which has 20 trained dogs has not been asked to help in the search for the Calverts. Fuller said authorities are likely seeking the help of a similar network that trains in Jesup, where the landfill is located.

Last week, the Sheriff’s Office used Belgian malinois to search island storage facilities and have previously used them to sniff for evidence on John Calvert’s yacht and around the Harbour Town Yacht Basin.