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Arpad Vass

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Arpad Vass
Born
Arpad Alexander Vass

(1959-08-30) August 30, 1959 (age 65)[1]
Flemington, New Jersey[1]
NationalityAmerican
Alma materBS: Virginia Tech
MS: Virginia Commonwealth University
PhD: University of Tennessee
SpouseVictoria Ann Longo
Scientific career
FieldsForensic anthropology
Doctoral advisorWilliam M. Bass

Arpad Alexander Vass (born August 30, 1959) is a forensic anthropologist. He has researched the processes involved in human decomposition. Vass claims to have developed several devices and methods to locate human remains; however, those claims have not been validated by other experts.

Personal Life

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Vass is the son of a Hungarian immigrant.[2] He grew up in Arlington, Virginia, where he graduated from Yorktown High School in 1977. He is married to Victoria Ann Longo.[1]

He formerly taught at the Law Enforcement Innovation Center, which is part of the University of Tennessee's Institute for Public Service.[3] For 23 years,[4] he worked as a research scientist within the Life Sciences Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory[5] until September 2012. Subsequently, he has been a part-time instructor at the National Forensic Academy in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and has offered various services in missing person cases.[6]

Education and research

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In 1980, Arpad Vass obtained the Antarctic Exploration certification from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The following year, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Virginia Tech. In 1984, Vass earned a Medical Technology degree from Fairfax Hospital. He earned a Master of Science degree in 1989 from the Virginia Commonwealth University in Administration of Justice (Forensic Science). In 1991, he earned his PhD from the University of Tennessee in anthropology after defending his dissertation titled Time Since Death Determinations of Human Cadavers.[5]

In his work at the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility (ARF), Arpad Vass researched the processes involved in the decomposition of human remains. He isolated specific tissues of the human body and the species of bacteria that affect their decomposition.[7] He was particularly interested in using the chemicals released by a cadaver to determine the time since death[2] and how the detection of those chemicals could assist in locating remains.

Vass's research centered on a forensic science technique called decomposition odor analysis, or DOA. Using air samples collected around cadavers at the ARF, he was able to identify "chemicals containing 424 specific compounds associated with burial decomposition."[8] A database of such vapors could enable forensic investigators to detect the location of the remains of human beings.[9] The database is located at the ARF.[10] However, based on his research, Vass and colleagues concluded that the prevalence of these chemicals is highly variable dependent on the environmental conditions of the burial site and the health of the individual prior to death. They were also unable to determine the exact origin of the compounds in the decomposition process.[8]

LABRADOR

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In an effort to be able to detect chemicals released during composition better and more efficiently than a cadaver dog could, Arpad Vass invented the "Light-Weight Analyzer for Buried Remains and Decomposition Odor Recognition" (LABRADOR).[6] In his 2012 TED Talk, he claims that the device has been used to identify over 100 hidden graves and can identify the stage of decomposition, as well as differentiate whether the remains belonged to a human or another type of animal.[11] In the 2010 report for the U.S. Department of Justice., Vass states that LABRADOR's ability to identify non-human remains was only studied in a limited capacity on pig carcasses.[12] Furthermore, in the same report, he qualifies that the device is not yet as sensitive as a dog's nose and can only be used for shallow graves in temperate environments.[12]

Vass holds three patents for LABRADOR[13]. In 2010, the estimated cost of the device was $1,000-$1,500;[12] however, as of March 2022, the device has not been sold commercially.[6]

Casey Anthony Trial

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In 2011, Arpad Vass was a key expert witness for the prosecution in the trial of Casey Anthony, who was accused of murdering her daughter Caylee.[14] Vass's testimony centered on his analysis of air samples taken from Anthony's car[14] as evidence that the child's remains had been placed into the vehicle.[6] The defense had requested in pretrial that the air sample tests be excluded from the evidence presented; however, the judge permitted the tests to be presented in court.[14] Prior to the Anthony case, no other trial in the U.S. had ever allowed such tests to be admitted.[14]

Vass's testimony was disputed in court by an analytical chemist who testified that air sample analysis lacked scientific evidence and that the detected compounds could have been caused by food waste in the car.[6] Vass, himself, admitted shortcomings in his methodology.[14] Legal and forensic experts criticized allowing a technique that lacked "established scientific validity" and that was proprietary to the witness to be presented in court.[14] Vass believes that his role in the trial and the criticism he received for it may have led Oak Ridge National Laboratory to terminate his employment.[6]

Unsubstantiated Claims

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Arpad Vass claims, without scientific evidence, that he has developed several tools to help detect and uncover forensic cases.[15] Experts in forensic anthropology have expressed concerns that the services Vass offers are "very misleading to families and law enforcement" and that since he is not a member of professional organizations in the field, he is not being held to "ethical and scientific standards."[6]

Dowsing

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Vass has claimed that dowsing rods can be used to find corpses.[6] This may have started as a practical joke when Vass coincidently located a corpse on the Body Farm in Tennessee while holding two pieces of wire-like divining rods.[2] Since then, Vass has gone on to claim that "dowsing is based on scientific principles and the fact that it was admitted in court is proof of the technique’s credibility."[6] He suggests that buried "bones under mechanical stress" emit a piezoelectric charge[6] which causes the rods to cross when held over a burial site.[16] Vass claims that not everyone can successfully locate a skeleton with dowsing rods because the operator must "have the right voltage, [or] it’s not going to work.”[6]He also admits that the rods could give the same response to a small rodent's bones or underground power lines as to human remains.[6]

As of 2022, there has not been any peer-reviewed study published that corroborates that any piezoelectric sensor can detect interred bones.[6] A joint study conducted by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, the FBI Laboratory, and George Mason University,[6] published in 2021, asked participants to use dowsing rods to attempt to identify which 3 out of 9 areas contained buried bones. The results were not significantly different from the control subjects who visually inspected the burial sites.[17] Scientists posit the ideomotor effect as a rational explanation for the movement of the divining rods.[6]

Quantum Oscillator/INQUISITOR

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Vass filed five patents[13] related to a device he now calls the Quantum Oscillator, but had given the name INQUISITOR during the research and development phase.[18] As he explains it, this handheld device is supposed to point in the direction of any distant object (up to 75 miles away) by using the vibrational frequency of a similar material.[6] He claims that this technology can locate a missing person, dead or alive, by using DNA from a family member's fingernail.[4] He has not made the device publicly available, citing national security concerns.[4] When requesting Vass to implement his Quantum Oscillator, he "allow[s] only essential personnel to be present" citing the proprietary nature of his equipment and wanting to "guarded company secrets."[18]

Experts have investigated the success rate of the Quantum Oscillator/INQUISITOR. Andrea Lankford, "a former search and rescue park ranger", could not find any case, out of 27 on which Arpad Vass worked where the device successfully "detected an actual missing person or their remains."[19] She consulted Dr. Monte Miller, who holds a PhD in biochemistry and has over 20 years of experience in forensics and DNA analysis, to investigate the claims Vass has made about Vass's device.[19] Miller concluded that "the INQUISITOR is a hoax" and that there is "no research, proofs, or any substantial reason to believe" that it "can actually perform the abilities claimed.[20]

Flies with tracking chips

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Citing flies' natural inclination to seek out "a corpse within minutes of death,"[6] Vass has put forth a proposal to locate human remains with the use of such insects equipped with a tracking chip.[21] However, he admits losing most of his trackers due to birds consuming the insects.[6]

Selected publications

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  • Vass, Arpad A (November 2001). "Beyond the grave – understanding human decomposition" (PDF). Microbiology Today. 28. Spencers Wood: Society for General Microbiology: 190–192. ISSN 1464-0570.
  • Vass, Arpad A; et al. (September 1992). "Time since death determinations of human cadavers using soil solution". Journal of Forensic Sciences. 37 (5): 1236–1253. doi:10.1520/JFS13311J. ISSN 0022-1198. PMID 1402750.
  • Vass, Arpad A; et al. (May 2002). "Decomposition chemistry of human remains: a new methodology for determining the postmortem interval". Journal of Forensic Sciences. 47 (3): 542–553. doi:10.1520/JFS15294J. ISSN 0022-1198. PMID 12051334.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Vass, Arpad A (August 1991). Time Since Death Determinations of Human Cadavers Utilizing Soil Solution (PDF) (Ph.D. thesis). University of Tennessee, Knoxville. OCLC 25539141. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-26. Retrieved 2011-06-22.
  2. ^ a b c Smirnov, Alexei. "Top Ten Scientists". Business TN. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  3. ^ Robertson, Susan (2018-05-08). "Hands On". Our Tennessee. Archived from the original on 2024-07-20. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  4. ^ a b c Taylor, Michelle (2022-02-16). "Adding Scat to the Missing Persons Identification Forensic Toolbox". Forensic: On the Scene and In the Lab. Archived from the original on 2024-07-26. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  5. ^ a b Costner, Robert (2003-04-10). "Lunch/lecture by Arpad Vass". Fornlist (Mailing list). Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2024-07-22.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "He Trains Cops in "Witching" to Help Find Corpses. Experts Are Alarmed". Archived from the original on April 22, 2024.
  7. ^ Pennisi, Elizabeth (2015-09-22). "Researchers isolate the 'human smell of death'". Science. Archived from the original on 2024-07-26.
  8. ^ a b Vass, Arpad A.; Smith, Rob R.; Thompson, Cyril V.; Burnett, Michael N.; Wolf, Dennis A.; Synstelien, Jennifer A.; Dulgerian, Nishan; Eckenrode, Brian A. (2004). "Decompositional odor analysis database" (PDF). Journal of Forensic Sciences. 49 (4): 760–769. ISSN 0022-1198. PMID 15317191. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-07-31. Retrieved 2024-07-31.
  9. ^ "UNCOVERING THE EVIDENCE". Oak Ridge National Laboratory Review. 37 (1): 19. 2004. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-08-31. Retrieved 2024-07-23.
  10. ^ Vass, Arpad A; et al. (November 14, 2003). "Decompositional Odor Analysis Database - Phase 1" (PDF). ORNL.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 24, 2011. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  11. ^ TEDx Talks (2012-07-05). Forensics: Dr. Arpad Vass at TEDxYYC. Retrieved 2024-07-26 – via YouTube.
  12. ^ a b c Vass, Arpad; Thompson, Cyril V.; Wise, Marc (July 2010). "New Forensics Tool: Development of an Advanced Sensor for Detecting Clandestine Graves". U.S. Department of Justice: Office of Justice Programs. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-07-26. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  13. ^ a b "Arpad A. Vass Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Archived from the original on 2024-07-26. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  14. ^ a b c d e f Mann, Camille (2011-06-06). "Casey Anthony Trial: Car air sample was "overwhelmingly strong," says "body farm" doctor - CBS News". CBS News. Archived from the original on 2024-07-28. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
  15. ^ Sachs, Jessica Snyder (January 7, 2003). "New Science for the Murder Victim Search". Popular Science. Archived from the original on May 23, 2011.
  16. ^ Underdown, Jim (2022-03-23). "Dowsing for Corpses". Center for Inquiry. Archived from the original on 2024-07-26. Retrieved 2024-07-26.
  17. ^ Easter, Michael; Christensen, Angi M.; Miller, Michelle (2021-01-01). "Dowsing for Bone: A Blind Test". Forensic Anthropology. 4 (1): 15–20. Archived from the original on 2024-07-25.
  18. ^ a b "FAQs – ForensicRecoveryServices.org". Forensic Recovery Services. Archived from the original on 2024-07-29. Retrieved 2024-07-29.
  19. ^ a b Lankford, Andrea (2019-01-26). "If the scientist Arpad Vass says he can find your missing loved one using fingernail clippings, don't believe him". MISSING FROM THE PACIFIC CREST TRAIL. Archived from the original on 2024-07-28. Retrieved 2024-07-28.
  20. ^ Miller, Monte (2018-12-17). "Forensic DNA Experts" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-07-28. Retrieved 2024-07-27.
  21. ^ Goforth, Sarah (December 16, 2003). "Bodies and Bones: Where the bodies are". WhyFiles.org. Archived from the original on July 4, 2010.
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