Retired QPS search and rescue co-ordinator Jim Whitehead weighs in on landfill search for Lesley Trotter’s body
Retired Queensland Police Search and Rescue officer Jim Whitehead was involved in multiple searches of landfill in his 34-year career, saying it was an extremely tough and “labour intensive” job.
But Mr Whitehead said it was “definitely possible” to find the 78-year-old’s body.
“It’s very time consuming, but it’s possible,” Mr Whitehead said.
“Pathologists should be able to determine what injuries she sustained as a result of being compacted, and what may have caused her death. It’s absolutely possible.”
Mr Whitehead, Queensland’s former top search and rescue officer, said landfill searches generally involved between 12 to 20 officers at one time sifting through rubbish in a line, piece by piece.
“The search would be by hand, every piece of rubbish would be removed, every piece turned over, things looked through and unrolled,” he said.
“It’s very time consuming, you’re usually searching in a 30m x 30m area.”
Mr Whitehead said they would usually work through the waste layer by layer, which could take weeks.
He said the biggest factor working against search crews was decomposition, as it had been more than two weeks since Ms Trotter’s body had been collected.
“It has to be done by eye, it cannot be done by a machine,” he said.
Police are expected to begin searching in coming days.
) and what caused her death. "It's absolutely possible". The biggest hurdle being decomposition.
