Questions

Mason’s FSRTL (commonly known as the Body Farm) consists of approximately five acres of fenced and secured property on Mason’s Science and Technology Campus in Manassas, VA. Donors to Mason FSRTL are a great asset as their bodies and skeletal remains are utilized for a wide variety of research and training efforts to perform research and educate Mason students and personnel from other appropriate agencies and institutions.

Mason FSRTL is engaged in a wide variety of research and training focused on the location and identification of human remains to include the establishment of the postmortem interval or time since death.

Some of the research planned for Mason FSRTL include but are not limited to the following:

• Overall rates of outdoor
• Earth or unearthed body decomposition
• Locating clandestine graves through honeybees
• Identifying organic chemical compounds in human decomposition
• Impact of animal predation on decomposing bodies
• Wound pathology and injury patterns caused by decomposition
• DNA analysis
• Body location through drones with specialized equipment
• Post-mortem criminal offender behavior

Donors will also be used for cadaver dog training and research by law enforcement agencies, officers, and qualified canine handlers. In addition, other research/training areas may include:

• Geology
• Botany
• Entomology
• Other related Sciences

There will be a variety of scenarios that are designed around the placement of each donor. These scenarios include but are not limited to:

• Encasement in, around, and under cement; mass grave placements
• Vehicle encasement
• Burials
• On top of the ground placement
• Dismemberment
• Mutilation
• Burning/fire and other attempts to destroy a body or parts thereof
• Water Subermersion
• Hangings

We will protect the donor’s anonymity and they will be always handled with respect. A single donor can be used for multiple research projects to maximize the scientific research across a broad area of disciplines to include:

• Forensic Biology
• Chemistry
• Entomology
• Crime Scene Investigation
• Fire and Arson Investigation
• Canine Research

Up to now, this type of research has not been conducted in this region of the United States, and research from similar facilities indicate that different regions of the country and their specific ecosystems can and do impact human remains and human decomposition in significant ways. The more we understand about our specific ecosystem here in northern Virginia and along the mid-Atlantic seaboard, we can educate and train researchers, law enforcement, and others to more quickly locate and better understand human remains, the impact of the environment on a human being left outside offender behavior and treatment of a victim at an outdoor crime scene/body disposal area, the science of decomposition, clandestine graves and more.

Pre-registration for the FSRTL is available, however pre-registration is not necessary to donate a body to Mason FSRTL. If the donor has already passed away, and the next of kin decide to donate their loved one to science, the next of kin will be responsible for registering the donor. All donors to the FSRTL must come through the established protocols of the Virginia State Anatomical Program (VSAP) of the Virginia Department of Health as required by Code of Virginia § 54.1-2825. Potential donors must register with the Virginia State Anatomical Program to be eligible. George Mason University reserves the right to decline a donation due to the condition of the body after death or issues with authorization. Should a potential donor be declined, the family/next of kin would assume responsibility for arrangements of disposition.

Mason will work with the VSAP to arrange for transportation of the donor to Mason FSRTL. Donors  will then be placed within the secure FSRTL facility for various forms of research/training mentioned above.

Mason FSRTL will accept donors who have donated organs and been autopsied but will not accept donors who have been embalmed.