El criminalista del país de las últimas cosas

The forensic criminologist of the country of last things

Over the recent years, El Salvador has been one of the most violent countries in the world, disputing the first place with Honduras and Guatemala.

Underground, many of those killed by the Mara Salvatrucha and the Barrio 18 gangs lay undiscovered, waiting for someone to find them. That someone is Israel Ticas, the only forensic criminologist in the country.

In the country, public prosecutors have to pursue more than 4 thousand homicides per year. Some officers confess of-the-record that there are times when they bury the corpses again because they are unable to cope with the work.

Leading the effort is Israel Ticas, a systems engineer turned criminologist. Alone, he travels the country unburying the work of the gangs. Many times, using witnesses from the gangs, killers themselves who in exchange for freedom sell to justice their old homeboys.

Full text in Spanish by Carlos Martínez HERE

Israel Ticas rests after finishing in an excavation where an assassinated family was found.

Israel cleans the body of Sintia, a teenager that tried to run from home with 2 thousand dollars, and whom the gang killed to loot her.

Israel projects his hands in the ground where he plans to dig searching for the body of William.

The gang members tried to move William’s corpse to avoid prosecution but left behind his feet and a few ribs.

A worker provided by the city hall who helps Israel Ticas in the excavation.

Israel describes the position of the body to the police investigators.

Israels stops work for lunch.

Israel working on a corpse.

Israels reaches for the hand of one of the three victims buried in Apopa, Tonacatepeque.

Israel finishing his work in one burial site use by the gangs to dispose killed people.

Israel poses for a portrait. He uses a human skull to conceal his identity.

The process Israel Ticas uses to excavate a grave