No Stone Unturned is now available for the first time as an eBook and Audio Book.
The Captivating "True Story Of The World's Premier Forensic Investigators" at NecroSearch International
Updated and Revised! Now Available for the First Time As Kindle eBook, Audible and iTunes Editions!
"A fascinating journey into the trenches of crime [investigation]"--Lowell Cauffiel, New York Times bestselling author of House of Secrets
A body stuffed in a car trunk swallowed by the swirling, muddy waters of the Missouri River. A hiker brutally murdered, then thrown off a cliff in a remote mountain range. A devious killer who hid his wife's body under a thick cement patio.
For investigators, the story is often the same: they know a murder took place, they may even know who did it. But without key evidence, pursuing a conviction is nearly impossible. That's when they call NecroSearch International.
One of NecroSearch International's success stories detailed in NO STONE UNTURNED
Necrosearch boasts a brain trust of the nation's top scientists, specialists, and behaviourists who use the latest technology and techniques to help solve "unsolvable" crimes, no matter how decayed the corpse, no matter how cleverly the killer has hidden the victim's body.
In NO STONE UNTURNED by New York Times bestselling author Steve Jackson readers are taken on a fascinating, often-shocking journey into a realm of crime investigation of which few people are aware. Necrosearch's most challenging cases are described, step-by-step, as these modern-day Sherlock Holmes's detect bodies and evidence thought irretrievable, and testify in court to bring cold-blooded killers to justice.
Jackson, the author of BOGEYMAN and MONSTER, vividly tells the story of this incredible group and recounts some of their most memorable early cases that taken separately would make great true crime books. Jackson recreates the genesis of NecroSearch International as a small eclectic group of scientists and law enforcement who volunteered their services to help locate the clandestine graves of murder victims and recover the remains and evidence to assist with the apprehension and conviction of the killers. Known early on as "The Pig People" because of their experiments in locating graves using the carcasses of pigs (because of their similarities to human bodies), NecroSearch has evolved and expanded into one of the most respected forensic investigation teams in the world.
Following his participation in a NecroSearch expedition to Russia looking for the remains of a Russian noble, Jackson was voted in as a member of NecroSearch International in February 2015. Jackson, who is writing a book FINDING ANASTASIA with the leader of the expedition, Peter Sarandinaki, and other search team members returned to Russia in June 2015 to continue the search for the Grand Duke Mikhail Romanov. Read about the expedition in Steve's posts FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.
From NO STONE UNTURNED:
"I shall be as secret as the grave."—Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote
August 4, 1990, The Missouri River
NecroSearch located this car in the Missouri River with the victim's body still in the trunk
The two men worked quickly in the dark around the beat-up two- door sedan perched on a boat ramp facing the river. The night air was as thick and muggy as a sauna. Quiet except for the whine of a million insects, the gentle lapping of the river, and the muted voices of the men.
Alone among the shadows that haunted the heavily wooded bank 45 miles northwest of Maryville, Missouri, the pair fixed a tree branch between the steering wheel and the front seat to keep the car from veering. They took another stick and wedged it between the gas pedal and the driver’s-side seat, the pedal pressed to the floor.
One of the men leaned in and turned the key in the ignition. The car roared to life; the engine screamed to hurry and get it over with. The man threw the transmission into drive and stepped back, closing the door as the maroon Oldsmobile lurched forward, down the ramp, and into the river.
The water quickly drowned the engine, but it had served its purpose. Momentum carried the car out into the current, which grabbed the vehicle—still afloat even with the driver’s-side window open— and dragged it downstream. ..."
The "Pig People" at their research site
Editorial Reviews For No Stone Unturned, A True Crime Classic
"Founded in 1991 as a nonprofit forensic investigative team, NecroSearch International specializes in homicide cases shelved because of "corpus indelecti" that is, a body cannot be produced as evidence that a murder has taken place. Coming from a wide range of backgrounds geophysicists to "cadaver dog" specialists to chemists and rank-and-file cops the members of NecroSearch combine their skills to produce the most proficient (and most exciting) detective work since Sherlock Holmes. They take the coldest cases and comb for hidden graves on rural hillsides, in suburban backyards and at the bottom of mud-choked riverbeds, searching for remains that have been buried anywhere from two to 20 years. (Or 70, as in the notorious Romanov family case.) ... This book combines the burden of scientific proof with rousing tales of police work out in the field or the quarry, the Rocky Mountains or someone's backyard. The book covers the group's quirky beginnings and digs into its most important cases suspensefully; Jackson's sharp eye misses nothing in the painstakingly rendered details. A must-have for true crime fans, it should also be of great interest to anyone fascinated with the practical applications of science."-Publisher's Weekly, (Starred Review), Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
"The book covers the group's quirky beginnings and digs into its most important cases suspensefully; Jackson's sharp eye misses nothing in the painstakingly rendered details. A must-have for true crime fans, it should also be of great interest to anyone fascinated with the practical applications of science."--Publisher's Weekly (starred review)
"True crime author Jackson has created a fascinating account of a group of extraordinary people who volunteer their time and expertise to locate hidden murder victims for the police and prosecutors. ... From this meeting, NecroSearch International was eventually born. Recommended for public and academic libraries."--Library Journal
"Jackson's account of the development and crime-solving uses of forensic science may be grim, but it is also a fascinating, macabre journey sure to entrance true-crime buffs and police-procedural detective fiction fans."--Booklist
NO STONE UNTURNED covered the genesis of forensic science and its evolution to NecroSearch International, as well as detailed the “true crime” stories behind the group's most dramatic cases up to 2001. But a lot has changed over the past dozen-plus years both in the publishing world, as well as with NecroSearch International. So I decided to publish an eBook and audio book version of NO STONE UNTURNED through WildBlue Press. While I was at it, I thought I’d update the stories in NO STONE UNTURNED. Fans of Forensic Files and CSI shows, as well as true crime and detectives stories in general, will enjoy NO STONE UNTURNED, and those who've read the original will find more to like in the updates.
Membership in NecroSearch International is by invitation only, and in February 2015 I was invited to join the group as a historian and to help with media relations. In June 2015, I traveled with several other members of NSI to Russia to search for the clandestine grave of the Grand Duke Mikhail Romanov who was murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918. We did not find the grand duke's remains this time but will continue our search in 2016.
Looking forward to reading your book. Was privileged to work for Clark when the group just started and he showed me the”pig site” and how geophysics worked. Also found interesting that plant grasses over the pig burials were turned 90 degrees off normal. Have seen the TV show where NecroSearch was called to study what lay beneath the concrete. Best of luck with your writing and following this great group of people. Karel Bammes
Karel