Criminal justice graduate student secures major NIJ funding grant

A criminal justice doctoral student has received a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Institute of Justice for her dissertation project, “The Mortal Tragedy: Analyzing Body Disposal Patterns in Homicide Cases.”

April Chai said she is interested in understanding patterns behind offenders’ post-homicide behavior, in order to assist law enforcement in locating the remains of victims of crimes.

As a result of her work, she is the recipient of $166,500, which is the largest award received by a graduate student at Texas State University.

Chai is the sixth recipient of this particular award at TXST.

The GRF from the National Institute of Justice allots three years of funding to a graduate student whose research is relevant to criminal and/or juvenile justice, a press release announcing the award stated.

According to the National Institute of Justice website, the Graduate Research Fellowship allots funding to research that is in line with their mission of improving knowledge and understanding of crime and justice issues.

Chai stated in an email to the Daily Record, that she’s still processing the exciting fellowship news, but is extremely grateful and humbled.

Chai relayed that her master’s level research focused on sexual homicide, particularly what occurs after someone is killed. She found there was little research on the subject, so she made the focus of her thesis why some bodies were moved and others weren’t.

“Around the same time, there was a surge of awareness in Canada and the U.S. regarding the tragic stories of numerous missing or murdered Indigenous women over the years–cases that were often neglected due to police bias,” Chai stated. “This rising awareness led to the establishment of Canada’s National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in 2016, as well as the formation of the Missing and Murdered Unit in the U.S. dedicated to assisting with investigations.”

She stated that many of the reports she’d read made it clear there was no standard procedure in the search for hidden graves, and this made her even more curious about what happens after a homicide.

“What does the offender do? Where do they go? Figuring out these patterns can be key to finding hidden burial sites and maybe bring some much-needed closure to the victims’ families,” Chai said. “That’s what really drew me into studying the patterns of body disposal.”

According to Chai, her doctoral dissertation is a more in-depth analysis from an environmental criminology perspective of her MA thesis topic–the post-crime phase of homicides.

“From what I have learned so far, body disposal sites are not chosen at random,” Chai stated. “In other words, offenders are consciously making decisions to dispose of the victim’s body based on several factors, suggesting a pattern. My goal is to understand the factors that influence these patterns. Once we are able to better understand the common factors, we can predict the most likely sites that the offender would choose as disposal sites.”

Chai added that it’s critical to emphasize that she does not intend for her research to determine an exact location of hidden graves but to delineate area probabilities–predictive modeling to identify high-probability clandestine grave locations can be paired with geophysical methods such as ground-penetrating radar, electrical resistivity and drones to locate the actual body disposal site.

“I am convinced that when we merge insights from diverse fields like criminology, forensic anthropology, and geography, we gain a more holistic and enriched understanding of the matter at hand,” Chai stated. “Drawing from varied disciplines and perspectives not only broadens our horizon but also deepens our understanding of the world around us. By collaborating, we can achieve a comprehensive understanding of the post-crime phase–the decision-making process of offenders regarding the disposal of a victim’s body.”

Chai stated she doesn’t believe her research findings will be limited to a specific state or region.

“They could contribute to addressing the gap in knowledge regarding body disposal patterns nationwide,” Chai said. “It has the potential to provide valuable insights for criminologists and law enforcement across the country to better understand offender behavior and characteristics, which can be used to develop effective profiling strategies and to aid in the investigation of homicide cases on a broader scale.”

Chai’s research is expected to incorporate the examination of case studies.

“I have received exclusive access to the Homicide Investigation Tracking System [HITS] database from the Washington State Attorney General’s Office, which contains information on murder cases that occurred in Washington State,” Chai said. “For cases that require more information such as specific geo-coordinates of the crime, I will be traveling to Washington State to collect data from library archives and conduct crime site visits.”

For more information on the National Institute of Justice Graduate Research Fellowship go to nij.ojp. gov/funding/fellowships/ graduate-research-fellowship- program.