Scientist bottles smell of bones to help solve cold cases

A Belgian research scientist is working with the federal police to create a scent that mimics the smell of dried human bones to help sniffer dogs find long lost remains.

Clement Martin has already isolated the smell of decomposing human flesh and that is now used to train Belgium's cadaver dogs.

But once the soft tissue has disappeared, the scent molecules of the remaining bones become significantly fewer, scientific researcher Martin told Reuters.

Belgian research scientist Clement Martin, who works with Belgium's federal police to create a "perfume" that mimics the smell of dried human bones to help sniffer dogs find long lost remains, shows a sample of the "perfume" in his laboratory in Gembloux, Belgium January 15, 2025.Reuters

"Bones smell different over the years too. A 3-year-old bone will smell different to a 10-year-old one and even 20 years," he said.

Skeletal remains are porous too and absorb smells from the surrounding environment, from the soil to pine trees.

"In the situation of cold cases, there was a gap. Our dogs were not able to find dried bones," Kris Cardoen, head of federal police dog training, told Reuters.

Belgian police First inspector and dog handler Kristof Van Langenhove trains his dog "Bones" to smell a "perfume" that mimics the smell of dried human bones to help sniffer dogs find long lost remains, created by Belgian research scientist Clement Martin, in Linter, Belgium January 15, 2025. Reuters

At a police training center outside Brussels, inspector Kristof Van Langenhove and his springer spaniel Bones demonstrated part of the training with Martin's corpse scent.

Cardoen hid some tissues between cinder blocks and only contaminated a few. The dog then barked when he found the smell.

"The scent of death is one of the three tools we use during the basic training of our human remains dog," Cardoen said.

Belgian research scientist Clement Martin, who works with Belgium's federal police to create a "perfume" that mimics the smell of dried human bones to help sniffer dogs find long lost remains, shows human bones in his laboratory in Gembloux, Belgium January 15, 2025.Reuters

Cadaver dogs require 1,000 hours of training and the country only ever has four at any one time.

Martin is using different samples of dried bones to develop the smell, including those of an unidentified man found in a suitcase, which are kept in a glass cylinder to allow the molecules to permeate an enclosed space ready for extraction.

"It's a bit like a perfumer developing his perfume, he's going to mix different aromas," Martin said.