Cheryl A. Johnston, Ph.D. is a board certified forensic anthropologist and a fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. She earned her doctoral degree at the Ohio State University in 2002 and is a lecturer in the Center for Life Sciences Education at OSU. In 2005 she joined the faculty at Western Carolina University where she designed and carried out the human decomposition research program at the Forensic Osteology Research Station (FOREST) an outdoor human decomposition facility. She is a former director of the FOREST and the Western Carolina Human Identification Laboratory (WCHIL). Dr. Johnston has worked as a consultant in forensic anthropology since 1991 for numerous agencies including the Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Macon, and Clay County (N.C.) Sheriff’s Departments, The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office Consumer Protection Division, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and numerous Ohio Coroners’ and Sheriffs’ Offices. Her major interests in forensic anthropology are human decomposition and taphonomic processes, and methods of field location and recovery of human remains.
Robert "Bob" Freedline - I embrace a life of service and sacrifice so the lost can be found. I have ten years of experience working as a search and rescue professional. I have trained search dogs for air scent live find and human remains detection. Currently, my sole focus is training human remains detection dogs to locate the missing in all the environments we will be deployed. I have successfully planned and conducted numerous K-9 water searches leading to the successful recovery of missing subjects.
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I also have broad experience in training K-9 Teams to search for subjects along shorelines and in bodies of water. I am an instructor for water classes and an evaluator for water certifications out West.
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My nationally certified current cadaver K-9 partner is Pledge of Allegiance, Jr. (better known as Palmer).
When one teaches, two learn – Robert Heinlein.