Law Enforcement Training - June 2-6, 2025. Contact necrosearchtraining@gmail.com
In Memorium
Vickie Trammell
Botanist
Victorine Trammell had over 30 years experience as a field botanist, ecologist and college teacher. She received her BS from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea Ohio with a major in biology and a minor in chemistry. After graduate work at Ohio University, Athens Ohio, she completed her MA at the University of Colorado Boulder in plant ecology. She joined the faculty of Arapahoe Community College in 1972 where she teaches botany, ecology, biology and anatomy and physiology and served as department chair for 5 years. She retired in 2002 but is still teaching. Vickey's research interest involves plant distribution in relation to the geology of the area. She has done community mapping and rare plant lists for state parks. Vickey joined NecroSearch in 1989 as a botanists, soil sifter and general searcher.
John Mcphail
Registered Nurse / Clinical Forensic Specialist
A former police officer and investigator, first commissioned in 1964, John held a degree in Nursing and a Doctorate in Public health. After retirement from the Forensic Division of the Colorado Mental Health Institute, he founded Forensic Education Services and has conducted forensic workshops, seminars, and keynote addresses nationally and internationally in the nursing, forensic mental health and law enforcement fields. He was a clinical instructor at CSU-Pueblo and is a visiting forensic specialist at UCCS. John was also a national trainer for the Verbal Judo Institute teaching “tactical communication”. A former President of NecroSearch International, he has previously served as both secretary/treasurer and as vice-president. John was a past two-term president of the Southeastern Colorado Law Enforcement Association and is a Diplomat of the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators. His professional memberships included the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, The Forensic Science Society (Great Britain), International Wound Ballistics Association, International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts, International Homicide Investigators Association, Colorado Law Enforcement Officers Association, International Association of Forensic Nurses, American Society of Law Enforcement Training, and American Correctional Association.
Jack Swanburg
Criminalist & NecroSearch Co-Founder
Jack Swanburg is a co-founder of NecroSearch International and Past President of the organization. He was named “Homicide Investigator of the Year” by the Colorado Homicide Investigators Association in XXXX. Prior to his retirement, he was Coroner for Arapahoe County, Colorado, appointed to that office from his position as Senior Laboratory Technician in the crime lab of the Sheriff’s Office. He was also a past president of the Rocky Mountain Division of the International Association for Identification. He was a member of the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts, The Association for Crime Scene Reconstruction, The Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team, and the RMD Body Identification Team. He was a Certified Crime Scene Analyst and a Certified Latent Print Examiner. Jack began his experience with law enforcement when, in 1958, he helped the Denver Police Department develop an ID camera that used 35 mm motion picture film. In 1969 he began teaching crime scene photography on a formal basis. He has teaught criminalistics and related subjects at the Colorado Law Enforcement Training Academy, Colorado State University, Arapahoe Community College, Red Rocks Community College, and other institutions. Several of his research papers have been published.
Colorado Homicide Investigator of the Year 2004
Dick Hopkins
Criminalist & NecroSearch Co-Founder
United States Army (SP4/E-4)
Colorado State Patrol 1963
Littleton Police Department 1964-1966
Bow Mar Police Department 1966-1968
Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office 1968-1996.
Al Bieber
Geophysicist/Geologist
After 20 years in Petroleum Exploration, Al Bieber joined Ocean Systems Inc. to assist them with their DOD contract to locate anything lost in the oceans. He formed a separated division to handle civil searches and to assist in the military contract. During this time he located a submarine, airliner, numerous military aircraft, and performed hydrographic and geotechnical surveys for construction planning. Bieber and his partners bought the survey division from Ocean Systems, and moved it to Connecticut with Bieber as president. They performed a wide variety of searches and surveys worldwide including Pakistan, Egypt, Columbia, Iran, Nicaragua, and Argentina for a wide variety of clients. Later, Bieber formed his own company, Bieber Associates, and continued to perform searches, including sunken yachts, aircraft, fishing vessels, and all sorts of construction debris. His clients included engineering and construction companies, insurance adjusters, the Corps of Engineers, and historical societies. He retired from offshore searches in 1989 and returned to Colorado, where he became involved in forensic land and water searches with Necrosearch. Bieber held a BS in Engineering from Oklahoma A & M. He had five years electronics training with the US Navy, plus graduate courses in marine geology. He was an ASCM Certified Hydrographer and a Registered Professional Engineer, and held the rank of LCDR, USNR(Ret).