FORENSICS: HOW INVESTIGATORS ARE SEARCHING FOR NATALEE

The six-week search for Natalee Holloway in Aruba--especially for fans of tech-worshiping shows like "CSI"--has raised questions about why investigators haven't been able to use high-tech equipment to find her. In fact, investigators have scoured the island with an array of cutting-edge tools, from a remote-controlled submersible equipped with a video camera and sonar used for probing the water under bridges and in lagoons, to telescoping rods tipped with infrared sensors and cameras used for prodding beneath manhole covers and into dark caverns.

The problem, say those in the business of finding bodies, is the sheer size of the search area. The most promising piece of evidence found so far--a strip of duct tape with strands of blond hair stuck to it--was found on the opposite side of the island from where Holloway was last seen. That means virtually the entire island, and the ocean around its 69-mile coastline, is a potential crime scene. Dr. Albert B. Harper, of the Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science at the University of New Haven, says that until investigators have a better idea of where to look, the size of the search area only highlights the limits of technology. Investigators may try ground-penetrating radar to locate soil disturbances and aerial or satellite infrared equipment that records the heat signature given off by a decomposing body, said forensic anthropologist Edward Anderson, of the Pima County Medical Examiner's office in Arizona. But the best hope for finding Holloway is for a suspect or eyewitness to tell investigators where to look. "Everything short of that is by far and away second place," he said.