El Salvador is the home of the bloodiest gang violence in the world. Picture: SBS/Dateline

DEEP inside this murder capital one man is literally raising the dead.

Forensic criminologist Israel Ticas digs up the dead for a living, helping murder victims get justice from beyond the grave.

It may sound macabre, but in a place overrun with gang violence it is a harsh reality.

Welcome to El Salvador, home of the bloodiest gang violence in the world, where someone is killed almost every hour.

As one of the Central American nation’s few forensic criminologists, Ticas is a busy man finding victims killed largely over petty gang feuds or small-time extortions.

Sometimes their bodies are never found. At other times they are found in mass graves.

Dateline correspondent Jason Motlagh investigates the extreme violence gripping the streets of El Salvador, revealing how Ticas is bringing justice for murder victims from beyond the grave.

Dateline correspondent Jason Motlagh investigates the brutal job carried out by Israel Ticas. Picture: Dateline/SBSSource:SBS

In the special Lawyer for the Dead which airs tonight on SBS, Ticas shows Motlagh a rock with blood on it which was a weapon used in one the killings.

The victim was a three-year-old boy.

“That has blood — DNA, still on it. It was used to bash a three year-old boy because his father was in another gang.”

Speaking to news.com.au Motlagh said the violence and brutality taking place across the country was beyond staggering, revealing Ticas’ work often made him a target for gangs.

Jason Motlagh at the scene of a late-night gang murder on the outskirts of San Salvador. Picture: Juan CarlosSource:SBS

“His relentless efforts on behalf of victims and their families border on the absurd, given the scale and brutality of the violence,” he said.

“I admire his defiance.”

Known as the lawyer for the dead, he tells Motlagh his work is all about bringing closure to the victims’ families.

Motlagh said while parts of the capital San Salvador could be easily mistaken for modern America, gangs had more influence than many people realise.

“Gangs exercise a huge influence over the capital and most of the country,” he said.

“They are the authority in many poorer neighbourhoods, but even in middle and upper class areas, they are watching, taxing, intimidating. And killing when it suits them.”

Motlagh pictured during one of the digs for a body. Picture: Dateline/SBSSource:SBS

Motlagh admits he found San Salvador terrifying.

“Entering gang strongholds, even with a police escort, you definitely feel like they could take you out if they wanted to.” he said.

“Streets are awash in guns and in some barrios it’s one road in, one road out. Police patrols are getting ambushed more frequently.

“An officer was shot the day before we went out with a unit. We brought our body armour.”

He said Ticas had a real warmth about him and there was a genuine motivation behind his work.

“You sense that he really gives a damn about the people ensnared in this gang war, torn that he can’t do more to ease their pain,” he said.

Aside from gang intimidation, finding the victims is never an easy task.

A body is exhumed during a dig in the crime-ridden city. Picture: SBS/DatelineSource:SBS

Ticas relies on anonymous tip offs from authorities and sometimes gang members to find hidden graves because as he puts it “there’s no murder without a body”.

“In some instances, former gang members — some of them hardened killers — reveal where bodies are buried in exchange for protection from authorities,” Motlagh said.

With El Salvador’s unbelievably high murder rate, 104.2 per 100,000 in 2015 according to Insight Crime , it is easy to think Ticas’ job is an impossible one for most people given many remain unsolved.

But this is the very thing which motivates a man who has found at least 700 victims so far.

“Less than five per cent of murders are solved in El Salvador,” Motlagh said.

“In a failing justice system, Ticas is a kind of bulwark against total impunity. He offers families of the missing a shred of faith amid all the madness.”

Israel Ticas is literally a lawyer for the dead, bringing justice to murder victims. Picture: SBS/DatelineSource:SBS

Motlagh said he didn’t see a lot of closure with many families still left searching for their relatives and getting nowhere.

He also said the trauma never leaves some families which makes it even harder to deal with.

“One woman, whose young nephew was slain by gang members, possibly as part of an initiation, was relieved that his body was found,” he said.

“But the trauma of such an arbitrary killing never fades.”

Watch the full report — Lawyer for the Dead on Dateline, tonight at 9.30pm on

SBS.

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