Prior to the selection of the location, objections by local residents and the nearby San Marcos Municipal Airport (owing to concerns about circling vultures) stalled the plan.
[4] But on February 12, 2008, Texas State University announced that its Freeman Ranch, off County Road 213 northwest of San Marcos, would be the site of the facility.
The FARF serves as a resource for students of forensic anthropology as well as state and national law enforcement agencies.
The Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State accepts body donations for scientific research purposes under the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act.
The areas of research conducted with donated bodies will include reconstructing the postmortem interval to determine time since death and related studies in human decomposition.