Forensic Odontology

Doyle v. Texas, 1952 first U.S. bite mark case resulting in a conviction Doyle was convicted of burglary based on a bite mark left in a piece of partially eaten cheese at the crime scene

Ted Bundy broke into Florida State University’s Chi Omega sorority house bludgeoned and strangled Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman to death bit Levy on her left buttock leaving an obvious bite mark impression

Bite mark evidence and testimony in Bundy case Victims Lisa Levy and Margaret Bowman

Notorious Figures in History Who Have Been Identified Through Forensic Dentistry John Wilkes Booth (shot and killed Abraham Lincoln) Adolf Hitler and wife, Eva Braun Joseph Mengele (Nazi “Angel of Death”) Lee Harvey Oswald (assassinated John F. Kennedy) Czar Nicholas II and his family

Wrongly Convicted Ray Krone Labeled “the snaggle tooth killer” Found guilty of killing a Phoenix, Arizona bartender in 1991 The woman was found dead at a bar where Krone was known to regularly play darts

His teeth were mistakenly matched to a bite mark left on the victim Krone spent 10 years in prison, including 2 on death row In 2002, DNA evidence proved he did not kill the bartender

How did the mistaken match occur? Why does DNA evidence overrule the bite mark evidence?

Bite mark evidence requires a dentist to compare the bite marks with impressions and come to a conclusion based on what they see Though the dentist has forensic training and is considered an expert, interpretation hinges on the dentist’s opinion DNA evidence is interpreted using proven mathematical formulas and statistics