Odontology as a Forensic Science - Term Paper Example

Lisa Levy was a student at Florida State University and she was bludgeoned to death while sleeping at the Chi Omega sorority house. The bite mark was one of the two bite marks on Levy’s body. There was also another one on her breast. The buttock bite mark proved to be useful because it left impressions that gave the investigators more points of comparison for leading a match in identification. The analysis of the bite mark was a success because the investigator used a ruler to show the scale of the bite mark on Bundy’s. They also analyzed the bite mark by using impressions, illustrations, and such.  Because of this, Bundy was forced by the court to give a dental impression. Then, the forensic dentist confirmed that Bundy’s teeth were the exact match of the dental pattern that they derived from the bite mark on Levy’s buttock. Bear in mind that people have unique bite marks – no two are alike (Saferstein, 2009).

Bundy was found guilty of the murders in the Chi Omega sorority house and was sentenced to death and two more life sentences for injuring two more women. At first, he was denying his participation in these murders but he owned them up later, and later even confessed to murdering at least thirty women. He was executed on January 24, 1989, in the electric chair.

In summary, Ted Bundy was a serial killer who roamed around the United States for four years in the 1970s. He attacked young, Caucasian women. In 1977, he attacked Lisa Levy (among others) in the Chi Omega sorority house and killed her after raping her. He also left a bite mark on her buttock and this proved to be one of the most damning evidence against him. He was put on death row and was executed on January 24, 1989.

2. Doyle vs State of Texas

This case, Doyle vs. The State of Texas, was reportedly the first case in the United States to use odontology to apprehend a criminal (Doyle v State of Texas, 1954).

The crime was a burglary and it happened in Texas in 1954. It happened in Aspermont, in the grocery store owned by Mr. Peacock. It was said that Mr. Peacock locked his grocery store the night of December 15 and when he arrived the next morning, two windows had been broken, two bottles of whiskey are gone, thirteen silver dollars (plus change) are missing, meat and cheese were out of the cold storage. Somebody has ransacked his store. The Sheriff was called on to investigate the case and he found a piece of cheese bearing pronounced teeth marks (Doyle v State of Texas, 1954).

Coincidentally, the Sheriff arrested someone at three am the same day (because of being intoxicated in public) who had thirteen silver dollars. He asked the assailant to bite on a piece of cheese and compared it to the one he found in the grocery store. They made impressions using photographs and plaster of Paris in the Department of Public Safety in Austin and Dr. Kemp, a dentist, gave his medical opinion that the casts and impression were all made by the same teeth (Doyle v State of Texas, 1954).

The suspect was convicted.

In summary, Doyle was a burglar who ransacked the Peacock Grocery, ate and left a piece of cheese at the crime scene, got out to the town, and got drunk. This led to his arrest. The Sheriff, meanwhile, saw the piece of cheese with very pronounced teeth marks and compared it to the assailant’s (who was in prison) teeth marks by letting him bite into a piece of cheese. It proved to be positive, and therefore, the assailant, named Doyle, was convicted.