Dental Identification of the Putative Body of a Most Wanted Fugitive.

Lee, Sang Seob; Lee, Han Young; Seo, Joong Seok

doi:2015.39.1.12

Korean J Leg Med > Volume 39(1); 2015 > Article

Case Report

Korean Journal of Legal Medicine 2015;39(1):12-16.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.7580/kjlm.2015.39.1.12 Published online February 28, 2015.

Dental Identification of the Putative Body of a Most Wanted Fugitive.

Sang Seob Lee, Han Young Lee, Joong Seok Seo

Medical Examiner's Office, National Forensic Service, Wonju, Korea. komiyama@korea.kr

Abstract

Dental identification was conducted on the putative body of a most wanted fugitive who was considered to be the de facto owner of the ferry MV Sewol. Postmortem examination showed many dental characteristics, including gold crowns, a porcelain-fused-to-metal crown, a gold fixed bridge, and resin restorations. The estimated age of the body was approximately 73 years. Antemortem data collected by the fugitive at private dentist showed that 10 teeth had dental features. When the antemortem data on the 10 teeth were compared with the corresponding teeth by using postmortem data, there was no discrepancy in the remaining teeth. The number of possible combinations was calculated, and the likelihood of this fugitive and any other person having the same dental features was one in 14 billion. Using the results of dental examination, the body was successfully identified.

Key Words: Age determination by teeth, Forensic dentistry