328 Forensic dentistry
available to suggest that any number of aquatic organisms, even crayfish,
could have made the marks on the victim. Preliminary laboratory evidence
generated at Millersville University by an American Board of Forensic
Entomology (ABFE) –certified forensic entomologist, Dr. John R. Wallace,
suggested that crayfish, which were very abundant in the stream where the
victim was found, were likely suspects and could have left such marks on
the victim’s body through normal feeding activity. The alternate theories for
the genesis of these marks should have been explored.
Incredibly, the odontologist in this case associated only the upper inci-
sor teeth to all of the “bitemarks”; there were no lower teeth marks identi-
fied. Neither the forensic pathologist nor Dr. West performed a simple test
to determine if the patterns on the skin were in fact bitemarks of the type
Figure 14.19 location of nineteen patterned injuries labeled by mhw as bite-
marks.