CALIF. PENAL CODE 232 - FELONY CHILD ABUSE
MULTIPLE BITE MARKS
An eight month-old Hispanic male infant was admitted to the Loma Linda University Medical Center Pediatric Intensive Care Unit with multiple injuries. A pattern of suspected abuse was established and Child Protective Services was notified. After clinical examination, numerous ovoid and circular pattern injuries were observed by the Chief Pediatric Physician who recognized these as human bite marks. She immediately notified Dr. Golden to request a forensic bite mark examination and photographic documentation of the injuries.
The photographs below depict three of the more obvious bites inflicted to the cheek, knee, and calf. There were other bites noted elsewhere on the child's body.
It was determined that the bite on the calf would be the most useful as evidence for comparative purposes. There were two suspects; the custodial parents of the child. Stone dental casts were made of each person's teeth, as are shown in the digital scanned images below:
With the use of Adobe Photoshop® imaging software, overlays of the biting edges of the 12 anterior teeth were made for comparison to life-sized images of the bite mark. Additional image enhancement was employed with LucisPro® 5.0 Imaging Software to bring out more detail in the bruise pattern. A comparison of the suspect's "toothprints" to the Lucis-enhanced image is shown below. Use your mouse arrow to roll over the image to see the overlay just below the bite mark and then directly over the bruise pattern to see how the pattern lines up.
