Image editing and computer assisted bitemark analysis: a case report

Bitemark evidence in a homicide usually involves a perpetrator biting the victim prior to or around the time of death. This paper presents a case in which a homicide victim bit his assailant. A suspect taken into custody was found to have what appeared to be a human bitemark on the proximal phalanx of his right thumb. Scale photographs of this injury were obtained and compared to the dentition of the decreased using digitized computer images for superimposition. Three different approaches for comparison with the bitemark photograph were utilized: comparison with radiographs of amalgam-filled impressions of dental casts, a transparent overlay technique and comparison with photographs of a simulated bitemark inked onto the hand of a volunteer. A review of these techniques as they apply to computerized bitemark analysis is presented.