The question is, who else? [Question 3 and a bonus video clip!]

QUESTION 3: 

From the story above so far, how many victims are there? Explain.

So now that we know how to differentiate the gender of the victim based on the unique characteristics of the skull, you might be wondering: Could there be more than one victim involved in this case? (Leave your comment below and let us know what you think!)

We detechteeths are also suspicious about the truth that lies behind this vague picture. So many question marks have been appearing in the back of our minds ever since we were assigned to solve this case. Taking a wild guess, we would have to say that this case includes a few victims, maybe one child and an adult. Why do we say so?

Well, from the story, we know that there were a few pieces of jaw-like structures bearing some teeth that were found at the crime scene. There is a possibility that these skeletal remnants might belong to different victims. However, we are uncertain of how reliable our hypothesis is for now because we have to run some analysis and tests to confirm this. 

You might be surprised that dental forensics are able to estimate the age of the skeletal remains. Wow, that's amazing, isn't it? But... how is that possible?

The answer is simple. Any wear and tear, mineral deposits on root surfaces, and tooth eruption patterns can indicate the age of a person. When dealing with cases involving children, comparison charts are used against the development of their teeth in order to determine an approximate age. When working with teenagers, the development of their teeth is more significant, making the study more accurate. Variation in age accuracy is around four years in young adults. However, older and middle-aged individuals are harder to identify due to restorations, extractions, excessive wear or diseases.

By the looks of it, this is indeed a very complicated case. There is a definite necessity for us to dig deeper to understand the whole story behind this case, but no matter how complex this case gets, we detechteeths will never give up until justice is prevail! 

References:

1. Walsh-Haney 2002, Skeleton Keys: How Forensic Anthropologists Identify Victims and Solve Crimes, accessed 2nd November 2014

at  http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2002_06_07/nodoi.14943605155048245125

2. DiGiallorenzo n.d., Forensic Dentistry, accessed 2nd November 2014 at http://www.perioimplants.us/forensic-dentistry.html

Before ending the post, here's a short video to conclude Part 1 of the murder case! 

Sit back and watch us, the Detecteeth in action! :)

(You can visit the link below for better quality! View it in full screen as well! )

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7957554/1.mp4