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Use of Craniofacial Superimposition in Historic Investigation
Author(s) -
Bailey James A.,
Brogdon G. B.,
Nichols Brandon
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of forensic sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.715
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4029
pISSN - 0022-1198
DOI - 10.1111/1556-4029.12296
Subject(s) - superimposition , skull , craniofacial , miller , human skull , anatomy , orthodontics , biology , medicine , computer science , artificial intelligence , paleontology , genetics
A skeleton discovered in G rand F orks, N orth D akota was purported to belong to C lelland “Clell” M iller, a J ames‐ Y ounger gang member, who was killed during the N orthfield B ank robbery on S eptember 7, 1876. A 3‐ D image from a computer tomography ( CT ) scan of the skull was obtained, and a craniofacial superimposition was conducted to determine if the skull could belong to M iller. The superimposition method used in this case was to overlay the CT image of the skull onto M iller's postmortem photograph. In addition to the craniofacial superimposition, the images were juxtaposed to compare similarities or differences in facial morphology between the skull and photograph. Superimposition methods can be used to exclude identifications; however, they should not be used as a conclusive method for identification. In this case, there were sufficient similarities between the skull and M iller's photograph; therefore, the skull could not be eliminated as possibly being that of M iller.