Transcript State v. Tracey Ann Frame

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Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s District
Dr Nizam Peerwani, Chief Medical Examiner
Roger D Metcalf DDS
Human ID Lab
200 Feliks Gwozdz Place
Fort Worth, Texas 76104-4919
817-920-5700 ext 160
[email protected], [email protected]
State v. Tracey
Ann Frame
As Seen on Television!
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On 04/22/2002, autopsy performed at
T.C.M.E. on unidentified remains
Remains were adult Caucasian male,
burned badly
Decedent had been shot once through
heart
Decedent had been wrapped in a blanket
and tarp, then set afire
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What they said on CBS’s 48 Hours:
“The medical examiner would determine
that the victim was a man in his 40s, killed
by a single gunshot wound to the heart,
but his identity was a mystery.
“Dental records later confirmed the body’s
identity as 40-year-old David Nixon . . .”
48 Hours : Secrets & Lies on
Grapevine Lake
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What they didn’t say—
It took three weeks of hard work by
the T.C.M.E. Investigators to get the
remains identified.
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Rodney Crow, D.D.S., D.A.B.F.O., former
Chief Forensic Odontologist, T.C.M.E.,
performed dental examination on remains
and the first comparison with known
dental records (treating dentist was Dr.
David Nix) concluding decedent was
indeed David Nixon.
Dr. Crow retired before Tracy Ann Frame’s
trial, however, and was not available to
testify.
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Mr. Sean Colston, Tarrant County Asst. D.A.,
requested a new comparison of dental records.
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N.C.I.C. has capability to store a missing
person’s or an unidentified body’s dental profile.
Unfortunately, up until a couple of years ago,
there was a “bug” in the software, and dental
profiles were not being searched automatically.
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There is no national “dental database” that
forensic odontologists can search—the F.B.I. is
currently studying implementation of a dental
image repository.
The hope is someday we will have a
searchable dental database similar to A.F.I.S.
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The U.S. Army maintains a database—
Odontosearch—that helps odontologists
determine the uniqueness of a particular
arrangement of fillings a person may have.
Central Identification
Laboratory at JPAC
(formerly C.I.L.HI.)
http://www.jpac.pacom.mil/CIL/OdontoUse.htm
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Bonus trivia question worth absolutely nothing
whatsoever—can you guess what this object is
in the radiograph?
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Please drive carefully!