The Work of UB’s Dental Detectives Featured on ‘Unsolved Mysteries’
When a severed head arrived at the University at Buffalo’s (UB) dental forensics lab, no one expected the case to land them on Netflix’s “Unsolved Mysteries.” The UB team’s expertise in dental technology and forensic science uncovered startling clues, but the identity of the victim remains a mystery.
In early 2015, the University at Buffalo (UB) School of Dental Medicine’s forensic team received a cooler containing a severed head from the Pennsylvania State Police. This bizarre delivery was linked to a mysterious case involving a headless torso discovered in a mausoleum in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Tasked with determining if the head belonged to the body, the UB forensic team, including Mary Bush, DDS, and Raymond Miller, DDS, used its advanced dental technology and expertise to investigate.
Upon examining the dental work, the team discovered the head did not match the torso. The body had been interred in 1952, but the dental work on the head was from the mid-1980s at the earliest, suggesting a much more recent timeline. This revelation deepened the mystery, leaving the identity of the deceased unknown.
The case caught the attention of the producers of Netflix’s “Unsolved Mysteries,” leading to Bush being interviewed for an episode that aired on July 31, 2024. Despite its advanced forensic techniques, the UB team was unable to identify the victim, leaving the case unsolved.
Bush and her colleagues have worked on other high-profile cases, including the identification of victims of Colgan Air Flight 3407 crash, which occurred in 2009 when the plane crashed into a house during a flight from Newark, New Jersey to Buffalo, New York that killed all 49 passengers and crew as well as person inside the house.
While they’ve had success in the past, this case remains a puzzle. The team hopes that the exposure from “Unsolved Mysteries” might lead to new information and, ultimately, closure for the victim’s family. Click here to read more.
