INCORRECT IDENTIFICATION OF A MILITARY PILOT WITH INTERNATIONAL IMPLICATIONS

The case is reported of a military pilot shot down in 1986 during a mi ssion whose body was recovered in an advanced state of decomposition a nd delivered to Italian police in 1989. The first autopsy led to an in correct identification of the corpse. Because of the advanced decompos ed state of the corpse, a correct identification was made only through evaluation of the dental status and radiological examination. The cor rect evaluation of the specific shape of the amalgam restorations, par ticularly of those of the first and second inferior right molars, show ed agreement with those of the pilot of the plane and not of the co-pi lot as was initially stated.