The Bone Lady: Life As a Forensic Anthropologist

21. The Bat-Wing Filling

THE BAT-WING FILLING HE was just seventeen," the detective from north Louisiana said. What distinguished his call to my lab from the several others I received that month in 1992 was the mileage factor. "We have some bones, and we have two girls missing," he continued. "Can we bring them to you?" Once more, as on many other occasions, I prepared myself to wait for the remains of some mother's child. My initial outrage usually settles into scientific detachment as I accept that what I do can move a family one small step toward peace of mind. Though peace of mind does not bring back a loved one, it can help the grieving process, and sometimes it is all that I can give. The detective knocked on the lab door early the next morning. All that was left of the young teenager's life fit into one brown paper bag with the usual police identification numbers boldly printed across its till S 102 THE BONE LADY front. The telltale red tape with black lettering that sealed the bag read "Evidence. Do not Tamper." "Two young females are missing in our area, but we believe we know who this one might be," the detective noted. "She's been missing fiveyears." The gray, weathered, and splintered bones carefully handed to me certainly could have been exposed on the earth's surface for that length of time. These few bones had been widely scattered across a wooded area. The detectives found them only after searching relentlessly for days. Sitting in the county jail, James Bryson, in a talkative mood, had bragged to Johnny Smith about a young girl in a burger restaurant uniform that he had "gotten rid of" years before. Johnny Smith made a deal with authorities. Law enforcement took over after that, combing the woods for the remains of Amy Pearson. They found an arm bone, a leg bone, a portion of a skull, and finally, the lower jaw. In that jaw only one tooth had a filling, but it was all Dr. Vincent Lagatutta, forensic odontologist , needed to confirm my preliminary identification. Amy Pearson had been found. The antemortem records made by Amy's dentist showed one molar with a filling that resembled a bat with wings. Our postmortem radiograph matched them perfectly. The shapes were identical. The last time her mother saw Amy Pearson was the afternoon when she bounced out the door, her short brown hair almost completely hidden beneath the hat she wore for her job at the hamburger place downtown. She never made it home that evening. For five years, her family looked for her, knowing she must be dead, hoping, at least, that her body might be found. Though her physical remains could not tell us exactly what hap- THE BAT-WING FILLING 103 pened to her, the upcoming trial of the accused would at least provide Amy Pearson with her day in court. James Bryson must have worried just a little about that day. Less than an hour before Lagatutta and I were to board our plane for the trip to the trial, Bryson admitted his guilt in exchange for life without parole. ...