06x16 - Skin of Her Teeth

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: in , two young boys fishing in an ohio lake

Found what looked like a human skull.

All of its teeth were missing,

And markings on the skull told a tale of unspeakable v*olence.

Police had no idea who this person was

Or how long the skull had been in the water.

Hamilton, ohio, is an industrial city of about , people

In the southwestern part of the state.

It's an area blessed with natural beauty.

Residents enjoy the many rivers, streams, and lakes that dot the landscape.

On august , ,

-Year-old tim lyons and his friend, t.j. Dejohn,

Headed to linden lake for an afternoon of fishing.

But instead of a bluegill or catfish,

The boys reeled in what looked like a skull.

Man: it's hard to believe

That you could find somebody's head down there,

That you're just fishing, minding your own business,

And you reel in somebody's head.

It's just unbelievable.

Narrator: the boys left the skull on the bank,

Uncertain of what to do.

Lyons: I know my mom and dad, they didn't believe me.

They thought I was just goofing off.

Like, a whole day passed before we even...

We went back down there, and it was still there.

Narrator: this time, the boys contacted the police.

Lyons: first cop down there was pretty much a prick.

He came down there, and we were showing him and everything,

And he threw a rock at it and said, "yeah, it's real.

Now you guys have opened up a big investigation."

He just kept going on and on, like we did something wrong.

Minutes later, the whole police force was down there,

And they had boats and everything,

People scuba diving down there, searching for other clues.

It was crazy. It went nuts from there.

Narrator: the police scuba divers could not find any other body parts in the lake,

And the search of the immediate area was also fruitless.

The local coroner examined the skull

And determined that the individual hadn't been in the lake long,

Perhaps only a few weeks,

Because there was still some soft tissue clinging to it.

But investigators were faced with a mystery.

Man: you know, when we have a skull turn up,

What does that tell you?

It doesn't really tell you a whole lot.

It could be that somebody robbed a grave out in the country

And then got rid of parts of the body.

It could be a homeless person who passed away

And part of the remains got dragged--you know, an animal, a varmint,

Dragged part of the remains someplace.

So it doesn't really tell you that there's a homicide or foul play.

Narrator: who was this person?

How did he or she die?

And where was the rest of the body?

To assist in the identification, the coroner sent the skull

To the college of mount st. Joseph outside cincinnati,

To dr. Beth murray, one of only board-certified

Forensic anthropologists in the united states.

Murray: this case was one of the most challenging, fascinating,

Personally rewarding,

But also, at the same time,

Personally terrifying cases that I think I've worked.

Narrator: dr. Murray noticed a deep indentation on the top of the skull,

Which suggested the k*ller used a machete or a cleaver on the top of the victim's head.

And dr. Murray found other cuts and scratches all over the skull.

Murray: and they were signs of trying to get the flesh off of the skull.

And it gave me chills to realize

That someone had sat with this skull in their hands and defleshed it.

Narrator: this skull had a nose cavity indicative of a caucasian.

A battery of nearly two dozen measurements fed into a computer program confirmed

This was the skull of a woman.

Dr. Murray estimated that the victim was under years of age.

Murray: the sutures of the skull--

The lines where the individual skull bones knit together--

Those were still very open, and they typically will tend to close with age.

Narrator: evidence suggested someone had used many different types of tools

In an extraordinary effort to conceal the woman's identity.

A series of jagged, parallel marks

Indicated a serrated Kn*fe the size of a kitchen steak Kn*fe

Had been dragged along the sides of the skull.

Cut marks on the cheekbones indicated the jaw had been forcefully removed

With a small single-edged blade, like a pocketknife.

And there were several puncture wounds in the eye sockets,

An indication that the k*ller removed the victim's eyes.

The teeth were also missing.

In the upper jaw was a broken tooth root,

Which told dr. Murray that the teeth had been deliberately pulled.

Murray: and when you held the skull at just the right angle,

You could see that the w*apon that was used

Was a needle-nose pliers.

You could actually see marks in the bone where the pliers

Had been inserted and the teeth snapped out.

Narrator: dr. Murray hesitated to tell homicide investigators about her suspicions.

Murray: and I thought, "they're not going to believe me,

And they're not going to believe that this is true."

And so I took the skull to two other experts before I made that phone call,

Because I had never seen anything like this before in my life.

Narrator: it would be the most difficult m*rder investigation

Local officials had ever encountered.

Narrator: although investigators knew the skull found in linden lake

Was that of a caucasian woman under the age of , they knew nothing else.

Marks found on the skull indicated that the flesh had been removed, as had her teeth,

In an attempt to hide the woman's identity.

Piper: I've seen a lot of criminals

Try to hide their crime and conceal their activity.

It's almost expected.

But I've never seen anybody go to this length of activity

To conceal a crime.

Narrator: hamilton police discovered that only individuals

Had recently been reported missing.

One was -year-old tina mott,

Reported missing just two months before the skull was found in the lake.

Tina mott was the single mother of an -month-old son, johnny.

She had been living here on a quiet residential street in an upstairs apartment

With her -year-old boyfriend, tim bradford.

Tina mott was originally from new york.

She met her boyfriend, tim, while she was selling magazines door to door.

They settled in tim's hometown of hamilton, where tina worked as a clerk at a local store.

Tim was a framer at this art shop.

He was in his mid-s,

So he pretty much enjoyed

Doing things that people in their mid-s like to do--

Go out, hang out with friends,

Go to concerts, things like that.

Narrator: when questioned by police,

Tim said that tina had gone back to new york to visit her family and left the baby behind.

Police soon discovered that tina mott never reached new york.

Tina was reported missing not by her family but by tim's mother, elizabeth bradford.

So, at first, she didn't really think anything about it.

But then when she started calling new york

To see if she was up there, and she wasn't,

She knew she wasn't away on her own will,

Because she knew she wouldn't leave the baby alone.

Narrator: elizabeth bradford also told police she was afraid of her son and his temper.

Armed with a warrant, police searched the storage locker

Bradford rented shortly after tina disappeared.

Inside, they found this set of kitchen knives

With small, medium, and large serrated blades.

Police also found a book on how to k*ll with your bare hands

And a notebook on satanic rituals.

Tim bradford's mother told police her son practiced devil worship.

Also suspicious was tim bradford's behavior during tina's disappearance.

An atm security camera captured pictures showing tim bradford

Withdrawing money from tina mott's bank account after she disappeared.

Investigators also learned that tim bradford occasionally used dr*gs.

Piper: we know from some statements that tina

Supposedly had told people she'd worked with

That she was afraid of tim because of his drug usage.

Now I'm speculating here, but I think what that means is

Is that when he's using dr*gs,

His violent temper is a little bit more flammable.

You know, that he erupts a little bit quicker, has a shorter fuse,

And maybe that's why she's afraid of him.

Narrator: next, police searched the couple's apartment.

Inside, they conducted a luminol test.

A chemical is sprayed on a surface.

It can reveal blood that has been cleaned up with water and detergents.

On the living room carpet, investigators found an area believed to be human blood.

They also found blood on the bathroom floor,

In the crevice between the floor and the tub

And also near the toilet.

Police suspected the linden lake skull was that of tina mott,

But they needed scientific proof to be certain.

Narrator: when a human skull was recovered from linden lake in ohio,

Investigators needed to find some forensic technique

To make a conclusive identification.

The most effective means of identification

Is by analyzing the teeth of the victim

And comparing those to known dental x-rays,

Since no two sets of teeth are exactly alike.

But in this case,

The lower jaw of the skull was missing,

And the upper teeth had all been pulled.

Another method of identification is called

"Skull photograph superimposition."

An anthropologist takes a photograph of the skull,

Then superimposes it over a photograph of the missing person

In hopes of matching the facial characteristics.

Other techniques attempt to put a face on the skull

By using facial reconstruction and forensic sculpture.

Forensic anthropologists have had only a % success rate with these techniques

Because features like the eyelids, the mouth, lips, and ears

Are not necessarily indicated by the shape of the skull.

It's a technique usually used

When all other means of identification have failed.

But in the case of the linden lake skull,

Scientists got a genetic break.

They discovered that the k*ller removed all but two of the wisdom teeth,

Which had been imbedded in the gum,

Which the k*ller may not have seen.

Murray: when the perpetrator pulled the teeth,

He didn't realize

That those molars were up underneath the gum line,

So those were protected and preserved.

Narrator: dr. Murray extracted tooth pulp from the wisdom teeth

And sent it for dna testing along with a blood sample

From tina's -month-old son.

But scientists could not obtain a usable dna profile from the tooth pulp.

Murray: it's possible that the reason is

That the teeth were still unformed,

And when teeth are still forming,

Their roots are open, open cavities.

Narrator: it was also possible

That tiny single-cell microorganisms in the lake called diatoms

Damaged or altered the cells in the tooth pulp.

As a last resort, dr. Murray tried to extract dna from the skull itself

With a surgical drill.

She carefully removed bone samples

From the thickest part of the skull.

Murray: with sterile techniques,

The middle section of that core that I took out

Had never touched anything but that sterile drill.

Narrator: the skull bone fragments were sent for mitochondrial dna testing,

Which is used in cases where the biological sample

Is either degraded or small in quantity.

And the mitochondrial dna is unique

Because it is passed through the maternal blood line.

You receive it only from your mother,

So any maternal relative you have

Can be tested against the sample.

Narrator: mitochondria are found

In the cell's cytoplasm, outside the nucleus.

Each cell contains hundreds of mitochondria.

Scientists have isolated

Two regions of

The mitochondrial dna,

Where differences within

The human population appear.

Mcdaniel: and they will look

For exact matches

Between the mitochondrial dna in the sample they have

And the maternal blood relative that they have.

Narrator: the mitochondrial dna from the skull was the same

As the mitochondrial dna from -month-old johnny mott,

Which meant the skull was that of his mother tina.

And one of the long knives found in the storage shed

Rented by tina's live-in boyfriend

Tested positive for human protein.

With this news, police brought tim bradford in for questioning once more.

Nugent: I asked him if he knew how to hunt. "Yes."

Did you know how to dissect an animal and skin it,

Prepare it for food? "Yes."

How to dispose of internals of an animal. "Yes."

He learned that all through his childhood and upbringing.

Narrator: finally, tim bradford told police

A story of almost unspeakable v*olence and horror.

It was the story of tina mott's last moments alive.

Narrator: when dna testing concluded

That the linden lake skull was that of tina mott,

Police confronted her live-in boyfriend tim bradford

With the forensic evidence against him.

After several hours, bradford confessed.

Bradford led investigators to a nature preserve

Less than a mile from where the couple lived,

And in the deep brush were tina's bones,

Scattered throughout the area.

After months, animals had gotten to the remains,

And only about half of tina's body was recovered.

Every bone found had been cut, either by a hacksaw or a Kn*fe.

Tim said that on the night of the m*rder,

He and tina were playing a game of monopoly.

Bradford admitted using dr*gs that night.

At some point, the couple got into an argument.

Tempers flared, and tim admitted hitting tina,

Bloodying her nose.

Tina went to the bathroom to clean up,

And bradford said he started to put away the fishing gear

He had used earlier in the day.

Bradford said tina came running out of the bathroom to continue the argument.

Bradford said he had a fish fillet Kn*fe in his hand,

And in the ensuing scuffle,

Tim admitted that he slit tina's throat.

Bradford said he left the apartment,

And when he returned, tina's lifeless body was in the bathtub.

How she got there was a mystery to him.

Bradford said he worked through the night to dismember the body.

He flushed her internal organs down the toilet.

Nugent: it's unbelievable that a human can do this

To another human that he loved and fathered a child with.

I cannot grasp that.

Narrator: bradford admitted using each of the kitchen knives in the process,

And bradford confirmed using needle-nose pliers to remove the teeth

In an effort to prevent a dental identification of the remains.

To cut into the flesh to begin with is hard enough,

Then to cut the head off, hold it in my arms or my hands,

And pull the teeth out,

That's unbelievable.

Narrator: bradford carried the bones from the apartment

In his backpack and in a trash bag

To a deserted field,

Where he dumped them.

Later, he said, he went to linden lake

And threw the skull into the water.

Nugent: if that skull never appeared,

This case would have never been solved.

It would have never proceeded as a homicide.

It would have just gone down as a missing person

And had been a missing person forever.

Narrator: townspeople were stunned by the news.

Bradford's former boss couldn't believe

She had worked side-by-side with a cold-blooded k*ller.

Moss: he did want out of that relationship with tina,

And, unfortunately, he picked a very permanent way

Out of that relationship.

And he's also out of his son's life, as well,

Which is a real shame.

Narrator: tim bradford had no explanation

For why he k*lled tina

Other than to say he loved her and was sorry.

Tim bradford was convicted of voluntary manslaughter

And of abuse of a corpse.

He was sentenced to to years in prison.

Tim bradford acknowledged his guilt in this exclusive letter

He wrote to the producers of this program.

Bradford says, "I have committed an atrocity

"In the eyes of god and of man,

"And for that I accept full responsibility.

"My actions belie my true feelings for tina.

I truly loved her with every fiber of my being."

Bradford claims the pain of his own actions

Go well beyond those imposed by his prison sentence.

"The nightmares I have had since that night,

"The dreams I have where I wake up with tina's name on my lips.

"Those will stay with me forever, and they should.

"It is a burden I must carry in my heart

Until the end of my days."

Piper: in this case mr. Bradford,

The way he treated the corpse

Of the person that [span tts:fontstyle="italic"]he supposedly loved

Tells you that there are almost--that there's almost

Two parts to this person,

One where he really loves this woman

And can't deal with the fact of losing her

And wants to talk about what he did to her

Because he feels guilty about it,

But another side of him

That could detach himself from all emotion

To lean over a bathtub

And deflesh the body of somebody that you love.

It's just humanly impossible.

If he could do this to somebody that he loves,

What could he do to somebody that he doesn't even know

Or doesn't care about?

I just hope that through law enforcement officers

And young detectives,

Maybe seeing this case be aired,

That they realize, "don't give up."

You know, when you get these little clues

And when you have gut instincts

Telling you something's not right,

Keep on pushing the envelope a little bit.

Keep on going after the evidence,

Because that's what happened in this case,

And it resulted in us walking into a field,

And maybe we got our shoes all muddy

And got a little dirtied and everything,

But, uh, we found the last of her remains

And were able to put a final conclusion to this case.

And I'm very proud to be a part of that, quite frankly.