Incorrect identification of a military pilot with international implications

The case is reported of a military pilot shot down in 1986 during a mission whose body was recovered in an advanced state of decomposition and delivered to Italian police in 1989. The first autopsy led to an incorrect identification of the corpse. Because of the advanced decomposed state of the corpse, a correct identification was made only through evaluation of the dental status and radiological examination. The correct evaluation of the specific shape of the amalgam restorations, particularly of those of the first and second inferior right molars, showed agreement with those of the pilot of the plane and not of the co-pilot as was initially stated.