Breast implant serial numbers used to identify murder victim
The body of a mutilated murder-victim was positively identified by matching the serial numbers on her breast-implants:
Fiore's body was found last Saturday in a Dumpster behind an apartment complex in Buena Park, just outside Anaheim, California. Her teeth had been extracted and fingers removed in what police said was an apparent attempt to conceal her identity.Suspect in model's murder found dead in Canada (via Freakonomics)Law enforcement sources have told CNN that Fiore was identified through the serial numbers on her breast implants.
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I'm astonished this hasn't yet been a CSI plotline.
Season 2, episode 3 of The Wire "Hot Shots"
MDH, I'm pretty sure it has. Or at least a one-sentence summary. Like "Well, the head was too damaged and fingerprints didn't turn up anything. But I noticed she had implants..." and they unravel the mystery from there.
You'd think if someone phrased it: "As a mandatory side effect of putting these in, we will also need to tag you with an implanted ID number" it'd be a lot creepier.
Less of an elaborate Orwellian plot than a simple matter of medical implant device quality control. The forensic aspects were a byproduct.
I am no longer astonished.
Yes Cicada! I'd love to see creepy declarations for all privacy encroachments. "As a mandatory requirement for using a cell phone, you must wear a gps transceiver that will allow the spooks to track you wherever you go."
So I was totally going to go "totally boing boing to point out the fact the girl was id'd through her implants and pass over the fact that the suspect has ran to canada like a couple days ago" when I read the source and just learned the guy was dead. Now that's news.
It's the Mark of the Breast!
Ahh breast implants. Is there anything they can't do?
Flash back to 1990, and Steven Seagall in Hard to Kill, his character suggested they use implant Serial #s to ID a foreign drug mule.
Every number tells a story.
Mom upon hearing that news:
"Make sure you destroy my fake knee if you ever decide to kill me for the insurance money."
"Sure thing, Mom."
So the story of how the murderer was a Winning contestant on 2 currently running vh1 reality shows wasn't interesting enough a detail to include? http://bunnywithfangs.com/2009/08/murder-suspect-made-the-final-2/
In general, an ugly (and all-too-common) case of domestic violence, ending in a murder-suicide.
Pitiful. And very sad.
U-Canuck: all too common yes, but this case was special because she was a *model*! And he was a *millionaire*! On *TV*! Ooh!
I'm astonished this hasn't yet been a CSI plotline.
Far too plausible for CSI, but I do remember that this technique WAS used to identify a victim in an episode of "Law & Order."
Well don't get me wrong: ALL cases of domestic violence ought to receive a similar amount of publicity: then, over time, something might change...I mean, the greatest threat of violence to any given American comes from the people they know and live with, IIRC, not "strangers".
For all the security-phobes worried about the serial numbers, they're used by pharmaceutical companies who create the implants as a form of quality control, as previously stated, and also to allow them to track who gets which implants in case there is a quality control problem within a whole batch. Also useful in litigation.
As a side note: one of my coworkers here in Tejas knew the guy (it's a small world, after all!), and only found out about it yesterday when we were all talking about the guy being found dead in a motel closet. Felt kind of bad about how he found out...
Had no idea breast implants had serial numbers … and I thought I was a woman of the world now that I'm retired.
i would have never thought someone could be identified this way. i guess the guy didn't think so either. took out her teeth and cut off her fingers? fuck. that's so horrible i can't even think about it. no wonder the dude killed himself, after everyone finds out what sick person he is.
Breast implants - clever variant of "hide in plain sight" in which the secret paradoxically attracts notice. Genius!
After William Cameron Menzies courageously revealed (someone's) plans for universal neck implants in his 1953 film "Invaders From Mars," the plan was revised by (whoever they are) to rely on obvious implants like fingernails, chins, breasts, fillings, veneers, penii, etc.
For the truth about childbirth, see Ridley Scott's "Alien." Bleccch!
Yes, it was used in a CSI Vegas plot line to ID a victim.
Boobs for the win!
Officer Too-Friendly: "So you're not carrying any photo ID? Well, do you have any _other_ identification that I could, uh, inspect?"
@18- Not feasible, sorry. A wee bit of internet browsing suggests about 2.5 million women experience some form of domestic violence a year, which, if we gave an hour of media attention to each, we'd need nearly three hundred TV channels running it around the clock.
@26 Obligatory chauvinistic clarification-- 2.5 million in the US. Your country's mileage may vary. And the size of your media market.
how do you hang yourself from a shower rod too weak and too low?
I know someone whose brother managed to die from auto-erotic asphyxia while hanging from a shower curtain rod. Hell, Katherine Hepburn's brother hanged himself from the robe hook on the back of his door. He just hung there until he finally lost consciousness and died.
This was also used in an episode of Bones, I believe.
They've used implant serial numbers for ID for years. It just doesn't make the news when it's an octogenarian's fake hip.