The identification of Linda Agostini: the significance of dental evidence in the Albury Pyjama Girl case.

The partly burned and battered body of a young woman was found in a culvert near Albury, New South Wales, Australia, on September 1, 1934. Although identification was delayed for 10 years, it was finally achieved by dental comparison, following which the crime was quickly solved and the woman's husband brought to trial for murder. The mystery surrounding this bizarre case attracted international attention at the time. The dental identification was hotly disputed and even today is a subject of controversy. This paper briefly reviews some of the circumstances that contributed to the long delay in establishing identification and contrasts the identification procedures used then with those available now. Some important lessons may be learned from the experience of this case that have particular relevance to forensic odontology today. Apart from occasional references to this case in the scientific literature, a number of stories about it have been published in the popular press from time to time. The most recent, reliable, and comprehensive account was published in 1978 in a book by Robert Coleman entitled The Pyjama Girl. This paper has drawn heavily from Mr. Coleman's research, as well as from original court files.