HARTFORD, Conn., May 22, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- Yesterday, convicted killer Alfred Swinton was sentenced to 60 years in prison for the murder of Carla Terry in January 1991. Swinton was convicted of the crime with the help of new, patented Lucis(tm) image-processing software developed by Image Content Technology. The new software was used to enhance patterns in the bitemarks on victim Carla Terry's body, which proved the suspect's teeth were the cause of the injury. Swinton is also a suspect in the deaths of 17 other women.
When paramedics found Terry, they tried to revive her, took her to the hospital, and cleaned her up, possibly destroying forensic evidence. For seven years, prosecutors suspected Swinton, but they did not feel that there was sufficient evidence to indict. The case was cold when in 1998, the district attorney brought the case to Dr. Gus Karazulas, Chief Forensic Odontologist for the Connecticut State Police Forensic Science Lab and a long-time associate of Dr. Henry Lee. Karazulas used new, previously unavailable Lucis image-processing software to make the features of the bitemark more easily visible. The Lucis-enhanced image enabled Karazulas to match the bitemark with Swinton's teeth using 15 points of comparison. The combination of the Lucis-enhanced image, overlaid teethmarks using Adobe Photoshop(c), and Karazulas' extensive experience with and research on bitemarks and their healing process, was compelling evidence for the jury to convict.
Dr. Karazulas says the new Lucis software is a powerful tool that can be applied to many criminal investigations and open, unsolved, older cases. The new software is already in use by several crime labs. For more information on this case, please visit www.LucisImaging.com on the Internet and click onto the "white papers" section.
(case details and images available online at www.LucisImaging.com "white papers" section)
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