The ‘Snaggletooth Killer’ Case: How Bite Marks Failed and DNA Delivered Justice

Ray Krone, born on January 19, 1957, and raised in Dover Township, York County, Pennsylvania, graduated from a local high school and lived like any American citizen. He was honorably discharged from U S Air Force and was serving with US postal service when he was wrongfully convicted of murder in 1992.

He was a model citizen without any prior instances of criminal records or violence , but the police found the bite mark on the victim to be similar to that of Krone's dental impression.

The Incident

On the early morning of December 29, 1991, Kim Ancona, manager of the CBS Lounge Bar in Phoenix, Arizona, was brutally murdered. She was discovered by the owner the next morning.

There were many stab wounds around her neck, and she was lying in a huge pool of blood and had been sexually assaulted. The perpetrator had left a bite mark on her left breast and there were hairs, saliva, fingerprints all around the crime scene. There was also blood of the perpetrator on Kim's clothes. Kim Ancona was in charge of closing of the bar the previous night, so no other witnesses were found to the incident. There was a clear trail of footprints into kitchen and men's room since the floor had been freshly cleaned before closing up.

The fingerprints were present all over the place but it was inconclusive according to the police. A distinctive bite mark on her left breast became the focal point of the investigation.

According to the statement of the victim's colleague, Kim had earlier stated that Ray Krone had agreed to help her close up the bar. This led to an investigation into him and his crooked teeth made him a promising a suspect to the police who made him bite on a Styrofoam to make a bite mark for comparison, which was identified by Dr. Piakis as matching to the bite mark.

The footprints at the scene were incorrectly matched to Ray without using a measuring tape by the police. The blood found on the Kim's clothes were also not tested before the overturning of the verdict.

Court Verdict

The jury came to the conclusion of the conviction, from the bite mark video made by the expert witness brought by the police. Dr. Raymond Rawson was a Nevada state Senator, college professor and deputy coroner and the expert brought by the police. A decent sum of money was provided to the expert witnesses for their time, and research for the case in US.

Dr. Rawson matched the bite mark to Krone's dentition and even made a video (which was later found to be manipulated) which showed the jury of the forensic evidence. He had actually manipulated the size of the dental impressions of Krone to match it with bite mark, and he was also advised by a mentor that the bite marks don't match. This was only found out later.

The defense was given access to the video only on the eve of the trial and an extension was denied by the court. This led to Krone being falsely convicted of the murder and spending 2 years in a solitary cell awaiting death sentence. After he appealed to the supreme court , the sentence was reduced to life sentence from death sentence in two years. Krone's family didn't stop there, they appealed and this time the defense team was also stronger and questioned the lack of testing of other blood samples found on the scene. They also found out that the footprints didn't match Krone's shoe size.

In 2001, Krone’s defense requested advanced DNA testing on biological samples found on Kim’s clothing and a beer bottle from the crime scene. The results, received in April 2002, conclusively excluded Krone. Instead, they matched Kenneth Phillips, a man with a prior sexual assault record who lived just blocks away from the bar.

The Arizona Supreme Court quashed the conviction, and Krone was released after 10 years in prison—becoming the 100th death-row inmate in the United States to be exonerated.

Later, it was found that a man named Kenneth Phillips, whose DNA matched evidence from Ancona’s clothing. He already had a history of imprisonment for another sexual assault and lived only a couple of blocks away. All the DNA results matched with Philips.

Aftermath and Compensation

Following his release, Krone was awarded $1.4 million in compensation from the city of Phoenix and Maricopa County for wrongful imprisonment. He has since become a passionate advocate against the death penalty and wrongful convictions, serving as Director of Membership and Training at Witness to Innocence, a nonprofit led by exonerated death row survivors.

Use of Bite Mark as Forensic evidence

Use of bite mark as forensic evidence has since been contested by various organisations and the bias by the examiner and lack of expertise was under scrutiny for a long time now. A number of DNA exonerations have occurred in recent years for individuals convicted based on incorrect bitemark identifications. 

1. Calvin Washington & Joe Sidney Williams (Texas, 1987 conviction → exonerated 2001)

   • Both convicted of murder, with bite-mark evidence presented against them.

   • DNA testing later excluded them and pointed to another perpetrator.

2. Kennedy Brewer (Mississippi, 1995 conviction → exonerated 2008)

   • Convicted of murdering his girlfriend’s daughter.

   • Bite-mark testimony from forensic dentist Dr. Michael West was key.

   • DNA testing proved his innocence; later evidence implicated another man (Justin Johnson).

3. Levon Brooks (Mississippi, 1992 conviction → exonerated 2008)

   • Convicted of killing a 3-year-old girl.

   • Same forensic dentist, Dr. West, testified the bite marks matched Brooks.

   • DNA testing cleared him; the real perpetrator was again Justin Johnson.

Bite mark analysis

According to forensic odontologists, bitemark analysis involves individual examination of patterned injuries made by the person on the victim combining morphological data along with other circumstantial evidence. Every human have their own unique dentition and the bite mark made by them would be unique. But the evidence value is contested because of the changes in skin contusion, post- mortem changes etc that occur during and after the attack.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), US and The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) have both reported that bite-mark analysis lacks sufficient scientific foundation.

The FBI no longer uses it, and the American Dental Association does not recognize it.

Post release Ray Krone has started advocating for wrongful conviction and against death penalty for criminals. and he is the director of Membership and Training for Witness to Innocence. His case has been studied as the beginning to the end of bite mark analysis as forensic evidence.

Ray Krone’s wrongful conviction helped shift the U.S. justice system’s view of forensic odontology. Today, bite marks are regarded as supportive at best, but never conclusive evidence in criminal trials. His story remains a stark reminder of how flawed science and prosecutorial zeal can destroy lives—and how DNA technology has redefined justice.

References

1. Arizona Justice Project. (n.d.). Case profile: Ray Krone. Arizona Justice Project. Retrieved September 18, 2025, from https://azjusticeproject.org/case-profiles/ray-krone/

2. Saks, M. J., & Koehler, J. J. (2016). Forensic bitemark identification: Weak foundations, exaggerated claims. Journal of Law and the Biosciences, 3(3), 538–575. https://doi.org/10.1093/jlb/lsw045

3. Pretty, I. A., Sweet, D., & Bowers, C. M. (2016). Inconsistency in opinions of forensic odontologists when considering bite mark evidence. Forensic Science International, 262, 21–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2016.02.043

4. North Carolina Office of Indigent Defense Services. (n.d.). Bite mark – Forensic resources. Forensic Resources. Retrieved September 18, 2025, from https://forensicresources.org/forensic-disciplines/bite-mark/

5. Bjerkhoel, A., Chinnock, B., Zalman, A., & Krone, R. (2023). The death row case of Ray Krone, the beginning of the end of bite mark evidence in the United States. Journal of the California Dental Association, 51(1). Retrieved September 18, 2025, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370698631_The_Death_Row_Case_of_Ray_Krone_the_Beginning_of_the_End_of_Bite_Mark_Evidence_in_the_United_States

6. Oral Health NC. (2021, November 9). Social justice, dentistry, and forensic testimony in the courtroom. Oral Health NC. Retrieved September 18, 2025, from https://oralhealthnc.org/2021/11/09/social-justice-dentistry-and-forensic-testimony-in-the-courtroom

_MSM