THE bodies of elderly Manchester couple Richard and Julia Lyn, who had been missing for three weeks since December 10, were yesterday positively identified by their dental records, a source who did not wish to be named told the Observer.

The police also confirmed that the bodies have been identified as those of the Lyns, but said they would not be releasing any information until next Monday.

Human remains believed to be those of the Lyns were found in the Martin’s Hill dump on December 30, and police have since said DNA test results on the remains would become available this week.

The use of dental records is an official method of identifying bodies. Dentist Dawn Lawson Myers, a past president of the Jamaica Dental Association, said this is done based on peculiarities in a person’s dental information, such as how the teeth come together or how they are filled. All this information is collected during dental examinations and is then matched with the person’s teeth, since teeth are not destroyed in fire nor do they suffer water damage.

“The soundest thing to go by is what is recorded based on examination matched up with what you’re looking at,” Lawson Myers said.

“Certain ethnic groups have things specific to them [their teeth] that can tell you, not a hundred per cent, that this person is more likely to be Asian [for example], because of certain differences in teeth,” she added.

Three persons – Lennox ‘Son Son’ Swaby, his 50 year-old mother, June White and Kevin Powell – have since been charged in connection with the case.

The Lyns were robbed and abducted.