of both women, then superimposed slides of the skull over the photographs. the skull did not match the woman from georgia, but it did match the photo of bun chee nyhuis perfectly. face is at an angle. she is clowning around, making a face. we find the jaw line is within the chin. the top is within the top of the head. the cheek is within. the eyes are in the orbits. the nasal opening corresponds to the nose, and the teeth match up very nicely to the jaw line here. in spite of the fact that it is a very difficult angle to approximate and expression to approximate, we felt this was a very good match. now armed with a positive scientific identification, police turned their attention to richard nyhuis. they suspected that he knew more about his wife s disappearance than he was telling them. her friends indicated they had a very volatile
the lime he spread over the body most likely aided decomposition. but the grave was only two feet deep. not deep enough to keep burrowing animals from bringing her bones to the surface. and bunchee was buried in texwood jeans which told a story, since they were made and sold exclusively in asia. nyhuis never anticipated that his wife s remains would be discovered. and if they were, that they would ever be successfully identified. finding the texwood button, the pelvic bone that revealed the victim had at least two children. the mongoloid skull, the forensic sculpture, and the photographic superimposition, all were essential elements in the identification. during the trial, dr. case testified that it takes between
and her nose and suffocated her. in light of the confession, forensic pathologist dr. mary case examined the skull. she studied the small wound on the back of the skull and concluded that it was not the result of an accident, but rather, the result of blunt trauma to the head. this is a very limited area. it s pushed inward. and we tend to see this kind of depressed skull fracture when you strike the head with something that has very forceful impact over a very small striking surface. a hammer would be a good example of something that could do that. it is a tool. it is meant to strike. and all of the force is directed on to a very small striking surface. based on the forensic evidence and parts of nyhuis confession, prosecutors believe that richard and bun chee argued one night in the basement of their home. we re not moving! we ve been through this before! we are not moving!
three and five minutes to suffocate an individual. after a minute or two, the person would only be unconscious. it was entirely possible that nyhuis put his wife into the freezer while she was still alive. richard nyhuis was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 50 years. it was great forensic science, and of course that s how it s supposed to work. you get a button, you get a hair, and i admire that. i think it is wonderful. it took all the different scientific and forensic people to make this thing happen. any one piece of which could have stopped the investigation. one of the unique things about the case was actually having the remains to do the trial, and bunchee nyhuis actually came alive in her own trial.
all right? bun chee wanted to move into a new house. richard refused, saying they couldn t afford it. i m taking the boys and leaving! the blow to her head was not fatal, but while she lay bleeding on the floor, richard suffocated her. he used a service merchandise bag to contain the bleeding, wrap the body in a sheet of plastic and placed her in the freezer. where she remained for the next three months. nyhuis fabricated the story about driving bun chee to the st. louis airport for a flight to thailand. when spring arrived and the ground thawed, richard took bunchee s body to the boy scout ranch, a two-hour drive from his home. he chose a secluded area deep in the woods for the burial. but made a number of mistakes.