Local News in Brief : X-Rays Identify Body
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The Los Angeles County coroner’s office has confirmed that the body unearthed in a Torrance backyard 16 days ago is that of the missing homeowner, Joseph (Otto) Baan.
Coroner’s investigators identified the body Tuesday by matching dental X-rays taken from the corpse with Baan’s dental records.
Baan, 62, had been missing for about a year when Torrance detectives uncovered his body Nov. 17.
Police believe that Baan’s former wife, Olivia Bolanos, hit him over the head with a blunt object and then strangled him about a year ago, before burying the body behind the Newton Street home.
Bolanos killed herself Nov. 11, police said, just five days after they questioned her about Baan’s disappearance. The suicide was one of the clues that contributed to police suspicions that Baan might be buried in the backyard.
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