By Kayleen Holder
It was a dog who dug up a pile of human teeth this past Tuesday, March 4 at a residential home in the 1500 block of Avenue J in Hondo. As you can imagine, it was one of the most bizarre calls they’ve ever gotten, Chief Justin Soza said.
“When the homeowner saw what the dog dug up, they called the police,” Chief Soza said. “We found approximately 100 teeth including some possible old dentures.”
“Immediately, we began searching to see if there was a skull or anything else, and thankfully there wasn’t, so we knew we weren’t likely dealing with a serial killer or something like that.”
Not knowing what else to, he said “Let’s call the dentist!” Chief Soza said recalling the shock of the call. Property owner records led to happy and funny answers.
“We were very relieved when we found out there used to be a dentist office behind the property. Detective Flores and Garcia did a great job of looking up the historical records,” Chief Soza adds.
Soza notes that the old dental equipment likely used to extract these teeth is on display at the Medina County Museum.
“According to family members, it was apparently a dental tradition (or folklore) to bury teeth for good luck when selling a home. Who knew?!” Hondo PD explained in a online post shortly after the discovery of the teeth.
“I definitely didn’t want to wait and allow rumors to start with this case,” Chief Soza noted.
During the investigation, Hondo PD consulted with local dentist Guillermo Betancourt at Countryside Dental, who gives further explanation and a little history about the dentists who were once owners of the house where the teeth were found.
An old newspaper obituary stated that dentists Mr and Mrs Oscar and Hazel Taylor practiced dentistry for 40 years. The obituary for Mrs. Taylor also stated that during WWII she served at the Hondo Air Station.
Betancourt explained, “It’s difficult to say how……CONTINUE READING at www.devinenewsmembers.com
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