Skin of Her Teeth: The Murder of Tina Mott

Tim Bradford used 19 knives and a meat cleaver to murder and dismember his girlfriend, Tina Mott. He removed all of her teeth from the skull and flushed her organs down the toilet, both acts committed to throw off investigators in identifying her body. Two teens fishing in a lake discovered the skull, flesh tissue still attached, which helped solve the case and send Bradford away for 25-years.

Tim placed Tina’s severed head in his lap as he removed each tooth from the skull with a pair of nose wire clippers. Tim knew DNA could be distracted from tooth pulp and wanted to make that impossible when he removed her teeth.

He did not realize two wisdom teeth were embedded into Tina’s gums. This eventually led detectives to positively identify the woman who had disappeared two months earlier.

Teens Discover Skull in the Lake

The teens discovered the skull in the lake while fishing on April 19, 1996. The next day, 12-year-old Tim DeJohn and 13-year-old TJ DeJohn returned to the lake and called the police. Authorities initially suspected the boys of playing a joke on them but learned it was not a prank.

Forensic Anthropology Testing

After yielding no evidence after a team of scuba divers searched Lindon Lake for the body, the coroner sent the skull to Mt. St. Joseph University to the desk of board-certified anthropologist Dr. Elizabeth Murray, one of only 53 state board anthropologists in the U.S. She noticed a deep indentation on the skull, suggesting the killer used a machete or large knife to remove all of its flesh. Dr. Murray determined the skull belonged to a woman under 35-years-old. Dr. Murray also believed several knives had been used to stab the victim. The jaw was forcefully removed and puncture wounds in the eye sockets suggested the killer removed the victim’s eyes.

Without evidence or DNA, police looked into recently reported missing person cases. Only four reports had been filed in Hamilton recently. One of the missing persons was Tina Mott, a mother of an 18-month-old toddler.

Bradford Says Tina Leaves for Trip to New York

Tina lived with her daughter and boyfriend, Tim Bradford, at the time of her disappearance. Tim’s mother Elizabeth reported her missing two months before the skull discovery after she failed to show up at the family's homes in New York. She left her 18-month-old in Bradford’s care.

Elizbeth told police that her son practiced satanism and was often violent and aggressive, especially when intoxicated on drugs. She feared her son, she said.

With this information, police obtain search warrants for a storage unit Tim rented shortly after Tina disappeared. Inside the storge until they found a set of 19 knives with blood spatter on them, a book on how to commit murder with your bare hands, and a notebook filled with satanic rituals.

Police searched the apartment Tim and Tina shared, finding blood in several areas, including the bathroom floor, the crevices between the tub and the toilet, and the living room carpet.

This suspected evidence was sent off to the laboratory for testing.

Meanwhile. Dr. Murray- one of 53 state-board certified forensic anthropologists in the U.S. at the time- discovered the wisdom teeth embedded into the skull. She retracted tooth pulp and removed DNA that was compared with the DNA of the 18-month-old. Unfortunately, the decomposition level of the skull damaged the tooth pulp, making identification impossible.

DNA Confirms Skull That of Tina Mott

Dr. Murray then drilled a hole into the skull to extract DNA from a piece of bone.

More than a year had passed since the boys found the skull when Mitochondrial DNA confirmed the skull found in Lindon lake belonged to Tina Mott.

Police brought Tim to the station for questioning. He eventually confessed to murdering Tina and gave an account of her final moments alive. He then led investigators to a field where he had scattered Tina’s remains.

Animals had fed on Tina’s remains but investigators did manage to recover half of her body.

Bradford Confesses to Murder

Time told police he was high on acid on the night of the murder. He claimed he and Tina were playing board games when an argument ensued. He said that he and Tina got into a physical altercation and he hit her, causing a nosebleed. She left to go to the bathroom to tend to her bloody nose and he began cleaning up the apartment. Tim said Tina ran out of the bathroom in an aggressive manner. Fearing Tina was going to attack him, he said he accidentally cut her throat.

Tim said he worked all night to dismember her body. He removed her organs and flushed them down the toilet. He disposed of her bones in a trash bag that he dumped in a field. When asked why he killed Tina, he did not have an answer.

Tim was subsequently convicted of Tina’s murder and sentenced to 25-years in prison on manslaughter conviction. He’ll be released from prison in 2023.