Forensics Journal - Stevenson University 2012 | Page 24

STEVENSON UNIVERSITY

Forensic Art:
Identifying the Unknown
Kimberly Proctor

One morning in November of 1971, John Emil List shot and killed
his mother, wife, and three children in their New Jersey home. In
an effort to cover up the murders, List left the lights on in the home
and music playing as he drove to the nearest airport. A few weeks
had passed before the neighbors realized that something was wrong
in the List home. By the time law enforcement officials were notified,
List was long gone and nowhere to be found. John Emil List thought
he had committed the perfect murder. Almost two decades later and
unbeknownst to List, forensic artists would help convict him in the
murder of his family (Ramsland, n.d.).

and jewelry. Crippen was questioned by an inspector from Scotland
Yard about his wife’s disappearance. Subsequently, he fled, leaving
his home vulnerable to a search that produced the buried remains of
his wife. A police artist prepared an updated drawing of Dr. Crippen
based on old photographs, which assisted in his immediate capture.
He was returned to London for trial and hanged for the murder of his
wife. Below are earlier examples of composite sketches and a “wanted”
poster from the Crippen case (Figure 2):

WHAT IS FORENSIC ART?
Forensic art can be defined as the use of artistic methods and techniques employed to aid law enforcement in the identification, apprehension and conviction of criminals; to assist in missing-persons
cases; and in the identification of unknown deceased persons. Forensic art encompasses a number of disciplines including composite
art drawing, image modification, post-mortem reconstruction, age
progression, and demonstrative evidence (Mancusi, 2000).
THE HISTORY OF FORENSIC ART
FIGURE 1: Portrait of Hawley Harvey Crippen [Left]. Portrait of
Ethel Clara Le Neve [Right]. (Mary Evans Picture Library, 1910)

The face presents an arrangement of interesting characteristics that
when combined, produce a pattern of readily identifiable features.
This allows a person to recognize many faces, often attributing names,
personality, age, lifestyle, racial and ethnic background, and other
characteristics to them. A person is capable of mentally encoding a
large collection of faces and filing them for later retrieval.
In the 1880s, Dr. Alphonso Bertillon, called the father of scientific
detection, created the first criminal identification system known as
the “Portrait Parle” or “speaking picture.” Dr. Bertillon believed that
keeping careful records on file could help to predict recidivism rates
among known offenders (Ramsland, n.d.). The system consisted of a
cluster of facial features taken from photographs with specific details
such as measurements of the face and body. Initially, Dr. Bertillon
intended for the catalog to assist in the identification of local prisoners, but it later became useful in obtaining descriptions of unknown
criminal suspects. The “Portrait Parle” provided a foundation for
modern recall systems that would assist in creating sketches, as well
as the development of composite kits, catalogs and computer systems
(Ramsland, n.d.).

FIGURE 2: Wanted Poster from the Crippen case (Camden News
Journal, n.d.).

For hundreds of years, law enforcement agencies used composite
sketches to assist in investigations where evidence was limited and
the perpetrator was unknown. In 1910, early drawings were created
to help apprehend Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen and his young secretary Ethel le Neave (Figure 1). Dr. Crippen’s wife, Cora Crippen,
vanished in 1910. His alibi statement was that his wife had left their
home in London to unite with another man in the United States.
Later, le Nea