Forensic artist: Composite drawings, post-mortem art part of Lowe's law enforcement career
. . . continued from page one
"You can't be creative with artwork for law enforcement," Lowe said. "You have to listen to what the victim is describing to you and pay attention to the nuances in the bones. You don't get the liberty of knowing what you're drawing. The victims tell you that."
Shown above is Lowe's "sketch to photo" comparision, merging her sketch with a photo, used in an Internet fraud investigation.
In the case of composite drawings, Lowe said there is a fine line between engaging witnesses without forcing them to relive the crime they witnessed or were victim of. She starts by asking simple, open-ended questions that engage the senses, such as what the weather was like that day or what the witness was doing before the crime occurred.
"The way we take in memories is through all our senses," Lowe said. "Not all memories are by sight."
After Lowe's facial reconstruction on this victim was complete, the Texas Department of Public Safety sent out a press release across four states. The victim was identified when his father recognized the forensic image and called in the next day. The boy had been missing approximately two years. Subsequent DNA tests confirmed his identity. Within eight months, six persons were arrested and sentenced in the murder and disposition of the victim's body.
Lowe said she often interviews victims of sexual assault and deflects from constant, difficult queries by interjecting questions about the victim's family, job or other interests.
"I can be shading the suspect's face, but also be talking to them [victims] about lighter, more pleasant things to keep them from being re-traumatized by the crime."
As the interview progresses, questions become more specific until Lowe arrives at a likeness that is rendered as accurately as possible to the witness' memory. She warns that the composite drawings should never be interpreted as exact likenesses, but rather a strong idea of how the person appeared.
"The forensic images are 'pictorial documentations' of what the witness experienced that day. Those memories are evidence, just as sacred as any other, but we can't just pick them up, put them in a bag and take them to a crime lab for analysis. The whole point of the drawings is to bring in leads," Lowe said. "If the sketch creates leads, it's done its job."
Shown is one of Lowe's sculptures mid-process as she recreated a face from skeletal remains. Below is the final frontal sculpture of a still unidentified victim.
Postmortem art requires Lowe to recreate a victim's likeness from human remains – sometimes flesh but often a skull, which can reveal ancestry, some physical characteristics, even eating habits. Growth patterns in the cranium can indicate age, according to Lowe, whereas teeth provide a good source of DNA and serve as a signifying component of the reconstructive process.
"We can recognize through expression," Lowe said. "So with facial reconstruction, I will try to show the teeth a bit...or I might complete two versions – one with a close-lipped smile and one with a regular smile."
Drawing, sculpting, employing cognitive psychology and foreign language skills (Lowe conducts many interviews in Spanish) – for a forensic artist, it's all in a day's work.
"It's just a tool," Lowe said of her contribution to the investigative process, "but I love what I do."
