CSAFD
03-17-2009, 02:34 AM
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Breakthrough on cold case: Lab puts new face on remains found 20 years ago
Oct. 31, 2008
Forensic scientists have given a new face to skeletal remains found in Wabasha County, in hopes that someone might recognize the woman and help solve a mystery nearly 20 years old.
A woman’s remains were discovered May 20, 1989, in a wooded median along Highway 61 just south of Kellogg, Minn. An initial investigation indicated the white woman, in her late 20s, had been dead for at least a year, maybe more. Sketches and a clay facial reconstruction led local police and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on hundreds of leads, but they were never able to identify the woman classified as a Jane Doe.
Now, police might be closer than ever to identifying the woman, thanks to forensic anthropologists in Louisiana and DNA experts in Minnesota.
In July, the remains were sent to the Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services Laboratory at Louisiana State University’s Geography and Anthropology Department. After extensive forensic analysis, the lab was able to more accurately re-create what the woman might have looked like.
And they’ve provided police more information about her history. The woman is now believed to be between 17 and 24 years old. She was between 5 feet 3 inches and 5 feet 6 inches tall with a petite build. She might have been of American Indian descent, because of unusual dental characteristics consistent with modern Pima Indians.
“She had an unusual little tooth you only see once in a blue moon,” said Mary Manhein, the lab’s director.
Officials discovered severe injuries to Jane’s skeleton, including a broken upper right arm and a broken right hip. Both injuries are believed to have occurred weeks or months before she died and don’t appear to have been treated. Police suspect she might have walked with a limp and had severely limited use of her arm.
The BCA has also collected a new DNA sample from a tooth and hope to conduct more testing in January. All of her data has been uploaded into a national missing persons database.
“We’re excited about this,” Manhein said. The newly created facial image could be enough to spark the memory of someone who knew the woman.
FACES lab has proven successful. The lab has helped solve at least four cases this year, often for less than a $1,000 dollars to police agencies.
One of the lab’s highest profile cases involved the 2001 murder of 3-year-old Erica Green in Kansas City, Mo. It took four years and a reconstruction by FACES to identify her body in 2005. Before then, she was known only as “Precious Doe.” After her identity was discovered, police located and charged her mother and her mother’s boyfriend with murder. Harrell Johnson, the boyfriend, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced earlier this month to life in prison without parole.
Anyone with information about the Wabasha County Jane Doe or the circumstances of her case are encouraged to call Wabasha County Detectives Joe Schneider at (651) 565-1001 and Curt Struwe at (651) 565-1003 or the BCA Tip Line at 1-877-996-6222.
Rebuilding a face 20 years later
How do you rebuild the face of a woman who’s been dead more than 20 years? Start with a skull.
Forensics imaging specialists at the FACES Laboratory at Louisiana State University begin by examining bone structure to determine sex, age, race and ethnicity. Using facial scans of thousands of living people of wide diversity, the lab is able to determine averages in tissue depths and feature shapes to get a basic idea of how to build the face around the skull.
From there, tissue depth markers are placed at strategic landmarks on the skull itself. An example is the space between the eyes, which usually averages a thickness of about 4 millimeters, lab director Mary Manhein said. Those depth markers indicate to the imaging specialist how much clay to place on the skull in a particular spot.
Using a soft, water-based clay � called “clean clay” because it doesn’t damage the skull � forensic imaging specialist Eileen Barrow constructs a face. Barrow said she never knows exactly what a face will look like until it develops in her hands. She starts with a basic understanding, like whether the nose or lips will be thin or thick, but the end result is always fascinatingly new.
“Each one is different,” Barrow said. “You have to stick to the bone structure and what it tells you. It’s interesting to see.”
Once the clay face is built, tweaked and refined, Barrow takes several photographs of the skull and uploads them into a computer. She then uses photo imaging software to add human-like finishing effects such as eyelashes, eyebrows, hair, skin tones and even clothing.
Working full time on a reconstruction takes a few weeks to complete and is free to agencies in Louisiana, Manhein said. Out-of-state agencies are usually charged less than $1,000.
The faces may not be a 100-percent replica, but they’re pretty close, Barrow said.
“We shoot for as close as possible and hope that someone recognizes it,” she said.
http://cold-case-news.newslib.com/story/3072-3246641/
Breakthrough on cold case: Lab puts new face on remains found 20 years ago
Oct. 31, 2008
Forensic scientists have given a new face to skeletal remains found in Wabasha County, in hopes that someone might recognize the woman and help solve a mystery nearly 20 years old.
A woman’s remains were discovered May 20, 1989, in a wooded median along Highway 61 just south of Kellogg, Minn. An initial investigation indicated the white woman, in her late 20s, had been dead for at least a year, maybe more. Sketches and a clay facial reconstruction led local police and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension on hundreds of leads, but they were never able to identify the woman classified as a Jane Doe.
Now, police might be closer than ever to identifying the woman, thanks to forensic anthropologists in Louisiana and DNA experts in Minnesota.
In July, the remains were sent to the Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services Laboratory at Louisiana State University’s Geography and Anthropology Department. After extensive forensic analysis, the lab was able to more accurately re-create what the woman might have looked like.
And they’ve provided police more information about her history. The woman is now believed to be between 17 and 24 years old. She was between 5 feet 3 inches and 5 feet 6 inches tall with a petite build. She might have been of American Indian descent, because of unusual dental characteristics consistent with modern Pima Indians.
“She had an unusual little tooth you only see once in a blue moon,” said Mary Manhein, the lab’s director.
Officials discovered severe injuries to Jane’s skeleton, including a broken upper right arm and a broken right hip. Both injuries are believed to have occurred weeks or months before she died and don’t appear to have been treated. Police suspect she might have walked with a limp and had severely limited use of her arm.
The BCA has also collected a new DNA sample from a tooth and hope to conduct more testing in January. All of her data has been uploaded into a national missing persons database.
“We’re excited about this,” Manhein said. The newly created facial image could be enough to spark the memory of someone who knew the woman.
FACES lab has proven successful. The lab has helped solve at least four cases this year, often for less than a $1,000 dollars to police agencies.
One of the lab’s highest profile cases involved the 2001 murder of 3-year-old Erica Green in Kansas City, Mo. It took four years and a reconstruction by FACES to identify her body in 2005. Before then, she was known only as “Precious Doe.” After her identity was discovered, police located and charged her mother and her mother’s boyfriend with murder. Harrell Johnson, the boyfriend, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced earlier this month to life in prison without parole.
Anyone with information about the Wabasha County Jane Doe or the circumstances of her case are encouraged to call Wabasha County Detectives Joe Schneider at (651) 565-1001 and Curt Struwe at (651) 565-1003 or the BCA Tip Line at 1-877-996-6222.
Rebuilding a face 20 years later
How do you rebuild the face of a woman who’s been dead more than 20 years? Start with a skull.
Forensics imaging specialists at the FACES Laboratory at Louisiana State University begin by examining bone structure to determine sex, age, race and ethnicity. Using facial scans of thousands of living people of wide diversity, the lab is able to determine averages in tissue depths and feature shapes to get a basic idea of how to build the face around the skull.
From there, tissue depth markers are placed at strategic landmarks on the skull itself. An example is the space between the eyes, which usually averages a thickness of about 4 millimeters, lab director Mary Manhein said. Those depth markers indicate to the imaging specialist how much clay to place on the skull in a particular spot.
Using a soft, water-based clay � called “clean clay” because it doesn’t damage the skull � forensic imaging specialist Eileen Barrow constructs a face. Barrow said she never knows exactly what a face will look like until it develops in her hands. She starts with a basic understanding, like whether the nose or lips will be thin or thick, but the end result is always fascinatingly new.
“Each one is different,” Barrow said. “You have to stick to the bone structure and what it tells you. It’s interesting to see.”
Once the clay face is built, tweaked and refined, Barrow takes several photographs of the skull and uploads them into a computer. She then uses photo imaging software to add human-like finishing effects such as eyelashes, eyebrows, hair, skin tones and even clothing.
Working full time on a reconstruction takes a few weeks to complete and is free to agencies in Louisiana, Manhein said. Out-of-state agencies are usually charged less than $1,000.
The faces may not be a 100-percent replica, but they’re pretty close, Barrow said.
“We shoot for as close as possible and hope that someone recognizes it,” she said.
http://cold-case-news.newslib.com/story/3072-3246641/