Police sketches have always been a crucial part of solving crime through meticulous investigations. They are artistic recreations of a person who was involved in a witness’ memory. However, this is certainly not a reliable source of information at times due to unreliable memory and information. Thus, many people are unable to process the accurate details of the victim. Although, with the new advent of science and technology, new techniques have emerged to overcome this and are named “exaggeration”. This helps to make fine-line images or sketches of the victim that may appear to be eerie or ambiguous.
We’ll discuss ten such instances where the most bizarre sketches were made, connecting them with their true story
10) The Girl In The Suitcase:
This incident is linked to a bizarre 2014 case in which the dead bodies of two women were found in suitcases. While one of the remains of the body was identified, the other body remained unidentified as it was badly decomposed. This gave a lot of problems to identify the body.
So, police authorities made sketches of the decomposed body, giving it its identity. The sketch was horrible as the features of the body were distorted. Luckily, the sketch was reached to the family of the victim and they somehow tried to decipher it as their beloved. The body was identified as Jenny Gomez. Later, the forensic identity was confirmed by the dental records and was accurate. It was revealed that the victim was killed by the person she met online on her first date. This confirms that even bizarre and distorted sketches can sometimes reach the closure of complicated cases.
9) Deandre Charles:
Source: Law And Crime
In another instance, a man was murdered in 2014 in Miami. When the case was further investigated, the witness gave his testimony and sketched the suspect. The sketch looked bizarre and caricatured. The authorities used the sketch and arrested an innocent child based on the details of the sketch. This child was Deandre Charles.
On further investigations, the DNA samples were taken and they didn’t match with Deandre. He was freed from prison but at the cost of three important years of his life. The suspected charges made him emotional and he expresses his grief through his music. This shows the lack of efficiency of police authorities. Sometimes a sketch is not the only evidence that should be used for closing the case and solving it.
8) Horrible Drawing, Great Results:
Source: Facebook
Jocelyn Park was an art student who found a suspected man in the mall in Lancaster. She went near to confront him but sadly, he ran away. The glimpse of the man was still on her mind when she drew a sketch, before calling the police. The sketch was horrible and distorted as it also went viral online. Many people found it humorous, hurting Jocelyn’s efforts.
Undoubtedly, she was confident with the sketch and she knew the suspect would be found soon. The police authorities caught the suspect as Jocelyn was able to identify it through many pictures of the suspect. The suspect was later arrested and the people appreciated Jocelyn’s efforts. This is a testament that even a little help or a simple rough drawing can solve many crime cases and be able to catch the suspects.
7) The Crimes Of Lettuce Head:
A strange technology called “E-FITS” made a picture of the suspect through software instead of drawing. It was a computer-generated picture which could help in identifying the suspect. The witness tells the authorities about the person’s features and the computer feeds it inside it to make a picture. Later, the witness tells if the picture is right or not.
Sometimes there are occasions where the picture is very strange and is unable to be recognized easily. Just like the Lettuce Head, where the elder woman described a thief with wavy blonde hair but the picture showed something oblivious. To date, this crime is not packed in the case files because the person hasn’t been found yet!
6) Big Mouth:
Source: explorejeffersonpa
In this instance of E-FITs, a police sketch of a suspect looked strange and oblivious. However, it was created as described by the victim and was shared on social media to spread the word. Many people found it humorous and that’s how this picture got attention.
So, the suspect tricked an elderly woman to let her inside the home and steal the money. He had distinctive features with a big mouth. This oblivious and strange creation couldn’t help to catch the suspect but let’s not forget how it made everyone laugh!
5) John List Clay Bust:
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Source: Inquirer
This phenomenal piece of sketch was drawn by a forensic artist named Frank Bender. He created a very unique and realistic drawing of a suspect identified as John List. His art was creative as he made the description of the suspect through the clay bust that almost resembled the suspect. The crime of John List was that out of desperation and losing the job, he killed his entire family and went on to hide for more than eighteen years of his life.
In 1989, Frank Bender created a clay bust of John List in one of the reality TV shows. This creation worked and helped to identify List and years later, the FBI team arrested him in Virginia. These brilliant efforts helped to solve the crimes and close the cases.
4) Cheryl Bowman:
Source: doenetwork
The story of Cheryl starts as she was found dead in 1989. During the search of her body, the investigations revealed that she was wearing jewelry and had distinctive features. The body remained identified, so in an attempt to identify it the artists made a sketch that showed her smiling face with the hand covering it. While this oblivious expression was strange for many, the body was finally identified as Cheryl Bowman. This strange clue has kept the authorities shocked about the case!
3) Glenn Edwin Rundles:
Source: huffpost
Glenn Edwin Rundles was the suspect found by a very basic and simple sketch. The sketch was shown to the victims and they later identified the man. This sketch was later published in a newspaper too. When they came across the suspect he tried to disguise himself but fortunately he couldn’t fake it anymore. He was caught and arrested by the authorities before he could disguise himself.
2) Selene Delgado Lopez:
Source: namu.wiki
Police sketch of Selene Delgado Lopez became very famous on the internet. It was shown many times on the internet and news but nobody had any idea about it. Many people thought it resembled the serial killer so, the authorities combined both the pictures and extracted the distinctive features finding similarity with the sketch of the serial killer. This helped to arrest Lopez!
1) The Ina Jane Doe:
Source: Reddit
In 1993, a bunch of girls found a head in a park. They instantly informed the police but they were unable to identify the person. The sketch was very terrifying and oblivious. According to the source, the artist made it weird on purpose so it can be identified as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the sketch was not a reliable source to identify the person. After 29 years, the police re-examined the case and found out the identity of a person through DNA.
This shows that sometimes sketches are not reliable sources to verify the person or conclude the strange cases.
