Unlocking Mysteries: How NYC students are using art to crack cold cases
NEW YORK CITY - Artists carefully sculpt clay over an exact replica of a real human skull.
Using science, math and art, these NYC sculptors hope to create what the actual head and face looked like when this person was alive. The goal: identify these John Doe and Jane Doe.
"These are people who have died and have not been identified through DNA analysis, dental records or fingerprint analysis," John Volk, director of Continuing Studies of the New York Academy of Art, said.
Featured
NYC art students creating sculptures to solve cold cases
A one-of-a-kind class is combining art with forensic science to recreate the faces of unidentified cold case victims, so they can be identified.
For nearly a decade, the New York Academy of Art in Tribecca has been hosting this week-long Forensic Sculpture Workshop.
This year’s class is made up of art students and two New Jersey state troopers, who are trying to solve their own missing person cases.
"It’s a puzzle and trying to put it together and look for the clues," New Jersey State Police Detective Sergeant Moises Martinez said. "At the end of the day, we are detectives, and we’re trying to look for [an] investigative lead and that’s what we are trying to do create that investigative lead."
New Jersey State Police Detective Sergeant Moises Martinez is building the face of a 55-year-old Hispanic man whose remains were found last year in Upper Pittsgrove.
Just by studying the skulls, students can figure out many physical characteristics, like a person’s height or the size of the ears and nose.
New Jersey State Police Lieutenant Gerald Theckston is working on the skull of a white man about 40 years old found in Burlington County.
"There’s a family member or friend who probably wondered what happened to this individual, it’s nice to provide that," Theckston said.
Once these are finished, they will be photographed and placed in a national missing persons database. The hope is a family member or friend might see the image and finally make a positive ID.
Forensic Imaging Specialist Joe Mullins runs the workshop. He keeps coming back because he finds the results so rewarding.
"It’s a sense of responsibility with this superpower that I’ve had," Mullins said. "I want to share with the world and make sure that no family is frozen in uncertainty and wondering what happened to their loved ones."