Tips Sought to Help Identify Human Remains Found in 1994; Artistic Renderings Released.

Maggie Miller

December 4th, 2017

Forensics A/B Odd

Current Event 10

“Tips Sought to Help Identify Human Remains Found in 1994; Artistic Renderings Released.” Forensic Magazine, 30 Nov. 2017, www.forensicmag.com/news/2017/11/tips-sought-help-identify-human-remains-found-1994-artistic-renderings-released.

Michigan State Police have released information about 23 year old human remains, asking help from the public to identify the individual. In October, 1994 a hunter was walking in a wooded area in Alcona County when he came across the remains of an identifiable individual. Anthropologists at Michigan State University are assisting in the investigation to identify the female remains. They are said to be from a 30-50 year old female between 4’7” and 5’6” tall, most likely European/ Caucasian. The skull was found fractured from trauma around the time of death, which was 4 years before the time they were found. DNA samples were collected and posted to the CODIS and National Missing and Unidentified Persons System databases. However, this was not enough to identify the remains. Forensics Artists then became involved to help involve the public, they developed 3 possible sketches of the individuals face following these techniques. Three techniques were used, the first image was a two dimensional sketch drawn in graphite based on anthropological landmarks on the skull which indicated feature shapes. The second image was created through digital rendering aided by a 3D scan of the skull. And the third image was a 3D clay model of the skull, which FBI forensic artists created following a two dimensional approach.

Everyday a new case is released involving a missing or unidentified person. For most people like myself, I think of DNA matching like fingerprints to find a match to the remains. Not many people think about the involvement of the arts in forensic studies, but digital art and graphic work can be essential in identifying victims and suspects involved in a criminal case. New 3D and digital technology has developed incredibly the past few years, that I believe it’s on it’s way to becoming one of the most common factors in identifying individuals.

This article was very interesting to read, mostly because art and forensics are both classes I take this year and am fascinated by, so to see them tie together was very interesting. The article presented a good summary of information on how this method applied to this specific case and how they were developed. However, I felt the article lacked a lot of points that could add to it, such as the previous history of this forensic artistry and how this will impact us in the future. I would suggest readers to also research this in other articles because it’s worthwhile, however it would be easier had these authors of this article provided this assortment of information themselves.