Murder

Crime/Sketch Date: 8/24/16

Crime: Murder

Agency: Prince George’s County Police Department/Homicide Unit

Officers from the Prince George’s County Police Department responded to a residential neighborhood to investigate a report of a shooting.  They located the male victim lying in his driveway, near his vehicle.  He suffered from a single gunshot wound and was dead at the scene. I spoke to a witness who assisted with developing the sketch.  Detectives used the sketch to help locate and identify the suspect who was later arrested for the murder.

Crime/Sketch Date: 01/9/14

Crime: Murder

Agency: Baltimore Police Department/Homicide Unit

Baltimore Police patrol officers were called to the scene of a double shooting inside a small market/deli.  They arrived to find a male and female inside the store suffering from gunshot wounds. They were immediately transported to a local hospital where the male died from his wounds and the female survived.  Surveillance equipment inside the store confirmed that the shootings occurred during an armed robbery.  Homicide detectives asked me to use video sequence to create a composite sketch of the suspect.

In the days that followed, the suspect was involved in a string of violent carjackings and an attempted sexual assault.  His crime spree ended when he murdered a man during a carjacking and later barricaded himself inside a building.  As police surrounded the building and tried to negotiate his surrender, the suspect shot and killed himself rather than face arrest.

Crime/Sketch Date: 5/28/13

Crime: Murder

Agency: Baltimore Police Department/Homicide Unit

Baltimore Police officers were summoned to an apartment where the body of a male was found inside a bedroom closet, under a pile of clothing.  Evidence at the scene suggested the victim was murdered.

Homicide detective learned the victim was homosexual and had engaged in a brief relationship with the suspect.  The eyewitness, a friend of the victim, had seen the suspect during periodic visits to the residence.  With the sketch in hand, detectives canvassed local bars until they were able to identify and arrest the suspect.

Crime/Sketch Date:  08/27/07

Crime: Murder

Agency: Montclair Police Department 

The murder victim was targeted by the suspect after an earlier dispute. On the afternoon of the murder, the suspect located the victim and chased him through several neighborhoods before catching up to him and shooting him to death.  My witnesses were two ‘hard-core’ gang members who initially, were reluctant to help.  After an intense discussion, they elected to cooperate and we completed the sketch.  Armed with the sketch, detectives returned to the crime scene to conduct a neighborhood canvas.  A local resident pointed to a neighbor’s house where they believed the suspect lived.  Based on her information, detectives identified and arrested the suspect less than two hours after the sketch was completed.

Crime/Sketch Date: 11/08/06

Crime: Murder/Rape

Agency: Orange County Sheriff’s Department/Special Victim’s Unit

The suspect, a serial rapist, sexually assaulted a female housekeeper while she cleaned motel rooms.  He later attacked another victim as she walked a well-traveled thoroughfare while under the influence of drugs. Despite her condition, she was able to provide enough information for me to create the sketch seen here. Months later, a routine DNA search led to the suspect’s identification.  At the time of his arrest, he was in-custody for another, unrelated, rape.  Further DNA analysis tied him to an unsolved rape/murder within the same county.

Crime/Sketch Date: 4/21/05

Crime: Murder

Agency: Westminster Police Department

Officers were summoned to a home where they found two adult females, mother and daughter, murdered inside.  The mother was a well-known fortune teller who was popular in the Vietnamese community. Detectives who responded to the crime scene were puzzled by white paint covering the victim’s hands and face. Initially, it was thought that the murder had ritualistic overtones. Later during the investigation, detectives learned that a male and female suspect were using the victim’s credit cards in North Carolina. They were arrested and extradited to California where they were tried and convicted. Detectives learned that the white paint was used only as a ruse to throw detectives off-track and had nothing to do with  religion or ritual.

Crime/Sketch Date: 4/21/05

Crime: Murder

Agency: Westminster Police Department

Officers were summoned to a home where they found two adult females, mother and daughter, murdered inside. The mother was a well-known fortune teller who was popular in the Vietnamese community. Detectives who responded to the crime scene were puzzled by white paint covering the victim’s hands and face. Initially, it was thought that the murder had ritualistic overtones. Later during the investigation, detectives learned that a male and female suspect were using the victim’s credit cards in North Carolina. They were arrested and extradited to California where they were tried and convicted. Detectives learned that the white paint was used only as a ruse to throw detectives off-track and had nothing to do with religion or ritual.

Crime/Sketch Date:  07/15/02

Crime: Kidnapping/Murder

Agency: Orange County Sheriff’s Department/Homicide Unit

The victim, a five-year old female, was playing with her friend when the suspect approached them and asked for help finding his dog.  Without warning, he grabbed the victim and carried her away.  Sadly, she was later found sexually assaulted and murdered.  My witness in this case was the victim’s five-year old playmate. Two days after the sketch was released, the suspect was identified by a woman who recognized the sketch as her ex-boyfriend.  The same boyfriend acquitted two years earlier by a jury after he was arrested for molesting her daughters. The suspect was later tried and convicted for the murder.  He currently resides on California’s death row.

Crime/Sketch Date:  01/30/01 

Crime: Murder

Agency: Orange County Sheriff’s Department/Homicide Unit

The victim called an escort service and requested that they send a female to his apartment for outcall entertainment.  She arrived at the apartment and was invited inside.  A half-hour later, her male companion forced his way into the apartment and beat the victim to death with a flashlight.  The escort and suspect fled the area and were eventually arrested.  My witness lived in a neighboring apartment where the sketch was completed.  It was small, dark and stuffy, but the witness was very interested in working with the police.

Crime/Sketch Date:  01/30/01 

Crime: Murder

Agency: Orange County Sheriff’s Department/Homicide Unit

The victim called an escort service and requested that they send a female to his apartment for outcall entertainment.  She arrived at the apartment and was invited inside.  A half-hour later, her male companion forced his way into the apartment and beat the victim to death with a flashlight.  The escort and suspect fled the area and were eventually arrested.  My witness lived in a neighboring apartment where the sketch was completed.  It was small, dark and stuffy, but the witness was very interested in working with the police.

Crime/Sketch Date: 5/30/97

Crime: Murder

Agency: Orange County Sheriff’s Department/Homicide Unit

Deputies were called to the scene of a shooting that occurred in a quiet, affluent neighborhood. They arrived and found a housewife dead from a single gunshot wound.  A neighbor saw the suspect flee and described him to me. The sketch and information developed by detectives led them to the suspect, a former attorney for the victim’s husband, a wealthy financier thought to be involved in criminal activity. Before the suspect could be arrested, he disappeared. After faking his death, he lived as a fugitive for several years until his arrest. Later, he was acquitted during a jury trial after his attorney created reasonable doubt that he was the right suspect.

Crime/Sketch Date: 04/04/97

Crime: Kidnapping/Murder

Agency: Beaumont Police Department/Riverside County Sheriff’s Department-Central Homicide Unit

A ten year -old boy was playing with his younger brother and cousin when they were approached by the suspect.  He tried luring them with the promise of money when he kidnapped the victim who was later found sexually assaulted and murdered.  The suspect was arrested eight years later after he murdered an Idaho family, fleeing with two young children, one of which he molested and murdered.  He was captured with his female kidnapping victim.  He is currently being investigated for a string of child murders while he sits in federal prison awaiting execution.

Crime/Sketch Date:  04/14/95

Crime: Kidnapping/Murder

Agency: Orange Police Department

A Wells Fargo ATM guard was kidnapped and murdered by the suspect while servicing ATM’s. While the case was largely circumstantial, the suspect was tried and convicted on the strength of the sketch and eyewitness identification.  He was sentenced to death and died from natural causes while awaiting execution.

Crime/Sketch Date: 04/4/93

Crime: Serial Murder

Agency: Zachary, LA Police Department

A young couple were parked in a cemetery late one night when a suspect wielding a machete attacked them as they sat inside their car. They survived the incident and detectives believed the suspect was involved in the disappearance of several women from the Zachary-area. Further south, in Baton Rouge, LA, several female college students had been murdered by a suspected serial killer. Five years after the cemetery attack, I created a sketch using a software program that officials tied to Derrick Lee Todd, a local suspect familiar to police. Evidence tied Todd to the murders. He was later sent to prison where he died from a heart attack several years later.

Crime/Sketch Date:  09/11/92

Crime: Murder

Agency: San Bernardino Police Department/Homicide Unit

The suspect and his associate entered a Sizzler Restaurant to commit a robbery.  Armed with handguns, they ordered everyone to the floor.  During the robbery, a patron leapt from the floor and hurled a bottle of ketchup at the suspect depicted in the composite sketch.  The suspect shot the victim, fatally wounding him.  Upon completing the sketch, detectives met with a street informant who provided them with the suspect’s street name.  Using the information, detectives were able to obtain the suspect’s real name and secure a positive identification from other witnesses.