Chicago Detectives Turn To 'CSI' Expert

Detectives in Chicago are sending the skull of a Jane Doe to a CSI consultant for facial reconstruction.

On January 21, 2007, the body of a female murder victim was discovered in an alley in Chicago. Badly beaten, the woman died of asphyxia and was found inside of a cardboard box. Both the state and FBI crime labs have worked on the case but have been unable to determine who the woman is. "We have to have a starting point," Chicago Police Sgt. Bryan Holy of Grand Central Area detective headquarters told the Chicago Sun-Times. "And we don't know who this woman is. ... We have an unidentified female homicide victim, and we have no idea where she is from.''

In the past six months, investigators and forensic doctors have determined that the woman was white, between the ages of 18 and 22, 130 pounds, 64 inches tall and had auburn hair. They were also able to conclude that she wore braces in the past and had other dental work done. The young woman was wearing an athletic support knee brace with black Capri pants and a shirt with the words "Monte Carlo" on it. These details were posted on the National Center for Missing Adults' Web site and were used to review missing-person files. Fingerprint analysis has not provided results and nobody has come forward to identify the woman. A source at the Cook County medical examiner's office said that using facial reconstruction is "very rare" and that it has not been utilized since the John Gacy investigation. "I don't know if it is going to help, but the police don't want to leave any stone unturned."

Karen T. Taylor is a forensic artist who has consulted on the CSI franchise as well as the "CSI: The Experience" exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. In the past, Taylor worked for the Texas Department of Public Safety and taught at the FBI Academy. Now, she consults with police agencies around the world. "It's a very good case because I will be getting lots of sound scientific input," Taylor said. "I may develop even more than a face. Maybe a full figure, a sense of her clothing and build." She explained that facial reconstruction requires knowledge of the anatomy of the head and neck as well as how the body changes after death. By combining the background given to her by the forensic scientists who have worked on the case with her own artistic talents, Taylor hopes to figure out how the woman "looked in life."

The story was originally found on the Chicago Sun-Times website.

Discuss this news item at Talk CSI!
 Add CSI Files RSS feed to your news reader or My Yahoo!
Also a Desperate Housewives fan? Then visit GetDesperate.com!