Forensic Artist Gives Faces to Unidentified Victims

(March 17) -- A forensic artist from Michigan has given faces to two unidentified men who are believed to be the victims of a serial killer.

Barbara Martin Bailey, a certified forensic artist who has been doing reconstructions for the past 40 years, has completed sketches of two unidentified males who were found in Newton County, Indiana, over 20 years ago.

Bailey is a 30-year veteran of the Oakland County Sheriff's Office in Michigan and a six-year volunteer with Project EDAN (Everyone Deserves a Name), an organization made up of forensic artists who donate their time to making facial reconstructions for law enforcement agencies who either cannot afford or do not have access to a forensic artist.

"Each case is different, so you try to get as much info as you can," Bailey told AOL News. "I will look at the police incident report, crime scene photos, the medical examiner's report, anthropological reports, etc. I'll take anything and everything I can get my hands on and then I weigh all this information together to get an idea of who the individual was."

The unidentified victims were among four bodies that were found buried in shallow graves at an abandoned farm in Newton County in October 1983. Each of the victims was discovered in varying states of decomposition, indicating they had not been buried at the same time. During autopsy, it was revealed that each had been stabbed multiple times. One of them had been decapitated.

Using dental records, authorities were able to identify two of the victims as 22-year-old Michael Bauer and 19-year-old John Bartlett.

Convicted murderer and confessed serial killer Larry Eyler allegedly admitted to killing one of the John Does in July 1983.

In 1986, Eyler was found guilty and sentenced to death for murdering and dismembering a 15-year-old homeless boy. During sentencing, Judge Joseph Urso called Eyler an "evil person" and said he "deserved to die." Not long after receiving the sentence, Eyler became ill and was diagnosed with AIDS. Before dying in 1994, he confessed to committing nearly two dozen murders in Indiana and Illinois.

Forensic pathologists believe that one of the John Does, whom they refer to as "Adam," was a black male, 16 or 17 years old, approximately 6 feet tall and 180 pounds.

"Larry, in his confession, said 'Adam' was picked up in mid-July 1983 near Terre Haute," Newton County Coroner Scott McCord told jconline.com. "He said he picked up a black male in his late teens or early 20s ... who was hitchhiking."

The second John Doe, nicknamed "Brad," was a white male, 18-28 years old, 5-feet-11 inches to 6-feet-1 inches tall and weighing about 180 pounds.

When McCord was named county coroner in 2009, he made it his personal mission to identify Adam and Brad. As a result, he reached out to Project EDAN and asked for their assistance.

Bailey used the case files on the Does and photographs of the skulls to help her get started with the drawings.

"I put those pictures on top of a light box and I place a clear acetate sheet on top of that," she said. "I then take a permanent marker and mark out where the skull is and all the bones and then I mark out the tissue depth area, based upon the height and weight and other information I was given."

Bailey says that she uses an FBI photo facial catalog to help guide her when marking out an unknown subject's facial features.

"I use tissue depth charts to get parameters, because there are specific charts that are based on gender, age and race," Bailey said. "For example, if the coroner has been able to provide information on the victim's weight or the size, you can make a fair guess as to how much flesh is going to be on this person and you can pick the correct tissue depth chart. A tall, skinny man is not going to have a little, short, round, cherubic face. You also work with hairstyles that are typical of the area and time frame.

"Each skull is different and has its own mapping, so when you look at that skull, you can see a lot of things about that person – whether they had good teeth or bad teeth, what kind of lifestyle they lived -- if they were a substance abuser or a perfect specimen of health. A lot of times people will pick clothing and hairstyles based on how they want to be perceived by others."

Using all of this combined information, Bailey is able to mark out the types of facial features that are most common or prevalent to the victim. After making those markings, she places a sheet of drawing paper on top of the light box and begins her sketch.

"It does not take long before you can start to see the face coming at you, as you start developing the cheek bones and the chin," Bailey said. "If it is an older person, the tip of the nose is going to droop slightly, the chin will appear chunkier and there will be lines and creases. Nobody ages the same, so a lot of that is based on the individual's health."

It remains yet to be seen if the two Does in this case will ultimately be identified, but Bailey has seen a lot of success as a forensic artist. She does not keep track of the exact number of cases she has helped solve, but says there are many, including one in which they were able to identify an individual before she even finished completing the sketch.

"It is very rewarding," Bailey said. "If nothing else, I can give them back their faces and the hope for a name. I hate to think that we are burying people as John and Jane Doe."