Frank Bender was a resurrectionist.
Through the magic of his fingers, he brought the dead back to life.
Bender, who died this week at his home in Philadelphia, was a self-taught forensic artist whose work helped identify murder victims and aided in the apprehension of numerous fugitives.
While working as a police reporter, I met the man when he came to my county to help in a cold case. Along with others who witnessed the process, I marveled as Frank’s skill put a face to a long-dead body fished from the river. Unfortunately, this case remains unsolved and we may never know if the young man was the victim of an accident, suicide or murder.
In his career, Frank Bender had many successes. Among them was the case of 18-year-old Rosella Atkinson, whose then-unidentified remains were found behind a city ball field in 1988. Police asked for Bender's help, and his bust led Atkinson's aunt to put a name to the face. Atkinson's killer confessed in 2005.
Bender got his start in 1976 while taking classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. A friend gave him access to the city morgue to study anatomy and, as Bender looked over a badly decomposed body, he said he knew what she looked like. A coroner overheard the conversation and challenged Bender to prove it.
Bender's sculpture of the woman helped identify her as Anna Duval, a 62-year-old from Phoenix whose body had been found near the Philadelphia airport. Years later, a man was convicted of killing Duval after stealing her profits from a house sale.
Bender also made busts envisioning how fugitives might age.
His sculpture of John List, accused of killing five family members in New Jersey in 1971, was featured on "America's Most Wanted" in 1989. The artwork led to List's arrest 11 days later in Virginia, where he had been living under an alias. List was later convicted and died in prison.
The artist sacrificed a career in commercial photography to work with law enforcement agencies around the world, a choice that often put him in danger, jeopardized his marriage and, at times, brought him near bankruptcy.
Bender didn’t originate the art, but he perfected facial reconstruction techniques of the American system pioneered by Wilton Krogman and the European system of Mikail Gerasimov.
Another intriguing aspect of his career is that Bender, along with William Fleischer, a customs agent and polygraph expert, and Richard Walter, a criminal profiler, founded the Vidocq Society, http://www.vidocq.org/index.html. Named for the founder of the French Surete, the organization of amateurs and professionals focuses on unsolved deaths and disappearances.
For more information on Bender and his art I highly recommend Ted Botha’s The Girl With The Crooked Nose, published by Random House in 2008.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Just want to see if this is working.
ReplyDeleteI am extremely impressed with your writing skills as well
ReplyDeleteas with the layout on your weblog. Is this
a paid theme or did you modify it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it's rare to see a great blog like this one today.
Here is my page ... we buy houses fast for cash PA
I really love your blog.. Very nice colors & theme. Did
ReplyDeleteyou develop this website yourself? Please reply back as I'm hoping to create my own personal website and want to know where you got this from or what the theme is named. Many thanks!
My website - onoranze funebri roma
Greetings! Very helpful advice within this post!
ReplyDeleteIt is the little changes that make the most important changes.
Thanks a lot for sharing!
Feel free to surf my web page : vidacup reviews
Woah! I'm really loving the template/theme of this site. It's simple, yet effective.
ReplyDeleteA lot of times it's difficult to get that "perfect balance" between superb usability and visual appearance. I must say that you've done a excellent job with this.
Also, the blog loads extremely fast for me on Chrome.
Excellent Blog!
Here is my homepage : Las Vegas
Malaysia & Singapore & brunei finest on the internet blogshop for wholesale & supply korean add-ons,
ReplyDeleteaccessories, earstuds, choker, rings, hair, bracelet & bangle add-ons.
Offer 35 % wholesale markdown. Ship Worldwide
my web site > My clean pc scam
Hey! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers?
ReplyDeleteI'm kinda paranoid about losing everything I've worked hard on.
Any suggestions?
Also visit my website : heath
It's really a cool and helpful piece of info. I'm
ReplyDeletehappy that you simply shared this useful information with us.
Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for sharing.
Also see my web site - The Tao of Badass Review
Hello there! Do you use Twitter? I'd like to follow you if that would be ok. I'm absolutely enjoying your blog and
ReplyDeletelook forward to new updates.
My website - penilarge opinie
I like the helpful info you provide in your articles. I will
ReplyDeletebookmark your weblog and check again here frequently. I am quite
sure I'll learn many new stuff right here! Good luck for the next!
Feel free to visit my page ; wedding insurance
Article writing is also a fun, if you be familiar with then you can write if not it is
ReplyDeletecomplicated to write.
Here is my web page - Casino
Hi would you mind letting me know which web host you're utilizing? I've loaded your blog in 3 completely
ReplyDeletedifferent browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot quicker then most.
Can you suggest a good hosting provider at a reasonable price?
Kudos, I appreciate it!
Feel free to visit my weblog: 800 411 pain community
WOW just what I was searching for. Came here by searching for rhymezone
ReplyDeleteMy blog post ... BMW Z4 Windscreen
Somebody essentially assist to make severely posts I would state.
ReplyDeleteThat is the very first time I frequented your website page and so far?
I surprised with the analysis you made to make this
particular submit extraordinary. Wonderful task!
My webpage weightloss surgery
There is definately a lot to know about this issue. I love
ReplyDeleteall the points you've made.
my site hot girl sex cam
hey there and thank you for your info – I've definitely picked up anything new from right here. I did however expertise several technical points using this website, as I experienced to reload the website a lot of times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your web hosting is OK? Not that I'm complaining,
ReplyDeletebut sluggish loading instances times will very frequently
affect your placement in google and could damage your high quality score if advertising and marketing with Adwords.
Anyway I am adding this RSS to my email and could look out for a lot
more of your respective fascinating content. Make sure you update this again soon.
my blog post; cuteteenporn.net
I'm really impressed with your writing skills as well as with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself? Anyway keep up the excellent quality writing, it's rare to see a great blog like this one today.
ReplyDeleteHere is my page voyeur videos
Do you have a spam issue on this blog; I also am a blogger, and I was curious about your situation; many of us
ReplyDeletehave developed some nice procedures and we are looking to exchange methods with other folks, why not shoot
me an e-mail if interested.
Also visit my website :: http://www.cfnmfever.Net/videos/Yong-girl-fucked-hard-after-dance-679
Hi there! Do you use Twitter? I'd like to follow you if that would be ok. I'm absolutely enjoying
ReplyDeleteyour blog and look forward to new posts.
my weblog jnmassage.info
Very good article. I definitely love this website. Continue the
ReplyDeletegood work!
My page :: http://hotgirlsexcam.com
This is my first time pay a quick visit at here and i am actually pleassant to read all at single place.
ReplyDeleteFeel free to visit my page; fuck xxx
Hello, i think that i saw you visited my site so i came
ReplyDeleteto “return the favor”.I am trying to find things to
improve my website!I suppose its ok to use some of your ideas!
!
My website - sexygirlchat.net
Hi there, just became aware of your blog through Google, and
ReplyDeletefound that it is really informative. I am going to watch out
for brussels. I will be grateful if you continue this in future.
Many people will be benefited from your writing. Cheers!
Review my blog ... free gay latino man porn