Nov 18, 2009 7:13 pm US/Eastern
Police Recreate Face Of 'John Doe' Found Buried
PLAINVIEW, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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Using modern technology, police reconstructed the face of a person whose remains were believed buried for 27 years in New York.
CBS
Police are using modern technology to solve the ultimate cold case. Investigators were actually able to reconstruct the face of the victim whose remains may have been buried for more than 20 years.
It was March 2004 when state troopers responded to a car crash on the Northern State Parkway in Plainview. It was there rescuers stumbled onto bones unearthed in a shallow grave. Now, through the wonders of modern science, those skeletal remains believed buried for 27 years, now have a face.
"We had our forensic lab reconstruct the skull using digital facial reconstruction and the results of that are the picture that are produced today," said John Lang, a senior investigator for New York State Police.
A face, but with no identity. Anthropologists believe the victim was about 30 years old, and 5-foot-2. He was wearing a $600 dollar gold Bulova watch with an alligator band. A brown leather card holder was inside his tan pleated bell bottom pants, and he was wearing a white button down shirt, with a red "MEMBERS ONLY" brand jacket that was imported in 1982.
"Hopefully through the digital person reconstruction, somebody out there is going to recognize him and we will be able to go further in the case," said Thomas Hughes, a state police investigator.
Long Islanders who live and work near where the bones were uncovered were stunned.
"That really is amazing. Unbelievable! Look at that, how you can all of a sudden now see that now you can possibly identify him based on the research," said Farmingdale resident Kevin Jampolis.
Said Plainview resident Brad Lombardo: "I think it's pretty incredible how we've come so far – from a skull to a face – and I hope things work out!"
Others were startled that an unidentified homicide victim had been buried for some 25 years off the parkway they frequently drive, and that for all this time the still unknown killer has been on the loose.
"The family is probably devastated, and once this case is solved, the family just wants whoever murdered this individual, they want him to be brought to justice," said Brooklyn resident Alex Berg.
It took forensic scientists eight months to do this reconstruction, first using clay, and then digitally, in the hopes this cold case can be solved.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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