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Forensic artist helps catch over 1000 criminals
Apr 10, 2024
Lois Gibson is used to coming face-to-face with treacherous criminals.
As a Forensic artist for the Houston Police Department in Texas, her visionary talent has helped to positively identify 751 criminals and secure over 1,000 convictions.
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0:00
So the first time I worked a murder for the Houston Police Department and it was a crummy
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pitiful, sketchy sketch. But when I realized that pitiful piece of art could stop a murderer who killed the same
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way I almost got killed, somebody tried to kill me, I stopped somebody that did that
0:27
in our memorial park. And I had planned on not ever trying to do it again because doing that sketch was so
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horrific emotionally. But once I realized that it caught the guy, I knew I was hooked
0:40
You get addicted to catching criminals once you realize that you can catch them with just
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a little bitty sketch that took less than an hour. I'm completely addicted and I never want to quit helping catch criminals with my art
1:07
I'm Lois Gibson. I work at the Houston Police Department in Houston, Texas and I held the Guinness World
1:13
Record for solving the most crimes of any forensic artist in the entire world
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I've been challenged to do the editor of Guinness World Records. His name is Craig, who I've never seen before, so I have here a wonderful volunteer witness
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named Jeff Wagner and he's an officer with Houston Police Department for how many years? 32
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Only 32 years? Only 32. He started when he was an infant
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Okay, this person that you're going to describe, was he white, black, Chinese, Mexican, what
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was he? White. He was a white male. Okay, he's a male
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Before becoming a forensic artist, I danced on TV in L.A. and I modeled
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And then I went to UT Austin and got a degree in fine arts
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The reason why I got into this work is when I was 21, a garden variety serial killer
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rapist, whatever he was, he attacked me and he tortured me almost to death
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The entire time he was attacking me, he was choking me. And then finally I survived, barely
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When he left, I had blood coming out of my eyes and down my throat
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So I know what it feels like to ponder my own death at the hands of somebody for no
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reason but that they are just a horrible person. After that attack, of course, I wanted to leave L.A., I did
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I went to San Antonio and did the 3,000 portraits on the Riverwalk
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And then when I moved to Houston, because I'd done the 3,000 portraits, it's easier
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for me to draw portraits than to drive on the freeway. So I forced myself on the police department, assuming that I could get with a witness and
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from their description draw a picture of the person that was trying to or that was committing
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the crime in front of them. And sure enough, the first time I worked a murder, it got the guy caught
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And my witness was crying and weeping and just hysterical. And I was able to get a sketch that once they put on the news, the roommate of the
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murderer called up and turned him in. So he called the cops and said, hey, come on
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And they searched this man's apartment and found the knife used in the killing and the
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underwear with the blood from the killing wiped off in some underwear in a closet
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The only thing I knew is that if I lived a normal lifetime, I would probably catch over
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a hundred guys. And now to have help catch over 1,266. I just love it
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I love it. And yes, I didn't know about longevity, but this is so easy and it's too much fun to catch
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a guy by just doing a quick drawing from a poor, grieved witness
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So I want to do it the rest of my life. And did he have a high, medium or low forehead
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Was his hair high? High. Okay. Was his hair curly or straight
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It's straight and parted on the right side. Parted on his right
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Okay, here we go. Now I want you to look at the eyes
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The way I put a sketch together is number one thing is you have to relax the witness
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You have to be wonderful and make them feel as wonderful as possible considering the horrific
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thing they've been through. And then you have a catalog that's got different eyes, lips and noses
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You show them the catalog and they just pick out the feature. And you have your own book and you draw the feature that they pick out
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So it's just drawing from pictures. It's really very easy. And the way I do it is I start at the top and go down so I don't smudge it
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And it's actually, it's very easy for me to do right now because I've done now about 7,000
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portraits in my life. But I've had witnesses that were screaming, I never saw the face
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They scream they never saw the face. Well, here's two tricks. Number one is you ask them what kind of hair did they have
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And everybody remembers hair. I mean, human beings are obsessed with hair
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That's why high school is so hard. And then the other trick you use, if they are sure, they say no, I never saw the face
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As you talk about something else, you become very nice to them and you ponder the character
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of the person that attacked them. And then you say, what kind of expression did he have
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If they answer that, they saw the face. So I had an officer that was shot in the head and shot in the back and run over and drug
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under a car. Officer Paul Deason was patrolling one night and he didn't realize the guy that he stopped
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to just give a regular ticket was an escape convict whose name was Donald Eugene Dutton
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So Don Dutton, as soon as he gets stopped by Paul Deason, he jumps out of his car and
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he shoots Paul in the head and in the back and Paul twirls around and falls down unconscious
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on the ground. So Don Dutton got back in the car and on purpose ran over Paul, Officer Deason, and it drug
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him down the street about 60 feet. So Paul is so tough, he gets up and walks back to his radio and calls in his own assist
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and was semi-unconscious. And he told me, I didn't remember his face
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I didn't see his face. I only saw the flash of the gun. So I talked about other things and said, Paul, you're going to live, you're going to be okay
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And I said, what kind of expression did he have? And I'll never forget, he said, he looked like a shark, like he didn't care about anything
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at all. And inside my mind I'm going, yee-haw, because that means he remembered the face
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Anyway, Officer Deason swears he doesn't remember doing the sketch with me because I talked
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to him years later and I've got it hanging on my wall. They released the sketch
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Three days later, Don Dutton was caught trying to shoplift a chainsaw from a Sears
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When he was arrested for the shoplifting incident, two of the guys at the jail thought he looked
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like my sketch. So they held an in-hospital room video lineup for Paul Deason and he picked him out
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And then they went to the parking lot of the shoplifting scene and they found a car with
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pieces of Paul's skin and uniform hanging from the undercarriage. So he for sure did it
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And I went to trial and he got life in prison and Paul reached over across the bench and
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kissed me on the cheek, Officer Deason. We do not have us crooks that are wearing them bow ties on them robberies, okay
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So this is different. Okay, Lois, here's a picture. Are you ready
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Oh, nice! Good job! Yay! Give this sketch to the bartender and if he comes into the bar, they're going to call him
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But who bought the tie for him? Who bought the tie? Having a Guinness World Record changed my life because it's given me entree to groups
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who are interested and to other law enforcement agencies and it's helped students find me
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And that's what I want. I want to spread forensic art, which it needs. Because law enforcement obviously does not take forensic art seriously or the UK would
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have a forensic artist. They have none. So the world record has helped me gain legitimacy for my craft
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Because I think a lot of people don't think the sketches are possibly effective and they
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are very effective. And it's helped me prove that
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