Crime Victim Becomes Forensic Artist

Today we are showcasing Lois Gibson, a victim of a crime who used that experience to make a difference.  The first part of this post will tell you about Lois Gibson and the second part will tell you about some of the more notable cases where her work helped to catch criminals.

Lois Gibson at work on a sketch

 

 In 1971, Lois Gibson, age 21, was employed in Los Angeles as a dancer, and model and actress. One night, a man knocked on her apartment door pretending to be a neighbor in need.  She allowed him inside and without missing a beat, he started choking her so forcefully, that he almost strangled her to death. The man brutally raped her, beat her and left her for dead. It was later revealed that her attacker was a serial rapist and murderer.

"I got attacked by a guy who almost choked me to death for 25 minutes. When he finished, I was bleeding down my throat. Like nine out of ten people, I was traumatized.  I wanted justice, I just couldn't get it."

One day soon after, Lois Gibson witnessed an incident where police violently handcuffed an uncooperative man. She recognized him as her rapist.  

Lois Gibson, age 21

To say that the attack on her impacted the direction her life would take is putting it mildly.  

After recovering from the attack, Lois found herself leaving Los Angeles and moving back to Texas. She enrolled in classes at the University of Texas at Austin and she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree.  Using her talent for sketching and painting portraits, she completed a Forensic Artist Course at the FBI Academy. 

In 1989, Lois was hired by the Houston Police Department as their forensic sketch artist.  Each day she sits at an easel and listens to people as they tell their recollections of the crimes they were either a victim of or a crime that they witnessed. 

Lois at her easel at police HQ in Houston, Texas

When her sketches are eventually compared with the real victim or criminal, they are so spot-on, they are almost photo quality.     

In 1998, Lois began teaching a Forensic Arts class at Northwestern University's Center for Public Safety. 

Lois helped identify the
sailor in the V-J Day Photo
 "The Kiss"

In 2007, a man named Glenn McDuffie claimed he was the sailor in the famous D-Day photograph entitled "The Kiss."  To prove it, Lois analyzed his features, then compared them to the features of the sailor in the photo. He was that sailor.

Lois Gibson co-authored
Faces of Evil

In 2010, Lois co-wrote the true crime book "Faces of Evil" with writer Deanie Francis Mills.  Lois also wrote a textbook titled "Forensic Art Essentials" which is used in various art schools around the world.  

 

In 2014, New Mexico teacher Ray John De Aragon claimed a photo he had inherited was Billy The Kid. Lois's sketch was compared with known Billy The Kid photographs and helped confirm it.

 

Up to 2012, her sketches have helped to catch over 750 criminals in 1233 crimes.

 

Guinness World Record (2017)

  

 

In 2017, Lois Gibson was recognized in the Guinness World Record Book for being the most successful in her field.  

Sandra Mills photo was found
to be authentic

Also in 2017, Lois's work helped to support the claims made by a Jesse James descendant. Sandra Mills had a photo of Jesse James seated next to outlaw Robert Ford. It was authentic.

Stormy Daniels was threatened not to
talk about an affair with President Donald Trump

In 2018, Gibson made a composite sketch for adult film star Stormy Daniels of a suspect who threatened her in 2011 in a Las Vegas parking lot if she did not keep quiet about her affair with President Donald Trump.

For an exhibition called “Soul Survivors,” Lois recreated portraits for people whose relatives had died in the Holocaust. 

Soul Survivor Holocaust Exhibit

At the age of 67 (in 2018), she continues to help people find justice for the wrongs that have been done to them. 

“When I realized that a pitiful piece of art work could stop a murderer, who killed the same way I almost got killed, I was hooked. You get addicted to catching criminals once you realise you can catch them with just a little bitty sketch that took less than an hour. I’m completely addicted and I never want to stop catching criminals with my art.” 

 

Lois Gibson is married and the mother of two children. She still works at her craft.    

Here are some drawings and a few details about more cases where Lois Gibson's sketches were instrumental in solving the crimes.

Little Jacob was later identified as 
4-year-old Jayden Alexander Lopez

In October 2017, a little boy washed up on the beach in Galveston Texas and was nicknamed "Little Jacob" by police authorities. Lois Gibson made a sketch of the little boy who had not been reported missing.  This was an anomaly in itself because how could anyone not miss a 4-year-old little boy? Investigators released Lois's sketch of the child with a phone number for the tip line.  Following up on tips led police to the child's real name - Jayden Alexander Lopez. 

Jeff Banks, FBI

In June 2018, Rebecca Rivera, the child's mother and her girlfriend Dania Amezquita-Gomez were arrested for murder.  Positive identification was made with DNA.   The case of Jayden Alexander Lopez was solved on June 20, 2018, and "Little Jacob" had finally been put to rest.

*****

Lois's sketch of Donald Eugene Dutton

 

The sketch of the escaped convict was done when it was not yet known that Donald Eugene Dutton was the escaped convict. When he was stopped by police to pay a ticket for a traffic violation, he shot the officer in the head and back, returned to his car, then ran over the officer and dragged him down the street for 60 feet.  

Clipping from The Victoria Advocate,
January 11, 1991 

The officer survived but he didn't know his attacker had been an escaped convict. Lois Gibson went to the hospital and listened to the officer's recollections to make a sketch of the shooter.  

Two days later, the shooter was arrested for shoplifting.  When he was booked for that crime, two officers thought he looked like Lois's sketch. When a video lineup was done in the police officer's hospital room, he picked Dutton out of the lineup.  Back at the scene of the shoplifting, they found a vehicle with some of the police officer's clothing and skin hanging from the undercarriage of the vehicle, confirming they had the right man. 

*****

Carjacker Robert Hidalgo, age 17, was apprehended after the victim gave a description to Lois Gibson. Her sketch helped apprehend Hidalgo.

17-year-old Robert Hidalgo apprehended for carjacking

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In this case, Lois was given only the skull of a murder victim to make her portrait and it was aired on local TV news.

Lois made a portrait using only a skull as a guide.

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Not all of Lois's work is with criminals.  This next age progression helped to reunite a sister who had been separated from her brother after the death of their mother. This case was featured on Unsolved Mysteries in 1996.

Age Progression

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In June 1989, Lois was given a description by a murdered man's friend of what the murderer looked like. She made this next sketch of the murderer which was put on TV. His own grandmother recognized him and turned him in.

*****

In this next case, all that was available was a little piece of a skull for Lois to make a sketch of this murder victim.

Thanks for reading.