CRIMINAL COLD CASES-FUGITIVES FINALLY BROUGHT TO JUSTICE-24-FRANK BENDER

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FRANK BENDER:
FORENSIC SCULPTURE TO SOLVE CRIME
THE CASE OF JOHN LIST HAS BECOME FAMOUS AS AN EXAMPLE OF A CRIME SOLVED BY A PARTICULAR TYPE OF FORENSIC INVESTIGATION – SCULPTURE. THE PIONEER OF THIS METHOD OF DETECTION IS FRANK BENDER, AN ARTIST WITH AN UNCANNY ABILITY TO VISUALIZE WHAT A CRIMINAL – OR VICTIM – MIGHT LOOK LIKE.

Working with any clue he can find, from the remains of a mangled, decomposed body to an out-of-date photograph, Bender is able to build up a visual profile of his subject with amazing accuracy. Using a mixture of technical information and artistic instinct, he builds a sculpture of the subject and photographs it. The image of the head is then broadcast on television and pictured in the press so that members of the public may come forward with information. In this way, several dangerous criminals have been brought to justice, sometimes after many years of being on the run, and the files on many other wanted criminals constantly updated and revised.

Murdered one by one
One of the most successful of Bender's assignments was the case of John List. List was born in Bay City, Michigan on 17 September 1925. The only child of Lutheran parents, List grew up under the watchful eye of a controlling mother, attending church regularly and leading Sunday school sessions. During the Second World War, he joined the army, and later qualified as an accountant. However, he did not get on well with his colleagues, earning a reputation as a loner, and his lack of empathy caused constant problems in his career. Nevertheless, he married, raised a family, and lived in an expensive home. To the casual observer, he looked like a successful man.

The face of 1970s America: no-one could have guessed the horrifying crime that was to be perpetrated on this family by John List, father and husband

In reality, however, his life was a mess. His wife was suffering from mental illness, and he was having difficulty paying the bills for extravagant items he had bought for the house, such as a Tiffany glass ceiling. He was plagued by guilt, feeling that his career failures had let his family down. He was also anxious about his daughter, who was interested in pursuing a career as an actress, an activity he considered deeply evil. As he explained later to his pastor in a letter, he was overcome by the need to save his family's souls, so that they would not be corrupted by the sinful modern world.

List eventually decided to murder each of them, one by one, laying them out on sleeping bags and praying over them before he left the house. The bodies were not discovered until one month later, by which time List had disappeared and begun his new life as a fugitive.

America's Most Wanted
Police investigating the murder followed up hundreds of leads at the time, but to no avail. However, eighteen years later the List case was unearthed and became the subject of the television show America's Most Wanted . It was the oldest, coldest case ever to be featured on the show, and the producers were aware that the murderer, wherever he was, would by now look very different. The producers asked forensic artist Frank Bender to help. As always, Bender took great care with his research. By looking at photographs of List's parents, as well as List himself, he was able to predict how the murderer would have aged. He also analysed the case with criminal psychologist John Walter, building up a picture of List's personality, particularly as it would relate to his current appearance.

Rigid habits
Together, Bender and Walter came up with a picture of List's way of life after the murders. Because List was a man with rigid habits, they predicted that he would move, but not too far away, and that he would marry an easily dominated woman. They thought he would become a member of a Lutheran church, continue to work as an accountant, and still be in debt. They imagined that he would dress conventionally and still wear glasses, as he had done at the time of the murders, rather than changing to contact lenses, which were now available. Bender intuited, however, that List would by now have changed the style of the glasses, wearing ones with thick, heavy rims designed to make the wearer look serious and intelligent.

Hardly the face of a criminal: Frank Bender achieved an uncanny likeness of the suspect using his skill as a sculptor and clever techniques of character analysis

It also seemed likely, from the research they conducted, that List would have done very little, other than change his name, to disguise his identity. List had a scar behind his right ear but probably would not have had cosmetic surgery to cover this up. John List was at heart an unimaginative man who would simply try to forget the past and resume his routine as quickly as possible somewhere else, without taking too much trouble to cover his tracks.

The need to do good
Using this information, Bender built a clay bust of List, adding each detail, such as his hair and glasses, with infinite care. When the clay bust was shown on television, a former neighbour of List's immediately recognized and identified him. The FBI followed up the lead, and on 1 June 1989, ten days after the call, List was arrested. He was now living under the name Bob Clark, but – as Bender had predicted – other than that, had done little to disguise his identity. Amazingly enough, all Bender's other predictions were proved right too. List was living less than three hundred miles from his former home, had remarried, was working as an accountant, and still had financial difficulties. He dressed conservatively and had changed to the exact same style of heavy-framed glasses that Bender had added to the clay bust.

John List in 1989, listening as his bail is set at $5 million. Seventeen years after committing his heinous crime, he was given five life sentences

John List was taken into police custody and charged with five murders: of his mother, his wife, and his three children. The following year, on 1 May 1990, he was convicted of all the murders, and sentenced to life imprisonment five times over. He expressed no regret for his crimes.

Today, Frank Bender continues to work as a forensic sculptor and has helped to provide information on many other criminal investigations. Often working on horrifying cases, using body parts and other clues to build up a visual profile of his subjects, he continues to be committed to his work, saying, 'It's the need to do good and help cut the cancer out of society, and to find truth. I felt that from the very first case.'