Police department artists catch
By Jaymes K. Song
criminals in ink and recreate
unidentified victims in clay
Star BulletinIF art were rated on how much compassion and emotion went into it, Joe Aragon and Chun Yee's works would be considered masterpieces.
Aragon, 51, and Yee, 38, are the forensic artists working in the Honolulu Police Department's Scientific Investigation Section. The crime-fighting duo, armed with pencils and imagination, has helped put hundreds of Oahu's most notorious criminals behind bars.
"We don't carry a badge and gun. We don't arrest. We don't do any of that stuff," Yee said. "But in a way, we're helping with the investigation."
While many artists create positive images, Aragon and Yee's works are based upon tragedy and death. And despite 24 years in the department for Aragon and 12 years for Yee, the job hasn't gotten any easier.
"A lot of people say, 'You're gonna see it all the time; you're gonna get used to it,'" said Aragon, slowly shaking his head and closing his eyes. "But I haven't gotten used to it.
"To tell you the truth, I always think to myself, 'I cannot see how somebody can be so inhumane.' "
A lot of their work is creating pictures of suspects based on the dark, traumatic and painful memories of victims and witnesses.
"Emotion is always involved," Yee said. "Especially the rape cases involving young kids."
Often, the witnesses and victims break down while giving the suspect's description or after seeing the completed drawing. At times it has gotten so emotional, the victims have vomited.
Many victims lash out at Aragon and Yee as they go over the suspect's description. But whatever the situation, the artists must remain respectful, focused on the drawing, and know that these people are going through tough times, Aragon said.
"It's not the easiest thing to do, but we overcome and we do it," Aragon said. "It's hard -- very hard."
And while a lot of other departments use police officers to draw the composites, being civilian employees has its benefits."The benefit is, we don't go in with the attitude of being a police officer," Yee said. "We're not in there to interrogate. We're just like them (regular people). We don't go in there wearing badges, guns, uniforms. We can understand them because we're civilians."
Being full-time artists also lets them concentrate on their work and give that extra "TLC."
Aragon and Yee also create sketches of unidentified people found dead on Oahu, which they view to be just as important as drawing suspects because it gives "closure" to the family and allows the grieving process to begin.
"You feel like there was life and now life is gone," Aragon said. "And, of course, the detectives are there to encourage me, saying, 'Joe, are you all right?' They encouraged many times, and I really appreciate it because so much of the stuff is so outrageous -- it's not funny."
One of the difficulties in creating the composite, Aragon said, is drawing the individual to look alive and presentable for the media's release.
"If you draw a picture of a stiff guy, that's not going to work in the paper," Yee said. "People are going to look at that and get grossed out."
Drawing death did almost make Aragon quit soon after his first composite: It was of an unidentified man found murdered.
After the man's wife identified him, Aragon had to draw a composite of the suspect, whom she remembered running through her apartment.
"She told me, 'Joe, you have to continue on,' " Aragon recalled. "I was a young guy, 27 or something like that. I just started. I said, 'If I gotta look at this stuff, I'm going to quit my job.' "
"And she said, 'Imagine me: I got to go back to my children and tell them why their father died.' "
And Aragon has remained with the department ever since.
For homicide Detective Clifford Rubio, one of the most memorable cases that Aragon helped crack was the Cynthia Star murder in 1994. Richard Star had strangled his wife, stuffed her body in a surfboard bag and dumped her in the ocean. He was later sentenced to life in prison.
"Reluctantly, Joe did go to the morgue with us and sketched her," Rubio said, as Aragon moved uncomfortably. "And that night we released her into the news and got a call."
After the caller identified Cynthia Star, the detectives were able to recover key evidence quickly -- such as the boat used to dump the body in the ocean -- and capture the husband.
"We're all here as a team," said Aragon who, like Yee, is very reluctant to take full credit in cracking any case. "One ohana. That's what it is. We work as a team. It's not me who caught this guy."
Detective Phillip Camero of the Missing Persons Detail, however, said the public is more affected when it sees a face, instead of just words, as a suspect's description.
"We have some great forensics artists in Chun and Joe," Camero said. "We're very fortunate to have them for our department and community."
Aragon keeps dozens of his sketchings in a folder beside his computer. Next to all the drawings are the police mug shots of the suspects after they were apprehended. The drawings and photos are remarkably similar.
"I love my work," Aragon said. "One picture is worth a thousand words. If we could write, we would have been writers."
"We love people. If we didn't care for people, we wouldn't do this job."
Giving new life to
By Jaymes K. Song
an old skull
Star BulletinWhen detectives are stumped and cannot identify skulls that have been recovered, they call on city forensic artists Joe Aragon and Chun Yee to put things together. Aragon and Yee, of the Honolulu Police Department's Scientific Investigation Section, reconstruct skulls that have been found on Oahu in hopes of identifying the person.
Detectives say without re-creating the face, it would be difficult -- almost impossible -- to identify someone with just a skull.
"We can't submit something like that to the newspaper," Aragon said, pointing to a picture of a skull. "Nobody's gonna identify that."
The technology of reconstructing the head has been around for a while in mainland police departments but has only been with HPD for about five years.
Since 1993, Aragon and Yee have created three clay sculptures, or "heads." So far, none have been identified -- but they still have hope someone will one day recognize and identify the person.
The first step in the reconstruction process is getting the age, sex and ethnicity from the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii.
"They help us a lot," Yee said. "That information coordinated with Joe's expertise blends it all together."
With the information, Aragon and Yee find the average dimensions for someone fitting that description using scientific data tables.After cleaning the skull, 21 tissue markers are placed on the skull. The markers shape the person's face. The thickness of the markers are based upon the size, race and weight of the person.
"It's fairly simple to do if we have those elements," Aragon said.
The weight or size of a person's cheeks, however, are more difficult to determine with just a skull. Other items recovered with the remains, such as clothing, helps.
"If they found the underwear of the person with a 22-inch waist, the guy is a thin person," Aragon said. "But if you found a 57 like mine, that's a big boy."
The rest of the skull is then filled with soft clay to replicate the head. The final step is installing glass eyeballs and creating eyelids, ears and a nose.
"It's kind of like a Mr. Potato Head," Aragon said.
The nose and ears, which are about the same length, are projected by the age.
"That's the only thing that grows on a man's face," Aragon said. "When you get old, it gets longer."
The entire process to create one head takes about a week. And the completed project is an eerie, lifelike human head.
"They look pretty realistic," Yee said. "It's kind of shocking, especially when you turn on the lights in the morning."
Yee said his partner Aragon sometimes has difficulty eating lunch when the head is looking at him.
After photographing and casting the head, the clay is stripped off the skull, which is then returned to the medical examiner's office as evidence.
"It helps a lot," said Detective Phillip Camero of the Missing Person's Detail. "It puts a face to the person."
The Honolulu Police Department is asking the public's help in identifying the following people; anyone with information should call Detective Phillip Camero at 529-3394. Do you know who I am?
Asian female
FOUND: July 1993 in the bushes
near 1000 Nimitz Highway
AGE: Late 20s, early 30s
HEIGHT: Unknown
OTHER: Petite build
Caucasian male
FOUND: June 1997 by several mountain bikers
along Kuliouou Ridge
HEIGHT: 5'6" to 6'
AGE: 35 to 50 years old
OTHER: A second search resulted in
recovery of a Nike tennis shoe
Caucasian male
FOUND: July 1993 in the sand at Bellows Air Force station
between Olomana Golf Course and Keolu Hills
AGE: 35 to 45 years old
HEIGHT: 5'9"
OTHER: Athletic build
