Detective Angel Reyes went from drawing superheroes to criminals.

Reyes works for the DeKalb Police Department as a forensic sketch artist, drawing sketches of suspects based on descriptions from witnesses or victims.


Basics of sketching

From descriptions, Reyes is able to draw a composite sketch of what a suspect looks like. Working with the witness, Reyes uses a catalog to profile different facial characteristics, helping him draw the suspect’s face. The catalog has a variety of head shapes, eyes, noses and other features that distinguish a person. Reyes then draws an outline based on the description to show the witness and make changes based on their critique.

After the drawing is finished it can be given to officers or to the public to help develop leads in the investigation. While police cannot make an arrest on identification in a sketch alone, Reyes said the sketch can lead to a photo lineup or other evidence that would link someone to the crime.

Sketching is normally used in the beginning or end of an investigation to help generate more leads, because the drawing can take two to three hours to do, he said. Reyes also uses Google image searches to help identify symbols and clothes the witness describes.

“This drawing is not the sole reason for a person’s arrest,” Reyes said. “You can’t go out and charge them based on this drawing.”

Composite sketches can also be done from security camera images and can be used to draw clothes and jewelry to help recover stolen property or further identify a suspect, Reyes said.
Reyes said the national average for a forensic drawing providing another lead is about 30 percent, compared with about 7 percent with fingerprints.

Lt. Gary Spangler, head of investigations at the DeKalb Police Department, said forensic sketching has been useful in investigations, and it helps when a witness has a good description for Reyes to work with.

“It is always helpful to have a drawing of a suspect because it is difficult to visualize a description of a person without a picture or drawing,” Spangler said. “We have had success making arrests from drawings Reyes has completed.”


Background in drawing

Before Reyes started forensic sketching, he started his drawing career in fourth grade, drawing superheroes.

“I started drawing comic characters. Spiderman, Superman, all those guys,” Reyes said. “I probably had a stack of drawings by the time I was in high school that was two or three inches tall of regular typing paper with drawings of Marvel comic heroes.”

Reyes took one art course in high school, but it remained just a hobby until he entered the Air Force and got a partial art scholarship to the Mississippi University for Women, which he attended after the school began accepting men.

Aside from forensic sketching, Reyes also does caricatures for officers retiring or being promoted, and an occasional comic of something funny that happened around the police station.
DeKalb Police Chief Bill Feithen has one of Reyes’ cartoons hanging in his office.

“We are very fortunate to have him on the department,” Feithen said. “His sketches have resulted in several arrests over the years.”

Feithen also said several other police agencies have used his services.

“Reyes’ talents are very valuable to the department,” Spangler said. “There are not a lot of quality sketch artists around.”


Continuing education

Reyes attended an FBI facial imaging class from Mar. 16 to Apr. 4 in Fredericksburg, Va.
The class required an extensive application, including submitting several drawings and getting approval through managers at the police department, Reyes said.

“It’s not easy to do facial imaging,” Reyes said. “You have to have some sort of artistic ability.”

Reyes said he learned drawing features of the face and how muscles and bones react on the face. Facial imaging includes doing age progressions of faces to be used with either missing people or a suspect who has been wanted for an extensive period of time, he said. Forensic sketching also helps in identifying dead bodies to show what the person may have looked like when they were alive.

“You can only do that if you know how the body or the face grows,” Reyes said.

In the class, Reyes also learned how to interview a victim so they do not shut down from stress of describing the suspect.

Reyes said one of the instructors at the facial imaging class was the artist who did the composite sketch of a suspect in the Feb. 2 Lane Bryant shooting in Tinley Park.

Reyes also previously attended a week-long class at Northwestern University in June 2006 about forensic sketching.

“We are very grateful he was able to attend the FBI course,” Feithen said. “Not only will citizens of DeKalb benefit, but other area agencies.”

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