Francis Augustus Bender (June 16, 1941 – July 28, 2011) was a forensic artist and fine artist. He made facial reconstructions of the dead based on their skeletons, and of fugitives based on outdated photographs, with his reconstructions showing how they might look in the present day.[1] He primarily worked in clay and then cast his pieces into plaster and painted them, but he also created age-progression drawings of fugitives using pastels. His most famous facial reconstruction case was that of murderer John Emil List, who, after decades as a fugitive under a false identity, was captured a few days after Bender's bust of him was featured on America's Most Wanted.[2][3]
Career
An autodidact, Bender originally began his forensic work when, impoverished, he worked out a deal with the Philadelphia coroner to be allowed to study some of their unknown dead bodies in an effort to improve his sculpting skills. He also created life-sized monuments in bronze for the African Burial Ground National Monument in New York (using three of the actual skulls found on the site to give faces to the unknown slaves who had been buried there),[4] a monument for slain police officers in New Jersey, and a Holocaustobelisk.[5]
In 2009,[8] Bender was diagnosed with pleuralmesothelioma, a rare cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs and is caused by prolonged exposure to asbestos. Bender believed he was exposed to it during his time in the Navy working in the engine room.[9]
Bender died on July 28, 2011, at his home in Philadelphia.[10]
In August 2010, Penguin Books published The Murder Room by Michael Capuzzo in which Frank Bender is a central figure—the book includes a biography of Bender[13] and focuses on the work of the Vidocq Society.
