Monday, June 28, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

'GOD GIVEN' GIFT: Sketch artist finds her calling

Chance meeting with father of Elizabeth Smart led to career

Artist Dalene Nielson shows one of her sketches last week at the Clark County coroner's office. Photo by Clint Karlsen. Artist Dalene Nielson talks last week about the sketches she does for the Clark County coroner's office. She reconstructs the faces of corpses that normally would be beyond recognition. Photo by Clint Karlsen.

Whether dumb luck or divine intervention, artist Dalene Nielson just happened to be at the Salt Lake City Police Department when the father of a kidnapped girl arrived to ask about the investigation.

Inspired but inexperienced, Nielson was visiting from Moab, Utah, when she stopped by the big-city police department looking for advice as she embarked on a new career as a police sketch artist.

Moments later, equipped with pencil and pad, Nielson, who now volunteers with the Clark County coroner's office, was sitting across from the father of Elizabeth Smart, the Salt Lake City 15-year-old whose kidnapping at knife-point in June 2002 gripped the city and made national headlines.

Two portraits drawn earlier by experienced sketch artists didn't look much like Elizabeth's abductor, but the first forensic portrait ever done by Nielson helped crack a case that had befuddled investigators for nine months, Ed Smart said last week in a telephone interview.

"She had literally walked in off the street," he said of Nielson. "I was very appreciative of Dalene because she took the time to get the best concept of what he looked like. I will be forever grateful to her."

Two days after Nielson's portrait appeared in the media, the sister of drifter and self-described prophet Brian David Mitchell contacted authorities. She reported that the sketch looked like her brother, Smart said.

"When it ended up turning into what it turned into I was amazed. I did a little bit of crying and a little bit of jumping up and down," Nielson said. "It was one of those things that happened because it was supposed to happen. ... When I left, I knew what I was supposed to do with my talent."

About a year later, Nielson started drawing portraits for the Clark County coroner Web site dedicated to identifying dozens of corpses that investigators haven't been able to identify for months, years or decades.

Typically, Coroner Mike Murphy will place on the Web site a photograph taken at the time of the person's death in hopes that a relative, police officer or someone else might recognize the person.

However, in about 10 cases, in which the body was so decomposed because it was buried for weeks, or chopped into pieces or hit by a train, the photos won't help identify the person or are too gruesome to post on the Internet.

Using photos of the corpses, some of which are blurry Polaroids taken as far back as 1986, Nielson brings them to life. The St. George, Utah, resident composes portraits based on whatever facial features remain, such as bone structure, length of forehead, eye sockets and hair color.

Seemingly, Nielson said, "You have no face. You have no way to re-create what that person looked like."

But, she added, "I don't know how, but I can see a face."

Her portraits have been on the Web site since late April, and have gotten results. An unidentified man was identified earlier this month.

The man died of exposure in 1995 and was identified by an anonymous caller who recalled that he was homeless and had been cited repeatedly by police for minor offenses such as public drunkenness, said Rick Jones, an investigator for the coroner's office.

It turns out the man was an Indian from Arizona.

"The family indicated they hadn't seen him in 10 years and didn't know what had happened to him," Jones said. "Dalene thought from the beginning he was of Native American background because of his high cheekbones."

Nielson for years did portraits of people's friends, relatives and pets. Since she never underwent formal training or took college art classes, Nielson characterizes her artistic ability as "God given."

Since working on the Elizabeth Smart case, she has tried to get a career started as a forensic artist. She hopes someday to get a full-time position. However, only 16 police departments in the country, including Las Vegas police, have an artist on the payroll.

Other departments use computer programs to piece together portraits, which she said are rarely accurate because they can't capture the same detail as an artist.

"What happened with the Smart case was amazing. I didn't have a clue. I had never drawn anything from a description, from something I couldn't see," Nielson said. "Now, I know I can make a difference. It's artwork that makes a difference. It can change people's lives."