Pleural mesothelioma patient sculpts the dead to solve crimes

Dec 27, 2009

Frank Bender is renowned for his ability to sculpt likenesses of murder victims and criminals from skeletal remains or decades-old photographs. In 1977, his rendering of a gunshot victim whose remains were found near the Philadelphia International Airport in Pennsylvania helped identify her as missing person Anna Duval from Phoenix, Arizona. Twelve years later, he used old photographs and the age progression within his imagination to sculpt fugitive John List of New Jersey for an episode of America’s Most Wanted that discussed how the man had killed his wife, mother and three children 18 years earlier. List was apprehended by the FBI two weeks after the program aired, and he looked exactly as Bender had thought he would.

Bender was happy to hear recently that a sculpture he did back in 2005 helped identify a 1954 homicide victim, but he has also been given some very bad news. Bender has been diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma, a rare form of cancer he developed after working with asbestos during his U.S. Navy service in the 1950s and 1960s in the engine room of the destroyer escort USS Calcaterra. He is having a disability claim processed through the Department of Veterans Affairs. His wife Jan is fighting her own battle with lung cancer, and she’s beaten the odds so far by outliving the prognosis that said she would likely die in 2007. She has taken leave from work and met with hospice workers.

For the full story, go to Philadelphia Inquirer.

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