Today is National Missing Children’s Day and WUSA9 is committed to helping the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in their efforts to bring home missing children in our area.
Think about how much you changed from age 10 to age 16. Your face grew in length, your smile changed and your nose narrowed. When a child for example goes missing at any age it’s important to have an image that represent their current age. That digital aging process is done on a computer by a forensic artist.
Joe Mullins is a forensic artist in the forensic services unit at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington DC. “It’s a balance of art, science and a lot of emotion that drives us to do what we do here,” says Joe looking up from his computer.
The process of digitally aging a child starts with that child’s photo, family photos and computer software. Photos of the parents when they were young are very helpful to the artist when aging a child. Family reference photos play a huge role in piecing together an aged image of a child.
There is not an aging filter or app at the artist finger tips to help with this process. Joe says, “The magic behind everything we do is more technique than technology. It’s a manual manipulation of these images.”
Pictures of Joe’s own children are close by, “The unfortunate horrors the world is capable of afflicting on children –having that knowledge and pictures of my children staring back at me is just motivation to do my job the best of my ability.”
Joe aged progressed Jaycee Dugar’s photos. You may remember she was kidnapped in 1991 from a bus stop when she was 11-years-old. Almost two decades later and many age progression photos later Joe got see the face he’d only been able to imagine. “She sat with me for an hour and half. It was amazing”, says Joe.
A little thank you card from Jaycee and her mother sit on Joe’s desk. He says it’s a constant source of motivation. Joe explains, “Hope is why we are here. “
Wondering what you can do help? The best way you can help find missing children in our area is by taking time to look at their photos and share them on social media. Check out www.wusa9.com/missing
