(ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) In a classroom full of clay and sculpting tools, it may look like an art studio.
"I've done pottery and painting and oil pastels and stuff but nothing like this at all," said Thomas Hutton, a criminal justice senior at Missouri Western State University.
But nothing is like reconstructing a face from little more than a skull and a few small details.
"Some students are very good with this and some people just really aren't," said Dr. Ed Waldrip, executive director of the Southern Institute of Forensic Science. "I did one in my career and it looked like me and I decided this was my last one."
It is the first time Missouri Western State University has offered a class like this for forensic reconstruction.
The process is a last-ditch effort in trying to determing the identity of unknown human remains.
By using clay, the students can determine facial features and hopefully find a match.
"Statistically, seventy percent of the time we can get a positive identification," said Waldrip. "Not from the reconstruction but from somebody who will say, "That looks like my brother and I haven't seen him in about six months'."
"I've done pottery and painting and oil pastels and stuff but nothing like this at all," said Thomas Hutton, a criminal justice senior at Missouri Western State University.
But nothing is like reconstructing a face from little more than a skull and a few small details.
"Some students are very good with this and some people just really aren't," said Dr. Ed Waldrip, executive director of the Southern Institute of Forensic Science. "I did one in my career and it looked like me and I decided this was my last one."
It is the first time Missouri Western State University has offered a class like this for forensic reconstruction.
The process is a last-ditch effort in trying to determing the identity of unknown human remains.
By using clay, the students can determine facial features and hopefully find a match.
"Statistically, seventy percent of the time we can get a positive identification," said Waldrip. "Not from the reconstruction but from somebody who will say, "That looks like my brother and I haven't seen him in about six months'."
