21-year-old experience made her a forensic artist, caught 1300 criminals with sketches

 

Lois Gibson is the world's most successful forensic artist. The Guinness Book of World Records described this 74-year-old as such. As a forensic artist, Lois's sketches have helped Houston police identify 1,313 criminals. But even more surprising is the story of how Lois became a forensic artist.

Lois was a model and dancer. Later she joined the university to pursue a degree in fine arts. But an experience at the age of 21 changed her life. In 1971, she was attacked by a stranger inside her Los Angeles apartment. He tried to strangle and sexually assault her.

Lois narrowly escaped the brutal attack. But this incident was not reported to the police. Later, she moved to Houston, Texas. There he started working as a portrait artist. Realizing that her drawing skills could help the police catch criminals, Lois applied to the police to hire her as a forensic artist. He convinced them of his abilities.

Lois began working as a forensic artist with the Houston Police Department in 1982. But for the first time, the work she did became something that took an emotional toll on her. However, it helped the police to nab the culprit.
“I had decided never to do this job again. Because doing that sketch was emotionally very scary. But that changed when he realized that the culprit had been caught. "Knowing that a criminal can be caught with just an hour's drawing changed my life," she says.

She also says that till February this year, 1313 accused have been caught like this. In 2017, she also held the Guinness World Record for being the forensic artist who helped catch the most criminals.