Pa. sculptor dies; worked to ID criminals, victims

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Philadelphia artist whose forensic sculptures helped capture criminals and identify victims has died.

Frank Bender was 70. He had been diagnosed with cancer last year and died Thursday.

Bender used skulls from decomposed bodies as the basis for re-creating faces of unidentified victims. He also envisioned how fugitives might age to sculpt busts of what they’d look like today.

His sculpture of fugitive John List, accused of killing five family members in New Jersey in 1971, was featured on “America’s Most Wanted” in 1989. It led to List’s arrest 11 days later in Virginia, where he had been living under an alias. List was later convicted.

Bender was also a co-founder of The Vidocq Society, a Philadelphia group that tries to solve cold cases.