posted February 26, 2004 11:44 PM               

This week's featured member is Wesley Neville. Wes has been in the law enforcement field since 1987. His current professional role in life is as a Forensic Artist with the Florence County South Carolina Sheriff's Office where has been since 1998. But we know and love him as one of our Project EDAN artists and as Doe Network Area Director for South Carolina.

It would be very hard to find a more cooperative and enthusiastic person than Wesley. The number of sketches and reconstructions he has completed for EDAN/Doe alone are too numerous to count and his skills are astonishing. He is always ready and willing to do sketches, composites and comparisons and for that we are very grateful.

Last summer Wesley was contracted by a Florida LEA to do a reconstruction. He did his job as an artist and completed the reconstruction. Then he switched hats...he went into "Doe Network Mode". He was the first to see the face of a young girl molded from his own hands. He begin searching immediately for a match and he found one. Several weeks went by before the Doe Network received the green light to reveal the positive ID of Tara Exposito made by Wesley. He admits the waiting was the hardest part but in this case it paid off because her family can now have some resolution. Wesley went above and beyond loyalty to the Doe Network by ensuring the group as a whole was credited for the solve which only solidifies for us what a selfless and caring individual he is. Wes has recently made similar discoveries from his own work and has at least one more potential match pending.

Wesley's future plans are continue to work with the Doe Network and EDAN to help gives faces to those without names, as well as age progressions for the lost. He is also in negotiations to create a full clay facial reconstruction for the Jane Doe found in Colorado in 1954 who was the subject of this weeks Editorial. An exhumation is planned and EDAN hopes to provide a face for the Jane Doe who has been without her identity for almost 50 years.

Wesley also has one of the most complete Forensics art pages anywhere! There are numerous links and details for anyone interested in Forensic Art. Not only is his site a great resource but he has a reputation for being a great mentor to budding artists all over....including some of our own EDAN artists!

The Doe Network was well represented by Wesley at last years IAI (International Associated of Identification) conference. Wesley is the active secretary for the IAI Forensic Art Certification Board and member of the IAI Forensic Art Sub Committee. Thanks to him we received numerous contacts from the positive PR he generated on our behalf!

The Doe Network members had long been looking for a way to show our gratitude to Wes for his contributions and commitment to the cause, so when we heard about the NCMEC's Ninth Annual Congressional Breakfast and National Missing and Exploited Children's Awards honoring law enforcement officers for recovering missing children and investigating child exploitation cases we knew we had found what we were looking for and we will be nominating Wesley. Here's hoping you win Wesley, you deserve nothing less!

Author: Todd Matthews

Todd Matthews www.TentGirl.com www.ProjectEDAN.us
Media Director for www.DoeNetwork.Org & www.OutpostForHope.Org
931-823-6992