Who is the artist who helped solve the child abduction case?

Few people know that the person who sketched the suspect's portrait based on the accounts of the grieving mother and witnesses, thereby helping to quickly solve the case, was a rather famous artist and lecturer named Phan Vu Linh.

How did the artist paint the portrait of the "female gang leader"?

Speaking to a VietNamNet reporter, Phan Vu Linh humbly shared: "This is the first time I've used my abilities to help the police force. Actually, the successful arrest of the child abduction suspect was due to many factors, not just my sketched portrait."

Artist Phan Vu Linh

Linh recounted that immediately after the infant abduction case at the hospital in District 7, which caused a stir in the press, on the morning of January 11th, an acquaintance of Linh's named T expressed her desire for Linh to use her artistic talent to assist the police. Ms. T proactively contacted and discussed the matter with the District 7 police to allow Linh to participate.

Following a contact from Ms. T, on the afternoon of January 11th, investigator Le Cao Cuong of the District 7 police called Linh. Immediately after artist Linh agreed to the plan, investigator Cuong went to her house to pick her up and take her to the District 7 hospital to begin the investigation.

Artist Linh confirmed: “When I arrived at the hospital, I spoke directly with three people: the child's father, mother, and aunt. They described the suspect's characteristics, and I sketched it on A4 white paper with a pencil, completing the picture in about 20 minutes. All three said it resembled the suspect who kidnapped their child.”

According to Linh, the grieving mother, Nguyen Thi Minh Tam, provided the most detailed description, helping him complete 60% of the suspect's portrait. The mother described the suspect as having a round, full face and hair styled in an updo; while the child's father described the suspect's lips as slightly upturned…

Mr. Linh also stated that many details described by the child's aunt, such as earlobes and hair, helped him create a more detailed portrait of the suspect, because the aunt had a more stable mental state than the child's parents, who were grieving the loss of their child.

"I started with the major details and then moved on to the smaller ones. All three people confirmed that the initial sketch bore a strong resemblance to the suspect, so I was very confident," Phan Vu Linh said.

The suspect's portrait was sketched in 2D color by Phan Vu Linh (left image) and in black and white with a pencil (right image).

Later that same afternoon, when Linh got home, she scanned the image onto her computer and spent over two hours editing and coloring it to create a 2D image, not a 3D one.

By the morning of January 12th, the child's father, Mr. Truong Van Hen, was driven by investigator Cuong to Linh's house to confirm and correct some details on the suspect's portrait, such as: larger eyes, a rounder chin, lighter eyebrows, etc.

It is known that thanks to a photograph by artist Phan Vu Linh published in the media, many tips from the public were reported to the police in District 7. From there, the police tracked down and arrested the suspect Le Thi Bich Tram (born in 1989, residing in District 7, temporarily living in Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City) on the afternoon of January 13th, safely rescuing the child.

Ready to assist the police in solving the case.

According to artist Phan Vu Linh, "I've never accepted a commission to draw a portrait based on someone else's description before; this is the first time, and also the first time I've assisted the police. Drawing a portrait that closely resembles the person describing it is very difficult, but I'll try my best..."

While sketching the suspect's portrait, I told myself not to let emotions get the better of me. If I felt angry or resentful towards the woman who kidnapped her, and ended up drawing a hideous or evil-looking face, that wouldn't be right…”

The suspect, Le Thi Bich Tram, who was arrested, closely resembles the sketch drawn by artist Phan Vu Linh.

Artist Linh further asserted: "I think the swift resolution of the case was due to many other factors. Regarding the images I drew and published in the press, they were primarily intended to psychologically impact the suspect."

Linh confirmed that at 11:00 AM on January 13th, he was one of the first people informed by the police that the perpetrator had been apprehended and closely resembled the suspect's sketch he had created.

Artist Phan Vu Linh (born in 1975) is currently a lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Fine Arts. He is currently single and lives with his parents, both retired officials who previously worked at the Ministry of Public Security.

Phan Vu Linh recounted that he had a passion for painting since childhood but was self-taught. Following family tradition, he passed the entrance exam to the Police Academy but did not attend. He had to take the exam three times before finally getting accepted into the Ho Chi Minh City Fine Arts University… Then, from 2010 to 2013, Linh pursued a master's degree in painting in the United States.

Few people know that Phan Vu Linh was once a singer in the famous rock band Atmosphere. Linh is also known by the nickname MarooneD, and is quite famous on forums such as Gamedev.vn, Zidean.com…

Following this initial success in solving a case with her sketches, will Linh conduct in-depth research on sketching criminal profiles to assist the police in solving crimes?

Phan Vu Linh stated frankly: "If the police force needs me, I'm ready. If that collaboration becomes regular, I will create an image library of human identifying features such as eye types, lips, hair... to do a better job, instead of doing it manually like this..."

According to Vietnamnet