Ringling student sculpts facial reconstruction bust to help solve cold case

For Noah Shadowens, there was never any question that he would pursue a career in the arts. 

Although he said his family has a history of law enforcement and government positions extending across generations, his parents were extremely supportive of him attending Ringling College of Art and Design.

He admits, before college, although he might have received a "D" on a quiz, he would literally cover it in drawings.

Yet for Shadowens, one workshop, related to law enforcement, opened up a path he hadn't anticipated: the chance to help others through his art, to answer questions he says they should never have had to ask. 

Shadowens signed up for the Forensic Art of Facial Reconstruction Workshop, held March 10-14 at Ringling College and hosted by instructor Joe Mullins, a renowned forensic imaging specialist.

As a result of the class, the facial reconstruction Shadowens sculpted helped identify the remains of a victim, found in 2024, from the Medical Examiner's Office in Fort Myers, confirming the missing person's identity as Shane Michael Williams.

Photo by Ian Swaby

Fox4 in Fort Myers reported Fort Myers Police Department Cold Case Detective Richard Harasym, who attended the workshop as a spectator, tracked down the victim's brother through a journal found at the crime scene.

Harasym sent the facial approximation and a piece of the journal’s handwriting to Wiliams' brother, who confirmed the handwriting sample and recognized the facial approximation.

He said he had had not heard from Williams in about a year, and that he had been battling drug issues. 

X-ray comparisons provided by Lee Health in Fort Myers confirmed the victim's identity. 

“It's a testament to the whole process and everything going on behind the scenes to pull these classes off, but really to Noah, who deserves all the credit," Mullins said. "Ringling College, it’s a testament to their education. These offices, trusting us with these cases, the investigators."

A needed resource

Mullins, a forensic artist in 1999 with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, began teaching the courses at the New York Academy of Art in 2015.

The workshops have since expanded to other schools, and this recent workshop was the second he has held at Ringling.

“These are the coldest of the cold cases, and every other investigative tool has been unsuccessful in identifying these,” said Mullins. “These skeletons have been sitting on a shelf in an evidence room for a decade sometimes, or longer, so doing these workshops puts the spotlight back on these cases, and it’s a free resource for law enforcement, and gets these cases a little extra attention.”

Mullins said these workshops are important for the chance to provide this free resource to law enforcement, however.

“It’s safe to say, there are thousands of skulls right now today, that are sitting on the shelf in need of this type of opportunity, and these workshops,” he said.

He said Shadowens' success with the project "really hit home." It's the reason why he is working to pass on his skills to the next generation.

“Noah in particular came pre-loaded with the talents and abilities," he said. "I like to say it's a super-power that's just laying dormant, and can kind of wake it up and show what he could do with it."

When he signed up for the workshop, Shadowens had thought it was a class in composite sketching, but it surprised the illustration senior when instead, he found blocks of clay and 3D-printed skulls.

“Joe's instruction was so easy to follow, and he walked us through everything, and he made it really understandable," Shadowens said. "I don't want to say easy, but he made it approachable."

Although he initially attended the college with an interest in creating concept art for movies, then children’s book and editorial illustration, he said he has now found a new career direction.

Reconstructing a face

Shadowens said creating a facial reconstruction bust isn't as complicated as he thinks people would expect. 

He brings some experience drawing anatomy from his past courses, as well as even drawing busts in the past, and he said the idea of adding muscles to a face wasn't entirely new to him. 

He said although there are many muscles in the face, the reconstructions focus on the main 11 that make up the structure, using tissue depth markers that correspond to the average depth of different muscle tissue. 

"Once you do that, you just fill everything in, and then you polish it," he said.

Photo by Ian Swaby

He said it helped that the person whose face he was reconstructing had a broken jaw and was somewhat asymmetrical. 

Adding hair was one area where his artistic skills came into play. 

“You want to draw it in the volumes that it comes in, and then add the details on to it later, so that's another artistic transfer from illustration that I kind of tried to bring over," he said. 

However, Mullins said these courses still involve considerable restraint for the students involved. 

“I think it's the biggest hurdle, especially dealing with speaking from myself included. We are artists," he said. "We like to have free will and create whatever we want to, basically... At the beginning of day one, I hold the hand out and I collect everybody's artistic license. That's is the hardest thing, I think, hardest pill to swallow. As people go through this, it's hard for them not to go off the rails and just make a pretty face.”

However, he said he also likes how emotionally invested students become in their work. He said on Wednesdays, his favorite day of the class, students fall into silence as they find the face of a person looking back at them. 

Although Shadowens is grateful for the role he played, he said the feeling is not one of success, as the success of the project means the confirmation a missing person has died. 

“This isn't an art project. This is people's lives," he said. "It's not a feeling of success that I'm chasing. It's a feeling of just wanting to continue to help people, which isn't something I ever thought that I would be doing, but it's something that I kind of have to do now, I think, knowing that I can do it.”

He said although he wants to continue illustration on the side, including freelancing his work, he's eager to become part of this small community, also on a freelance basis. 

“This is a passion for me now," Shadowens said. "Joe brought this to our school, and he showed me a different career path that I've never even thought was possible, and it's something that I can't imagine not doing now, and there's so many people left to be identified across the whole country, and having now had a case that's been identified, that's only inspired me more to go out and do it even more.”