Forensics Expert Vows to Help ID 4 Victims
Some Juarez activists say offer is too little
by Diana Washington Valdez
El Paso Times
JUAREZ -- Chihuahua state authorities are hopeful that an international facial reconstruction expert will help them identify some of the women who have been murdered in Juárez.
At a news conference Friday, Frank Bender, a forensic expert from Philadelphia, held up the skulls of four women he hopes to help identify by reconstructing their faces.
"It will take about five weeks. ... I want the community to follow my work," Bender said at the news conference. "At some point later, I would like to distribute images of what these women might have looked like in case someone who recognizes them will step forward to identify them."
Mexican officials said Bender has worked with the FBI and law enforcement from other countries and has helped catch some of the United States' most-wanted criminals.
State Deputy Attorney General Oscar Valadez, said during the news conference that his staff could not pass up the chance to call on someone with Bender's expertise.
At the same time Friday, a group of Mexican and U.S. activists who advocate for justice in the women's murders, placed flowers at a memorial cross at the Paso del Norte Bridge for the more than 340 victims who have been killed the past 10 years.
Esther Chávez Cano, director of the Casa Amiga rape crisis center, was skeptical about whether hiring the forensic expert would help.
"They can bring the world's best experts, but the authorities have not acted with credibility," she said. "For example, they have solved mass murders in 24 hours and manage to misidentify the victims. We don't trust the people in charge of the investigations."
Chávez Cano sang songs with the activists and placed tags on the wood-and-metal cross with the names of recent victims. Each day, thousands of motorists on their way to El Paso drive past the cross.
At the bridge, vendors sold El Mexicano newspaper, which publishes daily the toll-free international tip line that rings at the El Paso Police Department. El Paso police spokesman Javier Sambrano said the line, which is manned by police officers and FBI agents, is still operational.
Next month, a U.S. Congressional delegation will conduct a fact-finding trip to the border to look into why the murders and disappearances of young women in Juárez continue. U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis, D-Calif., is leading the delegation.
Copyright El Paso Times 2003/2004 | found at borderlandnews.com