The sketch of the man Isle of Wight investigators say abducted a girl in Carrollton and sexually assaulted her October 2 has now generated close to 500 leads in the case. The artist who drew it works for the FBI, and was brought in from Quantico.
Edie Sherman did not draw the Isle of Wight abductor, but has done her fair share of sketches. Sherman worked for the Virginia Beach Police Department for more than 20 years.
"The more you do it, the better you get," Sherman says, as she rifles through binders full of her sketches.
She's drawn hundreds of suspects, many of them caught, and many times the resemblance to their sketch is striking. Needless to say, Sherman knows a good sketch when she sees it.
"I could look at that composite and tell that it's a good composite, good interview, and I think that the person that you're looking for looks like that," Sherman says.
Sherman says artists like her and the person who drew the Isle of Wight suspect are sadly rare nowadays. Technology has taken over and many agencies are now turning to computerized composites over the old school method. However, Edie says the sketch artist will always inch-out a computer.
"Simply because of the emotion that is involved with it," she says.
That emotion, she says is obvious in the Isle of Wight suspect sketch and brings to life a man who is still out there.
"Based on her interview and the composite and all the things that she saw, sooner or later, we are going to find that person," Sherman says.
If you have any information about this man, call the Isle of Wight tip line at (757) 365-6290 or to remain anonymous, call the Crimeline at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.
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New information coming in about IOW abduction, sexual assault
