Forensic sketch artist reveals how her own rape 37 years ago drove her to help solve world-record 1,260 crimes



Seeking justice: Lois Gibson, 62, from Houston, Texas, credits her success as a sketch artist to her personal stake in the fight for justice. She was the victim of a rape when she was 25

Lois Gibson's job is to sketch the faces of violent killers, rapists, kidnappers and other criminals from the descriptions and often painful memories of their victims.

As a forensic sketch artist, she has helped police solve more than 1,260 cases -- setting a world record -- by talking with the witnesses and victims of violent crimes, often while they are still recovering from what happened to them.

Gibson, 62, from Houston, Texas, credits her success as a sketch artist to her personal stake in the fight for justice.

When she was 25, Gibson was the victim of a violent rape that left her bleeding from the throat and the eyes.

'I got attacked by a guy who almost choked me to death for 25 minutes straight,' Gibson told ABC . 'When he finished, I was bleeding down my throat and my eyes.'

Gibson said she later witnessed a man being arrested by police whom she recognized as her attacker.



'I saw the arrest,' she said. 'I know what it is to see justice ... It changes your life.'

Catching criminals: Gibson's sketches look as if they were drawn from a picture, but they are constructed from victims' memories

Killer: Francisco Cardenas is serving life in prison after being seen murdering a police officer

She said she uses her experience when talking to victims to help them relate to her.



'I bring that up right away, and that's a tool for me,' she told CBS.



Now Gibson, who is considered the foremost expert in her field, has some advice for an industry of doctors who might never have otherwise considered themselves useful in solving crimes: Dermatologists.



Nowhere to hide: A chance encounter with Naim Rodriguez gave a witness enough information to help Ms Gibson craft this lifelike drawing of him

Exact: This likeness of Charles Raiford was so good that he turned himself in after it was released in 1990

She says skin doctors can provide investigators with vital clues to a suspect's past and whereabouts by determining how they might have obtained certain scars or lesions.

In an essay recently published in the medical journal Clinics in Dermatology, Gibson urges more dermatologists to get involved in forensic science.

Over her 30 years of sketching criminals, Gibson has often turned to skin doctors for clues about suspects, she said.



Skilled: Ms Gibson's picture of Michael Hamberger in 1988 put him in prison, where he remains today

Close fit: This sketch helped convict Brenda Lee Blake of robbery in 1993

Sketch: Lois Gibson drew this image of rapist Donald Eugene Dutton after he escaped from prison in 1991

Dermatologists could use her drawings of scars to determine whether it was the result of a puncture wound, a burn, or a surgical procedure.

'You never know what detail might solve a crime,' she told ABC. Her sketches catch criminals 30 percent of the time, while fingerprints solve only 10 percent of crimes.

Similar: 17-year-old Robert Hidalgo carjacked a woman who gave his description to Ms Gibson