Picture Story: Law & Disorder

The Sculptor had struck again.

That was the name that the media had bestowed upon the mysterious psychopath who had kidnapped five women in New York City over the last three months. In each case, the perpetrator had left behind a statue as his calling card; a perfectly-rendered sculpture of the missing woman. The Sculptor made no effort to conceal the identity of his victims. He always left the woman's driver's license at the statue's feet, so that the authorities would know who she was. None of the women was ever seen again. Speculation regarding their fate was a hot topic in the city. Had the Sculptor murdered his victims, or was he keeping them alive somewhere?

The case had been assigned to detectives Cynthia Benton and Ellen Gabler of the Unconventional Victims Unit (UVU). They were under a lot of pressure from One Police Plaza to track down the Sculptor and put an end to his rampage, so that the women of the city could feel safe again.

This time, the Sculptor had left the statue of his victim in an alley. A local shop owner had spotted it when she came out to empty her trash in the dumpster.

"What's the vic's name?" Ellen asked one of the CSU techs who were gathering evidence. The tech showed her the driver's license, sealed away in a plastic evidence bag. "Jolene Martinez," Ellen read off the front of the license.

Cynthia frowned as she studied the statue. It was a perfect likeness of the woman pictured on the license. "How does the bastard do it?" she murmured.

"Do what?" Ellen asked.

"Make such perfect statues. He would have to be intimately familiar with his victims to sculpt their features so precisely."

Ellen shrugged. "He probably follows them for weeks... taking photos from a distance. When he has enough reference images, he works on the statue..."

Cynthia cocked her head to one side. "...and when it's finished, he abducts the victim," she finished.

"Oh, we found this near the statue," the CSU tech said, holding up a pair of tweezers.

Ellen carefully took the tweezers from the tech and held up the object for closer inspection. "A cigarette butt."

"There's lipstick on the end," Cynthia noted.

They exchanged a meaningful look. Was it possible that the Sculptor was a woman?