LEESBURG, Va. — The simple tools of an artist, in the right hands, can become an investigator’s instruments.
In Loudoun County, Lt. Kathy Franck is that artist.
Since she was a kid, she had sketched and painted as a hobby. When you sit in her office at the county sheriff’s office, you can see her art adorning the walls.
There are still life paintings on one wall and others of people’s pets. Those are her favorites.
“There was this cute little girl with her pony, so I snapped a picture and sketched it later,” she said, looking at one of her drawings.
It all looks lifelike and real. Her talent on display in her office is quite different from the art you might be most familiar with.
That art gets plastered across newscasts and social media sites across the DMV. It’s her investigative work in a way.
She is Loudoun County’s criminal suspect sketch artist.
“Sometimes people are very emotional,” Lt. Franck said. “It’s a process for them as well; they are reliving an event.”
“I think they are few and far between, and we are lucky to have one of the best in the area.”
Loudoun County Sheriff’s Lt. Michael Safford said.
There’s almost none. The criminal suspect sketch artist has fallen prey to computer imaging.
But sometimes there is no substitute for a real live sketch artist.
“Often times Lt. Franck will extract information from victims that our detectives weren’t able to get,” Fairfax County Daniel Spital said.
It’s often the case that when crime strikes across the DMV, other police departments call Kathy. She has done sketches for just about every police investigative unit in the DMV.
“I’m not out there solving crimes,” Lt. Franck said. “So, I feel it’s my way to help solve a crime.”
In December of 2021, her art played a pivotal role in breaking open a murder investigation.
Two days before the new year, Loudoun County homicide detectives rushed to the home of 57-year-old Nejat Chemlali Goode Connie Marie Terrace in Ashburn.
Her son came home to find her with three bullet wounds near the doorway of the family home. She died at the hospital.
“This was a complicated homicide,” Loudoun County Detective Tonmy Rodriguez remembered.
“Uniquely different because it was a whodunit?”
There were no witnesses, no motive, and no suspect for the murder of Chemlali-Goode.
The shock and pain still reverberate nearly three years later with her daughter, Sheima Abbas.
“My mom’s life was taken from her; my life is forever changed,” Abbas said. “There isn’t much I can do; just wait for the investigation.
During the investigation, Abbas remembered a creepy encounter that happened days before the murder.
A strange man came to the house, asking about her brother. He wouldn’t give Abbas his name, and he wouldn’t explain why he was there. He left with an ominous exit.
“He said, ‘That’s okay, I’ll come again soon,’” Abbas recalled. “Horrifying.”
Several days later, Chemlali-Goode was murdered in the same doorway.
“(Abbas) was adamant that she would be able to describe everything about this guy because it was such a strange interaction to her,” Det. Rodriguez said.
Enter Lt. Kathy Franck.
“They called me out of the blue and said, ‘Can you be here?’” Lt. Franck said.
Lt. Frank grabbed her investigative tools and sat down with Abbas.
“I felt she had a job to do; she had to get this person caught,” Lt. Franck said.
For several hours, the two worked putting Abbas’ memories on paper.
“She was guiding me to pull out what was already there,” Abbas said.
"She was very specific about his teeth,” Lt. Franck remembered. “I don’t normally sketch teeth.”
“(The teeth) were long and had a brown outline around every single tooth,” Abbas expained.
After several hours, the two produced a sketch for investigators.
“It was chilling,” Abbas said. “I couldn’t look at it head on.”
6 days later, police got a phone call. A break in the case.
“Anonymous tipster says that this is the person that killed Najat Chemlali Goode,” Det. Rodriguez said.
With other evidence and surveillance footage, Detective Rodriguez tracked down 40-year-old Furqan Syed only to find he had fled the country days before.
When Loudoun County detectives eventually tracked Syed, he was in Dubai. The Loudoun County team got a 'red notice’ and eventually brought Syed back to Loudoun County to stand trial.
A jury found Syed guilty of murder and sentenced him to life plus 21 years.
“If it’s not for that sketch, that anonymous tip might not have come in,” Det. Rodriquez said.
“It felt like a blessing to do some kind of work for my mom and to get some kind of justice for her,” Abbas said, looking back on it.
“Once we heard the verdict, it felt so amazing, so freeing, like I could finally breathe.”
Kathy Frank’s art may not hang in a gallery or sell for millions, but to her, it's more fulfilling.
“There’s not many artists who can say their art is helping solve a crime,” she said.
Sometimes art creates justice.