In the United States in 1994, Darryl Kuehl brutally murdered a retired Idaho schoolteacher and buried him in the crawlspace of his own Sandpoint, Idaho house.  Thanks in part to Compu-Sketch, a Windows-based composite sketching program manufactured and marketed by ASI (then called Digital Descriptor Systems, Inc.), Idaho State Police were able to identify and soon apprehend their suspect.

Nearly 13 years later, Compu-Sketch once again played a role in this case.  This time it made its appearance as the Idaho State Police retell the story of the Paul Gruber murder on Court TV’s “Forensic Files,” 9 p.m. on April 18.

Immediately after the murder, Kuehl took on the identity of his victim, took his car, boat and television set, and even sent birthday cards to family members, hoping they would think he was still alive.  Family members soon became suspicious.  Compu-Sketch was used by the Idaho State Police to generate an image of the suspect, who was arrested for the murder some 20 months later.  He remains in prison on a life sentence.

The case has long drawn interest, so much so that producers decided to dedicate an episode of “Forensic Files” to it.  Because Compu-Sketch was such an integral part of solving the case, ASI was contacted to once again use the system, which the state police no longer had available to them.

“We not only obliged the Idaho State Police in their request, we donated a copy for future use,” said Anthony Shupin, ASI CEO.  “Compu-Sketch remains an innovative and effective way for criminal investigators to find their suspects.”

Known as the “Sketch artist on a disk,” Compu-Sketch is computer software that contains a library of more than 40,000 artist-rendered physical features and uses pull-down menus to simply define specific features and accessories.  A built-in witness module helps stimulate memory, assuring a most accurate sketch.

It is just one of many integrated enterprise-wide image applications specifically designed for criminal justice organizations developed by ASI.  Customers include states, cities, counties, corrections, justice, and public safety agencies.

For more information, please send your e-mails to swm@infothe.com.

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