Marine Corps Vietnam Veteran Helps Solve Major Crimes
Harvey Pratt nurtured a talent for art while serving in the Marine Corps. After his service, the Vietnam War veteran used that talent to become one of the nation’s preeminent forensic artists and helped solve some of its most notorious crimes. Video by Elijah Light, DOD
Harvey began his career with the Midwest City Police Department in 1965 where he did his first witness description drawing a year later. This first attempt in forensic arts resulted in an arrest and conviction.
He joined the OSBI in 1972 as a narcotics investigator and retired in 1992 as an Assistant Director.
His expertise in witness description drawing, skull reconstruction, skull tracing, age progression, soft tissue postmortem drawing and restoration of photographs and videos have aided law enforcement agencies both nationally and internationally. Harvey’s skills have assisted law enforcement in many high profile cases.
A few of those cases are as follows: Green River Killer (Gary Ridgeway), BTK Killer (Dennis Rader), Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders (Gene Leroy Hart), Henry Lee Lucas and Ottis Toole, Bobby Joe Long, I-5 Killer (Randall Woodfield), Tommy Lynn Sells, World Trade Center 1993 bombing, Sirloin Stockade Murders (Roger Dale Stafford, Verna Stafford and Harold Stafford), Joe Fischer, Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot, Roger Wheeler Murder (Winter Hill Gang case – James J. “Whitey” Bulger, Stephen Flemmi and Johnny Martorano), the Oklahoma City Bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Donald Eugene Webb, Oklahoma State Fair Abducted Girls (Roy Russell Long), the Weather Underground Organization and Randolph Dial.
Case studies From the Harvey Pratt official website
Case Example: The investigation of the disappearance of two young girls from the Oklahoma State Fair, and investigated by the Oklahoma City Police Department, involved the drawing of a suspect by two female witnesses. The drawing was done in color based on the witnesses’ clarity and to help with recall. The drawing led the investigation to Roy Russell Long who admitted he was with the children and had hired them to unload items from his truck. Since the children were never found, an Oklahoma County district judge ruled there was insufficient evidence against Long and dismissed the charges. Long died in a Wyoming prison where he was serving a life sentence for the deaths of two hitchhikers. This drawing was disseminated nation-wide and led the investigators to Roy Russell Long.
Case Example: The victim in this case left her car running outside a convenience store for less then a minute and when she returned the suspect was hiding in the back seat, forcing her to drive to the outskirts of town. Harvey was contacted three days after the assault. He completed the drawing and before leaving the police department, one of the investigators recognized the individual in the composite. Within the same day, the victim positively identified the suspect. The suspect was convicted of kidnapping, assault, robbery and rape.
Case Example: Perhaps one of the most inconceivable and horrific crimes in Oklahoma’s history, the Girl Scout Murders forever stole the State’s innocence.
On June 13, 1977, counselors at Camp Scott, near Locust Grove, Oklahoma, woke up to a horrendous discovery. Lori Lee Farmer, age 8, Doris Denise Milner, 10, and Michelle Guse, 9, were found murdered near the Kiowa camp area. All three girls had been sexually assaulted.
Within a short time, the manhunt focused on Gene Leroy Hart, a thirty-six year old Native American born in the area. Hart had been convicted of raping two pregnant women and had escaped from the Mayes County Jail September 16, 1973. He had been at large for more than four years. Hart was able to elude capture for over 10 months and on April 16, 1978, OSBI agents acting on information provided by an informant, captured Hart in a small house in a heavily wooded area in Adair County.
National Native American Veterans Memorial
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian has announced the winning concept design for the National Native American Veterans Memorial: Cheyenne and Arapaho artist Harvey Pratt’s Warriors’ Circle of Honor will be located on the museum grounds on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
The design incorporates symbols and elements common to many native traditions: fire, water, wind, drums, the cardinal points, and the circle shape. The memorial creates an interactive yet intimate space for gathering, remembrance, reflection, and healing.
Groundbreaking for the memorial is slated for September 21, 2019. It is slated to open Veterans Day, 2020.
Pratt, a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, along with his team, wife Gina Pratt and son Nathan Pratt said they were stunned when receiving the phone call informing them they had been selected.“The first day they told us the Smithsonian called right after and already had six interviews lined up. When they called us I didn’t have my glasses on and Gina said, ‘I think this is the Smithsonian.’ I ran over got my glasses and said yes it is. I was kind of surprised. He (Kevin Gover) called us up and said, ‘I have some good news and I have some bad news, which do you want first?’ Gina said well the good news and he said, ‘well the good news is you won, and the bad news is now you gotta do it,’” Pratt laughed. Indianz tells the story.