Artist helps identify nearly 300 sets of unidentified remains across Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) -- Nearly 300 sets of unidentified remains found across Clark County need identifying, leading the coroner’s office to request the help of an artist to give the nameless a face.

The office is contracting with Stephen Missal, a forensic sketch artist based near Phoenix, Arizona, to create lifelike drawings of the dead.

"I was an artist since I was five," Missal said. "It's just who I am."

The coroner’s office sends Missal images of remains, sometimes bones, and other times photos of a deceased person. He then creates eyebrows and ears, cheeks and chins for the unknown.

Missal is giving faces to the unidentified, something he says is helping to restore their humanity.

"It is a big deal," he said. "For me, it's more than a portrait. It's a portrait that has a purpose. Th