Sketch artist’s uncannily lifelike image helped to identify man in ‘John Doe’ death case
By Deborah Weiner
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BALTIMORE (WBAL) — Changing technology is enhancing how sketch artists can help police solve cases, as evidenced by a recent sketch in Baltimore that helped to provide closure to a family.
When the identity of a person — who sometimes may be a victim of a crime — is unknown, they are referred to as “John Does.”
That’s where Michael Streed’s sketches come in, having helped police solve kidnappings, murders, robberies and much more over decades.
A recent John Doe case was particularly brought to life, not just by the artist’s expertise, but also by a new tool that produced startling results.
It was a gripping image, a picture that couldn’t be ignored.
But this was no photograph. Rather, it was a lifelike sketch that went viral on social media.
“There’s that hybrid blend of photography and art, so people don’t take it too literal, but yet, at the same time, it causes it to jump off the screen and get people’s attention,” Streed told WBAL-TV 11 News Investigates.
Late last month, police officers found an unresponsive man near Lombard Street and Market Place in Downtown Baltimore. The victim had no identification and had been experiencing homelessness. Investigators called the man’s death suspicious.
Without a name, he was considered a John Doe.
That’s where Streed comes in.
A retired police sergeant known as the “Sketch Cop,” WBAL-TV 11 News first met Streed in 2017, reporting on how he has produced thousands of forensic sketches, many for the Baltimore Police Department.
Streed, who now works virtually from California, receives photographs of the deceased and incorporates artificial intelligence to create images. It’s a far cry from how his sketch work appeared in 1979, and how it has evolved over the years.
“It helps me enhance what’s there. It helps me become a better artist and be able to serve the decedents themselves and their families, and the detectives much better,” Streed told WBAL-TV 11 News Investigates.
AI, anthropology, Photoshop and a keen artist’s eye gave the downtown John Doe case unprecedented humanity.
When the Shields family saw Streed’s sketch on social media, they knew instantly that it was Marcell Shields.
“This picture was the first thing on my timeline. As soon as I saw it, I immediately knew it was my brother,” Brittni Shields, Marcell’s sister, told WBAL-TV 11 News Investigates.
The eyes in the image made him look familiar; the mouth and chin were just like Marcell’s.
“It was spot on,” Brittni Shields told WBAL-TV 11 News Investigates.
The family covets the “before” pictures from Marcell’s childhood, before the 37-year-old struggled with mental illness and homelessness after he left his job at 7-Eleven. The family had driven around to Marcell’s typical haunts to check on him; he always refused help but was happy to see them.
“I would just go downtown to ride around to look for him, that’s how I would find him, and I hadn’t been able to find him,” Brittni Shields told WBAL-TV 11 News Investigates. “Days later, I see this sketch and it broke my heart.”
“Even though they’re homeless, even though they may suffer from mental illness, there is someone, somewhere that is thinking about them, that is praying for them and just hoping that, one day, things will get better,” Marcell’s aunt, Erica Shields, told WBAL-TV 11 News Investigates.
But for the sketch from Streed, the family might never have known that Marcell was not only unreachable; he was gone.
“I just have to thank the artist for the accuracy because we wouldn’t have known,” Brittni Shields told WBAL-TV 11 News Investigates.
“I didn’t like reading about how he died,” Streed told WBAL-TV 11 News Investigates. “I was so grateful I was able to do something to help his family and help him.”
Streed’s sketches have led to high-profile convictions, including the killer of Rachel Morin in Harford County.
The Shields family also hopes the sketch can help answer questions for them about what is believed to be a pedestrian hit-and-run case. Anyone with information about what happened to Marcell around 2:15 a.m. on Jan. 28, 2026, is asked to call Baltimore police.
The Shields family established an online fundraiser to help lay Marcell to rest.
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