
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 15, 1991                   TAG: 9103150112
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.                                LENGTH: Short

COMPUTERS AID SEARCH FOR CHILDREN

The latest - and perhaps most promising - weapon in the arsenal to recover missing children provides a high-tech method of creating images of what the children would look like as they grow older.

What was once possible only after a composite artist spent several days poring over old photos of a missing child is now possible in a few hours, according to Horace Heafner, computer age-progression specialist for the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in Arlington, Va. The computer images also are considered more accurate representations than sketches.

"It gives a new lead on old cases and it gives a lifelike image that wasn't possible before when we had nothing except drawings," Heafner said. "It means it might be the difference in that child being spotted or not being spotted. I think that's pretty important."

Computerized photo aging is best aimed at cases in which children have been missing at least two years, said Ernest Allen, president of the national center. "Generally, the face doesn't change enough in [less than] two years to make it worthwhile," he said.

by CNB