That he was able to construct the slain woman's head, which led to her identity and, eventually, the capture of her killer, was one more piece of evidence that Frank Bender deserved his international reputation as the man who could bring the dead back to life.
He died yesterday at age 70 of cancer - the disease that was supposed to have killed him more than a year ago.
"He had a whole extra year than anyone had anticipated," his daughter, Vanessa, told the Inquirer. "And he had a pretty good year."
Gaunt and a mere shadow of the once-robust, muscular ex-boxer he had been, Bender accepted in person the Distinguished Alumni Award of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he once had studied, on May 13.
"He used his artwork to promote social justice and applied his imagination and technical skills to help solve brutal crimes," said Academy president David R. Brigham.
Bender hoped that the subject of the last head he sculpted, that of a woman whose body was found in December 2001 near Easton, would be identified before he died. It wasn't to be.
He said he believed that his strong desire to see her identified had kept him alive so long.
Bender was a frequent guest on TV's "America's Most Wanted," and was written up in major publications in this country and abroad.
His large studio on South Street was littered with sculpted busts of the dead, photos, weapons, books, artwork and other memorabilia that might have reminded a visitor of some of the more macabre exhibits at the Mutter Museum.
He sculpted not only the victims of violence, but mummies, historical figures and a death mask for St. John Neumann.
He boiled rotting heads, sometimes infested with flesh-eating beetles, using bleach and a dash of Borax, in the same pot he used for cooking.
"I make a mean chicken in this pot," he once said.
