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The medical examinerвЂ™s office broke the news to NydenвЂ™s family in Virginia, and the police were able to investigate, finding no foul play.

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The deceased had a name, Donald Nyden, and he was 68. Nelson and her colleagues were able to track down medical records for the man, compare how they matched the body found in the river and confirm the manвЂ™s identity. She thought she recognized the man from her shelter she also remembered his T-shirt. Almost immediately, a staffer at an area homeless shelter called. Koppelman emailed the image to Nelson, who posted it on social media and sent it to the local news. The finished portrait depicted a man with a glint in his eyes and a slight, thoughtful smile playing on his lips, wearing the beige T-shirt heвЂ™d been found in and backed by a beautiful summer sky.

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Using software called Corel Photo-Paint, he smoothed out the manвЂ™s complexion, filled in his beard and thinned his cheeks and lips.

What moves had death and the river made? How might he counter them? Adept at tamping down fear and revulsion after years at this avocation, he studied the images the way a grand master studies a chessboard. His portraits had solved cases before, and Nelson, who knew his skills to be вЂњphenomenal,вЂќ was hoping he could work his magic again.Д«ut when he sat down at his weathered oak desk and opened the images on his monitor, Koppelman quickly realized this drowned manвЂ™s face was going to be one of the hardest heвЂ™d ever worked on. Unlike police sketches, KoppelmanвЂ™s portraits have a soulfulness to the eyes and a vivacity in the features, so that whatever death has done to the people they portrayп»ї -п»ї even if it has reduced them to skeletonsп»ї -п»ї he can make them look alive. Yet he has gained a reputation among detectives, medical examiners and fellow sleuths for his portraits of the dead.

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He does not work for a government agency or university and is technically an amateur, being largely self-taught and a solo operator, working for free at the asking. Koppelman is not a detective or a forensic anthropologist. She left certain things unsaid: As usual, she was hoping for a fast turnaround. вЂњCarl, this is Elizabeth from the Spokane M.E.вЂ™s office,вЂќ she wrote. So, the investigator went to Facebook and messaged the one person she thought could make the dead man look as he had in life: Carl Koppelman, a 50-something accountant then living in El Segundo, California, in the suburban house where he lovingly cared for his ailing mother. A name is the very least that should accompany the dead when they are put to rest. But there is also the question of dignity. Without a name, she couldnвЂ™t inform the manвЂ™s family of his death or return his remains, and the police would have a tough time investigating foul play. Nelson sees each unidentified body as a problem both practical and existential. вЂњEven if this were your family member, you wouldnвЂ™t have recognized him,вЂќ Nelson told me. A tall, bald man with a long gray beard, he carried no wallet and offered few clues as to his identity. He appeared to have been dead for at least two weeks, and that time in the water had radically altered the shape of his face, lips and eyes. An investigator in the Spokane County, Washington, medical examinerвЂ™s office at the time, Nelson was in the morgue, looking down at the body of a man whom authorities had retrieved from a logjam in the Spokane River. Which is why, in June 2016, Elizabeth Nelson had a problem.

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