An arrest has been made in the murder of 21-year-old Arizona State University student Kyleigh Sousa, and the Monday morning quarterbacking of how the Tempe Police Department handled the investigation has commenced.
First up: KPHO.
About a week after Sousa was murdered in Tempe, the Tempe Police Department released a sketch of the person they thought was responsible for her death -- and it looked like a hazy side-shot of Dr. Bruce banner after someone made him angry. It also looks nothing like the guy arrested for the murder.
Today, we learned that a second, more-human-looking sketch was created but was never released to the public.
According to KPHO, that sketch was made when retired police sketch artist Jim Bryant contacted the TV station and offered to help create a more-accurate image than the one distributed by police.
KPHO says Bryant felt the TPD's sketch was inadequate, and, after speaking with a witness, he created his own.
KPHO was asked by Tempe police to not release Bryant's sketch because it could hurt the investigation (as if the original crappy sketch was doing anything to help the investigation). KPHO complied and didn't release the sketch.
Yesterday, at a press conference, at which Tempe police announced they'd made an arrest in the case, it became clear the second sketch looked more like the suspect, 20-year-old Joseluis Marquez, than did the first one. It's not like Marquez would be looking in a mirror, but it at least looks like a person.KPHO reporter Sarah Buduson tried to ask Tempe police spokesman Sergeant Steve Carbajal about the second sketch -- but he refused to comment. He pulled off his KPHO microphone and walked away.
(Check out the footage of Carbajal refusing to comment on the second sketch here.)
Apparently, it's a touchy subject for the department, which has been highly criticized for the way in which it conducted the investigation into Sousa's murder.
Despite not talking to KPHO, Carbajal spoke to New Times this afternoon to explain why the second sketch wasn't released.
He says, the sketch was made outside of the scope of the investigation and detectives weren't sure how accurate it was. They believed it would only create confusion if released to the public, which could compromise their investigation.
Carbajal, however, chose "not to make a judgment call" on whether the second sketch looks more like Marquez than the one distributed by his department.
