Only Superman

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A 19 year old male was working the graveyard shift at a major oil company filling station on a central Texas freeway when the unexpected happened. Sheriff's deputies arrived to find the cash drawer open and money scattered all over the floor along with the victim's wallet. When the money was counted only about 29 cents was missing from the cash drawer but more than 30 dollars was missing from the victim's wallet. A composite drawing was indicated.

The victim said he never saw the suspect directly but got just a fraction of a second glimpse of him in a glass door reflection just before he was knocked unconscious. He believed the robber emptied his wallet first and then dropped the cash drawer when he was surprised by a customer driving up. Evidently this customer is the one who called the Sheriff's Office. The customer never saw the suspect.

At this time I didn't have a copy of the FBI catalog of facial features and developed composites by playing 20 questions (usually 200 questions) with the witness. I was truly amazed at how much detail the victim was able to give from just a glimpse in a glass door. The more the composite developed the more familiar the face became and I was about to believe that I would be able to solve the crime on the spot. Finally I realized who I was drawing. This was Superman from the TV Superman series. That completed the message the victim was giving me, "Only Superman could have done this to a macho stud guy like me!" Case closed.

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