By day, Norma Dieppa wore the midnight-blue uniform of a Coral Gables police detective, investigating crimes involving children.

At night, she shed the blues in favor of T-shirts and jeans, the uniform of her other love -- sketching, painting and working with clay.

Sometimes, though, Dieppa's two worlds collided.

Beginning about a decade ago, Dieppa used the tools of her art life -- pencil and a sketch pad -- to help solve crimes as a police sketch artist.

Then, earlier this year, she built a clay face from the skull of an unidentified 1980s-era North Miami murder victim -- leading to fresh leads in one of the city's coldest cases.

The North Miami Police Department honored their colleague from the south -- who retired from the Coral Gables department last August -- with a crystal plaque at a ceremony last week.

``She painstakingly reconstructed the face of the victim, which took many long hours,'' North Miami Major Ron Simpson said at the ceremony honoring Dieppa. ``She would not accept payment for her services, even though at the time there was grant funding available for such procedures.''

Dieppa, who is pursuing a master's degree in criminology during her retirement, was recognized as part of the North Miami Police Department's quarterly awards ceremony.

Dieppa grew up in Miami and attended the University of Miami, from which she graduated with a bachelor's degree in anthropology in 1986.

After college, she applied for a job as a police dispatcher -- and fell in love with the career.

``It is something I kind of just fell into,'' she said.

Dieppa worked as a dispatcher for about eight years before she applied for a police officer position and then graduated from the police academy.

She began her career as a road patrol officer working the day shift from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Two years later, she joined the detective bureau working with Coral Gables schools to solve crimes either by or against children.

She said the hardest to handle were the abuse cases.

``It begins to weigh heavy on your shoulders,'' she said.

Coral Gables interim police Chief Richard Naue said that Dieppa did something others couldn't: ``She found her niche,'' he said. ``She was an invaluable member of our department.''

But Dieppa's greatest love -- other than children -- was her art. When she was a dispatcher, people began to notice Dieppa's doodles.

Once she became a police officer, she was asked to draw several pieces of stolen jewelry, based on the description by the victim.

Dieppa drew a gecko encrusted with rubies and diamonds and several ornate, one-of-kind broaches.

Shortly after that, leaders of the department asked her if she could draw faces. Dieppa began taking forensic art classes, and then went on to the FBI Academy, where she learned about facial reconstruction.

``I would use practice skulls to see if I could do it,'' she said.

Dieppa was giving a lecture about composite drawing and facial reconstruction to crime scene investigators and criminology students when a North Miami officer suggested she look at the city's two-decade-old case involving the city's only unidentified homicide victim.

The man's body was found dumped in a mangrove patch in North Miami in the early 1980s.

``We were really optimistic that the face could help us identify him,'' said Shannon.

Major Larry Juriga said they have still not identified the man, but the clay face has definitely sparked interest.

``Someone is going to recognize him,'' he said.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@