Harvey Pratt, Designer of the National Native American Veterans Memorial, Dies at 84

Harvey Pratt, a self-taught Native American artist and longtime forensic artist who designed the National Native American Veterans Memorial in Washington, died on Dec. 31 at his home in Guthrie, Okla. He was 84; his son Nathan said the cause was stomach cancer. Mr. Pratt spent 45 years with the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, where his murals hang in the headquarters, and he produced sketches, airbrushed photographs and facial reconstructions used in high-profile cases, including the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and efforts to identify victims of serial killers such as Ted Bundy and the Green River Killer.

He began doing forensic sketches while a police officer in Midwest City; his first sketch led to an arrest and conviction, and he later said he had done about 5,000 drawings. Hired by the state bureau in 1972 as a narcotics officer, he rose into supervisory roles, served as interim director in 2010 and retired in 2017.

He was inducted into the Oklahoma Law Enforcement Hall of Fame in 2012. His memorial design was chosen from more than 120 submissions; the National Native American Veterans Memorial, featuring an upright stainless-steel circle balanced on a carved stone drum, opened in 2020 and was inspired in part by his grandfather’s description of Native people as "circle people." It is unclear whether his forensic sketch of the masked Islamic State figure known as Jihadi John played a role in that man’s later identification, the report said.

Key Topics

Culture, Harvey Pratt, Forensic Art, Oklahoma State Bureau, Oklahoma City Bombing, Smithsonian