In one, a lady appears to have been shot dead on the bed while sleeping.
A man lies sprawling on the floor next to her, his night clothes stained with blood.
The room is in a disarray.
There is blood on the floor and tiny hand prints on the bathroom tiles.
More than 70 years later, they are still used by forensic investigators.
Frances Glessner Lee was born in Chicago.
Her father, John Jacob Glessner, was an industrialist who became wealthy from International Harvester.
Her brother, however, went to Harvard.
Around the same time, she began work on the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death.
Lee created her crime scenes from actual police cases but the design of each dollhouse was her own invention.
Many display middle-class decor with garish decorations and tawdry furnishings.
Lee built the dolls and painted them.
The detail in each model is astounding.
The lights work, cabinets open to reveal actual linens, whisks whisk, and rolling pins roll.
Lee and Ralph Moser together built 20 models but only 18 survived.
The models are not accessible to the public, but anyone with professional interest may arrange a private viewing.
Sources:Telegraph/National Institutes of Health/Death in Diorama/Baltimore Sun
