Diarmid Mogg bought six mug shots on eBay for a few pounds, each with attached police file cards. One card named Martin Fobes, arrested in 1948 in New Castle, Pennsylvania. Researching Fobes led Mogg to the death of 18-year-old Anna Grace Robertson, found unconscious on a street after being seen with him. The case stayed unresolved.

Martin Fobes denied remembering the night Anna Grace was found battered and bleeding. Witnesses placed him with her at the Rex Café and later saw him leave with her. She died three days later from brain hemorrhages. Police charged Fobes only with leaving the scene of a crime. Mogg compiled the story and launched Small Town Noir, chronicling New Castle through criminal records.

The project pairs archival mug shots with newspaper research, resurrecting lives from old portraits and arrest details. Mogg's eBay find became the start of a years-long effort documenting ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances through New Castle's criminal history.