Murder: Did You Need Quotes ...

. . . here?

"He was about 5 feet 10, maybe 6 feet tall, in his early 20s, medium build," Cortez said, adding he was wearing "blue jeans, a blue plaid-button-up shirt, and blue tennis shoes."

"He had a scarf, a floral scarf, tied around the lower part of his face, cowboy style. It covered the bottom half of his face," she said.There really isn't any difference between quoting this or paraphrasing this. As a quote, it really doesn't add a more human tone or voice than it would as a paraphrase.

If a quote is dull, technical or lacks a human-sounding voice, you're probably better off just paraphrasing the person, like this:

The suspect was between 5-feet-10-inches and 6-feet tall, in his early 20s and with a medium build, Cortez said, adding he was wearing blue jeans, a blue plaid-button-up shirt, and blue tennis shoes.

He had a floral scarf tied around the lower part of his face, cowboy style, that covered the bottom half of his face, she said.