Mr.
Schiff: Hi, welcome to "FBI 100, A Closer
Look." I'm Neal Schiff of the Bureau's Office
of Public Affairs along with FBI Historian Dr.
John Fox. John, early March, 1932, a terrible
thing happened in New Jersey?
Dr.
Fox: "Yes Neal, the home of Charles Lindbergh,
famed aviator, a kidnaper stole his son and eventually
killed him."
Mr. Schiff: What role did the FBI play in
the investigation? There were a lot of police
agencies involved?
Dr.
Fox: "The FBI worked closely with a number
of agencies including the New Jersey State Police
who had primary jurisdiction. The New York City
Police who were also heavily involved and a number
of federal agencies. Our services included things
like providing lab services. It was in the early
days of our Lab's creation. We did handwriting
analysis and some other analysis of the evidence.
We also followed up on out of state leads since
of course we had a national scope to our operations
unlike New Jersey or New York police."
Mr.
Schiff: This
was in the early days of the FBI Lab?
Dr.
Fox: "In fact the Lab was officially created
only a few months after the Lindbergh kidnapping.
And so it was very much in the early days of forensic
science. A lot of the techniques that we practice
today weren't available then. In fact of lot of
them were to be developed by the FBI Lab and other
police labs around the country."
Mr.
Schiff:
What impact did the Lindbergh kidnapping case
investigation, etc., have on the FBI?
Dr.
Fox: "The immediate impact was to spur Congress
to pass the Federal Kidnapping Act. One month
after the body of Charles Lindbergh Jr was found,
Congress passed an act making kidnapping a federal
crime. And so the FBI then would have primary
jurisdiction in kidnapping cases if a victim was
not recovered within a week."
Mr.
Schiff:
Learn more about the 1932 Lindbergh kidnapping
case on the Internet at www.fbi.gov. From the
FBI's Public Affairs office, along with Bureau
Historian Dr. John Fox, I'm Neal Schiff with "FBI
100, A Closer Look."
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