TRIVIA QUESTION: (don’t tell our historical researcher, we made this one easier). During what DECADE did HPD first use ballistic fingerprinting evidence in court? HINTS: It was a murder case. And the evidence led to the primary suspect changing his testimony and eventually he confessed and was sentenced to life in prison.
SO: The answer was….the 1930s! 1936 to be exact. The murder of John Loker occurred in December of 1935. The FBI ballistics laboratory had only been around since 1932. Shotgun shells from the scene were sent to the FBI lab and the lab was able to confirm that the victim’s gun, which the primary suspect admitted to taking but not firing, had been the one that fired the shells found near the victim.
We have the letter from then FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, confirming the ballistics match and the ballistics specialists from the lab came down to Harrisonburg to testify during the trial. The suspect changed his story and ended up admitting to shooting John Loker during what had started out as a simple burglary. The suspect was given life in prison as was the secondary suspect, John Loker’s nephew.
The case was so convoluted and curious that it was written up in the August 1936 edition of Startling Detective Magazine.
Thanks to everyone for participating!
Original source can be found here.
