Latest news with #CrimeoftheCentury
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Yahoo
A New DNA Test Could Potentially Solve the Lindbergh Baby Mystery After 93 Years
This story is a collaboration with As the nation is gripped by the upcoming trial in the case of the 'Long Island Serial Killer,' a surprising breakthrough has come along regarding possible additional victims. Two bodies found 14 years apart near Long Island's Gilgo Beach have finally been identified—and even more shockingly, they're connected. A dismembered adult body found in Hempstead Lake State Park, which had commonly been referred to as 'Peaches' due to a tattoo of the fruit being one of the only defining characteristics to remain, has been identified through DNA analysis as 26-year-old Tanya Jackson. The body of a 2 year old child found roughly 20 miles away from Jackson has been identified as her daughter, Tatiana Dykes. Now, investigators are trying to determine how these two victims died, and if they are connected to killings suspect Rex Heuermann is currently accused of having committed. When a story of modern forensic technology leading to a breakthrough in a cold case comes along, it's common for historians and true crime enthusiasts alike to wonder what would have happened if this tech had been around during some of the more infamous crimes of past eras. It raises the question: Could the cutting-edge DNA analysis currently being deployed in the Gilgo Beach case have secured—or even overturned—the verdicts in some of the most infamous trials of the past century? According to a report in Long Island's Newsday, some believe it still could. In what was called the Crime of the Century, the child of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped and held for ransom on March 1, 1932. The child's dead body would ultimately be recovered not far from Lindbergh's New Jersey home from which they had first been absconded. A German immigrant named Bruno Hauptmann was ultimately convicted of the kidnapping in 1935 and subsequently executed. But with a trial that hinged on elements like analysis of the wood grain of a ladder, some observers (both then and now) have been unconvinced of Hauptmann's guilt—or, at the very least, are convinced Hauptmann did not act alone. Now, as Newsday notes, three of those doubters have come forward with a lawsuit, seeking to utilize the same modern DNA analysis technology deployed to identify the potential victims of the Gilgo Beach killings to re-examine 90-year-old evidence from the Lindbergh case. 'The plaintiffs want access to certain pieces of evidence—namely several envelopes that contain the original ransom notes,' Newsday wrote, '[...] so they can submit the stamps and adhesives for forensic testing to possibly identify others involved in the crime and prove a conspiracy.' An attorney for the plaintiffs, comprised of 'an American history professor at the University of Kansas, a retired New Jersey teacher, and a developmental psychologist,' hope to recover DNA from the adhesive materials in much the same manner as investigators were able to recover samples from the heavily degraded bodies on that Long Island beach. In a statement for the court filing, genetic genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick remarked that 'it has only been recently that DNA testing and analysis have evolved with the potential of testing those envelopes to produce definitive investigative leads that could resolve lingering uncertainties.' While not one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, Fitzpatrick spoke to Newsday about the intended goal of the suit, stating that 'in essence, genetic genealogy could allow researchers to backtrack through public databases to find other modern-day relatives of any potential and long-dead coconspirators in the kidnapping.' She notes that DNA had previously been extracted from 19th century envelopes, so such an effort is not without precedent. The attorney who filed the complaint, Kurt W. Perhach, asserts that such analysis could clarify if Hauptmann had assistance in the crime, including (possibly) an accomplice close to the Lindbergh family. 'There are far too many circumstantial things [in] this case,' Perhach wrote, 'to have any possible belief that one strange person acted alone.' You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Lackluster' former Arizona official finally wins favor with Trump
Well, it took a few years, a finely honed blind eye and a complete capitulation of ethics, but former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich finally has landed a plum job. President Donald Trump on March 28 named Brnovich as the U.S. ambassador to Serbia. 'Mark is a proud Veteran of the Army National Guard, and previously served as Attorney General for the Great State of Arizona,' Trump announced on Truth Social. 'As the son of refugees who fled communism, Mark will be a strong advocate for Freedom, and always put AMERICA FIRST.' Funny, I still recall when Trump referred to him as 'lackluster Attorney General Mark Brnovich.' This, for his refusal to buy into the delusion that Trump really won Arizona in 2020. Indeed, Brnovich was the first statewide official to cross Trump, declaring that Joe Biden legitimately won Arizona. 'It came down to: People split their ticket,' a matter-of-fact Brnovich told Fox Business' Neil Cavuto on Nov. 11, 2020, as Arizona politicians all around him were diving for cover. 'People voted for Republicans down ballot, and they didn't vote for President Trump or (Senate candidate) Martha McSally. So, that's the reality.' Opinion: Brnovich can blame himself for his Senate free fall But Brnovich had his eye on a U.S. Senate seat in 2022 and quickly became less forthcoming when it came to facts. He is perhaps best known as the attorney general who turned his office into a cheap campaign tool as he chased after a Trump endorsement that would never come. He's the attorney general who dispatched investigators on a yearlong examination of the 2020 election in the wake of the state Senate audit, then in March 2022 hid the report that they found no evidence of any widespread fraud. He's the guy who instead released an interim report a month later, insinuating that something nefarious was afoot — a report that Trump and the conspiracy crowd used to further promote their claim that Arizona's election was dirty. But if you read that interim report claiming 'serious vulnerabilities' and 'instances of election fraud,' you found out that those 'instances' numbered exactly nine. Nine out of 3.4 million votes cast. And that's not counting then-state Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward, then-incoming Rep. Jake Hoffman and the other phony Trump electors who in December 2020 signed a document avowing that they had been 'duly elected' to cast Arizona's electoral votes for the guy who didn't win the election. It would be up to Brnovich's successor, Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes, to investigate the fake electors' scheme to steal Arizona's election. Somehow, Brnovich never quite found the time. Despite his capitulation, he never got the coveted Trump endorsement. Instead, Trump dubbed him a 'lackluster' attorney general who didn't go after 'the Crime of the Century that took place during the 2020 election, which was Rigged and Stolen.' Possibly because all the actual evidence showed it wasn't. Not rigged. Not stolen. And certainly not the Crime of the Century. Yet even after Brnovich's loss to the Trump-endorsed Blake Masters in the Republican primary, with five months remaining in his term, he never relocated his ethics to launch an investigation into the fake electors. Turns out, that was the smart move. Because now Brnovich is packing up his nunchucks (hey, if you know, you know) and heading to Serbia. Proving there is hope yet for Kelli Ward, the fake elector whose loyalty to Trump was eventually rewarded with a criminal indictment accusing her of felony fraud, forgery and conspiracy. Maybe ... ambassador to Siberia? Reach Roberts at Follow her on X (formerly Twitter) at @LaurieRobertsaz, on Threads at @LaurieRobertsaz and on BlueSky at @ Like this column? Get more opinions straight into your email inbox by signing up for our free opinions newsletter, which publishes Monday through Friday. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Trump rewards former Arizona leader who hid election report | Opinion
