Scripting the Truth

Who Killed Lindbergh's Baby

PBS Airdate: January 30, 2013

SARGUR SRIHARI (University of Buffalo): A computer can do a lot more than a document examiner can do.

NARRATOR: Srihari's pattern-recognition software can isolate words and letters from multiple documents and compare them by precisely measuring their slope, height, width and contour.

SARGUR SRIHARI: And we are to do that for every letter of the English alphabet.

NARRATOR: Srihari analyzed Hauptmann's writing first, taking the Begg letters and comparing them to six of the ransom notes.

SARGUR SRIHARI: The results of comparison of the ransom notes and Hauptmann writing are shown here at the individual letter-pair level and, as well as, individual character level.

NARRATOR: Each comparison gets a score. Positive values indicate a higher probability the writing is from the same person; negative values, a lower probability.

SARGUR SRIHARI: For instance, the letter, the letter pair AM or A-M has a fairly high negative score, indicating that they don't seem to be written by the same individual. There are some positives, as well. So, what matters is the sum total of all of these things. And that total turns out to be negative, indicating that it is unlikely that Hauptmann wrote the ransom notes.

NARRATOR: If Srihari is correct, then Hauptmann did have a co-conspirator who wrote the notes. And could it be John Knoll?

PRODUCED AND DIRECTED BY

Larry Klein

WRITTEN BY

Mark Olshaker & Larry Klein

CO-PRODUCER

Mark Olshaker

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

Sara Crosby

EDITED BY

Sam Green

CAMERA

Gary Henoch

SOUND RECORDIST

Dave Manahan

LIGHTING

Ken Perham

ART DIRECTION

Katha Seidman

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Doug Quade

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Jay O. Sanders

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Will Toubman

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Sean Bohan

ARCHIVAL MATERIAL

Getty Images
Historic Films
ITN Source
Library of Congress
"Lindbergh: Eagle of the USA" recording - David Giovannoni
Museum of Science, Boston
National Archives
National Museum of Health and Medicine
New Jersey State Police Museum
Pan Am Historical Foundation
The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
Spiegel TV
WETA TV, Washington
UCLA Film and Television Archive
University of South Carolina Moving Image Research Collections

SPECIAL THANKS

Albert Elias Rehab Group, Antar Simmons
Greg Ball
Mark Falzini
First Church and Parish, Dedham, MA
Flemington, New Jersey Township Council
Hunterton County Historic Courthouse
Kevin Klein and Jeanne Fulton
Glenn Langenburg
New Jersey Office of the Attorney General
Orville Tillet
Woodlawn Cemetery

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A NOVA production by Lawrence Klein Productions, LLC for WGBH

© 2013 WGBH Educational Foundation
All rights reserved

Image

(letter handwriting)

© Franck-Boston/iStock

Sargur Srihari

University of Buffalo