and finally tonight we're revisiting a near century-old New Jersey crime that captured the attention of the nation the 1932 kidnapping and murder of famous Aviator Charles Lindbergh's infant son it spurred a four-year investigation that's still one of the largest and most complex in State history and was the first major criminal prosecution to rely on what was then considered state-of-the-art forensic technology to analyze evidence found at Lindbergh's home in Hopewell a German immigrant was found guilty and executed for the crime but close followers never believed he acted alone despite the interest state courts continue rejecting calls for re-examination of that evidence using new DNA testing contributing writer Jeff Pillets dug into the archives for an update on this Saga and joins me now so Jeff in your reporting you Revisited this case from 90 years ago but what has transpired there's some new interest in reopening the evidence to some new testing over the years there's been researchers historians writers who's been interested in looking at the evidence center from an analytical point of view DNA testing forensic testing and a group of researchers got together last year and wanted to do that and the state wouldn't allow them to do it they denied their open record suit to gain access to a small piece of the information that they would analyze under the state supervision and they they filed a lawsuit against the State against the state police and they lost what was the Court's argument as to why this could it be reopened as you mentioned it was an open public records act which anyone in the public could file right the court agreed with the state and the state police saying that some of the evidence might be destroyed in the course of scientific analysis uh they also said that they're a researcher and the filmmaker who she was working with didn't really have standing to access the information they weren't a family member so they said anybody who wants just can't come up and get resources from the state in a state museum for scientific analysis what is the researcher hope to find as we said this is nearly a hundred year old case of course there have been many conspiracies over the years what are they looking for well specifically what they're looking for is they want to test the ransom notes themselves there's a series of 14 or 15 Ransom notes they were sealed somebody licked them somebody licked stamps and put them on there and they want to test the saliva for DNA there has never to see basically if there was anybody besides the man who was convicted there's been a raft of thinking over the years that others have been involved in the case others were involved in the kidnapping that hauptman himself could have never pulled this off alone an uneducated immigrant from the Bronx how did he know enough to do this how did he put a ladder on the side of the house in the middle of the night or early in the evening so these this case from the very beginning has has prompted these sorts of questions basically because howickman never really confessed to it even when he was going to the electric chair he did not confess it he there was never anything any witnesses to it and there was basically circumstantial evidence very strong strong circumstantial evidence convincing circumstantial evidence that convinced the jury in 1935 during the trial but still there were questions and Mysteries and even the the archivists the chief archivists of the State Police who's been in charge of the material for many years uh it says that himself there's tons of questions and open areas and things we don't know about this kidnapping the saga continues Jeff Pillets very interesting story thanks so much thank you Brianna