The Sixteenth Rail: The Evidence, the Scientist, and the Lindbergh Kidnapping

In 1932, the "Crime of the Century" shocked the world: the infant son of aviation hero Charles Lindbergh was snatched from his second-story nursery. Left behind at the scene was a single, handmade wooden ladder—the only physical link to the kidnapper.

While the nation clamored for vengeance and the media descended into a frenzy, a mild-mannered wood technologist from Wisconsin named Arthur Koehler began a quiet, methodical pursuit of justice. Ar...