A BYTE OUT OF HISTORY
The Case of the Mysterious
Mid-Air Explosion
12/09/05
 Question:
when a plane crashes at high speeds or explodes
thousands of feet above the earth and evidence
is blown to bits and scattered across miles
of land or sea, how do we help figure out
whether it was foul play and who might be
responsible?
The
short answer: very painstakingly—calling
on a range of investigative and forensic
capabilities and working closely with airline
safety experts and other partners.
Here's
a good example—and an historic one,
as it took place 50 years ago and was our
first investigation of a major criminal
attack on a U.S. airline. On November
1, 1955, United Air Lines Flight 629 crashed
on a sugar beet farm some 35 miles north
of its takeoff from Denver. All 44 passengers
and crew—including the wife of an
aide to President Eisenhower and a young
boy—were killed instantly.
Within
days, we had a suspect—23-year-old
Jack Graham, a disturbed delinquent who
we learned had packed a dynamite bomb in
his mother's suitcase, driven her to the
airport, kissed her goodbye, and taken out
four insurance policies on her life.
Here's
a quick run-down of how we solved the case—and
you can learn more by reading the full
story on our History website:
-
First
things first: we sent our Disaster
Squad, a team of forensic experts, to
help identify the bodies. Using our civil
fingerprint records, the investigators identified
nearly half of the victims.
-
Meanwhile,
an agent from our Lab joined experts from
the Civil Aeronautics Board and the airline
and aircraft company in examining the wreckage
for clues. They methodically combed the
crash area along the flight line, picking
up pieces of the wreckage and marking their
location in a carefully plotted grid. Then,
they placed the parts in a scaled-down grid
at a Denver warehouse and reassembled the
fuselage (see photo above). Though the shell
of the plane was basically intact, the right
side of the plane had a jagged hole near
the tail. The location? Cargo pit number
4.
-
The
hole was examined closely. The metal was
bent outward. The fuselage near it was burned
and discolored. And, since there were no
gas lines or tanks in that area of the plane,
the conclusion was evident: there had been
a violent explosion aboard.
-
We
then sent about 100 investigators across
the nation to learn all about the passengers
and crew—as well as their bags. We
quickly ruled out the possibility of an
accidental explosion in a suitcase or piece
of cargo.
-
One
passenger's luggage, though, yielded some
clues. The handbag of Mrs. Daisie King contained
a newspaper article that said her son—Jack
Graham—was wanted for forgery. Hmmm.
And, just a few scraps were all that was
left of another piece of her luggage. We
soon unraveled the whole story—Graham's
criminal past, his dysfunctional relationship
with his mother, and his purchase of explosives
and the insurance policies. When confronted,
Graham confessed. He later recanted, but
the evidence was overwhelming and he was
convicted at trial and eventually executed.
The
upshot? The case helped lay the groundwork
for even more complex airline disasters
down the road—including the downing
of Pan
Am 103 by terrorist bomb in Scotland
in 1988.
Resources:
FBI History website
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