Flawed FBI forensic testing derailed justice for nearly five decades in a brutal New Hampshire murder case, finally solved through modern DNA technology that exposed the bureau’s catastrophic laboratory failures.
Story Summary
- FBI’s faulty hair analysis incorrectly cleared the real killer in 1975, halting prosecution for 50 years.
- Young mother Judith Lord was sexually assaulted and strangled by her neighbor while her toddler survived in another room.
- Modern DNA testing vindicated the original investigators and identified Ernest Theodore Gable as the murderer.
- FBI admitted in 2015 that nearly all microscopic hair comparisons produced flawed results nationwide.
FBI Laboratory Failures Derailed Justice
The FBI’s forensic laboratory delivered catastrophically flawed results that prevented justice for Judith Lord’s family. When investigators submitted hair evidence from the 1975 crime scene, the FBI’s microscopic comparison test incorrectly concluded that the suspect, Ernest Theodore Gable, could not have contributed the hairs.
This erroneous finding created an insurmountable obstacle for prosecutors who were prepared to indict Gable, effectively shutting down the entire investigation despite overwhelming circumstantial evidence pointing to his guilt.
Killer identified half a century after young mom murdered in her home, New Hampshire authorities say. https://t.co/sKTxmOjyHB
— CBS News (@CBSNews) November 25, 2025
Brutal Crime Against Defenseless Young Mother
Judith Lord, just 22 years old, was discovered dead in her Concord apartment on May 20, 1975, after a maintenance worker entered to collect unpaid rent and heard her 20-month-old son crying. Investigators determined Lord had fought desperately against her attacker before being sexually assaulted and strangled to death.
The child was found unharmed in his crib, spared from witnessing his mother’s final moments. Multiple witnesses revealed Lord feared her next-door neighbor, Gable, whose fingerprints were discovered on her apartment windows.
Modern DNA Technology Exposes Truth
Advanced forensic techniques finally delivered the justice that eluded investigators for half a century. DNA testing conclusively matched seminal fluid evidence to Ernest Theodore Gable, confirming what dedicated detectives suspected decades earlier.
The breakthrough came after the FBI and Department of Justice formally acknowledged in 2015 that microscopic hair analysis had produced unreliable results in nearly every case. New forensic testing correctly identified the crime scene hairs as belonging to Gable, vindicating the original investigators’ instincts.
Killer Escaped Earthly Justice
Ernest Theodore Gable never faced trial for his heinous crime, having been stabbed to death in Los Angeles in February 1987 at age 36. New Hampshire authorities formally closed Lord’s case as solved, stating they would have pursued first-degree murder charges for both the strangulation and the killing committed during sexual assault.
Attorney General John Formella praised the original Concord Police investigators for their diligence, noting they were “thwarted by flawed forensic technology of the era” that prevented them from securing justice when it mattered most.
