Meet Detective X, the Founder of Federal Forensic Science

In 2014, Kristen Frederick-Frost, then a curator at the museum of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), found a cardboard box. She was looking through the archives, housed in a cold room in the basement of the agency's facility in Gaithersburg, Maryland, searching for a few artifacts relating to Wilmer Souder. Souder was a former employee of the agency, then known as the National Bureau of Standards, who helped establish the first FBI crime lab eight decades ago. Frederick-Frost had heard of Souder from a few mentions of NIST's history, but she wasn't expecting to find much.

Instead, inside the box, Frederick-Frost discovered nine notebooks full of meticulous notes about some of the most sensational criminal trials of the day, according to a recent article posted on the NIST website. Souder, she determined, was a man ahead of his time, whose contributions to forensic science had been shortchanged when his legacy was lost. And his rediscovered work could help forensic scientists address challenges facing the field today.

John Butler, special assistant to the director of forensic science at NIST and expert in DNA-based forensic analysis, collaborated with Frederick-Frost to help uncover Souder's legacy. "Souder was lost to history. We want to restore that knowledge where it came from," he said. "The better you understand the past, the better you can prevent repeating things that weren't done well, and the better you can do things in the future."

Souder, according to Butler's research, was born in 1884 and grew up on a farm in Indiana. He taught there for a few years but eventually left, probably out of desperation, Butler told Motherboard. His sister and her husband got the farm, likely leaving him without any way to sustain himself. He earned his master's degree in physics at the University of Indiana in Bloomington, then joined the National Bureau of Standards—now known as NIST, the bureau was a small, science-oriented federal agency responsible for communication between other government agencies, private industry, and academic institutions. The office was tasked with standardizing things like the dimensions of railroad tracks and ensuring that fire hoses can connect to fire hydrants. After two years, he left to train for his doctorate in physics at the University of Chicago. He received his PhD in 1916 and returned to the National Bureau of Standards.

Over the next 38 years, Souder would lay the groundwork for methods of forensic analysis that today constitute their own sub-specialties in the field. He studied ballistics and worked with the Treasury Department to calculate the money laundering schemes of gangsters—including, possibly, Al Capone, Butler says, though he has not yet found evidence to substantiate that. He consulted with the FBI to help the agency for its crime lab in 1932. His agency was involved in the Manhattan Project, the top-secret mission to create the atomic bomb. Souder analyzed handwritten ransom notes from one of the most sensationalized crimes of his day—the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby, son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh. Souder testified against Bruno Richard Hauptmann, who was put to death in 1936 for the abduction.

All told, Souder worked on an estimated 838 cases for 80 government agencies. His legacy was mostly hidden—we only know about his achievements through his diligent notes. It's no accident that Souder was largely unknown—during his life, he was a very private person, according to his granddaughter, Kathy Leser. Leser told Butler that Souder didn't talk much about work, in part because he didn't want to put his family at risk.

A later profile of Souder's involvement in the Lindbergh case referred to him as "Detective X"—Butler pieced together information about his involvement from police reports associated with the case. Souder had referred to the Lindbergh case as "the Adamson case" in his notes, presumably to throw off nosy snoopers.

Not talking about work would have left Souder with little to say, as he seemed to be a bit of a workaholic, Butler said. He was meticulous, a lone wolf, and maybe a little paranoid. "He's a person who pays attention to details. You can see that in his notebooks—he can focus amazingly," Butler said. "That's important, particularly in forensics."

Forensic science looks different now than in Souder's day, at least in part due to advances in DNA analysis. But meticulousness and attention to detail are still essential to the field. In fact, these are values that some forensic scientists are trying to return to, says Betty Layne DesPortes, a criminal defense attorney and president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. She hadn't heard of Souder until Motherboard contacted her with the NIST article, but was impressed with the breadth, scope, and prescience of his work.

"Forensic science is very well known but not well understood," DesPortes said. After a boom in interest through the 90s—attributable in part to the popularity of shows like CSI—the field has lost its connection to scientific inquiry, DesPortes said. Losing touch with the scientific method, DesPortes said, inhibited scientists' ability to reach reliable and accurate results. In 2009, a National Academy of Sciences report noted "serious deficiencies" in forensic science, mostly due to lack of standards and proper oversight, and called for a major overhaul of the field.

In his writing, Souder called for standardized laboratory equipment and a set of universal qualifications for experts, things leaders like DesPortes are still talking about today. And that's not all—Souder's methodological notes did more than document his work for posterity. They also demonstrate how he arrived at his conclusions. Explaining forensic methodology continues to challenge forensic scientists, who often struggle to walk through their methods to students beyond "I just know it."

"The issues [Souder] faced and emphasized were standards, training, and good methodology. Those are the areas that we are emphasizing now, and that we continue to emphasize," DesPortes said. "He was a man ahead of his time."

Souder's humility is something that forensic scientists should take to heart, too, Desportes noted. "With Souder it was all about the work, not about him. He sought no publicity, no attention for himself, it was very much about the scientific analysis and evidence. I think that's an important lesson for forensic science as well," she says. Shows like CSI are more focused on personalities, she says and that "seems to have bled into our highly publicized trials. In the real world you do get well-known forensic scientists. But by and large, the vast amount of the work is done by forensic scientists [whose name] you may never know."

Souder passed away in 1974. Butler thinks he would be taken aback by historians' efforts to rediscover him. He would also probably be surprised by the specificity possible with DNA analysis today, Butler said, and wishes he could talk to Souder. "I would hope he would be grateful that we want to bring back his memory, to help the field move forward," Butler said.

Corrections: The article previously misstated that Souder testified under the pseudonym "Detective X." Souder was referred to "Detective X" at a later date. In addition, Souder did not found the FBI crime lab himself, but consulted the FBI on its formation. Souder assisted the Treasury Department, not the Federal Trade Commission on their anti-money laundering efforts. He testified against Bruno Richard Hauptmann, not assisted in his capture. We also omitted a sentence about using dental evidence to solve crimes due to accuracy. Finally, Butler discovered Souder's involvement with the Lindbergh case via police reports, not through Souder's own notebooks. Motherboard regrets the errors.

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