I recently watched the Frontline episode on PBS that dealt with criminal prosecutions based on fingerprints, bite marks and other evidence. The FBI claimed that the fingerprint system is infallible and that no two fingerprints are the same. The FBI arrested a guy in the U.S. for a crime that happened in Europe, on the basis that his fingerprints matched a single partial print found on the crime scene. It later turned out that the fingerprint was that of a terrorist, not the guy in the U.S., which proved that the FBI’s claim that fingerprints are infallible is not true.
This brought to mind my neighbor, Esther Glaser. Esther was born at about Thanksgiving in 1912, so she was about 91 when this picture was taken. She passed away after her 99th birthday. She told me about her experience with the FBI a long time ago, probably during WW 2, when her husband’s business did contract work with the U.S. Government. They had to be fingerprinted, and later the FBI agents came to ask her why she had smudged her fingerprints. She showed them her fingers. There were no fingerprints! Yes, I looked at her fingers, and saw that she did not have any fingerprints – her fingers were as smooth as a baby’s butt. I said, “Esther, you would have made a great burglar.” She smiled and said “I know!”
The FBI has known about her case for many decades. So if their fingerprint system is infallible and that no two fingerprints are the same, how do they explain her case? How many other people in the world or the U.S. have no fingerprints? I have personally witnessed at least one myself – Esther – so I would expect that there are others, no matter how rare.