The cold-blooded murder of a ten-week-old baby in rural Ohio has left authorities completely baffled, with Sheriff H.L. Myers admitting on June 15, 1939, that investigators lack even a single solid clue in the senseless killing that has shocked the farming community of Clyde.

The Crime

Baby Haldon Fink was snatched from his cradle at the home of his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Oran Baker, wrapped in a blanket by his unknown abductor. Twelve hours later, the infant’s body was discovered floating in a creek seven miles away from the Baker residence. What initially appeared to be a drowning revealed a far more sinister truth.

An autopsy conducted by Coroner D.W. Philo determined that the baby had been deliberately and immediately suffocated by his killer. The evidence showed that death was not due to drowning, but rather the result of what authorities characterized as a premeditated act of violence against the helpless infant.

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I have not what I consider one convicting clew

FROM THE ARCHIVE

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— Evening Star, June 15, 1939

The Investigation

Sheriff Myers has thrown every available resource into the investigation, ordering deputies to search the creek with hooks for the blanket that was used to carry the baby from his grandparents’ home. The intensified hunt entered its second day with law enforcement no closer to identifying the perpetrator.

“I have not what I consider one convicting clew,” Sheriff Myers told reporters, his frustration evident as the case seemed to yield no promising leads. The sheriff acknowledged having “no good suspects but fair prospects,” a cryptic statement that offered little comfort to the grieving family or the rattled community.

In a bid to eliminate any family involvement, all members of the baby’s family volunteered to be fingerprinted. The sheriff had also taken fingerprints the previous night as part of the elimination process, though the newspaper account suggests this was standard procedure rather than evidence of family suspicion.

Legal Proceedings

Sheriff Myers indicated his intention to present the results of his investigation to Prosecutor A.L. Hyzer for possible grand jury action, though the lack of concrete evidence made the prospect of charges uncertain. The case represented a particularly challenging investigation for the rural sheriff’s department, which rarely dealt with such heinous crimes.

The deliberate nature of the suffocation, coming so quickly after the kidnapping, suggested to investigators that the killer had planned the baby’s death from the moment of the abduction. This wasn’t a kidnapping gone wrong, but rather a calculated act of violence that defied explanation in the close-knit farming community.

Why It Still Matters

The Haldon Fink case exemplifies the challenges law enforcement faced before modern forensic techniques, DNA analysis, and coordinated investigative databases. Today’s AMBER Alert system, established in 1996, creates immediate nationwide notifications that might have aided in such a case, while advances in forensic science have revolutionized the ability to solve crimes that would have remained mysteries in 1939.

Sources

• Evening Star, June 15, 1939 — Library of Congress