diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 5e53adc90df..ae7a8bd16bb 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 * [CHANGE] metrics-generator: Changed added metric label `instance` to `__metrics_gen_instance` to reduce collisions with custom dimensions. [#1439](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/pull/1439) (@joe-elliott)
 * [FEATURE] metrics-generator: support per-tenant processor configuration [#1434](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/pull/1434) (@kvrhdn)
 * [ENHANCEMENT] Added the ability to have a per tenant max search duration. [#1421](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/pull/1421) (@joe-elliott)
+* [BUGFIX] Fix nil pointer panic when the trace by id path errors. [1441](https://github.com/grafana/tempo/pull/1441) (@joe-elliott)
 
 ## v1.4.1 / 2022-05-05
 
diff --git a/modules/frontend/frontend.go b/modules/frontend/frontend.go
index 3baf67f6cea..28ec5f4193c 100644
--- a/modules/frontend/frontend.go
+++ b/modules/frontend/frontend.go
@@ -161,14 +161,16 @@ func newTraceByIDMiddleware(cfg Config, logger log.Logger) Middleware {
 					}
 					resp.Body = io.NopCloser(bytes.NewReader(traceBuffer))
 				}
+
+				if resp.Header != nil {
+					resp.Header.Set(api.HeaderContentType, marshallingFormat)
+				}
 			}
 			span := opentracing.SpanFromContext(r.Context())
 			if span != nil {
 				span.SetTag("contentType", marshallingFormat)
 			}
 
-			resp.Header.Set(api.HeaderContentType, marshallingFormat)
-
 			return resp, err
 		})
 	})