On This Day In History: Lindbergh Baby Kidnapped

lindseybreegan (36)in #history • 7 years ago (edited)

On March 1, 1932 Charles Lindbergh III, 20 month old son of the famed Aviator, was kidnapped from the family mansion. The evidence pointed to the kidnapper's use of a ladder to enter through an open window to the child's nursery on the second floor. Although some muddy footprint were found, there were no fingerprints and no bloodstains. A ransom note asking for $50,000 was found.

Colonel Charles Lindbergh had become famous during 1927 when he became the first man to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. He and his wife Anna were both heartbroken at the loss of their child.

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For three days investigators found nothing new and there was no word from the kidnappers. Then a second note showed up demanding $70,000. After receipt of a total of 13 ransom notes, sent over the space of a month, a meet up was finally scheduled and the money was delivered. The kidnappers gave word that the baby was somewhere off the coast of the Atlantic on a boat named Nellie. After an extensive search neither the boat nor baby were found.

In May, more than two months after the kidnapping, a trucker accidentally found the baby's body while relieving himself on the side of the road. The baby was partially buried and severely decomposed. The coroner determined that the baby was killed around two months previously by a blow to the head. The devastated Lindbergh's decide to give their mansion to charity and move away.

It looked like the crime would go unsolved until 1934 when a marked ransom bill turned up at a gas station. The attendant who accepted the bill wrote down the license of the purchaser because he seemed suspicious. It was tracked back to a German immigrant named Bruno Hauptman. When he was searched, detectives found a $20 gold ransom note on Hauptman. Another 30k was found in his garage.

He was indiced on extortion charges in New Jersey and murder in New York. Though the evidence was all circumstantial and he proclaimed his innocence, Hauptman had a lot to overcome at trial. His handwriting was fingered by eight experts as matching that of the ransom notes. Wood was found in his basement that matched the handcrafted ladder piece that was found at the scene. He was positively identified as the individual who delivered the fifth ransom note and collected the ransom. Perhaps most damning, he had suddenly quit working right around the time of the kidnapping and started playing the stock market.