4. Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping 1935
Charles Lindbergh became an international hero when he completed the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight from Long Island to Paris in 1927. Two months after his flight, he went on an international book tour to promote his autobiography. While touring, he met Anne Marrow whom he married in May 1929. The couple lived in rural New Jersey and on June 22, 1930, Charles Lindbergh, Jr. was born. On March 2, 1932, a strange noise was heard around 9:30 pm. When the nurse went to check on the toddler at 10 pm, he was not in his bed. Within 20 minutes, the police arrived at the Lindbergh home and began their investigation. Left behind was a ransom note sitting on the nursery windowsill and a homemade wooden ladder.
News of the Lindbergh baby kidnapping quickly spread throughout the world. On March 16th, the boy’s sleeping suit was delivered to a mediator. A ransom of $50,000 gold certificates was placed in a custom-made box and delivered on April 2, 1932, but the baby was not returned. On May 12th, a delivery driver near the Lindbergh home pulled off the road to urinate. When he looked down he saw a dead toddler, partially eaten by animals, badly decomposed, with a fractured skull. Over 30 months local law enforcement continued to investigate the kidnapping and murder. At times, gold certificates made their way back to New York City banks. On one occasion, a teller noticed a certificate had a New York license plate number written on it.
Authorities contacted the gas station where the certificate came from and found that the holder of the certificate had acted “suspicious” and was probably a “counterfeiter.” The plate belonged to Richard Hauptmann, a German immigrant with a criminal record. Upon his arrest, he was carrying a $20 gold certificate. He was charged with kidnapping, murder, and extortion. Reporters swarmed the Hunterdon County Courthouse in Flemington, New Jersey. The Daily Mirror hired a defense attorney for Richard Hauptmann in exchange for an exclusive to print his story. The prosecution convinced the court that Hauptmann kidnapped and murdered the toddler based upon the custom-made box and the same wood used to make the ladder in his apartment. Hauptmann was found guilty and quickly sentenced to death in the electric chair.
Hauptmann appealed his sentence in June 1935 and received clemency from the governor. When that ran out, he again requested clemency but was denied. In a last-ditch effort to save his life, the Hearst group wanted Hauptmann to confess in exchange for a life sentence and an exclusive story, to which he declined. He was executed on April 3, 1936. Numerous theories still surround the guilt of Hauptmann. Some believe that the investigation into the kidnapping and murder was sloppy, that the local police permitted Charles Lindbergh to have too much control over the investigation, while others believe Hauptmann committed the crime but did not deserve to die. One theory states that the baby was born with a physical disability and that Charles Lindbergh arranged for the toddler to be kidnapped and sent to Germany.