The Lindbergh Kidnapping

The Crime of the Century

Kayla Cook
A Little Context
Charles Lindbergh
(The Victims Father)
American aviator, first solo
nonstop flight across the
Atlantic; inventor & writer
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
(The Victims Mother)
A noted writer and aviation
pioneer
Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr.
Born June 22, 1930 in
Englewood, N.J.

Eldest son of Charles &

Anne Lindberghs 6
children

Died March 2, 1932 at age

2o months old
Dr. John F. Condon
The Lindberghs needed an
intermediary to go between them
and the kidnapper

Dr. John F. Condon (Jafsie)

72 yr old retired teacher from the
Bronx
Met with the kidnapper
(Cemetery John) in person
Ensure welfare of the child
Deliver the ransom money

March 16, 1932

The Crime
March 1, 1932 at 9:00 pm Lindbergh baby is
kidnapped from his nursery in Hopewell, New
Jersey.
Ransom note found in babys nursery, demanding
$50,000
No fingerprints/bloodstains
April 2 1932: The boy is on the Boad Nelly. It is a small boad 28
feet long. Two persons are on the boad. The are innosent. you will
find the Boad between Horseneck Beach and gay Head near
Elizabeth Island.
No such boat existed, and baby was not found.
May 12, 1932 Babys body found less than a mile
from his home; was murdered night of kidnapping
Richard Bruno Hauptmann (1899-1936)
Before the Crime
36 yr old poor, illegal German immigrant
who entered America in 1923
Became burglar at age 20 in Germany
1925 marries German immigrant Anna
Schoeffler in the Bronx
Richard carpenter, Anna baker

After the Crime

August 20, 1934 Ransom gold bills traced to
Hauptmann
September 20, 1934 Police find $13,000 of ransom
money at Hauptmanns home
January-February 13, 1935 Hauptmann found guilty of
first-degree murder
April 3, 1936 Hauptmann electrocuted
Evidence of the Lindbergh Kidnapping
Questioned Documents

Anthropology

Toxicology

Hair/Fiber

Toolmarks (The Ladder)

Questioned Documents
Dear Sir! Have 50,000$ redy 2500$ in 20$ bills 1 5000$ in 10$ bills and 10000$ in 5$ bills. After 2-4 days we will
inform you were to deliver the Mony. We warn you for making anyding public or for the polise the child is in gut
care. Indication for all letters are signature and 3 holes. (Nursery Ransom Note)
Poorly written, oddly misspelled words, written in a Germanic syntax
ransom notes
12 ransom notes were exchanged
1,4ooo words to use as document evidence
anyding & gut care = German phonetics
Questioned Documents (below) Handwriting experts show
similarity of handwriting of
Albert Osborn (Father of Hauptmann at the trial

Document Examination)
Discovered all ransom notes
written by same person
Compared ransom notes to
Hauptmann
Requested document samples
Handwriting samples from
home
Anthropology (Autopsy)
Body was tossed on the side of the road
miles from the Lindbergh Estate
Missing left hand, right arm, & left
leg
Police matched dimple on corpses face
to a photograph to identify him
Dr. Charles Mitchell
Performed autopsy
Cause of death = fractured skull
Kidnapper dropped baby from ladder
Teeth/Bone Structure
Corpse had 8 teeth on top & 8 on bottom
(the number of teeth 20 month olds
have)
No dental work in corpse or child
 Toxicology
Ransom notes examined in toxicology
laboratory in New York
Particles of glycerine & emery found in the notes
Suggested the handler used an emery wheel to grind
tools
Hauptmann, a carpenter, was likely to use such
tools containing these particles

(left) collection
of tools found
by authorities in
Hauptmanns
garage
(middle) keg of
nails found in
Hauptmanns
garage
(right) 1930s
emery wheel
Hair/Fiber
Hair
Strands of golden curly hair from skull
were matched to known sample of strands
of hair from the babys first haircut
Fiber
Nurse Betty Gow made Charles Lindbergh
Second vial contains hair from corpse
several homemade flannel night shirts
Corpse was covered in a decomposed
flannel night shirt
Chemists ran comparison test between 9
known samples & the questioned clothing
Cross section shape of fibers helped chemists find
a match 1/9 known samples Clothing from corpse
Wood/Tool Marks
One section of ladder was split = ladder broke in
ascent/descent
Wood expert Arthur Koehler (USDA) examines the
ladder in 1933
Examined pattern of nail holes/toolmarks/types of wood
Discovered some of the wood used in the ladder had been
previously used in indoor construction
Ladder was partly constructed with wood from
Hauptmanns attic (above) rail 16 of ladder
Tool marks on ladder matched tools owned by matched in place of where it
was as a floorboard
Hauptmann
(right) rail 16
compared to
floorboard in
Hauptmanns
attic
What convicted Hauptmann?
Circumstantial Evidence

Tool marks/Wood
Handwriting on the ransom notes matched
samples of Hauptmanns handwriting.
Dr. Condons telephone number and
address were found written on a door
frame inside a closet.
Did Hauptmann really do it?
Strange pieces of the case
Hauptmanns attorney was a raging alcoholic,
& only spent 4o minutes with Hauptmann
before the trial
Unusual that German carpenter/immigrant
knew where the Lindberghs would be staying
the night of the crime
No fingerprints linked Hauptmann to the
crime
Unusual that Hauptman (carpenter) built an
unsteady ladder from a ripped piece of his attic

Several men now have claimed to be Charles A.

Lindbergh, Jr.
Did Hauptmann really do it?
Violet Sharp
Maid who knew of Lindbergh's
whereabouts.. Lied to police about
her alibi, then committed suicide.
Charles Lindbergh
Practical joke turned into
accident/cover-up
Racial supremacist theory
Conspiracy theories
James Warburg
Political advocate for
FDR; felt threatened by
Lindberghs political
presence as a Republican,
& had personal ties to a
maid in the Lindbergh
mansion
Summary of the Case
While some of these theories raise
suspicion, it seems Hauptmann
really did commit the crimes.
Strong toolmark evidence
Strong handwriting evidence
Possession of the ransom
money

Why he didnt have an accomplice:

$36,000 spent while he was
free; $14,000 in garage = all of
the ransom money
Works Cited
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"The Kidnapping." PBS. PBS, 2015. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.

Lindbergh Baby Kidnapped. History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 07 Setp. 2016.

"THE LINDBERGH CASE A SHORT CASE STUDY." Forensic Evidence Review (Australia).

Forensic Evidence Review (Australia), 2011. Web. 08 Nov. 2016.

<http://forensic-review.com.au/the-lindbergh-case-a-short-case-study/>.

"Lindbergh Kidnapping." FBI. FBI, 30 Nov. 2015. Web. 28 Sept. 2016.

"Lindbergh Kidnapping Index." Lindbergh Kidnapping Index. Charles Lindbergh 2014, 2014. Web. 14 Jan. 2017.

Mack, Julie. "Lindbergh Kidnapping Case Still Horrifies and Fascinates 80 Years Later (Julie Mack Column)." MLive.com. N.p.,

19 May 2012. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.

"Timeline of Events." The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping Case - Timeline of Events. Tangient LLC, 205. Web. 14 Jan. 2017.

Quigley, Christine. The Corpse: A History. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1996. Print.