Lindbergh kidnapping

On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. (born June 22, 1930), the 20-month-old son of colonel Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was abducted from his crib in the upper floor of the Lindberghs' home, Highfields, in East Amwell, New Jersey, United States.

On May 12, the child's corpse was discovered by a truck driver by the side of a nearby road.

At approximately 9 p.m. on March 1, 1932, the Lindberghs' nurse, Betty Gow, found that 20-month-old Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. was not with his mother, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, who had just come out of the bath.

Gow then alerted Charles Lindbergh who immediately went to the child's room, where he found a ransom note, containing poor handwriting and grammar, in an envelope on the windowsill.

Taking a gun, Lindbergh went around the house and grounds with the family butler, Olly Whateley; they found impressions in the ground under the window of the baby's room, pieces of a wooden ladder, and a baby's blanket.

Whateley telephoned the Hopewell police department while Lindbergh contacted his attorney and friend, Henry Breckinridge, and the New Jersey state police.

An extensive search of the home and its surrounding area was conducted by police from nearby Hopewell Borough in coordination with the New Jersey State Police.

After midnight, a fingerprint expert examined the ransom note and ladder; no usable fingerprints or footprints were found, leading experts to conclude that the kidnapper(s) wore gloves and had some type of cloth on the soles of their shoes.

No adult fingerprints were found in the baby's room, including in areas witnesses admitted to touching, such as the window, but the baby's fingerprints were found.

The brief, handwritten ransom note had many spelling and grammar irregularities:

"Dear Sir! Have 50.000$ redy [sic] 25 000$ in 20$ bills 15000$ in 10$ bills and 10000$ in 5$ bills After 2–4 days we will inform you were [sic] to deliver the mony [sic]. We warn you for making anyding [sic] public or for notify the Police the child is in gut [sic] care. Indication for all letters are Singnature [sic] and 3 hohls [sic]."

At the bottom of the note were two interconnected blue circles surrounding a red circle, with a hole punched through the red circle and two more holes to the left and right.

On further examination of the ransom note by professionals, they found that it was all written by the same person.

They determined that due to the odd English, the writer must have been foreign and had spent some, but little, time in America.

The FBI then found a sketch artist to make a portrait of the man that they believed to be the kidnapper.

Another attempt at identifying the kidnapper was made by examining the ladder that was used in the crime to abduct the child.

Police realized that while the ladder was built incorrectly, it was built by someone who knew how to construct with wood and had prior building experience.

No fingerprints were found on the ladder.

Slivers of the wood were examined, as the police believed that this evidence would lead to the kidnapper.

They had a professional see how many different types of wood were used, what pattern was made by the nail holes and if it had been made indoors or outdoors.

This was later a key element in the trial of the man who was accused of the kidnapping.

On March 2, 1932, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover contacted the Trenton New Jersey Police Department.

He told the New Jersey police that they could contact the FBI for any resources and would provide any assistance if needed.

The FBI did not have federal jurisdiction until May 13, 1932 when the President declared that the FBI was at the disposal of the New Jersey Police Department and that the FBI should coordinate and conduct the investigation.

The New Jersey State police offered a $25,000 reward,, for anyone who could provide information pertaining to the case.

On March 4, 1932 a man by the name of Gaston B. Means had a discussion with Evalyn Walsh McLean and told her that he would be of great importance in retrieving the Lindbergh baby.

Means told McLean that he could find these kidnappers because he was approached weeks before the abduction about participating in a "big kidnapping" and he claimed that his friend was the kidnapper of the Lindbergh child.

The following day, Means told McLean that he had made contact with the person who had the Lindbergh child.

He then convinced Mrs. McLean to give him $100,000 to obtain the child because the ransom money had doubled.

McLean obliged, believing that Means really knew where the child was.

She waited for the child's return every day until she finally asked Means for her money back.

When he refused, Mrs. McLean reported him to the police and he was sentenced to fifteen years in prison on embezzlement charges.

Violet Sharpe, who was suspected as a conspirator, died by suicide on June 10, before she was scheduled to be questioned for the fourth time.

In September 1934, a German immigrant carpenter named Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested for the crime.

After a trial that lasted from January 2 to February 13, 1935, he was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.

Despite his conviction, he continued to profess his innocence, but all appeals failed and he was executed in the electric chair at the New Jersey State Prison on April 3, 1936.

Hauptmann's guilt or lack thereof continues to be debated in the modern day.

Newspaper writer H. L. Mencken called the kidnapping and trial "the biggest story since the Resurrection".

Legal scholars have referred to the trial as one of the "trials of the century".

The crime spurred the U.S. Congress to pass the Federal Kidnapping Act (commonly referred to as the "Little Lindbergh Law") which made transporting a kidnapping victim across state lines a federal crime.