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Lindbergh Kidnapping Case Study

  1. Describe the crime, including a timeline of events, people involved, evidence collected and its importance.

 

20 month-old Charles Lindbergh Jr., son of Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was kidnapped around 9:00 p.m. on March 1, 1932 from the nursery on the second floor of the Lindbergh home near Hopewell, New Jersey. The parents were notified when the baby’s absence was discovered at 10:00 p.m. by their nurse, Betty Dow. A ransom note for $50,000 was found on the nursery window sill. On May 12, 1932, truck driver WIlliam Allen discovered

the body of the missing child 4.5 miles south of the Lindbergh home with its skull bludgeoned.

 

  1. What information did police have that kept them connected to the case after the body was found?

 

The police possessed multiple ransom letters from Hauptmann.

 

  1. What importance did the ladder hold?

 

A crudely constructed yet intelligently designed ladder was found in pieces near the Lindbergh home on the night of the crime. Designs for a very similar ladder were found in a notebook in Hauptmann’s apartment during police investigation. A piece of wood matching exactly the wood used to build the ladder was found in his attic. This was a key piece of evidence in indicting Hauptmann,

 

  1. What other evidence pointed specifically to Hauptmann?

Police could track down the bills of ransom money that had been spent throughout New York City. After Roosevelt ordered all gold certificates to be turned in. Hauptmann held onto his past the deadline. A teller discovered a gold certificate which was traced back to the license plate of Hauptmann’s vehicle. After being arrested, police found $14,000 of the ransom money in his garage along with his notebooks of designs for the ladder. Hauptmann’s signature was also matched to the signature on the ransom notes.

 

  1. How did the case end: was anybody found guilty of the crime? What was the sentence for the crime?

Richard Hauptmann was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. His appeals were rejected. He was electrocuted on April 3, 1936.

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