THE LINDBERGH CASECierra Chandler

CRIME

On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. was kidnapped from his nursery on the

second floor of the house and later found dead.

LINDBERGH FAMILY

Charles LindberghCharles was aviator. He was seen

as a hero in that day in age for making rescue flights no one else

would. He married his wife. Shortly after they met in Mexico.

Charles Lindbergh Jr. Son of Charles and Anne

Lindbergh. He was 21 months old when kidnapped and murdered on

March 1, 1932.

Anne LindberghAnne was the daughter of Dwight

Morrow, an ambassador of the U.S. for Mexico. She met Charles in Mexico and shortly married and

had a child, Charles Jr.

EVIDENCE, EVIDENCE

• The evidence left at the scene were: • Footprints

• Chisel

• Handmade wooden ladder

• Ransom note

• There had been a continuance of ransom notes that lead to handwriting samples

POSSIBLE SUSPECTS

• Violet Sharpe

• Maid in the hose at the time. She was very evasive during questioning and committed suicide by swallowing cyanide before re-questioning.

• They traced her tracks and found her clean.

• Betty Gow• She was a Scottish maid

and the last person to see Charles Jr.

• She was thought to have done a inside job but was found innocent.

POSSIBLE SUSPECTS

• Richard Hauptmann

• Was found with multiple pieces of evidence

• Was traced with the gold notes. It was also traced back to his license.

INVESTIGATION

• Multiple agencies were involved:

• FBI

• New Jersey State Police

• New York City Office of Bureau

• U.S. Department of Justice

• Examined the wood in the ladder and trace it to a lumber yard

• It led right to the same missing piece of wood in the attic of Hauptmann’s house

• Handwriting samples were similar to Hauptmann

• Traced back to Hauptmann’s license

INTERFERANCE

• Charles Lindbergh interfered with a lot of the case and the crime scene.

• He withheld crucial evidence

• Led the police in the wrong direction

• Wiped the fingerprints from the crime scene

• Called his lawyer first instead of the police…

ARREST

• Arrest Richard B. Hauptmann when Lindbergh’s gold notes were traced back to him

NOW FOR THE TRAIL

Judge

Thomas Trechard

ProsecutionDavid T. Wilentz

DefenseEdward J. Reilly

PROSECUTION WITNESSES

• Anne Lindbergh

• Confirmed the clothes Charles Jr. was wearing.

• Colonel Lindbergh

• Said around nine o'clock he had heard a sound "like an orange box falling off a chair."

• Dr. Condon

• Claimed he met with Hauptmann under the disguise of “John.” he later said that “John” fleshy lump on his left thumb which Hauptmann does not have. Led to the speculation of another’s help

• Amandus Hochmuth

• Claimed that he saw Hauptmann glare at him while getting out of his car with a ladder carrying it to a window to the second floor window

DEFENSE WITNESSES

• Richard B. Hauptmann

• Denied connection to the crime.

• He claimed that the money found in his garage had been left by a deceased friend, Isidor Fisch.

• Albert Osborn

• A handwriting specialist. Claimed that Hauptmann was the criminal because the ransom notes had the same spelling mistakes as he did when writing on the ledger. But also noted how one could possibly copy another’s handwriting to make it similar

GUILTY

After a long 3 years, Richard Hauptmann was found guilty of

first degree murder.

MEDIA• The case was over all types of

media across the world: Newspapers, radio, television, magazines. You name it.

• What made it a blown out story was partly because Lindbergh was such hero during that time period. He had made rescue flights when no other aviator would. It was during much world -wide conflict and people needed a hero.

• Much harassment was towards the Hauptmann family after the verdict was announced, offering 75, 000 dollars to the family for the kidnapping plans.

ALTERNATE THEORIES

• There were multiple alternate theories of who actually killed the Lindbergh child. These are the ones I found most plausible

• Inside Job:

• That one or all of the employees of the Lindbergh residence were responsible for planning and executing the kidnapping. For example, Violet Sharpe, Betty Gow, or both

• Lindbergh:

• That it was arranged by Lindbergh himself. It was found that he controlled most of the case and even withheld crucial evidence. Maybe he was tired of being a father and wanted his career back.

I BELIEVE…

I believe that there are definitely other possibilities for this case. I also believe that Richard Hauptmann could very well be innocent. I think the only reason that Hauptmann was deadpan tried as the only one who committed the crime was because there were no other leads and it had already been over two years since the crime had been committed. There had been a lot of social pressure to find and convict the villain and that had been Hauptmann. During that time period, everything was

sad, depressing. They needed a hero and if they had a villain, he was to be brought to justice. Especially with the media pumping it up and adding kindle to the fire, it was bound to end twistedly

for someone. Unfortunately, Hauptmann was the villain without a thorough investigation and an honest courtroom. I definitely think it was a job done by more than one person. I do think it may

have been Charles Lindbergh due to many theories. It just that, we will never know. What makes it worse is that there is no happy ending to this case. At the end of the day everyone loss someone,

the Lindberghs their child and the Hauptmanns their husband and father.