Finding The Lindbergh Baby
On May 12th, after months of uncertainty, the Lindbergh baby was discovered dead. What happened to him?
Missing person cases involving children aren't rare in the United States. Every year, kids either run away from home, are abducted, or are involved in more sinister murder plots. Few stories are as famous as the Lindbergh Baby. The name is still famous and referenced in popular culture almost 100 years after his death. This weekend marks the anniversary of the child's discovery, after months of hunting for his abductor. So what happened to the Lindbergh Baby, and why is this case so famous?
On May 12th, 1932, the body of baby Charles Lindbergh Jr was discovered by a road in Mount Rose, New Jersey. A truck driver spotted his remains after stopping nearby to relieve himself. By that point, it had been months since his disappearance, and the body was in a bad state. It also appeared as though someone had tried to bury him, but the body was scavenged by animals. The child's nurse made the formal identification. What was an abduction case was now a murder case.
So what happened by May 12th and his disappearance on March 1st? The evidence at the time clearly pointed to an abduction, with the child taken from his room that night and held for ransom. They had clear evidence of pieces of a ladder, a discarded blanket below the window, and a poorly written ransom note. There was so much evidence that it could pass as being staged for effect. Conveniently, there were no fingerprints in the room - meaning the kidnapper was simultaneously very careful and very careless.
The note was the biggest curiosity. There was a strange symbol at the bottom with punched holes, acting as a signature. The handwriting was also crude and full of spelling and grammatical issues. There was a Germanic style, with the use of gut rather than good, and this was the police's biggest lead. Just three days later, Gaston B Means came forward, saying he had information and was in contact with the kidnappers. He didn't contact the parents for the extra ransom money owned, instead turning to a socialite called Evalyn Walsh McLean.
The biggest breakthrough came on March 6th, with a new ransom note delivered from Brooklyn. The kidnapper now asked for $70,000 to be passed on via an intermediary called John Condon. Condon met with him - so he claimed - and learned the child was alive. On March 16th, they got the child's sleeping suit in the mail, and after further correspondence, they agreed to deliver the ransom in April. The man, also known as John, took $50,000 and assured Condon that Charles Jr was safe. There was no plan to hand over the child in exchange.
There were attempts to track the money, but nothing came of it until September. A German immigrant called Richard Hauptmann was arrested, although he insisted the money had nothing to with him. He was eventually indicted for murder on October 8th, sentenced to death the following February, and executed by electric chair on April 3rd, 1936.
The conclusion to the case is unsatisfactory. Why was no attempt made to get the Lindbergh baby back in exchange for the money? Why was Hauptmann killed for his murder with such unconvincing evidence?
There are plenty of alternative theories that make Hauptmann a scapegoat to cover something more sinister. The child was long dead on a local road when they found him, not in anyone's care or anywhere near Brooklyn. There are questions about the knowledge and actions of the Lindbergh parents, as well as the potential guilt of the nurse taking care of him at home. Someone killed that child and tried to bury the evidence a few miles away. Sadly, we will never know who.