The Lindbergh kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh III in 1932 was a media sensation and resulted in the execution of Bruno Hauptmann for the crime. However, evidence linking Hauptmann to the kidnapping and murder was shaky, and many experts believe the court case was a setup. The truth about who was behind the kidnapping may never be known.
The Lindbergh kidnapping resulted in the kidnapping of the son of world famous aviator Charles Lindbergh, Jr. Charles Lindbergh III was born June 22, 1930 and kidnapped from his home on March 1, 1932. The kidnapping was the biggest story of the time and the events surrounding the kidnapping and ransom demands were chaotic to say the least.
Many books and articles have been written about who was behind the Lindbergh kidnapping. Speculation about the real culprit has been rife. Although two ransom demands were paid, only one man was ever convicted and sentenced to murder. Bruno Hauptmann was executed on April 3, 1936 for the kidnapping and murder of the child.
Bruno Hauptmann never changed his plea of not guilty to the child’s murder. He was offered a last-minute change from his sentence to life to confess to the murder, but he declined. He was also offered $90,000 US Dollars (USD) to confess from a newspaper. This was a huge sum at the time, which could have been used to care for Hauptmann’s wife and child after his death, but Hauptmann did not change his plea and stated that he would not plead guilty to a crime which he hadn’t done it.
The evidence linking Hauptmann to much of the ransom note was sound, but the evidence as to whether or not he had any part in Lindbergh’s kidnapping or murder was shaky to say the least. One of the witnesses who said Hauptmann had been at the ransom point was declared legally blind at the time. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) documents regarding the case that were declassified in 1990 have since been reviewed, and many experts say the court case was a blatant setup.
There was also no real evidence that the baby found dead in a wooded area was the Lindbergh baby. The boy’s doctor at the time said the body was so badly decomposed that he could not identify it. The only other evidence linking Hauptmann to Lindbergh’s kidnapping was the homemade ladder found outside Lindbergh’s son’s window. Evidence at the time of Lindbergh’s abduction showed that the staircase was made of the same wood found in Hauptmann’s attic, but in 1985 a book by Ludvic Kennedy called The Airman and the Carpenter stated that the wood in the attic was of a different thickness than the ladder.
The truth about who was behind Lindbergh’s kidnapping may never come to light. Many people were involved in the case at the time, including the New York underworld. While looking into the possibility of an inside job, investigators questioned the Lindbergh’s housekeeper, Violet Sharpe. Sharpe lied about her whereabouts the night of the abduction and she ultimately committed suicide.
Lindbergh’s kidnapping was a case filled with red herrings, red herrings, and unreliable witnesses. It was also a media farce where copies of the leaked ransom note were sold on the streets of New York for $5 USD. Until her death in 1994, Hauptmann’s widow professed her husband’s innocence.
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