2. 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.
3. LINDBERGH FAMILY
Charles Lindbergh
Charles 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 Lindbergh
Anne 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.
4. 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
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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
8. 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…
10. NOW FOR THE TRAIL
Judge
Thomas Trechard
Prosecution
David T. Wilentz
Defense
Edward J. Reilly
11. 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
12. 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
13. GUILTY
After a long 3 years, Richard Hauptmann
was found guilty of first degree murder.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
