2. PEOPLE INVOLVED
Parents
• Charles Lindbergh – he was a famous aviator
• Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Lindbergh employees
• Betty Gow – the child’s nurse, she was the last one to see
the child before he was kidnapped
• Violet Sharp – she was a maid at their home and
committed suicide while being investigated for the crime
Dr. Condon – acted as a “go-between” for the Lindbergh’s
and the kidnappers
3. THE CRIME
• The victim was Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. – a 20 month old
baby
• He was kidnapped from his nursery on the second floor of
the Lindbergh home at around 9:00 p.m. on March 1, 1932.
There was a ransom note left on the windowsill of the
nursery requesting $50,000 for the child to be returned.
4. THE EVIDENCE
• The evidence that was found at the scene of the
kidnapping (the Lindbergh’s home) was:
• Traces of mud found on the nursery floor
• Footprints were found underneath the window
• The ladder that was used to get into the Lindbergh’s home
5. THE RANSOM NOTES
• Dr. Condon tried to communicate with the kidnappers
through newspapers to offer to be the go between. He
started to receive the ransom notes shortly after his post
in the newspapers.
• Dr. Condon and Lindbergh’s together received 13 ransom
notes from the kidnapper.
6. PAYING THE RANSOM
AND FINDING THE BODY
• Dr. Condon met with a man named “John” in a cemetery 2
times to talk about paying the ransom money.
• Dr. Condon paid “John” the $50,000 and then received
instructions on where to go to find the baby. They sent
people to search where the child was said to be but could
not find him.
• A couple days later the child’s body was accidently found
partially buried, a couple of minutes away from the
Lindbergh’s estate.
• Investigation of the body showed that the baby died from
being struck in the head and that he had been dead for
about 2 months before the body was found.
7. THE INVESTIGATION
• The agencies that were involved with the case were: the
FBI, the New Jersey State Police, and the New York City
Police Department.
• They started the investigation by figuring out which bills
were used to pay the ransom and waited for the money to
be spent. They also examined the ransom notes and tried
to match the handwriting.
8. ARRESTING THE
SUSPECT
• They arrested a man named Bruno Richard Hauptmann for
the crime. He spent $10 that was from a ransom bill at a
gas station and when the police investigated it, they found
more than $14,000 of ransom money hidden in his home.
• He was a German carpenter, so he could have built the
ladder that was used to get into the Lindbergh house.
• Tools marks in the ladder were matched to tools that
Hauptmann owned and the wood used in it matched wood
from his attic.
• Dr. Condon’s telephone number and address were carved
into a closet at Bruno’s house.
• The handwriting on the ransom notes matched up with his
handwriting samples
9. THE TRIAL
• The trial took place at The Supreme Court of the State of New
Jersey.
• The prosecutions attorney was David T. Wilentz and the
defense’s attorney was Edward J. Reilly.
The witnesses
• Anna Hauptman – said that she was with Bruno at the time of
the kidnapping; because he came to visit her at work
• August Von Henke – saw Bruno walking his dog and got into
an argument with him on the night of the crime
• Louis Kiss – saw Bruno and August arguing
• Joseph Furcht – he was Hauptmann’s boss at work and said
that Hauptmann was at work until 5 p.m. but wasn’t
completely sure
10. THE VERDICT
• Hauptmann was found guilty of first degree murder and
was sentenced to the death.
11. THE AFTERMATH
• After the trial was over and Bruno was sentenced to death,
the trial was still talked about in the media for a while.
• It was mainly talked about in newspapers but also on the
radio
12. MY OPINION
• I think that the verdict was right and Hauptmann did
kidnap and kill the Lindbergh baby because of the
evidence that was shown against him. He had more
evidence showing that he was the one that committed the
crime more than any of the other suspects.
