Charles Lindbergh Kidnapping
“Don’t be realistic and don’t do your best. Strive to be perfect and do better than your best”. Charles Lindbergh lived by this adage during his lifetime, back in the early to mid-1900s. Charles Lindbergh was world famous for flying the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic ocean. He was the hero of the world and everyone wanted to meet him. While he was basking in his glory, he married a woman named Anne Morrow Lindbergh. On June 22, 1930, they had a little boy named Charles Lindbergh Jr. who was kidnapped and murdered when he was almost two on the evening of March 1, 1932. This event became the case of the century. A Cryptic ransom note demanding $50,000 was left on the window sill in the baby’s nursery, along with a ladder leaning against
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the outside of the house leading to a window in Charlie’s nursery. After the household realized the baby was missing, the police were contacted but many of the negotiations with the kidnappers were kept secret. John Condon was the man who communicated with the kidnappers using a pseudonym, and added more clues to the case including “Cemetery John”. After the ransom money was conveyed, Charles Lindbergh was told that the baby was with two vacationers on a boat called the Nelly near Martha’s Vineyard. But soon enough, Charles Lindbergh came to know that he had been double-crossed. Seventy-two days after the kidnapping, the body of Charles Lindbergh Jr.’s body was found in the middle of the woods by a truck driver. The body was badly decomposed and had two major fractures in the skull from being forcefully hit on the head by a hammer pipe. Studies show that the baby probably died on the day of the kidnapping. Later on, a man named Bruno Richard Hauptmann was accused and arrested for the murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr. He was put to death in the electric chair for something that he might not have done. Some people think that Charles Lindbergh, the father, was responsible for the murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr. The people who may have been in charge of the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr. are Charles Lindbergh, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, and John Knoll. The kidnapper could have been Charles Lindbergh, but he may have not intentionally murdered his son. Surprisingly, cases like this are common among missing children, but the reasons are never reasonable. From the beginning, Charles Lindbergh did not seem to accept his son. Charlie Jr. had a moderate rickety deformation. Rickets is a softening and weakening of bones in children, usually because of insufficient amounts of vitamin D. Lloyd Gardner, the historian who wrote a book about the Lindbergh case states his belief on why Charles Lindbergh may have been, in some measure, responsible for the kidnapping, “...Lindbergh was… afraid that little Charlie was not ever going to be a healthy young man.” Facts state that Charles Lindbergh was friends with Hitler a while before the Holocaust. Many people have theories that both of them had the same mentality that people with disabilities and birth defects were not useful in the real world. As a result, Charles Lindbergh could have methodized the kidnapping to secretly move his son to Germany to be raised, but during the kidnapping, the baby was most likely dropped from the ladder used to steal him from his nursery. This could all be true, but not everything adds up because he did seem to be somewhat affectionate to his son. On the other hand, he may have liked his son, but he thought his son was not perfect for the world. During the kidnapping, Lindbergh performed suspicious activities.
The evening his son was abducted, Charles Lindbergh missed an appointment and stayed home. The same evening, Lindbergh had scheduled a speaking engagement in New York. He usually went to the appointments on time, but this time he came back from work in New York City and didn’t go to the dinner to speak. Lindbergh said that he “forgot the commitment”. However, he could have stayed home to conduct the kidnapping from inside the house. The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping: Background Information states, “About 15 minutes before Charles Lindbergh arrived home, Anne thought she had heard a car in the gravel driveway. She looked but didn’t see anything, and the dog had not barked.” When the police asked Charles Lindbergh why his dog didn’t bark, Lindbergh said his dog wouldn’t hear someone who was being quiet. But, the dog might not have barked because it knew the person. If Charles Lindbergh missed the meeting to conduct the kidnapping, the dog would recognize its owner and would not bark. On the contrary, he could have stayed home because he was not feeling well. A key point is that he could have stayed home any other day, but he was home the day his son was seized and murdered. Coincidence? Some think not. Where some see coincidence, others see a conspiracy. In addition, the Lindbergh family usually spent their weekdays at their house in Englewood, but since little Charlie had a cold they decided to stay in their Hopewell house. Only a few people knew they were in their Hopewell house that Tuesday: Charles Lindbergh, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and the maids. One of the maids, Violet Sharpe, had killed herself when the police questioned her about the kidnapping. Many say that she was guilty of accidentally giving out information about where the family was staying, but others say that Charles Lindbergh was blackmailing her for something else. Unlike the rest of the household, Lindbergh knew one important detail.
PBS Nova Who Killed Lindbergh’s Baby 480p SD XVID states, “He [Charles Lindbergh] would be the only person who would know whether he was going to be in Hopewell that night.” Lindbergh’s suspicious activities before and during the kidnapping makes him a suspect. Many do not think Charles Lindbergh acted solo. It would clearly take more than one person to get the ladder against the wall, steal the baby, get back down the ladder, send ransom notes, and pin the crime on someone not completely innocent. Many think that Bruno Richard Hauptmann and John Knoll were equally responsible for the murder of Charles Jr. Lindbergh. On April 3, 1936, Bruno Richard Hauptmann was convicted of murder and was put to death in the electric chair. He was sentenced to death because he was the one who was thought to have created the ladder from wood in his attic and his writing looked similar to the writing on the ransom notes. Lindbergh Stations: Hauptmann Trial says, “...The State introduced evidence showing a striking similarity between Hauptmann’s handwriting and the handwriting on the ransom notes.” To add on, he also had some of the ransom money in his possession. The Lindbergh mystery: Could America’s most famous crime be solved at last? says, “In fact, the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming - from the $15,000 of ransom money discovered in his garage to wood from his attic used in the kidnap ladder - that Hauptmann was at least involved in the crime.” Another key point is that Bruno and John both were found to have the ransom money. After the kidnapping, John had a lot of money. Once Hauptmann was convicted of murder, John went on a spending spree. He bought many items including first class tickets to two round trips. All things considered, John is a likely suspect because of his connection with Bruno. The Lindbergh mystery: Could America’s most famous crime be solved at last? also, says, “...Gene rejoined John, who was talking with two men, one of whom he recognized as John’s brother Walter. They were speaking in German, a language Gene didn’t understand. He did pick up two words… One was ‘Englewood’. The other was ‘Bruno’ - the name of the third and, whom Gene had never seen before.” During the summer of 1931, a year before the kidnapping, John Knoll, and Bruno Hauptmann had been talking about Englewood. There is a slight chance that the kidnapper could have switched the money with other people to hide the evidence, but why would the money be switched with only two people? Yes, there is a chance that the kidnapper did this to make it look like Bruno and John were guilty, but who would go through the trouble? Most parents would be petrified to have any more children after one of them was kidnapped and murdered, but the Lindbergh family had six more children. According to facts, Charles Lindbergh had 7 secret children in affairs. No one knows for sure why he did such an act, but some have theories. Briefly, before the holocaust, Charles Lindbergh was friends with Hitler and he might have felt the need to spread his sperm as much as he could thinking that he was spreading the mentality that disabled people should not live in the real world. PBS Nova Who Killed Lindbergh’s Baby 480p SD XVID says, “...finally convinced… that Lindbergh was involved was the evidence that came out about his families in Germany… starting in 1958 Lindbergh secretly fathered seven children with three German women… he swore the families to secrecy…” This statement from the documentary means that Lindbergh wanted to spread his blood to other people because he wanted to create a perfect race. Additionally, Charles Lindbergh believed in social Darwinism, which may have made him support his act of being in the kidnapping. He decided to pursue his dream of creating that race by trying to father many children before his death in 1974. Or maybe he was just doing something else illegal that required him to prove his secret identities. But according to “Aviator Lindbergh Fathered Children by Three Mistresses”, the women he had secret children with were both sisters and were disabled. They were not able to walk properly, just like Lindbergh’s son. So if he was like Hitler, why was he in love with people he thought were useless? But there is also a chance that Hitler convinced Charles to do this because, since this happened right before the Holocaust, he needed to build a loyal army. The Nazis had the superior race philosophies and so did Charles Lindbergh, so they may have favored Lindbergh because he concurred with their views. The evidence that Charles Lindbergh secretly fathered seven children in hopes to create a superior race supports the idea that he did not think of Charles Lindbergh Jr. as the perfect son. To sum up, Charles Lindbergh, John Knoll, and Bruno Hauptmann could be responsible for the Kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr. A man who was possibly not completely responsible for the crime was put to death. However, he may have had accomplices. Two people who could have been equally responsible were let free, and someone has to bring justice. “We owe it to the families, to victims. We owe them closure, and most importantly justice.” Said John Douglas, an investigator of the Lindbergh case. Today, there are similar crimes to the Lindbergh Case. Children are kidnapped from their own homes. Knowing who did the crime, their motives, and how they were able to do the crime, will help future police solve other cases. Justice needs to be served to not only benefit the victims but to everyone else, decades later who face the same event as Charles Lindbergh Jr.
the outside of the house leading to a window in Charlie’s nursery. After the household realized the baby was missing, the police were contacted but many of the negotiations with the kidnappers were kept secret. John Condon was the man who communicated with the kidnappers using a pseudonym, and added more clues to the case including “Cemetery John”. After the ransom money was conveyed, Charles Lindbergh was told that the baby was with two vacationers on a boat called the Nelly near Martha’s Vineyard. But soon enough, Charles Lindbergh came to know that he had been double-crossed. Seventy-two days after the kidnapping, the body of Charles Lindbergh Jr.’s body was found in the middle of the woods by a truck driver. The body was badly decomposed and had two major fractures in the skull from being forcefully hit on the head by a hammer pipe. Studies show that the baby probably died on the day of the kidnapping. Later on, a man named Bruno Richard Hauptmann was accused and arrested for the murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr. He was put to death in the electric chair for something that he might not have done. Some people think that Charles Lindbergh, the father, was responsible for the murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr. The people who may have been in charge of the kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr. are Charles Lindbergh, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, and John Knoll. The kidnapper could have been Charles Lindbergh, but he may have not intentionally murdered his son. Surprisingly, cases like this are common among missing children, but the reasons are never reasonable. From the beginning, Charles Lindbergh did not seem to accept his son. Charlie Jr. had a moderate rickety deformation. Rickets is a softening and weakening of bones in children, usually because of insufficient amounts of vitamin D. Lloyd Gardner, the historian who wrote a book about the Lindbergh case states his belief on why Charles Lindbergh may have been, in some measure, responsible for the kidnapping, “...Lindbergh was… afraid that little Charlie was not ever going to be a healthy young man.” Facts state that Charles Lindbergh was friends with Hitler a while before the Holocaust. Many people have theories that both of them had the same mentality that people with disabilities and birth defects were not useful in the real world. As a result, Charles Lindbergh could have methodized the kidnapping to secretly move his son to Germany to be raised, but during the kidnapping, the baby was most likely dropped from the ladder used to steal him from his nursery. This could all be true, but not everything adds up because he did seem to be somewhat affectionate to his son. On the other hand, he may have liked his son, but he thought his son was not perfect for the world. During the kidnapping, Lindbergh performed suspicious activities.
The evening his son was abducted, Charles Lindbergh missed an appointment and stayed home. The same evening, Lindbergh had scheduled a speaking engagement in New York. He usually went to the appointments on time, but this time he came back from work in New York City and didn’t go to the dinner to speak. Lindbergh said that he “forgot the commitment”. However, he could have stayed home to conduct the kidnapping from inside the house. The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping: Background Information states, “About 15 minutes before Charles Lindbergh arrived home, Anne thought she had heard a car in the gravel driveway. She looked but didn’t see anything, and the dog had not barked.” When the police asked Charles Lindbergh why his dog didn’t bark, Lindbergh said his dog wouldn’t hear someone who was being quiet. But, the dog might not have barked because it knew the person. If Charles Lindbergh missed the meeting to conduct the kidnapping, the dog would recognize its owner and would not bark. On the contrary, he could have stayed home because he was not feeling well. A key point is that he could have stayed home any other day, but he was home the day his son was seized and murdered. Coincidence? Some think not. Where some see coincidence, others see a conspiracy. In addition, the Lindbergh family usually spent their weekdays at their house in Englewood, but since little Charlie had a cold they decided to stay in their Hopewell house. Only a few people knew they were in their Hopewell house that Tuesday: Charles Lindbergh, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, and the maids. One of the maids, Violet Sharpe, had killed herself when the police questioned her about the kidnapping. Many say that she was guilty of accidentally giving out information about where the family was staying, but others say that Charles Lindbergh was blackmailing her for something else. Unlike the rest of the household, Lindbergh knew one important detail.
PBS Nova Who Killed Lindbergh’s Baby 480p SD XVID states, “He [Charles Lindbergh] would be the only person who would know whether he was going to be in Hopewell that night.” Lindbergh’s suspicious activities before and during the kidnapping makes him a suspect. Many do not think Charles Lindbergh acted solo. It would clearly take more than one person to get the ladder against the wall, steal the baby, get back down the ladder, send ransom notes, and pin the crime on someone not completely innocent. Many think that Bruno Richard Hauptmann and John Knoll were equally responsible for the murder of Charles Jr. Lindbergh. On April 3, 1936, Bruno Richard Hauptmann was convicted of murder and was put to death in the electric chair. He was sentenced to death because he was the one who was thought to have created the ladder from wood in his attic and his writing looked similar to the writing on the ransom notes. Lindbergh Stations: Hauptmann Trial says, “...The State introduced evidence showing a striking similarity between Hauptmann’s handwriting and the handwriting on the ransom notes.” To add on, he also had some of the ransom money in his possession. The Lindbergh mystery: Could America’s most famous crime be solved at last? says, “In fact, the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming - from the $15,000 of ransom money discovered in his garage to wood from his attic used in the kidnap ladder - that Hauptmann was at least involved in the crime.” Another key point is that Bruno and John both were found to have the ransom money. After the kidnapping, John had a lot of money. Once Hauptmann was convicted of murder, John went on a spending spree. He bought many items including first class tickets to two round trips. All things considered, John is a likely suspect because of his connection with Bruno. The Lindbergh mystery: Could America’s most famous crime be solved at last? also, says, “...Gene rejoined John, who was talking with two men, one of whom he recognized as John’s brother Walter. They were speaking in German, a language Gene didn’t understand. He did pick up two words… One was ‘Englewood’. The other was ‘Bruno’ - the name of the third and, whom Gene had never seen before.” During the summer of 1931, a year before the kidnapping, John Knoll, and Bruno Hauptmann had been talking about Englewood. There is a slight chance that the kidnapper could have switched the money with other people to hide the evidence, but why would the money be switched with only two people? Yes, there is a chance that the kidnapper did this to make it look like Bruno and John were guilty, but who would go through the trouble? Most parents would be petrified to have any more children after one of them was kidnapped and murdered, but the Lindbergh family had six more children. According to facts, Charles Lindbergh had 7 secret children in affairs. No one knows for sure why he did such an act, but some have theories. Briefly, before the holocaust, Charles Lindbergh was friends with Hitler and he might have felt the need to spread his sperm as much as he could thinking that he was spreading the mentality that disabled people should not live in the real world. PBS Nova Who Killed Lindbergh’s Baby 480p SD XVID says, “...finally convinced… that Lindbergh was involved was the evidence that came out about his families in Germany… starting in 1958 Lindbergh secretly fathered seven children with three German women… he swore the families to secrecy…” This statement from the documentary means that Lindbergh wanted to spread his blood to other people because he wanted to create a perfect race. Additionally, Charles Lindbergh believed in social Darwinism, which may have made him support his act of being in the kidnapping. He decided to pursue his dream of creating that race by trying to father many children before his death in 1974. Or maybe he was just doing something else illegal that required him to prove his secret identities. But according to “Aviator Lindbergh Fathered Children by Three Mistresses”, the women he had secret children with were both sisters and were disabled. They were not able to walk properly, just like Lindbergh’s son. So if he was like Hitler, why was he in love with people he thought were useless? But there is also a chance that Hitler convinced Charles to do this because, since this happened right before the Holocaust, he needed to build a loyal army. The Nazis had the superior race philosophies and so did Charles Lindbergh, so they may have favored Lindbergh because he concurred with their views. The evidence that Charles Lindbergh secretly fathered seven children in hopes to create a superior race supports the idea that he did not think of Charles Lindbergh Jr. as the perfect son. To sum up, Charles Lindbergh, John Knoll, and Bruno Hauptmann could be responsible for the Kidnapping and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr. A man who was possibly not completely responsible for the crime was put to death. However, he may have had accomplices. Two people who could have been equally responsible were let free, and someone has to bring justice. “We owe it to the families, to victims. We owe them closure, and most importantly justice.” Said John Douglas, an investigator of the Lindbergh case. Today, there are similar crimes to the Lindbergh Case. Children are kidnapped from their own homes. Knowing who did the crime, their motives, and how they were able to do the crime, will help future police solve other cases. Justice needs to be served to not only benefit the victims but to everyone else, decades later who face the same event as Charles Lindbergh Jr.