Lindbergh kidnapping
Abduction and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr. (1932) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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On March 1, 1932, Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr. (born June 22, 1930), the 20-month-old son of colonel Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was abducted from his crib in the upper floor of the Lindberghs' home, Highfields, in East Amwell, New Jersey, United States.[1] On May 12, the child's corpse was discovered by a truck driver by the side of a nearby road.[2][3]
Lindbergh kidnapping | |
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Location | Hopewell Township, New Jersey, U.S. |
Coordinates | 40.4240°N 74.7677°W / 40.4240; -74.7677 |
Date | March 1, 1932; 92 years ago (1932-03-01) |
Attack type | Child murder by head trauma, child abduction |
Victim | Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., aged 1 |
Burial | Ashes scattered in the Atlantic Ocean |
Motive | Inconclusive; possibly ransom |
Convicted | Bruno Richard Hauptmann |
Verdict | Guilty on all counts |
Convictions | |
Sentence | Death by electric chair |
Litigation | Two lawsuits filed by Hauptmann's wife against the state of New Jersey, arguing his innocence (both dismissed) |
In September 1934, a German immigrant carpenter named Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested for the crime. After a trial that lasted from January 2 to February 13, 1935, he was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Despite his conviction, he continued to profess his innocence, but all appeals failed and he was executed in the electric chair at the New Jersey State Prison on April 3, 1936.[4] Hauptmann's guilt or lack thereof continues to be debated in the modern day. Newspaper writer H. L. Mencken called the kidnapping and trial "the biggest story since the Resurrection".[5][6] Legal scholars have referred to the trial as one of the "trials of the century".[7] The crime spurred the U.S. Congress to pass the Federal Kidnapping Act (commonly referred to as the "Little Lindbergh Law"), which made transporting a kidnapping victim across state lines a federal crime.[8]