In the evening of March 1, 1932 the nurse of Charles Lindbergh, Jr. came to the famous aviator to ask if he had seen his 20-month-old son. Lindbergh rushed upstairs to the nursery to find the crib empty. Searching the grounds of his estate at Hopewell, New Jersey, Lindbergh found a ladder and footprints under the nursery window. Anne found a ransom note demanding $50,000. The note contained a symbol of two interlocking circles. Later, more notes arrived, upping the ransom to $70,000 and demanding a John Condon act as intermediary. Condon met with the kidnapper at a cemetery and arrangements were made for delivery of the money. At the next meeting, Lindbergh accompanied Condon and the money was passed. Condon was told the baby was on a boat called the Nelly off the coast of Massachusetts. Lindbergh flew along the coast, but no boat of that name was discovered. Not long after, a trucker who went in the woods to urinate found the body less than a mile away from the mansion. His skull had been fractured. More than two years later, one of the ransom notes was passed at a gas station. The suspicious owner wrote down the license plate number and it was traced to a German immigrant carpenter named Bruno Hauptmann. Hauptmann was arrested with a $20 note in his possession. When his house was searched, $13,000 of the ransom money was found. A notebook had a sketch of the ladder and wood from the attic matched the wood of the ladder. Condon’s phone number was written on a wall. The trial was called the “trial of the century”. Handwriting experts testified that Hauptmann’s handwriting matched that of the ransom notes. Lindbergh swore on the witness stand that he recognized Hauptmann’s voice from the cemetery. Hauptmann testified that the money was left by a friend who had gone back to Germany and had died. Hauptmann was electrocuted in 1936, still claiming his innocence. Although books have been written supporting his claim, it seems the right man was executed.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lindbergh-baby-kidnapped
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindbergh_kidnapping
LIndbergh on the witness stand
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