Charles Lindbergh Kidnapping Essay

The famous Charles Lindbergh was living a great life. The first man to fly the Atlantic

alone then his lovely wife, Anne Morrow, gave birth to their child, Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr., in

1930. The press loves their family. This became a problem for the Lindbergh’s. Escaping the

media was what the Lindbergh’s were focused on when deciding to have a house built in a

secluded area. Suddenly, everything that felt right went wrong when someone came and

kidnapped their only child. This kidnapping became one of the most well-known crimes of the

century.

At the age of twenty-five in 1927, the young Charles A. Lindbergh took on the Atlantic

Ocean solo. He flew The Spirit of St. Louis “from New York to France in 1927” (Perloff 1)

which became the

Finally

a suspect was found. In September 1934, one of the gold certificates showed up at a gas station

in New York. The gas attendant thought the gold certificate might be “counterfeit” (Schwartz 3),

so he wrote down the license plate. The car belonged to Bruno Richard Hauptmann.

On September 19, 1934, Bruno Hauptmann was arrested and tried for murder on

January 2, 1935. In the book “The Case Never Dies”, Gardner states that “there was insufficient

evidence to convict him [Bruno]” (Gardner 1) of first degree murder. There were many

witnessed that claimed Bruno gave them “ransomed bills” (Schwartz 3) at many businesses. The

jury did not believe him when he took the stand and denied any involvement in the kidnapping.

Bruno Richard Hauptmann was “put to death in the electric chair” (Crime Museum 2) on April 3,

1936.

The kidnapping of Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr., was a case millions of police officers were

involved in. Despite the evidence that could clearly dismiss Hauptmann as the killer, he was still

executed for this crime. This kidnapping will forever live on as the Crime of the