Public Eye Archives

Charles Lindberg Jr.

The kidnapper left no fingerprints. Evidence of footprints were stampeded by the press circus that surrounded the most mysterious, unprecedented case of the century. As news of the kidnapping came out, the Lindbergh family received an onslaught of sympathy letters, ransom notes and threats. Charles Lindbergh desperately sought help from a number of negotiators who claimed to be the kidnapper's go-between. Everyone from the police and the IRS, to the infamous gangster Al Capone supported Lindbergh's effort to recover his son safely. In the end, the $50,000 ransom was paid, but the child was found dead months later in the woods near the house.

Two years passed before investigators traced the ransom bills to an illegal German immigrant named Bruno Richard Hauptmann, a carpenter living in the Bronx. When he was arrested, Hauptmann had over $14,000 of ransom cash in his garage and it was discovered that a board from his attic floor was used in the ladder used to climb into the Charles Jr.'s room. But Hauptmann would not admit to the crime. Even as he faced the death penalty and was offered life in prison in return for his confession, Hauptmann maintained his innocence. Over 60 years later intrigue still surrounds the Lindbergh case.