Lindbergh Kidnapping Essay

The next question involved is with the courts, the adjudication, arraignment and the preliminary hearing. Throughout all of the investigations, they came down with one principle suspect. A Bronx carpenter by the name of Bruno Richard Hauptmann. He passed a $10 gold certificate at a gas station from the ransom money and this led to his subsequent arrest, trial and finally the death penalty. Ultimately, the police found about $14,000 or more of the ransom money at the suspect’s home. “In newspapers, the case appeared open-and-shut. Hauptmann had entered the United States as a stowaway, with a prison record in Germany for robberies.” (www.lindberghkidnap.proboards.com) With no fingerprints that linked Hauptmann to the crime, nothing but circumstantial evidence in the case and the handwriting expert said that

The investigative details of the Pamela Foddrill case remained very similar to criminal theory in most ways, but not all. In Lyman’s Criminal Investigations, there are eight steps detailed

them. It didn’t make sense that there was a ransom note and then the dead body in the

The police came quickly to the big mansion, and the investigation of the kidnapping was started. It was known to be the crime of the century.

When this Central park case was made public, the New York Police Department and District Attorney office’s main focus was to solve the case as quickly as possible. When the five teenagers were found “wilding” in the park the night of the women’s death, the police believed they had found the suspects. The police were so confident of the teenager’s guiltiness, the five boys were interrogated of their involvement in the crime. The police used their authority and persuasion to get the boys to confess and promise them that they would go home if they talked. Through strenuous and intense interrogation, the five boys confessed to the killing and rape of the young women on videotape. These confessions were given even though

During the time period in which the Lindbergh Kidnapping case took place, there were various speculations that occurred affecting Hauptmann’s chance to an unbiased and fair trial. As stated earlier, the case had taken place around the time of contention with American and German relations. Charles Lindbergh

In the United States in 1931, during America’s Great Depression, nine African American boys faced what is now known as one of America’s most tragic trails in history. These young boys were accused of raping two white girls while riding a train through Alabama. This accusation brought forth a mob of white people in the town of Scottsboro. The boys spent years on trial for this. The first trial was thought to have been the final convention, little did they know it was only the beginning. A second trial was held for the nine boys that shook the entire nation. After the second trial a third one was held after the judge suspected that the evidence was not properly examined. The nine young boys, known as “The Scottsboro Boys”, spent their lives in and out of a courtroom and in a cell for a crime that today is known to have never taken place.

14 year old Steven Truscott gave his classmate Lynne Harper a ride on his bicycle on June 9, 1959. Truscott had dropped her off before they parted ways. Lynne was reported missing later that night, and two days later, her body was found on a nearby farm. She was sexually assaulted and strangled to death. The community was horrified by what happened to this young girl and everyone was determined to find the killer. Immediately, investigators became fixated on Truscott as the prime suspect since he was the last person to see Lynne. They didn’t consider any other suspects, even though there was no physical evidence linking him to the murder. He was arrested 24 hours later, and stood trial as an adult. (Steven Truscott |

friends and family to come aid her in her time of distress. The ransom note clearly stated

Condon, totaling to a staggering thirteen notes; some of which the Lindbergh’s provided the ransom money in gold certificates. All of the ransom notes were written in German penmanship and had countless grammar errors. Suspects in the case included: Charles and Anne Lindbergh, Elisabeth Morrow, Betty Gow, Oliver and Elsie Whately, and Bruno Richard Hauptmann. Charles Sr. was a suspect because of his suspicious actions during the night Charles Jr. was taken as well as throughout the investigation. He was in the study directly below his son’s nursery when he was taken and only heard a sound to which he suspected was something dropping in the kitchen. He was also the person who found the first ransom letter, after the police, Anne, and Betty Gow had searched the room for evidence. Anne was a suspect because she was also in the home at the time of the kidnapping. Resting in her room, due to a cold, she did not hear any suspicious noises. Anne’s sister, Elisabeth Morrow, was suspected of the crime as well. She was initially romantically involved with Charles Lindbergh, Sr. until he announced his engagement to Anne. Over time she became both physically and emotionally ill. Fits of violence made her staff believe that she had killed her own dog, and she was not allowed to be alone with Charles Lindbergh, Jr. for fear that she would harm him in one of her fits. Oliver and Elsie Whately were suspects because they were in the home at the time that the crime took place.

The case was taken to trial where Bruno Hauptmann was denied bail but was found guilty and was charged with extortion in September 1943 by the Supreme Court Bronx County, New York and was tried and charge with murder in the first degree in New Jersey. As Hauptmann stood trial on January 3, 1935 which lasted for five weeks; the circumstantial evidence that was brought forth by the prosecution e.g. ladder marks on the window sill, wood shaving from Hauptmann attic, important address and numbers, most substantial

Did you know that the kidnapping of a toddler was once considered the “Crime of the Century?” Charles Lindbergh was an aviator well known for his transatlantic flight in 1927. He and his wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, lost the life of their son Charles Lindbergh Jr. Due to the Lindbergh’s baby being taken, “the next four weeks witnessed the most massive and publicized manhunt in American History” (Campbell 254). The abduction and death of the young Lindbergh baby singlehandedly helped make kidnapping a federal crime.

to the story. Attorney general David Wilentz was the prosecutor for the trial. Wilentz suggested to the court that the ladder that was found on the Lindbergh property came from Mr. Hauptamnn’s attic (Quinlan & Quinlan, 2013). He also stated that the telephone number of Condon was found scrawled on a door frame inside a closet at Hauptmann’s home (FBI 2013). According to Wilentz a portion of the wood that was used to construct the ladder match the planks of wood found in Mr. Hauptmann’s home (Quinlan & Quinlan, 2013). Wood expert Arthur Koehler was called upon to examine the wood. According to his expertise in distinguishing wood, the ladder was constructed by a somewhat skilled carpenter (Quinlan & Quinlan, 2013). Koehler suggested that the ladder contained four different types of woods (Quinlan & Quinlan, 2013). One piece of wood appeared to be floor boarding that appeared to have two distinctive nail holes (Quinlan & Quinlan, 2013). Koehler also examined the floor board for manufacturing cutting marks. Koehler contacted a total of 1,6600 timber mills across the United

Two nine-year-old girls are abducted from a bus stop. Both are found dead in a drainage ditch the next day, disposed of less than 100 yards away. The press refers to the victims as “fallen little angels,” and the investigators do not conduct an investigation into the victims’ family histories, focusing instead on a possible serial

On 19 November, the suspected pirate, Farah Abd Jameh, provided information regarding the ransom by audio tape transmit over Al-Jazeera television. The tape specified that an unspecified cash ransom was to be delivered to Sirius Star, where it would be counted using machines that were able to perceive counterfeit bills.