No parent, no matter how much of a practical joker they are, ever wakes a sleeping baby. Then Lindbergh might have driven the baby away from the house, killed him in the woods, hidden the body in the canvas bag and carried it a longer distance from the house to hide it. (3) Evidence has seemed to mount, since the Lucky Lindy triumph, that Amelia Earhardt was the better ready to make the flight, but, boyish as she looked, she was missing parts necessary to the flights promotors. During one of the few times she was aggressively questioned she spontaneously blurted, I was PROMISED I wouldnt be touched. Who promised her that and why? Lindbergh on April 2, 1932, paid a $50,000 ransom for his sons return, which included gold certificates that were about to be withdrawn from circulation. With Lindbergh, there is ONE fact that EVERY shred of evidence must answer to. Geoffrey C. Ward, who scripted a PBS American Experience segment on Lindbergh, agreed. It was clear the baby had been murdered by a blow to the head the night he was taken. amazing read.. thank you so much for compiling this, had me tearing up. And with this triumph, he emerged from virtual obscurity to instantaneous world fame, transforming an oddball loner into a beloved public figure. It confirmed by the banks list and traced back to one Bruno Richard Hauptmann, who was arrested the next day. Lindbergh was a national hero, and I think we all want to keep flying this guy across the ocean.. Charles may always be to the majority an American Hero. Their initial plan was to concentrate on Lindberghs background and his actions from the day of the kidnapping through the end of the trial. He claimed to be holding it for his business partner Isador Fisch, who had left for Germany, paid for his ticket with Lindbergh ransom money, and died there in 1933. And if hed lie about the money, well, why wouldnt he lie about the murder?. (2) Christies MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS made a great book and movie (1970s version), but one wonders how close Agatha the Great ever came, in her own mind, to the real answer. I believe the maid had an inkling and killed herself with that guilty knowledge. Visit his website at www.jttownsend.com and his Facebook page: JT Townsend True Crime Detective. After a. Lindbergh was jealous of the baby and being a cold, cruel man, he would constantly hide the baby in the mansion or on the grounds, causing the others to try & find him. So much for outlines, says Ahlgren. (4) the Lindy Hop was the name of the wild jitterbug dancing that took the world by storm in a different way. He and wife moved in there for a few months. That doesnt mean he wasnt involved and that he was sure nothing would happen during the kidnapping.. One word describes this entire case: DECEPTION . What I saw in the article, he says, was a pattern of a person trying to obscure a crime.. Partly because of Lindbergh's worldwide popularity, this became the most famous crime of the 1930s, and it was a major subject of newspaper attention. Lloyd C. Gardner, professor of history emeritus, points to Lindberghs fascination with Social Darwinism and evidence that health problems plaguing his 20-month-old son Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. suggested the child was far from perfect. Lindbergh was born in 1902, to the son of future Minnesota congressman Charles August Lindbergh. All views, thoughts and opinions expressed in article text belongs solely to the article author. That bothered Ahlgren. I happened to get a box of Adm Byrd stored and sealed for 50 years. Could he have snuck up by that entrance (which accounts for no muddy footprints in the place), taken the baby.etc etc??? Ben Lupica was now a retired chemist still alive in upstate New York. Since nearly everyone associated with the case was dead or no longer talking (Anne Lindbergh has granted no public interview for years and Hauptmanns widow, Alma, only rarely speaks to the press), he turned to the record. Help men might have been less than a perfect human being but I dont see how he planned on getting rid of the baby and coming up with the money unless getting rid of the baby was never part of his plan. And WHY on earth did Lindbergh order his son to be cremated immediately after HE made the identification? I think I remember that Lindbergh left the mansion & when he returned many hours later, with his wife & staff in absolute frenzy, he remembered the baby. The author of this article is grasping for straws, just like all the loonies who tried to pin the JFK assassination on various people other than Oswald. Lindbergh identified the body, then ordered its cremation without delay. [1] Some people on the weekend had been talking about the JonBenet Ramsey case and how more than likely someone from the home mother father or son accidentally or deliberately hurt her. Other things didnt add up. Ohios Most Enduring Murder Mystery [Part One], The JFK Assassination Case Still Closed, Strangled: A Courageous Fight Against The Darkest Corners of Humanity, The Girl I Never Knew: Melissa Ann Witt Deserves Justice, Befriending A Serial Killer: An Interview With Mark Austin, The Husband Poisoner: Lethal Ladies and Dangerously Tasty Recipes, Details are Unprintable: Wayne Lonergan and the Sensational Caf Society Murder, Operation Jacknap: A True Story of Kidnapping, Extortion, Ransom and Rescue. Guilty imagery: doesnt an orange crate full of soft round oranges seem symbol of a babys soft head hit by wood? When the baby disappeared two months later, one of Anne Morrow Lindberghs first thoughts was that her husband had taken the child as a joke, according to a letter she wrote to her mother-in-law. New York police would find almost $15,000 of the ransom money in Hauptmanns garage. And remember too, his first motive in life, the flight to Paris, was done for MONEY and pride. A Lindbergh quote from the Spirit of St. Louis glimmers for this writer:The important thing is to start; to lay a plan and then follow it step by step no matter how small or large each one by itself may seem. IF he accidentally killed his own son, Charles Lindbergh had the temperament and acumen to quickly formulate a coverup and carry it out to the letter. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This setting should only be used on your home or work computer. Charles Lindbergh is known as the first aviator to complete a solo transatlantic flight, which he did in his plane, Spirit of St. Louis. In life, he says, we tend to take a few facts and extrapolate an image of someone from that. In the summer of 1990, Gregory Ahlgren had no idea that the next three years of his life were about to be changed by a paperback book. Implicating an icon even a dead icon in the death of his child is painful. At about 10 pm, the child's nurse discovered that Charlie Jr. was missing from his crib, then frantically alerted Lindbergh and Anne. She talked in a recent interview with The Topeka Capital-Journal about how Lindbergh known as the Lone Eagle became an international hero after he completed the first nonstop intercontinental flight from New York to Paris in 1927. While I was thinking about this the oddest thought crept into my mind. He came home from New York City, where he worked, instead of going to a dinner where he was to speak. Must have had an extraordinarily strong native constitution to only have rickets, which is of course a disease of malnutrition. )John Knoll lived 706 Westchester ave ?7. Despite his renowned reliability, he blew off a commitment on the night his son was taken. It was a fishy story to be sure, andnewspapers judged Hauptmann guilty with blaring headlines celebrating the capture of the Lindbergh Kidnapper. After all, he did have a secret family in Germany, so who knows what other secrets he hid. From the New York Times in April 4, l977, Hilda Braunlich (79) a handwriting expert for the defense contacted a reporter, Peter Kihss with he Times. The New York Daily Mirror hired lawyer Ed Reilly to represent Hauptmann and to provide an exclusive news pipeline. Lindbergh and Condon both testified to lookouts at the cemetery, proving there was more than one person involved but the minute Hauptmann was arrested all logic went out the window so NJ could prove the child was killed in the execution of a burglary. The childs diet at 18 months would have been slim for a baby of 5 months. Even his joke of kidnapping his own son in the closet. The kind of criminal who would murder a sleeping child in his crib, or kill him soon after the abduction to keep him quiet. If you the reader would read Thomas Wolfes books you will find many injected clues to his identity ( his own little joke).Those who disagree refuse to read Wolfes material which also includes his notebooks that were published in l970 by the University of North Carolina. Also one other thing which is always bothers me is that the man in the cemetery said call me cemetery John. And Hauptmanns work records showed him doing carpentry work in New York City during that day. One of the later ransom letters specified the ransom was increased by $20k because they had to bring someone else into the plot. Why did he forget to bring Charlies other dog that always slept under the crib? )Paul Wendel sign confession witness by Ellis Parker?4. Ahlgren wondered if Princeton Academy could have been a prep school for Princeton University? Minimal precautions were taken to preserve evidence outside the house, where the police found two holes in the soft ground below the nursery window with the warped shutters the only window in the entire house that didnt latch from the inside. Riefenstahls hypnotic films of robotic-looking Nazi marchers was, what we would call today, REMIXED with Swing music to look like crazed dancing. What we had, says Ahlgren, was the number-one suspect obscuring factors. Now why? These spare pieces were tossed out the window and wound up in a lumber pile. The feat captured the public's. New article updates and our free monthly Newsletter straight into your inbox. February 27, 2023 By scottish gaelic translator By scottish gaelic translator Quite a few people have claimed they were the missing Lindbergh baby. After thinking about this I thought how could John Ramsey who is getting up in years die and leave his son who seems not exactly right to bear the burden of the questioning hes going to get when his father does pass away. Therefore they were dumped on the side of the road. Nursemaid Betty Gow, one of five people at the crime scene, had a shifty boyfriend who was aware of the babys location that night. He would still have had time to hide the body in the woods and pull up the drive at 8:25, honking so that everyone noted when he came home. For me, says Ahlgren, it has to do with Hauptmanns prosecution. She knew because she worked in the bakery that the child has been kidnapped I wonder if it occurred to herThat their son wealth was more easily explained by the death of the baby. Another was 87 years old and partially blind. He said he could never admit to something he didnt do. I totally agree with you. I, for one, always doubted that Hauptmann could have walked the half-mile from the road to the house and then walked the half-mile back to his waiting vehicle with a 35 pound child, the child never crying, or the dog never barking. The case lay dormant for more than two years, even though the investigation was ongoing. Part of what he found was expected: The Lone Eagles historic flight across the Atlantic, followed by a heroic return to New York; a meteoric rise in stature, climaxing with a storybook marriage to Anne Morrow, the daughter of an influential banker and ambassador. Someone decided to use them as a kidnap ladders labeling one of the rails as rail l6. If you take the time to research Wolfes stories you will find that Rail (way) l6 is the railroad route from Penn station to Wolfes hometown, Asheville, N.C. According to Behn, who says he obtained access to Governor Hoffmanns papers during the eight years he spent researching his book, the child was killed by one of Anne Lindberghs close family relatives. After the fourth time of being knocked over, the child saw it coming and dropped of his own accord. The perpetrator of this earlier threat was never identified. personality disorder. Little Charlie had rickets as he was on a special diet and had a sun lamp he had to be exposed to daily. How Your Brainwaves Could Be Used In CriminalTrials, R. Kelly: Aided By A Network of Complicity Enabling His Crimes, How Social Media Turns Online Arguments Between Teens Into Real-World Violence, Kathleen Folbiggs Children Likely Died Of Natural Causes, Not Murder. The remains of a young child came from a morgue with the assistance of a medical doctor. As a young man, he became interested in aviation, and trained with the US Army Air Service before . At the time Lindberg was a communist, FDR did want him as president. The kidnapping had taken place on March 1, 1932, in a rural New Jersey town with a two-man police force. A Lindbergh quote after his historic flight provides some unsettling insight: There were times in an airplane when it seemed I had escaped mortality to look down on earth like a God., It didnt seem to matter that if he had failed, other pilots would have made the crossing within days. It seems to me obscene to blame the father of a murdered child for the murder without any evidence at all, says Ward, who concluded Hauptmann was guilty as charged. Copyright 2023, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Lindbergh had phoned ahead with strict instructions that no one was to enter the nursery between 8-10PM that nighthe didnt want the child coddled. But the book, it will never close. Its time to wake up! She added, Lindbergh was key in more ways than one if he supplied his own child as the subject of that experiment.. The three women knew his true identity, but their children did not learn it until they grew up.. He had seven secret children with 3 women other than his wife . The women searched the house for 20 frantic minutes before Lindbergh admitted the hoax. But his wife did alibi him for the murder. Copies that are purchased at the Regent Press website come signed. At one point he threatened to shoot any officer who violated this order. For those who say Morrow loved him: NO. Here was the only guy to have seen someone driving around Hopewell with a ladder, and they didnt call him , Ahlgren says. May 11, 2016 at 12:00 pm. Musk's shitposting attracts the masses the same way Lindbergh's landings did as he toured the world. Otherwise how would the kidnapper know they were going to be there? Gregory Ahlgren and Stephen Monier theorized in a book published in 1993 that Lindbergh was playing a prank when he dropped his son from a ladder, killing him, then hid the body. One, who had just been fired from his job for stealing company funds, had been unable to identify Hauptmann in a photographic lineup and misdescribed his car prior to the trial. He had some prominent supporters, including the governor of New Jersey, Harold Hoffman. When the house was livable, the couple would meet there on Saturdays and remain until Monday morning, when Lindbergh left for his job in New York with Trans-Continental Air Transport and would spend the week with Anne at her mothers estate. Ahlgren understood then why the prosecution hadnt called Lupica. I have a very suspicious picture. Thats why he didnt mind creating the circus around the kidnapping, again he was center ring. If Lindbergh was such a eugenicist how is it he had children from two sisters who had walking disabilities? The voices of those who hint at Lindbergh himself as a potential perpetrator and orchestrator of a bogus abduction are finally getting louder. Says Monier: It was one of the best-tried cases Ive ever seen.. On September 17th, 1934, a Lindbergh ransom bill was passed at a gas station in the Bronx. But did this sudden adulation go to his head? My research from the beginning stretched into 23 years ending with two books clearing Richard Hauptmann. 2023 www.cjonline.com. While Gardner says that for a long while he fought in his own mind against the idea of Lindberghs involvement, he thinks the kidnapping went too far and that his child died on the rainy and windy night of the abduction from his home, Highfields, in Hopewell, N.J., on March 1, 1932. Nights in the library were augmented by endless calls to the archivist at the New Jersey State Police Museum near Trenton, New Jersey, where the original police files are on display. For further reading on this fascinating, controversial theory that the Lindbergh kidnapping was an inside job, I recommend Crime of the Century by Gregory Ahlgren and Stephen Monier. There were no fingerprints on the envelope or the letter. Despite overwhelming evidence of guilt, Simpson was acquitted following the longest and most televised criminal trial in United States legal history. They didnt call him the Lone Eagle for nothing, Monier says. The authors think he was. Absolutely disgusting and disgraceful. Pearlmans book adds that Lindbergh felt unhappy that his firstborn son was a weakling who had an abnormally large head and may have suffered prenatal damage when Anne Lindbergh inhaled toxic fumes as the couple made a record-setting cross-country flight in April 1930. He worked out the dates when Lupica might have graduated and then placed a call to Princeton Universitys alumni association. When he did, Monier, too, was troubled by Lindberghs involvement in the investigation. As an Amazon affiliate, Crime Traveller may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. Baby Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr. with his mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother in 1931. Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested on September 19, 1934, more than two years after a $50,000 payment was made to a man in a New York cemetery who came to be called Cemetery John. Earlier that month the slight German carpenter had cashed several gold certificates from the ransom with merchants in the Bronx. Charles Jr. was kidnapped from his nursery on March 1, 1932. A cover-up, he says, was orchestrated by Lindbergh., In the meantime, Ahlgren and Monier have received letters and calls from the descendants of domestic help and bluecollar workers from around Hopewell. 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