← All cases

Bruno Richard Hauptmann

Also known as: Lindbergh kidnapping, Lindbergh baby kidnapping

Active

1932–1932

Region

Hopewell, New Jersey, USA

States

NJ, NY

Kind

Single

Status

Executed

Victims

1

On the night of March 1, 1932, 20-month-old Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., son of the aviator Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was taken from his crib at the family's new home near Hopewell, New Jersey. A ransom was paid in a Bronx cemetery in April, but the child's body was found in woods a short distance from the house on May 12, 1932. In September 1934 a ransom gold certificate passed at a Manhattan gas station led police to Bruno Richard Hauptmann, a German-born carpenter living in the Bronx, and nearly $15,000 of the ransom money was found in his house and garage. He was convicted at Flemington in February 1935 and executed on April 3, 1936.

Ask the Atlas about this case →

Victims

We remember the people whose lives were taken.

• Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., 1 · March 1, 1932

  The first child of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, born June 22, 1930; he was 20 months old.

Timeline of locations

1. March 1, 1932
   Highfields, the Lindbergh home (Abduction, approximate area)

   The child was taken from the family's new home on the evening of March 1, 1932. The estate was later given to New Jersey and has been a state juvenile rehabilitation center since 1952.

2. April 2, 1932
   St. Raymond's Cemetery, the Bronx (Other)

   Intermediary John F. Condon handed the ransom, mostly in gold certificates, to a man who called himself "John" at the cemetery. The child was not returned.

3. May 12, 1932
   Woods near Mount Rose, Hopewell Township (Recovery site, approximate area)

   A truck driver found the child's body in woods near a road a few miles from Highfields.

4. September 15, 1934
   Gas station on Lexington Avenue, upper Manhattan (Other, approximate area)

   A driver paid for gas with a $10 gold certificate. The attendant wrote his license plate on the bill, which a bank matched to the ransom list, and the plate led police to Hauptmann.

5. September 19, 1934
   Hauptmann's home, the Bronx (Killer's residence, approximate area)

   Police stopped Hauptmann as he drove in the Bronx, where he lived, and arrested him. Nearly $15,000 of the ransom money was later found in his house and garage.

6. January 2, 1935
   Hunterdon County Courthouse, Flemington (Court / trial)

   The "Trial of the Century" drew crowds and reporters to Flemington. Hauptmann was found guilty of first-degree murder on February 13, 1935, and sentenced to death.

7. April 3, 1936
   New Jersey State Prison, Trenton (Prison)

   After his appeals failed and clemency was denied, Hauptmann was executed in the electric chair here.

Watch, listen, read

Sources

• Lindbergh kidnapping (Wikipedia)
• The Capture of the Charles Lindbergh Baby Kidnapper (HISTORY.com)
• Bruno Richard Hauptmann (Famous Trials, Douglas O. Linder)
• Hunterdon County Courthouse (Wikipedia)

Each location also lists its own sources in the data file.