It was the crime of the century! It shocked everyone! Somebody dared to kidnap and kill a 20-month old baby boy, Charles Lindbergh Jr., son of the man who was regarded to be one of the world's greatest heroes.

Charles A. Lindbergh was the man who flew the first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. He was also the father of the kidnapped boy. "Lucky Lindy" was his nickname. He flew his plane, "Lone Eagle," to almost single-handedly launched an era of transoceanic flight.

His millionaire wife, Anne Morrow, and he flew from the Pacific North to the Orient. Anne and "Lindy" built a $50,000.00, 20-room stone house in an area of central New Jersey.

The parents of Charles Jr.: Anne and "Lindy".

Their son, Charles Jr. was 20 months old when they were expecting another baby. On a chilly damp weekend in March of 1932, they planned to the home of Mrs. Lindbergh's parents in a suburb of Englewood, NJ. But the baby, Charles Jr., had a cold and his parents decided to stay home with Charles Jr.'s nurse, Betty Gow, and their housekeepers.

Later that night some time between 8 and 10 p.m. Tuesday, March 1st, the child was kidnapped from his nursery on the second floor of the New Jersey home, by a person that did not leave a single fingerprint but did leave a ransom note for $50,000.00. When the parents found the baby was gone, Lindbergh searched the entire grounds and called Hoover and the FBI.

The FBI and the press who descended on the scene, found what might have been left of a kidnapper's footprints in some mud and a light fall of snow. In addition to the note, investigators found a homemade ladder and a chisel near the house.

The press suspected that gangsters kidnapped the baby. Dr. John Condon, a retired teacher claimed to be in contact with the kidnapper. The kidnapper gave Condon a note saying the child was on a boat on the Massachusetts Coast. Lindbergh spent days flying over the area but didn't find anything. Unknown to everyone, the body of Charles Jr., dead of a skull fracture, lay in the leaves off Hopewell-Princeton Road. This was a few miles away from the Lindbergh's home. The tiny body was found by a truck driver in May.

It took two years to track down the man accused of the murder. He was a German Bronx carpenter, Bruno Richard Hauptmann. They later found out that a board cut out from his attic floor was used to make the ladder. Hauptmann was found guilty and on April 3, 1936 he was electrocuted.

Few doubted he was guiltiness. His wife Anna insisted she was home with Hauptmann the night of the kidnap.

Because of this case, the FBI was given jurisdiction in kidnapping cases in the future. That was called the "Lindbergh Law." This law was passed in June of 1932. Future kidnappers would now face the death penalty for a federal crime. And the is the story of what shocked everybody.

Lindy, Jr.

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