Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping: 1932 Abduction, 1935 Conviction, 1936 Execution Timeline

On the evening of March 1, 1932, Charles Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was taken from his crib in the second-floor nursery of the family’s home near Hopewell, New Jersey. The child’s nurse discovered him missing around 10:00 p.m. and alerted his parents.

On the windowsill, police found a handwritten ransom note demanding $50,000. A ladder had been placed against the house, and footprints and mud were found below the window. The kidnapping became the most heavily covered crime story in the United States up to that time, according to the case record.

The investigation was marked by early mistakes. The nursery was contaminated by family, servants, and police before forensic examination could be completed. The ransom note remained the central piece of written evidence.

Dr. John F. Condon, a retired Bronx schoolteacher, acted as the Lindbergh family’s chief intermediary in the ransom negotiations. He published a newspaper offer to serve as a go-between. According to the record, Condon later received a phone call from a man with a German accent, met the man in a Bronx cemetery, and paid $50,000 in gold certificates. The child was not returned.

On May 12, 1932, the child’s body was found in a shallow grave about four and a half miles from the Lindbergh home, in a wooded area near Mount Rose, New Jersey. The cause of death was reported as a blow to the head. The kidnapper had apparently died soon after the abduction, and the ransom was never recovered in full.