A Grim New Theory Has Rekindled The Debate Around The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping
In 1932 it was dubbed the “crime of the century,” and it sparked a worldwide press frenzy. We’re talking about the kidnapping and subsequent brutal murder of the Lindbergh baby. The incident was horrible enough on its own to make screaming headlines. But the affair was all the more sensational because of the 20-month old victim’s father. He was none other than Charles Lindbergh, a national hero of the time because of his groundbreaking aviation feats.
An international celebrity
In an age when flying is commonplace, even boring to some, it’s perhaps difficult for us to imagine just how much of a feted international celebrity Charles Lindbergh was. Born in 1902 in Detroit, Michigan, Lindbergh had shot to fame in 1927.
That was the year he became the first man to make a non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic, setting off from New York and landing in Paris after 33 hours in the air.
A shocking challenge
So the fact that Lindbergh had suffered this horrible crime gripped and horrified the imaginations of people around the world. But recently one researcher has made a shocking challenge to the accepted narrative of this horrifying incident.
This new theory also provides a new possible identity for the guilty party. And to properly comprehend this new take on the kidnapping, we’ll need to remind ourselves of the full horror of the crime itself.
Missing
It was Betty Gow, the infant Charles’ nurse, who had first raised the alarm at 10:00 p.m. on March 1, 1932, telling the boy’s parents that he was missing from his bedroom.
The bedroom in question was on the second floor of the Lindbergh home not far from the New Jersey town of Hopewell. Lindbergh and his wife Anne must have been appalled by the unwelcome news that Charles had apparently vanished.
A $50,000 ransom
There was worse to come. Obviously the Lindberghs and their staff immediately mounted a thorough search of the house. While there was no sign of the child, what they did find was truly shocking.
Sitting on the windowsill in the nursery was a note written in an unknown hand and littered with errors. Despite the semi-literate syntax, the message was clear enough. It demanded a $50,000 ransom and warned against involving the police in the case.