ever found. No similar modus operandi were matched. No organized crime or underworld connection was uncovered. No lucky tip led to the inadvertent discovery of the kidnappers' den.
It was as if the kidnappers had appeared on the planet in the morning, kidnapped the child that night, and then immediately disappeared off the face of the earth, never to be heard from again.
On May 12, 1932 the body of Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr. was found in the woods just off a country road in Mount Rose, New Jersey, less than three miles from the Lindbergh home. In the initial cursory examination of the body, the coroner noted from the state of decomposition that it appeared that the child had been dead over two months and the police theorized the child was killed the night he disappeared. More certain data could not be obtained because, after Betty Gow and Colonel Lindbergh identified the body, the Colonel ordered the remains cremated immediately, before an autopsy or any pathological or toxicological tests could be performed. In compliance with his orders, the remains were cremated within the hour.
Some two years and six months after the kidnapping, an uneducated German immigrant carpenter by the name of Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested. In January and February of 1935 he was tried for the kidnapping and murder in a Flemington, New Jersey courthouse. Speaking only broken English, he was not afforded the opportunity of a translator at his trial. It is unknown if it would have mattered, because in any event the defense was never given the investigative notes in this case or otherwise apprised before the trial of the evidence that they would have to defend against. Hauptmann was convicted on extremely circumstantial evidence, and on April 3, 1936, maintaining his innocence to the end, was executed in the electric chair in Trenton, New Jersey. With his death, the State officially closed their case.
Bruno Richard Hauptmann's conviction and execution troubled observers from the beginning. With the passage of time and the eventual release of police notes and other documents and exhibits, more and more doubt was cast on the sanctity of his conviction. His family has fought diligently to clear his name. What is now clear is that the Lindbergh baby was not kidnapped by either one person or a gang, but rather was killed negligently by his father who, facing the enormity of what he had done and its probable tarnishing of his public image, trumped up the kidnapping story as a cover.
For over sixty years it has worked.
CHAPTER II
Colonel Charles Lindbergh's grandfather, Ole Mansson, was born in Sweden in 1810. Despite his peasant origin, through hard work he became a land owner and, as such, was able to get elected to the Swedish Parliament at age 39. However, he developed so many political enemies that at age 50 he was forced, with his second wife and their newborn son Charles Augustus, to immigrate to the United States.
Ole changed the last name of his family to Lindbergh and settled in Minnesota where he resumed farming. When in 1862 he lost his right arm in a milling accident he reportedly never complained but merely, after a two year recovery, redesigned his tools for use with one arm.
The family homesteaded, and depended heavily on the hunting of wild game for their nutrition. Charles Augustus Lindbergh became proficient with a rifle and often solely shouldered the responsibility of securing game. During one winter hunting trip he brought down several ducks over a neighbor's pond. The water was so cold that the hunting spaniel retrieved only two mallards before refusing to re enter the frigid pond. Lindbergh stripped off his coat and clothes and waded into the pond in the midst of the Minnesota winter to retrieve all the ducks.
Lindbergh eventually became a successful lawyer in Minnesota. He married and had two daughters, Eva and Lillian, before his first wife died of an intestinal tumor at age 31.
Three years later he married Evangeline Land, a school teacher from Detroit who was teaching in Little Falls. Her father was Dr. Charles Land, a dentist and inventor who held several patents.
Evangeline was shy and withdrawn and also 17 years younger than Lindbergh. On February 4, 1902 they had their only child, Charles A. Lindbergh, Jr.
The family settled on their farm on the west bank of the Mississippi near the town of Little Falls. In 1905 the farmhouse caught fire. A nursemaid rescued three year old Charles from a room in which he had been playing and carried him outside. Although she told him not to watch, he did anyway, hypnotically mesmerized as the family home disintegrated in flames before his eyes.
Disintegrating also was the marriage between Evangeline and Charles Augustus Lindbergh. Although they never divorced or even legally separated, thereafter they lived apart. When they did reside in the same house for appearances sake, they stayed in separate areas.
Appearances were important because in 1906 Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr. was elected to the United States Congress, a position he held for ten years. Thereafter he spent most of his time in Washington while Evangeline divided her time between D.C., the Minnesota farm, and her family's home in Detroit. The young Lindbergh also shuttled between three locales. While in Washington his father would indulge him by taking him onto the floor of the Congress. Although he later referred to Washington with a mixture of distaste and curiosity, he was also impressed by its historic nature.
In the spring he would move to Detroit, spending time with his mother and Dr. Land. He was fascinated by his grandfather's inventions and later would often refer to the hours spent in this laboratory.
After the short stay in Detroit, he and his mother would move west by train where they would open up the family farm in Minnesota for the season. During this period of constant migration, Charles attended eleven different schools and did well in none of them. He developed no close friendships. His halfsisters were significantly older and were out and living on their own while he was still a boy. His only constant companion was his mother.
Evangeline Lindbergh possessed a very negative image among the townspeople. She was considered aloof, pretentious, and patronizing. She often rode horseback alone through the area and few would even speak to her. On one occasion when riding through town with Charles, Jr. shots were actually fired at Mrs. Lindbergh by townspeople. They were aimed to frighten, not harm. Her young son grabbed his .22 rifle and fired back at those he believed had done the shooting. Although he did not hit anyone, his return shots came much closer than the original ones had to Mrs. Lindbergh.
Incidents such as these prevented anyone from attempting to develop a friendship with Charles, Jr. For her part Evangeline did not encourage him to develop relationships with anyone but herself and would quickly express her disapproval if he began to do so with other children his own age. Yet her own relationship with him was cold and somewhat formal. She would shake hands with him when they parted and when she put him to bed.
Discouraged or prevented from peer friendships, Charles, Jr. became fixated on machines. His autobiographical writings are filled with accounts of how he learned to drive an automobile at age 11, and of his subsequent love affair with a motorcycle. Conspicuously absent are tales of personal friendships. Nor is there any evidence that as he entered adolescence he had any interest in females.
Charles, Jr. invariably played alone on the Minnesota farm. He demonstrated a natural proclivity at an early age to construct items from wood. A raft by the river and a garden shed were two projects of which he was most proud.
When his father was home from Washington they occasionally hunted or swam together in the Mississippi River. During one such excursion, while playing on the riverbank at a spot where the current was especially swift, young Charles fell in. In order to teach him to be tough the elder Lindbergh refused any help to his son, thereby forcing him to learn to swim in order to avoid being swept downstream.
When Charles was ten his father bought their first automobile. Although neither of his parents was mechanically inclined, by age 11 Charles was driving it regularly.
During the summer of 1915 Congressman Lindbergh took a six week leave of absence to undertake an expedition on the Mississippi. He was to write a report following his journey on the efficacy of the system of dams then in existence. He took his 13 year old son with him.
It was a long and arduous journey. Traveling in a small boat powered by an outboard motor, they camped out along the way with Indians and farmers