On this day, Feb. 13, 1935, Bruno Hauptmann was found guilty of the 1932 kidnapping and murder of the young son of famed aviator Charles Lindbergh. The kidnapping of the 20-month-old child of the man who flew around the world gained international infamy and was called “The Crime of the Century.”
Charles Lindbergh Jr.’s abductors used a handmade ladder to snatch him from his bedroom. After receiving a ransom note, the Lindberghs delivered $50,000 in gold certificates, but the infant was never returned. His corpse was found later in the woods near the Lindbergh home in New Jersey. The cause of death listed was a severe blow to the head. Two years later, a $10 gold certificate from the ransom was turned in to police, who traced the money to Hauptmann, a German carpenter. Police found $14,000 of the ransom in Hauptmann’s garage. Hauptmann was convicted and executed by electric chair.
