March 1, 1932. East Amwell Township, New Jersey. 20-month old Charles Lindbergh Jr., the son of renowned aviator Charles Lindbergh, is abducted from his crib in the nursery of his home and a note is left behind demanding a $50,000 ransom for the baby’s safe return. Even though the ransom is eventually paid out to an unidentified man at a cemetery in the Bronx, the child is not returned and his body is found in a wooded area located just over four miles from the Lindbergh residence. His cause of death is a fractured skull and it is believed that he was killed on the very same night he was kidnapped. Over two years later, a suspect named Bruno Richard Hauptmann is charged, convicted and executed for the child’s murder. However, some people believe that Hauptmann was railroaded and even though nearly a century has passed, there is still a lot of controversy and debate surrounding one of the most famous cases of all time. To commemorate the milestone of our ten-year anniversary as a podcast, “The Trail Went Cold” will be presenting our very first special four-part episode and exploring the crime known as the “Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping”. This week, on Part Three, we explore a number of theories about the case which have been pushed forward over the years, including the possibility that Hauptmann committed the crime alongside some accomplices who got away with it, or that Charles Lindbergh himself staged the kidnapping in order to cover up his own complicity in his son’s death. Our final chapter in the series, Part Four, will be released next week.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindbergh_kidnapping
"Kidnap: The Story of the Lindbergh Case" by George Waller
"Scapegoat: The Lonesome Death of Richard Hauptmann" by Anthony Scaduto
"The Airman and the Carpenter: The Lindbergh Kidnapping and the Framing of Richard Hauptmann" by Ludovic Kennedy
"The Ghosts of Hopewell: Setting the Record Straight in the Lindbergh Case" by Jim Fisher
"Crime of the Century: The Lindbergh Kidnapping Hoax" by Gregory Ahlgren & Stephen Monier
"The Case That Never Dies: The Lindbergh Kidnapping" by Lloyd Gardner
"Hauptmann's Ladder: A Step-by-Step Analysis of the Lindbergh Kidnapping" by Richard Cahill
"Master Detective: The Life and Crimes of Ellis Parker, America's Sherlock Holmes" by John Reisinger
"Cemetery John: The Undiscovered Mastermind Behind the LIndbergh Kidnapping" by Robert Zorn
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The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.
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