Hauptmann, Bruno Richard

Related Category: Crime and Law Enforcement: Biographies

1899–1936, convicted kidnapper and murderer, b. Germany. The infant son of Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh was abducted (Mar. 1, 1932) at Hopewell, N.J., and a ransom of $50,000 for his release was paid through the intercession of Dr. John F. Condon. The child's battered body was found (May 12, 1932) near Hopewell, and on Sept. 19, 1934, Hauptmann, a carpenter, was found with part of the ransom. In a sensational trial at Flemington, N.J., he was convicted of murder. Hauptmann maintained his innocence to the last, and although temporarily reprieved, he was electrocuted on Apr. 3, 1936. The case precipitated (1934) congressional action against kidnapping.

See S. B. Whipple, The Trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann (1937); G. Waller, Kidnap (1961).