181
See also: The Kidnapping of John Paul Getty III 186–89 ■ The Chowchilla Kidnapping 190–95
■ The Kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt 324–25KIDNAPPING AND EXTORTION
the house – to climb up and in
through the second-floor window.
Some rungs had snapped, which
suggested that the ladder might
have broken when the kidnapper
descended with the baby.
The police also found tyre tracks
and a chisel, and traces of mud on
the nursery floor. Most importantly,
they found two sets of footprints on
the wet ground beneath the nursery
window, which led away from the
house in a southeasterly direction
towards the tyre tracks of the
getaway car.
However, they did not take
plaster casts of the footprints, nor
did they measure the sets of
footprints – which would have
given them the opportunity to
compare the prints with those of
possible suspects. Newspapers
reported that officers ignored
protocol in their haste to find the
baby and catch his abductor.
No usable fingerprints were
found on the ransom notes, the crib,
or the ladder, causing investigators
to believe the crime scene had been
wiped clean.
By 10:30 that night, radio news
bulletins about the kidnapping hit
the airwaves and the world learned
about the abduction. Over the next
three days, a law-enforcement team
of FBI agents and police officers from
New Jersey and New York found no
new clues.
On 5 March, a second letter
arrived demanding $70,000 (£1
million today). The note also told
the Lindberghs not to involve thepolice. In a third note, the kidnapper
gave the Lindberghs instructions
for dropping off the money.Negotiations begin
Dr John Condon, a 72-year-old
retired educator, read about the
kidnapping in a local paper. He
wrote a letter to the editor, offering
to act as an intermediary between
the kidnapper and the Lindbergh
family. Upon seeing the letter, the
kidnapper wrote to Condon and
agreed. They met in a cemetery
and the kidnapper returned the
pink sleeping suit as proof the boy
was safe.
The Lindberghs were then told,
through Condon, when and where
to leave the money. After the
kidnapper received the money, he
would leave their baby on a boat
named The Nelly, anchored near
Martha’s Vineyard off the coast
of Massachusetts – between
Horseneck beach and Gay Head
near Elizabeth Island. The
Lindberghs agreed to pay the
ransom in order to get their son
back safe and sound.Under cover of night, Dr Condon
made the drop of $50,000 (£730,000),
which Condon had negotiated down
from the second request. Lindbergh
waited in the car. The cemetery
was dark and they could barely see
the kidnapper, but his German-
accented voice came across loud
and clear. The man identified
himself only as “John”, and left
with the Lindberghs’ money.
However, he did not hold up his
end of the bargain: after an
exhaustive search, during which
Lindbergh repeatedly flew over the
sea, the boat and child were
nowhere to be found.
Investigators continued to look
for the boy, but had no luck. When
Charlie was finally found, on
12 May 1932, it was by chance –
a truck driver stopping for a break
found a small body covered in
leaves in a wooded area near the
hamlet of Mount Rose, about 3 km
(2 miles) from the Lindberghs’
Hopewell estate.
Buried in a shallow grave,
the body had already begun to
decompose. Charlie Lindbergh, it
seemed, had been dead since the
very night he was taken. ❯❯Anne Morrow Lindbergh holds
Charlie shortly after his birth in June- Six months earlier, the pregnant
Anne became the first woman to earn
a first-class glider’s licence.
We warn you not to make
anything public or
notify the police.
The child is in good care.
First ransom note178-185_Lindbergh_Baby.indd 181 13/01/2017 15:18