Lindbergh Kidnapping - The Crime

The Crime

At 8:00 pm on March 1, 1932, the nurse-maid, Betty Gow, put 20-month-old Charles Lindbergh, Jr. in his crib. She pinned the blanket covering him with two large safety pins so as to prevent it from moving while he slept. At around 9:30 pm, Col. Lindbergh heard a noise that made him think some slats had fallen off an orange crate in the kitchen. At 10:00 pm, Gow discovered that the baby was missing from his crib. She in turn went to ask Mrs. Lindbergh, who was just coming out of the bath, if she had the baby with her.

After not finding Charles Lindbergh, Jr. with his mother, the nurse-maid went downstairs to speak with Lindbergh, who was in the library/study just beneath the baby's nursery room in the southeast corner of the house. Charles Lindbergh then proceeded up to the nursery to see for himself that his son was not in his crib. While surveying the room, he discovered a white envelope had been left on the radiator that formed the window sill.

Lindbergh located his Springfield rifle and searched the rest of the house looking for intruders. Within 20 minutes, the local police were on their way to the Lindbergh house, as were the media and Lindbergh's attorney. A single distinguishable tire indentation was discovered a short time later just below the window in the mud caused by the rainy conditions that day. After authorities began to search the area immediately surrounding the house, they discovered three sections of a smartly designed but rather crude-looking ladder in a nearby cluster of bushes.