# Any Updates to The Lindergh Baby Case? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 22, 2010, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616 "2010-09-22T05:49:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/1 "2010-09-22T05:49:01Z")
What I am asking: has any modern criminologist done a re-analysis of this case? True, its been 75+ years, but I imagine most of the evidence has been preserved. I always thought that the guy who was found guilty and executed (Bruno Hauptmann) wasrailroaded to a certain extent. Would a modern jury have found him guilty? ---
**Author:** ![evilbeth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/evilbeth/32/2268_2.png) [@evilbeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evilbeth)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/2 "2010-09-22T06:09:08Z")
John Douglas, FBI vet, has a book where he discusses the case details and gives his theories:[The Cases That Haunt Us](http://www.amazon.com/Cases-That-Haunt-Us/dp/0671017063/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top) ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/3 "2010-09-22T06:36:29Z")
I once read a book with very startling “facts” and speculations; I guess it was the book by Noel Behn. Googling suggest that that theory is thought to be total quackery. The book is one where you wonder if the author is just spinning bullshit and calling it facts. A large part of his evidence is interview with one or more New Jersey detectives who conveniently died before book’s publication. I was fascinated and half-convinced, but maybe I’m extremely gullible. Briefly, Behn’s theory is that the baby was killed on Friday by its Aunt, jealous jilted and soon institutionalized. (Servants were under orders not to leave her alone with baby.) Lindbergh failed to appear at the Manhattan dinner where he was to be guest of honor that evening (easily verified fact – is it true?), called his friend Wild Bill Donovan (later of OSS fame), who helped him concoct a kidnapping plot to avoid a scandal. When Hauptman was awaiting execution, a Lindbergh servant revealed this to the Governor to save the innocent Hauptman. Hey!! I’m just telling you what I read. Tell me I’m gullible if you wish, but I already know that. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/4 "2010-09-22T07:24:23Z")
Still dead as far as I know. ---
**Author:** ![bleibtreu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bleibtreu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleibtreu)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/5 "2010-09-22T07:41:24Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Still dead as far as I know. Still **seriously** dead, in fact. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/6 "2010-09-22T10:07:50Z")
What happened to the guy who claimed to BE the Lindbergh baby. Was he ever proved to be a liar? [http://www.nj.com/lindbergh/hunterdon/index.ssf?/lindbergh/stories/chuckjr.html](http://www.nj.com/lindbergh/hunterdon/index.ssf?/lindbergh/stories/chuckjr.html) [http://www.nj.com/lindbergh/hunterdon/index.ssf?/lindbergh/stories/linbabes.html](http://www.nj.com/lindbergh/hunterdon/index.ssf?/lindbergh/stories/linbabes.html) ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/7 "2010-09-22T12:15:39Z")
According to a story in “The Onion”, he was found recently hiding in an attic and explained “Daddy said we were doing this for a show”. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/8 "2010-09-22T13:53:46Z")
I read Reeve Lindbergh’s memoir “Under a Wing.” Her parents were absolutely sure that the baby was dead (Charles identified the body) and that Hauptman did it. In one of life’s eerier coincidences, Reeve’s first child was a son who died about the same age as Charles Jr. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/9 "2010-09-22T14:37:33Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > What happened to the guy who claimed to BE the Lindbergh baby. Was he ever proved to be a liar? Abe Simpson has been known to spin a yarn or two. ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/10 "2010-09-22T15:44:18Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > According to a story in “The Onion”, he was found recently hiding in an attic and explained “Daddy said we were doing this for a show”. oooh… Too soon… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/11 "2010-09-22T15:47:54Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > What happened to the guy who claimed to BE the Lindbergh baby. Was he ever proved to be a liar? The body was found two months after the kidnapping (or whatever it was). Doesn’t that prove that all of these guys were liars or nuts? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/12 "2010-09-22T17:06:44Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > > > What happened to the guy who claimed to BE the Lindbergh baby. Was he ever proved to be a liar? > > The body was found two months after the kidnapping (or whatever it was). Doesn’t that prove that all of these guys were liars or nuts? How do we know that the body was the actual Lindbergh baby? Has it been exhumed so that DNA tests could be done? And Hauptmann could have been setup or just a moron who was only guilty of conducting an ill conceived scam. What about the work of fiction that conclusively proved that Anne Lindbergh’s jealous sister killed the baby? Are we to dismiss evidence just because it’s imaginary? For that matter, how do we know that was the actual Lindbergh? Maybe he crashed in the Atlantic, and a look-alike was prepared for that circumstance, and took off in a duplicate plane from a remote airstrip somewhere in the British Isles to make it look like the flight was successful. And isn’t it a liitle too coincidental that the lead investigator in the crime was Herbert Schwarzkopf, father of Stormin’ Norman of Desert Storm fame? Lindbergh, Hauptmann, Schwarzkopf, don’t those name seem to have a common theme? That’s right, you guessed it, Jim Nabors (born June 12, 1930) is actually Charles A. Lindbergh Jr. The whole story would make a great conspiracy theory if anybody actually cared about it. But the death of a rich, racist, Nazi sympathizer’s kid doesn’t have the implications that attract real CTs. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/13 "2010-09-22T17:12:02Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > > [@Marley23](#): > > > > The body was found two months after the kidnapping (or whatever it was). Doesn’t that prove that all of these guys were liars or nuts? > > How do we know that the body was the actual Lindbergh baby? Has it been exhumed so that DNA tests could be done? And Hauptmann could have been setup or just a moron who was only guilty of conducting an ill conceived scam. Reeve Lindbergh states that her father positively identified the body. If it were my son I wouldn’t say it was unless I was 100% absolutely, positively damn sure. She also states that she hated remembering her brother as a character in the kidnapping case instead of her actual brother. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/14 "2010-09-22T17:18:52Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > > [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > > > What happened to the guy who claimed to BE the Lindbergh baby. Was he ever proved to be a liar? > > The body was found two months after the kidnapping (or whatever it was). Doesn’t that prove that all of these guys were liars or nuts? Everything about the case is disputed by someone. A body was found, certainly. But there have always been claims it wasn’t the Lindburgh kid. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/15 "2010-09-22T17:21:42Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Reeve Lindbergh states that her father positively identified the body. If it were my son I wouldn’t say it was unless I was 100% absolutely, positively damn sure. How does that explain the Gomer Pyle connection? ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/16 "2010-09-22T17:26:25Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > What I am asking: has any modern criminologist done a re-analysis of this case? [According to wikipedia…](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindbergh_kidnapping#Re-examination_of_the_evidence) > [@](#): > > In 2005, the truTV television program Forensic Files conducted a re-examination of the physical evidence in the kidnapping using more modern scientific techniques. The program concluded that Hauptmann had indeed been guilty, but it noted that many questions remained Like any notorious crime, the re-examination of this case will never end. A quick glance at Amazon turns up over a hundered books on the case, and it seems like a new one comes out every few years. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/17 "2010-09-22T17:27:21Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > > [@Marley23](#): > > > > The body was found two months after the kidnapping (or whatever it was). Doesn’t that prove that all of these guys were liars or nuts? > > How do we know that the body was the actual Lindbergh baby? Has it been exhumed so that DNA tests could be done? According to Wikipedia the body was identified by Charles Lindbergh and by the baby’s nurse. The remains were cremated, so there’s nothing to exhume. > [@](#): > > And Hauptmann could have been setup or just a moron who was only guilty of conducting an ill conceived scam. Yes, he could have. I’m not ruling out every alternative theory on the case because I don’t know a lot about it. But the part about the baby being dead seems concrete to me. I know there have been a lot of people who said they were the Lindbergh baby over the years. The person **Peter Morris** mentioned comes off as a complete lunatic. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/18 "2010-09-22T17:48:48Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Yes, he could have. I’m not ruling out every alternative theory on the case because I don’t know a lot about it. But the part about the baby being dead seems concrete to me. I know there have been a lot of people who said they were the Lindbergh baby over the years. The person **Peter Morris** mentioned comes off as a complete lunatic. There were other children who suspected that Charles Lindbergh was their father. Turns out, they were right. But you may have gathered from the balance of my post that I don’t take the conspiracy angle seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/19 "2010-09-22T17:49:17Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > > [@TriPolar](#): > > > > How do we know that the body was the actual Lindbergh baby? Has it been exhumed so that DNA tests could be done? > > According to Wikipedia the body was identified by Charles Lindbergh and by the baby’s nurse. The remains were cremated, so there’s nothing to exhume. Whoosh? I think \*\*Tripolar \*\*was joking, and didn’t actually expect an answer to the question. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2010, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-updates-to-the-lindergh-baby-case/554616/20 "2010-09-22T18:21:08Z")
I recall an interview with someone (writing a book?) wo mentioned the Isidore Fisch connection. The authorities didn’t seem interested in following up that claim, this guy said; athough you would think that if he said that’s where he got the money, they would at least investigate the angle. I guess they dodn’t want to tell people “the kidnapper made his final getaway”, they wanted a live body to put on trial.