The Lindbergh Case: Your views?

[Espee]

As an aside, while eating breakfast one morning in the 1980s, I realized I had experienced some sort of dream, that Hauptman's execution had just taken place.
That night, or maybe the next, I went to bed and rewound whatever relaxing, lightweight old radio show I had already fallen asleep to, at least once. Maybe "Fibber McGee and Molly" or Fred Allen...
This time, I wasn't so tired, and I found out the OTR host had, on that occasion, come up a bit short of material for his program. So as filler, he had played a half-dozen interesting clips of the familiar NBC chimes. And one of them was the first announcement of Hauptman's execution.

 

[MissMittens]

my problem with all of this, is that Hauptman barely spoke English - so couldn't have been involved in the ransom demands..........

 

[MisterCairo]

my problem with all of this, is that Hauptman barely spoke English - so couldn't have been involved in the ransom demands..........

Unless he had assistance, of course.

 

[MissMittens]

Unless he had assistance, of course.

True, but there's no evidence to support

 

[LizzieMaine]

Hauptmann spoke English quite fluently, according to the testimony of his wife and his own testimony on the witness stand. He still *thought* in German, which caused his speech to seem halting and slow, but he had no trouble making himself understood. The ransom notes were, in the unanimous opinion of those who studied them, written by someone whose first language was German, and was still thinking in that language.

 

[Hercule]

Was there a psych evaluation of Hauptmann done at the time?

 

[Hercule]

Sorry - somehow I managed to make a double post. Feel free to delete.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A somewhat limited evaluation was done by Dr. Dudley Schoenfeld, the psychiatrist who had worked up the profile of the kidnapper over a year before Hauptmann was arrested -- predicting that the criminal would be a German-born carpenter or machinist with a meticulous but secretive personality and a criminal past. Schoenfeld pushed unsuccessfully for the commutation of the death sentence so he could do a more thorough evaluation of Hauptmann after he was convicted.

Schoenfeld's book, "The Crime and the Criminal" is fascinating reading -- it's a combination of a psychological profile of Hautpmann and an examination of the trial from a psychological perspective.

 

[m0nk]

I wish I knew more about the case, and after reading through this thread, I think I'll do some more research. Thanks for posting!

 

[Hercule]

Lizzie - Do I recall correctly that you have/had a relative who was originally involved in the Lindbergh case?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, my ex-brother-in-law used to claim his father was the Lindbergh Baby because of his webbed toes. But that's as close as i ever got. There is a Lindbergh connection where I live, though -- the Morrow family had an estate on North Haven, an island just offshore from here, and Lindy and Anne used to come thru here regularly.

 

[Hercule]

That's probably what I remember.

 

[scotrace]

This case gives me the Willies as no other.

 

[Michaelson]

A related topic, not long after the case was done, Lindbergh ordered a special order Colt Detective Special revolver for protection. He had never owned one for this reason before, let alone one specificially designed for personal protection, but he was never the same in his personal security practices after the death of their son.

http://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/the-fitz-special/

Regards! Michaelson

 

[rjb1]

For Lindbergh Case fans:
Next week's "NOVA" PBS science program is about the Lindbergh case. Just from the preview it seems that they propose that *two* persons were involved in the actual kidnapping itself.
TV history-documentaries have a mixed record in terms of quality, but "NOVA" is usually pretty good.

 

[LizzieMaine]

From what I've heard they're going to focus on forensic study of the surviving evidence, so it should be a cut above the usual conspiracy-theory speculation.

As far as multiple suspects go, John F. Condon insisted to his dying day that Hauptmann had a cohort. Given that he was the only man to have a face-to-face meeting with "Cemetery John," his belief should carry weight.

 

[MisterCairo]

True, but there's no evidence to support

Nor is there any to refute. Per Lizzie, there is evidence he spoke english well enough.

Sometimes, folks, the answer is the obvious rather than the conspiratorial...

 

[tuppence]

One of the things about the case that makes it so fascinating is the enigma of Hauptmann himself -- a man who, on the one hand, seemed to sincerely love his wife and son, and who was very popular with his circle of friends in the close-knit German community in the Bronx. One reason Anna Hauptmann was still proclaiming Richard's innocence as late as the 1990s is that she simply couldn't conceive of him lying to her, despite evidence that he had repeatedly done so in the matter of the ransom money. On the other hand, to do what the kidnapper did -- to kill the child, strip off its sleeping suit to use in the extortion plot, and then bury the body in a ditch at the side of the road -- suggests a truly vicious man. Could the gentle mandolin-playing "friend of nature" Richard Hautpmann be the Jekyll and the brutal killer Bruno Hautpmann be the Hyde? He took his secrets -- and he had many of them -- to his grave, and we'll never have definitive answers to what made him tick.

Interestingly, the prosecutor in the case, David Wilentz, and the psychologist who advised the prosecution, Dr. Dudley Schoenfeld, both wanted to see Hauptmann's sentence commuted to life -- in order to study him, to try and figure out just who he really was inside. But New Jersey law at the time required a death sentence for first degree murder, and their hands were tied.

There seems to be a number of serial killers who were able to carry on a double life quite effectively for years before being caught. That his wife believed him innocent and he was a popular figure amongst the German community really doesn't prove anything, if he was a sociopath, the deception would have been fairly easy for him.

 

[Stearmen]

There seems to be a number of serial killers who were able to carry on a double life quite effectively for years before being caught. That his wife believed him innocent and he was a popular figure amongst the German community really doesn't prove anything, if he was a sociopath, the deception would have been fairly easy for him.

You always hear from the neighbors, what a nice man he was. Never, I was terrified of him, wouldn't even let my cat go over there. Look at the BK serial killer, Boy Scout leader, church oriented, and killed prostitutes!

 

[1961MJS]

You always hear from the neighbors, what a nice man he was. Never, I was terrified of him, wouldn't even let my cat go over there. Look at the BK serial killer, Boy Scout leader, church oriented, and killed prostitutes!

Hi

Actually I worked on two Eagle Scout Projects will ole Dennis at the Lutheran Church. I don't remember him at all though. The guys at the church said he was more of a doer than a talker. He was the Congregation President and a Scout leader. You're two of three though, I don't believe that his victims were hookers. Check Wikipedia and the Crime Library. Oh, and it's BTK for Bind Torture Kill. One of my son's friends worked with Dennis at Park City. He didn't like him at all even before they found out about his "hobbies". He killed one of his neighbors in Park City, hiding in her bushes until she got home. All of his neighbors got ride of all of their shrubbery, but Dennis didn't feel the need I guess. They arrested him at Home Depot about a block from where I lived in Wichita.

Later