Crime of the Century: The Lindbergh Kidnapping Hoax

Media:	Hardcover
Author:	Gregory Ahlgren, Stephen Monier
Publisher:	Branden Books
Release date:	01 May, 1993
Our price:	$21.95

Crime of the Century: The Lindbergh Kidnapping Hoax

Average rating:

Case Closed: Lindy did it.

As a 25+ year law enforcement veteran, and current homicide detective (and NO, I was not involved in the O.J. investigation) my first impression upon hearing of this book and its premise, was to dismiss it out of hand. After all, I had read most everything else about the Lindbergh case and there had never been a hint that the kidnap was anything but real. Then I read the book. It's true, the book is not exceedingly well written but these two guys are not professional journalists. What I sensed as I read was the presence of a fellow dogged police investigator (Monier) and, what I have begrugingly come to admire over the years: the skeptical mind of the criminal defense lawyer (Ahlgren). In tandem, their approach to sleuthing an old case is deadly. As I proceeded through the book all the crazy facts of the case which had never seemed to make sense to anyone, and which had provided much of the lure to the Lindbergh case, suddenly seemed to fall into place. The authors show in Lindbergh himself those personality traits which, in my own experience, are consistent with a parent who commits a terrible crime, and then concocts a cover-up. Did Lindy in fact do it? The authors are honest enough to conceed that Lindy as culprit is only one of many scenarios, although one that has previosly been overlooked by the journalists and other amateurs who have studied this case. For me, in my own experience, I'd say it's the most likely explanation.

A bad, bad book

The only way a reader could give any credibility to the authors' outlandish and contradictory theories (either Charles Lindbergh or his sister-in-law killed the baby!) is to ignore the actual evidence which overwhelmingly proves Bruno Hauptman's guilt. And that's exactly what the authors do: They ignore the fact that large amounts of ransom money was found at Hauptman's house, that the unique mis-spellings in the ranson notes (for example, hyphenation of "New-York") matched handwriting samples from Hauptmann written from before the kidnapping (pretty hard to fabricate or forge pre-existing business documents), that Hauptmann was a notorious "second-story" burglar back in Germany, etc., etc. The authors focus on the weak pieces of evidence against Hauptman and then knock down that evidence--a classic "Straw Man" strategy. The authors base their theory on an affidavit which, (they casually mention) was "lost" years ago. Now THAT'S SOME PROOF!!!!
If you are seriously interested in this crime, read one or both of Jim Fischer's books.

Famous¿Infamous

The national reputation of Charles A. Lindbergh Jr.--"The Lone Eagle"--was of close-to-heroic proportions. But off-duty professional snoops Ahlgren and Monier scratched below the glossy surface (as would today's F.B.I. profilers) and found a warped personality. They have put together a convincing argument (circumstantial, just like the "official" one) that Lindbergh himself, in a practical joke gone horribly wrong, accidentally dropped the baby and buried him in a shallow grave nearby. Especially unconscionable was his waiting till Hauptman fried before leaving the country. Hauptman's only crime was in trying to claim the ransome money--but he was the only one of the hundreds who sought it to be burned for "murder."
Justice in the 30s was much different than today's, but the public hysteria over the famous is much the same.
The book could have used a professional copy editor/proofreader.

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