A ladder as a crucial piece of evidence? The famous case of the Lindbergh baby is still considered by some to be unsolved: there are disagreements over the quality and existence of some of the evidence used to convict Bruno Richard Hauptmann of the kidnap and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr.  Charles Lindbergh Jr., the 'Lindbergh baby', was found to be missing from his crib at around 10pm on the 1st of March, 1932 in the family home at East Amwell, New Jersey. The body of the child was found on 12th May, 1932 in a nearby township and appeared to have been hastily buried but dug up by wild animals.  A ransom note was found on the windowsill and a chisel and wooden dowel were also found in the grounds of the home.  However, one of the key pieces of evidence was a ladder found in bushes near the house. The ladder was found in pieces and was designed to be collapsible.

Framed By a Ladder?

Hauptmann was captured as a suspect in 1934 when a bill from the ransom money was discovered at a New York City bank.  A license plate number was written on the note, which led investigators to Hauptmann.  A clerk at a petrol station had written the number down on the bill, as the man who tendered it was acting suspiciously.  When investigators linked the license plate to Hauptmann, they searched his home and found $13,000 of the ransom money hidden around the home, as well a sketch detailing the construction of the same ladder that was found at the scene and a piece of wood in the attic that turned out to match some of the wood used for the ladder. Hauptmann told investigators that the money had been left with him by a former business partner, who had since returned to Germany and died.  He also said that he was not aware that there was any money in the box left with him until after his associate, Isidor Fischer, had passed away.  However, the piece of wood found in the attic was the most important piece of evidence linking Hauptmann with the crime.

A Different Kind of Ladder Expert

Wood expert Arthur Koehler identified three samples of the wood from the ladder, shortly after the crime and was then asked to study the ladder itself, nearly a year after the kidnapping.  There was something different about part of the ladder, something that did not match up with the rest of the construction. After police traced Hauptmann on the basis of the ransom bill and searched his home, Koehler was able to use forensic techniques to match the wood used to construct the ladder with the wood found in the attic, even going as far as to trace the wood back to the saw mill where it was processed.  The wood grain, saw mill pattern and oddly placed nail holes matched the unusual wood from the ladder to a plank in the floor of Hauptmann's attic, linking him strongly to the crime. The only flaw to this evidence was the lack of Hauptmann's fingerprints on the ladder, even in places that he would have needed to touch had he built the ladder.  Erastus Hudson was a fingerprint expert who used a new technique to collect fingerprints from wood. He found no prints matching Hauptmann, even though there were over 400 partial prints found initially.  When he reported his findings to the police, the ladder was washed, removing all possibility of fingerprint collection, and his findings were suppressed.  Perhaps the investigators were so convinced they had found their man, due to the overwhelming evidence against him, that they were not prepared to listen to anything which cast doubt over Hauptmann's guilt.  Hauptmann was executed in 1936 for the kidnap and murder of the Lindbergh baby and mostly on the strength of the evidence linking him to the construction and use of that particular ladder. Now, we're not advocating crime, but please do come get your ladders, towers and scaffolds from our access equipment website!