May 12, 1932
Charles Lindbergh‘s 20-month-old son is found dead after having been kidnapped two months earlier. Bruno Hauptmann was arrested for the crime in September 1934 after using one of the ransom money bills at a gas station. $14,600 of the $50,000 of ransom money was found in his garage. Hauptmann claimed the money was left with him by his former business partner who returned to Germany, where he died March 29, 1934. A search of Hauptmann’s home found further evidence linked to the crime.
Hauptmann was found guilty of first degree murder and executed by electric chair in 1936. He claimed his innocence to the end, and turned down a last-minute offer to commute his sentence to life-without-parole in exchange for a confession.