On March 1st, 1932, America's so-called crime of the century, as described in numerous U.S.

papers at the time, occurred when Charles Augustus Lindberg Jr., the 20-month-old son of the

famous aviator Charles Lindberg and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh disappeared from his nursery

in Hopewell, New Jersey. Once the baby's absence was discovered, a search of the premises was

immediately made in a ransom note demanding $50,000 was found on the nursery windowsill. It was a

parent's worst nightmare come to life. And the press would be there to capture and print every

horrible, painful detail of what would follow. It was unfathomable. It seemed like this kind of thing

just couldn't have happened to a couple like the Lindbergs. They were the equivalent of American royalty.

Their fame, adoration, and wealth should have insulated them from something like this, but somehow

it didn't. Charles Lindberg, only 30 years old when his son disappeared, was easily America's

biggest celebrity. He had achieved

national fame for being the first American aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean without stopping,

which he had done five years earlier in 1927. Other pilots had crossed the Atlantic before him,

but Lindberg was the first person to do it solo and non-stop, and no one had flown

further. His feat was the culmination of a decade of flight training and stunts that most pilots

would have never dreamt of taking on. At the age of only 20, he had left college to become a

barnstormer, a pilot who performed daredevil stunts. And then after training, as an Army Air Service Reserve

pilots, he went on to win the highly sought-after Orteg Prize. A man named Raymond Orteg

offered $25,000 to the first aviator to fly nonstop from New York to Paris. 25K, back when that

was worth a lot more than it is now, back when it was worth almost a half a million dollars.

Several pilots over several years were killed or injured while competing for this coveted prize.

By 1927, it still hadn't been won.

...