13 Surprising Facts Most People Don’t Know About The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping

The folding ladder was among the few clues left at the scene of the crime. According to the FBI's records, it was also broken in a way that indicated a mishap while the kidnapper was on his way up or down the rudimentary ladder.

The only other items found were muddy footprints leading to and from the unlocked window and a ransom note on the windowsill.

Charles Jr. had been ill before being taken from his crib that night. Anne (shown above with him, her mother, and her grandmother) hoped that by publishing the proper nutrition he required in newspapers, the kidnappers might use it to take better care of him.

According to Anne Morrow Lindbergh: Her Life, the diet consisted of ordinary things for a 20-month-old, including cereal, orange juice, fruits, and veggies. Anne also listed "14 drops of viosterol" throughout the day, which would have helped to boost the child's levels of vitamin D.

The mobster was serving a sentence in a Chicago prison when news broke about the kidnapping. He and several other mobsters across the country were quick to offer rewards for any information — which they would share in exchange for favors, like getting out of jail early.

Al, in particular, offered $10,000 of his own money and there was a national debate about whether or not the offer should be taken seriously. IRS agent Elmer Ray, who was responsible for Al being behind bars, shut things down knowing that the mob man would just flee the country given the chance.

Herbert Norman Schwarzkopf, the New Jersey State Police Superintendent at the time, knew Charles was working on his own end to track down the toddler and ran every step the authorities planned to make by the pilot before pursuing.

Unfortunately, when they finally discovered the baby's remains, Herbert was forced to admit that they had "waited vainly," wasting precious time that could have perhaps saved the child's life.

A delivery truck assistant named William Allen, shown above on the left, discovered Charles Jr.'s remains on May 12, 1932 — 72 days after his disappearance on March 1.

He and the truck's driver, Orson Wilson, also shown above, pulled over so William could relieve himself in the woods. Instead, he saw the body half-covered in underbrush. The pair knew the child was likely the missing Lindbergh baby and alerted authorities after finishing their delivery.

Along with identifications made using the child's teeth, hair, and appearance of overlapping toes, Charles Jr.'s nursemaid Betty Bow recognized the nightshirt she had stitched together for him herself, according to The Lindbergh Case: A Story of Two Lives.

He was then quickly cremated at Charles Sr.'s insistence and no further forensic testing was possible.

The autopsy showed the toddler had suffered a fractured skull, which led authorities to believe he'd been fatally dropped by the kidnapper while making their way down the ladder on that very first night.

After about two years of authorities coming up empty on the culprit, a gas station manager in upper Manhattan named Walter Lyle finally cracked the case.

Lyle assisted a man one evening and noticed something odd about his payment method: a gold certificate. Since he knew those hadn't been in circulation for over a year and he was suspicious of counterfeiters, Lyle wrote down the man's license plate.

A few days later while making a deposit, the bank matched the note to one that had been given as part of a $70,000 ransom for the child. Lyle's information helped authorities track down Bruno Hauptmann.

Defense attorney Edward Reilly asked the judge to have the case thrown out on account of the jury being compromised before proceedings could begin.

David Wilentz, the New Jersey attorney general prosecuting the case, gave a passionate speech in his opening arguments. The judge dismissed Reilly's request but allowed him to go on the record as saying he did not agree with the court.

The small town of Flemington, New Jersey, saw nearly double their population arrive just to catch a glimpse of the proceedings. That's not even counting the hundreds of media personnel on site to report on the trial.

There was such a ruckus that authorities were forced to shush the crowds outside the courthouse.

A wood expert from the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service volunteered his services during the trial and matched the wood grain and tool markings of the ladder to those found in Hauptmann's attic.

They also relied on handwriting experts to compare his penmanship with that found in the ransom notes, which also matched.

For years following his trial and ultimate execution, Anne Hauptmann refused to accept her husband's guilt and petitioned to have the conviction overturned. She claimed to have been with him on the night of the kidnapping, further accusing the authorities of tampering with evidence.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel sat down for a chat with the man who calls himself Charles Lindbergh Jr. back in 2010. Formerly known as Paul Husted, he believes himself to be the victim of his "cold-hearted" father faking the whole thing to get rid of him.

The man told reporters that Charles Sr. was so embarrassed by his son's overlapping toes that he conspired with Al Capone to help him keep the child away after his kidnapping.

All the surviving Lindbergh children have refused to confirm or deny these claims with a DNA test.

Did you know all of these surprising facts about the infamous Lindbergh baby kidnapping?

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