Richard Hauptmann

Richard Hauptmann
Born
Bruno Richard Hauptmann

(1899-11-26)November 26, 1899
DiedApril 3, 1936(1936-04-03) (aged 36)
Cause of deathExecution by electrocution
OccupationCarpenter
Known forBeing convicted for the murder-kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh Jr.
Criminal statusExecuted
Spouse
Anna Schoeffler
(m. 1925)
Children1
Convictions
Criminal penaltyDeath by electric chair

Bruno Richard Hauptmann (November 26, 1899 – April 3, 1936) was a German-American carpenter who was convicted of the abduction and murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The Lindbergh kidnapping became known as the "crime of the century". Both Hauptmann and his wife, Anna Hauptmann, proclaimed his innocence to his death, when he was executed in 1936 by electric chair at the Trenton State Prison. Anna later sued the State of New Jersey, various former police officers, the Hearst newspapers that had published pre-trial articles insisting on Hauptmann's guilt, and former prosecutor David T. Wilentz.