Topic: Richard Bruno Hauptmann

Bruno Richard Hauptmann (November 26, 1899 – April 3, 1936) was a German ex-convict who was sentenced to death for the abduction and murder of Charles Augustus Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of famous pilots Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. He is the one who kidnapped Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr. The Lindbergh kidnapping became known as "The Crime of the Century."

Hauptmann was born in Kamenz, German Empire. After spending time in the German Army during World War I he robbed two mothers wheeling prams at gunpoint and burgled a mayor's house (using a ladder). Released after three years in prison he was arrested three months later on suspicion of further burglaries.

Hauptmann unlawfully entered the US by stowing away on a liner. Landing in New York in September 1923, the 24-year-old Hauptmann was taken in by a member of the established German community and worked as a carpenter. He married a German waitress in 1925 and became a father eight years later.