PUBLISHER'S NOTE: "WORDS TO HEED: FROM OUR POST ON KEVIN COOPER'S APPLICATION FOR POST-CONVICTION DNA TESTING; CALIFORNIA: (Applicable wherever a state resists DNA testing): "Blogger/extraordinaire Jeff Gamso's blunt, unequivocal, unforgettable message to the powers that be in California: "JUST TEST THE FUCKING DNA." (Oh yes, Gamso raises, as he does in many of his posts, an important philosophical question: This post is headed: "What is truth, said jesting Pilate."...Says Gamso: "So what's the harm? What, exactly, are they scared of? Don't we want the truth?")
————————————————————————————
“If Hauptmann’s DNA is on it, then he definitely is not innocent of being involved. But if there is other DNA, that would confirm other people’s involvement. There are those who think we’re likely to find Charles Lindbergh’s DNA on the materials. They believe there was some kind of accident, and he orchestrated this as a way to deflect responsibility.” One would assume the state of New Jersey might want to resolve such doubts. However, that has not been the case. The state has consistently refused to allow these materials to be tested (even deflecting a previous lawsuit that attempted to gain access). “My take is that states or police organizations — like any bureaucracy — just like to protect their stuff. They don’t want to be poked or asked questions that they don’t have to answer,” Hagel said. “There are others who think the state police are embarrassed they may have botched it quite badly and been involved in a railroading.”
SECOND QUOTE OF THE DAY: "So who really kidnapped and killed the Lindbergh baby? “I don’t like Charles Lindbergh. He’s a fascist. So I question my own judgment in that regard. I would not be shocked if he killed the baby. But I think it’s unlikely he actually did. I think it was more likely a conspiracy of six to eight individuals who were involved, and maybe Hauptmann was one of them,” Hagel said. It should be noted that Hauptmann maintained his innocence right through his execution by electric chair in 1936. “The truth is really important,” Hagel said. “If we have an opportunity, especially for large public institutions like police, like the state government, to do something at little cost and little risk to establish the truth about something that’s important, it should always default to doing it."
--------------------------------------------------
STORY: "Forensics: Researchers sue New Jersey to obtain DNA evidence in Lindbergh baby kidnapping cases" published by 1 KU News, June 2, 2025.
LAWRENCE — In 1932, Charles Lindbergh Jr., the 20-month-old son of the famous American aviator, was abducted from his home in East Amwell, New Jersey. His corpse was discovered months later. A suspect, German immigrant Bruno Richard Hauptmann, was arrested and eventually executed.
Contemporary media dubbed it both the “crime of the century” and the “trial of the century.”
However, this crime and its subsequent trial have been a beacon for controversy, eliciting numerous discrepancies that call into question whether the man judged responsible acted alone or was even involved.
“People would be surprised to learn how fraught this tragic case was from the beginning,” said Jonathan Hagel, assistant teaching professor of history at the University of Kansas.
That’s why Hagel is a plaintiff in a case against the state of New Jersey about the handling of the Charles Lindbergh archive. His lawsuit, filed in April in Mercer County Superior Court, seeks to force the state police to allow DNA testing on envelopes used by the kidnapper(s) to send a series of ransom notes.
“There were more than a dozen ransom letters overall, and they were sent through the post. According to the forensic experts, the kind of DNA most likely to be preserved is the kind not exposed to air,” Hagel said.
“If Hauptmann’s DNA is on it, then he definitely is not innocent of being involved. But if there is other DNA, that would confirm other people’s involvement. There are those who think we’re likely to find Charles Lindbergh’s DNA on the materials. They believe there was some kind of accident, and he orchestrated this as a way to deflect responsibility.”
One would assume the state of New Jersey might want to resolve such doubts. However, that has not been the case. The state has consistently refused to allow these materials to be tested (even deflecting a previous lawsuit that attempted to gain access).
“My take is that states or police organizations — like any bureaucracy — just like to protect their stuff. They don’t want to be poked or asked questions that they don’t have to answer,” Hagel said. “There are others who think the state police are embarrassed they may have botched it quite badly and been involved in a railroading.”
Lindbergh gained worldwide fame in 1927 when he made the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic, from New York to Paris. His plane the Spirit of St. Louis remains one of the most renowned aircraft of all time.
Hagel said, “He’s an iconic American figure. Maybe the most respected person in the world during the 1920s. He stood for a kind of American values, individualism and heroism at a moment when it was seemingly going out of existence. You can put Lindbergh next to people like Babe Ruth or Henry Ford — people who seem to be just so much more powerful and capable than everyone else.”
But, as Hagel noted, Lindbergh also became a spokesperson for the antisemitic, isolationist, America First movement. It led many to regard him as a Nazi sympathizer.
What drew Hagel to this lawsuit was his “oldest and best friend,” Kurt Perhach, who has been obsessed with the Lindbergh kidnapping since he was a child. Perhach also recruited retired schoolteacher Michele Downie and developmental psychologist Catherine Read.
“These are people that Kurt has gotten to know over the years, and he was looking to put together a set of plaintiffs who each represented their own interest in the case. I am the historian. I’m the one who can speak about truth-telling,” Hagel said.
While researching this event, the professor became hooked by the fact that the New Jersey State Police turned over the investigation of the crime to Lindbergh himself.
“That is not standard operating procedure for any kind of major crime, especially a high-profile crime,” Hagel said. “But he had such stature that they were like, ‘You take charge of the investigation.’”
A New York native, Hagel lived in New Jersey for a decade, graduating high school in the borough of Middlesex. He’s taught at KU since 2012. His research focuses on the Great Depression and how fascist and anti-fascist movements define and redefine racism.
“My larger interest is, ‘How does this moment of the Great Depression continue to be relevant?’ The Lindbergh case is a crucial chapter to that,” he said.
So who really kidnapped and killed the Lindbergh baby?
“I don’t like Charles Lindbergh. He’s a fascist. So I question my own judgment in that regard. I would not be shocked if he killed the baby. But I think it’s unlikely he actually did. I think it was more likely a conspiracy of six to eight individuals who were involved, and maybe Hauptmann was one of them,” Hagel said.
It should be noted that Hauptmann maintained his innocence right through his execution by electric chair in 1936.
“The truth is really important,” Hagel said.
“If we have an opportunity, especially for large public institutions like police, like the state government, to do something at little cost and little risk to establish the truth about something that’s important, it should always default to doing it.""
The entire story can be read at:
