Real-life Ransom Notes

Peter Weinberger kidnapping: 1956

FBI.gov 

 

On July 4, 1956, 20-month-old Peter Weinberger was kidnapped from the front patio of his parents' home in Westbury, Long Island. His mother had placed the baby in his carriage while he slept. The kidnapping terrified Americans because, unlike the Lindberghs, the Weinbergers were not well known and not wealthy. They were a typical middle-class couple living in a supposedly safe suburban community. Left in little Peter's place in the carriage was a ransom demand for $2,000. When the Weinbergers did not pay off the reward the following day, the kidnapper sent a second letter.

In those days, by law, the FBI had to wait seven days before getting involved in a kidnapping case. After the Weinberger case, President Eisenhower signed a revised law reducing the waiting time to 24 hours and today, there is no waiting period for child kidnappings. Following the seven-day waiting period, the FBI gathered dozens of agents and trained them in handwriting analysis. They then began inspecting two million handwriting samples from the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, federal and state probation offices, schools and other officially filed documents.

Incredibly, after a month of inspection, agents came up with a match - Angelo LaMarca who was on probation and lived near the Weinbergers. He was arrested and confessed and then told agents the location of the baby who'd been killed. Like Bruno Hauptman, LaMarca was executed.

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