Joe
Lt. Colonel
Posts: 2,615
|
Post by Joe on May 13, 2008 19:25:56 GMT -5
A few days ago, I happened upon this article picture from an Ebay sale. It claims that Theodore Kuchtlak, one time security guard at the Lindbergh's Hopewell home recognized a picture of Bruno Hauptmann as a visitor to the site during construction.
|
|
kevkon
Lt. Colonel
Posts: 2,800
|
Post by kevkon on May 13, 2008 21:11:35 GMT -5
Nice find, Joe! Without getting into the accuracy of this particular report, I believe this is pretty much what occurred. It's been my belief for some time that Hauptmann had some exposure to Highfields during it's construction. I also strongly suspect that he had a connection to that construction.
|
|
|
Post by Michael on May 14, 2008 16:35:24 GMT -5
Ok, so I don't post the above document to ruin either Joe's or Kevin's point - some(one) probably did visit, or case Highfields so they could become familiar and/or relay information with what they absolutely needed to know in order to pull this off. Next, we have to be very careful of the Newspaper Reports especially after Hauptmann's arrest. Several people were quoted as saying things they adamantly denied they ever said as it appeared in the press.
|
|
kevkon
Lt. Colonel
Posts: 2,800
|
Post by kevkon on May 14, 2008 19:16:05 GMT -5
Yeah, I knew that was coming! I still think the house construction is where it all starts.
|
|
Joe
Lt. Colonel
Posts: 2,615
|
Post by Joe on May 16, 2008 5:59:22 GMT -5
Thanks Michael, I figured there had to be a good reason that Kuchtiak didn't appear in Flemington as a witness. That would have been very damaging testimony if true. Hmmm, I wonder if Reilly ran him out of town in disguise after finding out he hadn't been institutionalized at some point in his past?
|
|
|
Post by Michael on May 16, 2008 17:05:11 GMT -5
There actually were people making claims like this that weren't used. I suppose the Prosecution didn't think they'd hold up well. And then there's Whited, Rossiter, and Hochmuth who they did use and we all know they were lying and looking for reward money.
That's what makes people like Lupica, Kuchtiak, Moore, Conover, etc. so creditable. They had the integrity to turn down a potential windfall of cash if they only went along with these stories.
|
|
kevkon
Lt. Colonel
Posts: 2,800
|
Post by kevkon on May 17, 2008 6:04:11 GMT -5
But there are other and stronger motivations at work besides cash. Ego is one, publicity is another, and a well intentioned but incorrect belief is another. Look at how many crimes have had these other motives present. I think Lupica my very well be an example of a well intentioned, but false sighting. I simply don't believe he could have seen what he claimed, but I do think he believed it.
|
|
Joe
Lt. Colonel
Posts: 2,615
|
Post by Joe on May 17, 2008 6:44:21 GMT -5
I believe what happened in Lupica's case is that he was aware of the fact that it was a "strange" vehicle to the area. Enough to trigger a response to investigate a little further without appearing too nosy. It's a shame he didn't make a note of the plate number for something a little more positive, although in hindsight to the particulars, plates are an easy item to steal and replace.
A few years ago, I was running along a country road near my house. I heard a vehicle coming up behind me and just didn't have a good feeling about the approach. I moved to the left shoulder and even so, his left mirror came within a foot or two of my right arm as he went by. He was doing about 80 km/h or 50 mph but by the time he was back on the right side of the road, I had already made a mental note of his plate number and the make, model, colour and approximate year of his pickup truck. That guy who almost fell out of his truck when he got home found a cop waiting for him.
On another day, it might have been nothing more than a dark coloured truck to me.
|
|
kevkon
Lt. Colonel
Posts: 2,800
|
Post by kevkon on May 17, 2008 7:24:59 GMT -5
What makes me doubt the accuracy of Lupica's sighting Joe, is the ladders. I have gone to that exact spot on the road at dusk and I can't believe that he would be able to discern that ladders were in the car. The backdrop is dark so the interior of the car would not be too visible. But most of all, that ladder nestled together in no way looks like a ladder. I'm not saying he didn't see a car, I just don't think it's a sure bet that it was a Dodge with ladders in it. It may very well have been an instance of the mind filling in the voids.
|
|
Joe
Lt. Colonel
Posts: 2,615
|
Post by Joe on May 17, 2008 8:12:35 GMT -5
I also have some concern about the accuracy of any observed detail on the inside of the vehicle, with perhaps the exception of the driver's face, which I think would be the first thing noticed there by a local resident. I believe Lupica was more tuned in to the make of the car, claiming to have identified it by the winged Dodge logo on the radiator cap. Also his description of the back of the vehicle and the bumper. Still, his initial statement to the NJSP on March 2, tells me his actual assessment involved more than a cursory glance of the driver. I think where the confusion begins to creep in is the result of Lupica's later interviews with the press as well as Ellis Parker's summary interview of Lupica which seemed to extract a totally different accounting of the driver's description at the least.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2015 9:51:36 GMT -5
Michael,
Could you clear up a couple of things for me.
1) Was there more than one man who worked as a guard of the Hopewell house while it was being built? Besides Kuchtiak, I have read that someone by the name of Lee Hurley was guarding the Lindbergh house while it was being built.
2) I believe that the night watchman was let go in November 1931 once the Whateleys moved into the Hopewell house. The guard house at the end of Lindbergh Lane sat empty until the kidnapping. Then the NJSP took this house over. Did officers sleep in this house while they were on duty as guards? Did Schwarzkopf have an office in this guard house, perhaps upstairs? How, exactly, was this house utilized? Thanks for your help.
|
|
|
Post by Michael on Mar 18, 2015 18:40:09 GMT -5
1) Was there more than one man who worked as a guard of the Hopewell house while it was being built? Besides Kuchtiak, I have read that someone by the name of Lee Hurley was guarding the Lindbergh house while it was being built. Kuchtiak was the day watchman, and Hurley the night watchman. 2) I believe that the night watchman was let go in November 1931 once the Whateleys moved into the Hopewell house. The guard house at the end of Lindbergh Lane sat empty until the kidnapping. Then the NJSP took this house over. Did officers sleep in this house while they were on duty as guards? Did Schwarzkopf have an office in this guard house, perhaps upstairs? How, exactly, was this house utilized? The house was a pre-existing structure on the property. From what I understand it was abandoned before the property had been sold. The workmen used it to store their tools and supplies then after the kidnapping the Troopers took it over as a "guard-house" to stop incoming traffic to the property in order to allow or deny access. From what I've read, it was a "post" and the Troopers who worked it either slept at Skillman or the Barracks. I've never read anywhere that anyone slept in that house. Schwarzkopf was in Highfields, and as far as I know, didn't utilize this place himself.
|
|