Kahu Durie kidnap echoes of Lindbergh baby snatch

The abduction of 8-month-old Kahu Durie has revived memories of the infamous Lindbergh kidnapping in the United States.

The baby girl, daughter of High Court judge Eddie Durie and his flamboyant lawyer wife, Donna Hall, was taken at gunpoint as her mother wheeled her in a pushchair on a leafy, suburban street in Lower Hutt at noon on Saturday.

The kidnapping and murder of the 19-month-old son of aviator Charles A. Lindbergh 70 years ago last month was called the crime of the century. It fascinated the US and much of the world at the time.

It was certainly the most celebrated crime of the 1930s, largely because of Lindbergh's huge popularity after becoming the first man to fly the Atlantic solo in 1927.

Charles A. Lindbergh jnr, the Lindberghs' first child, was snatched from an upstairs nursery in his parents' New Jersey home on March 1, 1932.

The kidnapper left a ransom note demanding $US50,000 ($113,000) and a home-made ladder leaning again the wall of the Lindberghs' home.

The ransom was paid but the missing child was never returned. His body was found several months later in woods not far from the Lindbergh estate.

German-born New York carpenter Bruno Hauptmann, 35, was convicted of the killing after a sensational trial and executed in 1936.

He went to his death protesting his innocence and today many prosecutors consider the case to be unsolved.

Police have said they have no motive in the Durie case and no idea whether the baby was targeted or whether the kidnapper was after another baby.

But police have also said the case bears the hallmarks of planning.

- NZPA

Full coverage: Baby Kahu kidnapping

Picture: Kahurautete Durie

Picture: Kahurautete's clothing

Picture: the car being sought by police

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