Following the July 4, 1956, kidnapping of one-month-old Peter Weinberger on Long Island, New York, former President Dwight D. Eisenhower passed a new law while in office that allowed federal agents to become involved in kidnapping cases 24 hours after a person went missing, instead of the original seven-day waiting period.
Late afternoon on Independence Day in 1956, Beatrice “Betty” Weinberger wrapped her baby in a blanket, placed him in a stroller on the front porch of her home, and went inside for a few minutes while the baby slept.
When she returned to the front door, the carriage was empty and the kidnappers had left a ransom note.
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Angelo LaMarca admitted to kidnapping and murdering one-month-old Peter Weinberger in 1956. (NY Daily News Archives via Getty Images)
“I hate to do this but I’m in a tough spot,” the note, written in pencil, read, according to the New York Daily News. It also said that the kidnappers “are not asking for a lot of money,” just what they needed, and that they were “very serious.”
The perpetrator also threatened to kill the baby at the “first wrong move,” and wrote that he regretted his actions but was in financial difficulty. According to the FBI website, the perpetrator demanded $2,000 in small bills for the return of the baby. He promised to return the baby “safe and happy” the next day if the ransom was paid.
He signed the letter, “Your babysitter.”
Ms. Weinberger called police in Nassau County, about 35 miles from New York City, and her husband, drug salesman Morris Weinberger, asked newspapers to stop reporting on the kidnapping at the time. But the New York Daily News ran Peter’s case as a front-page headline, and reporters quickly surrounded the Weinberger household.
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Peter Weinberger was kidnapped while sleeping in a carriage on the front porch of his home. (John Drennan/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
Police left a makeshift ransom package at the scene, but the kidnappers never showed up to collect it. After the arrest, it was confirmed that the kidnappers did show up at the scene with the baby, but were quickly distracted by a commotion outside the house.
The FBI established a temporary task force on the case in Mineola, Long Island, beginning on July 11, 1956, the day after the kidnappers made their second attempt at the ransom. On July 10, the kidnappers called the Weinbergers’ home twice, demanding $5,000 and giving new instructions on where to leave the money, but failed to show up at either location.
Police found a bag containing a note written in the same handwriting as the original ransom note, which gave instructions on where to find the baby “if all goes well.” [sic]According to the FBI’s website, FBI agents and handwriting experts analyzed approximately 2 million handwriting samples, including those provided by the BMV, probation offices, schools and other federal and state agencies.
On August 23, 1956, Angelo John LaMarca, a truck and taxi driver from Plainview, New York, was arrested for the kidnapping of Peter after police matched his handwriting to the ransom note.
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After Angelo John LaMarca’s arrest, police discovered the decomposing body of Peter Weinberger. (Sam Platnick/NY Daily News Archives via Getty Images)
LaMarca initially denied any involvement in the kidnapping but later admitted to it after it emerged he lived with his wife and two children in a $15,000 home that he could not afford to pay rent on.
LaMarca also told police he killed the baby for his own children because he owed money to a Brooklyn loan shark. The suspect said he was driving around the neighborhood looking for a way to make some quick cash when he saw Weinberger abandon Peter on his doorstep.
According to the FBI website, the suspect told police that on the day he was to drop off the baby and collect the ransom, he became intimidated by the swarm of reporters and police officers and so dumped the baby off the highway.
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The FBI fled to the scene described by LaMarca and discovered Peter’s decomposed body. At trial, where his lawyers tried to argue temporary insanity, it was determined that Peter had died of suffocation, starvation and cold at about six weeks old.
LaMarca was tried for kidnapping and murder on December 14, 1956, found guilty by a jury, and sentenced to death. Despite multiple appeals, LaMarca was executed on August 7, 1958, at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York.
