Following the historic
Lindbergh kidnapping (the abduction and murder of
Charles Lindbergh's toddler son), the
United States Congress adopted a federal kidnapping statute—known as the
Federal Kidnapping Act (a)(1) (popularly known as the
Lindbergh Law, or
Little Lindbergh Law)—which was intended to let federal authorities step in and pursue kidnappers once they had crossed state lines with their victim. The Act became law in 1932.