From journalist Amber Hunt and the Obsessed Network
After 4-year-old Charley Ross vanished in a carriage with two men who'd offered him candy and fireworks, police at first told his father to wait it out. Surely the men had no bad intentions. Then came the first ransom letter. And another. And another. In 1874, the Charley Ross case marked the first time in American history that a child had been stolen for money.
The case terrified parents, made kidnapping a crime and served as macabre inspiration for future criminals.
Since we could only find sheet music for "Bring Back Our Darling," we reached out to musician and composer Charlie McCarron to record it for us for the episode. Listen to the full version of the song below: