St. Elizabeth's Testimony Timeline
March 24, 1899: Maxim Carr is born in New York City to a working-class family, the eldest son and first child of his parents.
September 24, 1901: Dianne Singer is born in New Jersey to wealthy bank owner Eugene Singer and wife Peggy Singer, the youngest of three children.
June 30, 1902: Liliette Holbrook is born in Harlem, New York to working-class parents Roy and Louise Holbrook.
July 28, 1914: Archduke Francis Ferdinand is assassinated and Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, beginning World War I.
Fall 1917: Maxim is accepted into Columbia University where he begins studying law.
Spring 1918: Dianne's older brother Robert dies during WWI while fighting abroad in the Battle of Cantigny.
September 12, 1918: Maxim signs up for the draft as required by law, however is never conscripted into the military.
November 11, 1918: Germany signs the Armistice at Compiègne, ending World War I.
Fall 1919: Dianne begins studying at Vassar College.
Fall 1920: Liliette begins studies in education at Lincoln University.
Spring 1921: Maxim graduates summa cum laude with a pre-law degree from Columbia. He continues his studies in law that fall at Columbia Law School.
Spring 1923: Dianne graduates from Vassar College and moves back in with her family at their estate.
Spring 1924: Maxim passes the bar exam and becomes a practicing lawyer, but quickly becomes dissatisfied with the profession.
Spring 1925: Liliette graduates from Lincoln University and moves to Newark, finding a job as a schoolteacher at local school Saint Elizabeth Elementary School.
1928: Maxim stops practicing law and instead opens a private investigator office, working solo as he establishes a reliable reputation in the area. Soon he becomes the most sought-after private detective in New York City, especially among the higher classes.
June 22, 1930: Charles Lindbergh Jr. is born to Anne Morrow Lindbergh and famous aviator Charles Lindbergh.
March 1, 1932: Anne Lindbergh called Betty at the Morrow household in Englewood to ask if she could come to Hopewell to help look after Charles Jr. Betty agreed to make the trip although she had already made plans with her boyfriend, Henry Johnson, (alias, Red Johnson) and was supposed to go out with him that evening. Together, the two women put Charlie to bed at about 7:30. It was the last time either of them would see him. That night, 20-month-old son of famous aviator Charles Lindbergh is then kidnapped from the 2nd floor nursery of the family home near Hopewell, NJ. Betty Gow would discover he was missing at 10 p.m. Ransom note left behind.
March 6, 1932: Second ransom note received postmarked from Brooklyn, NY.
March 12, 1932: Dr. John F. Condon meets with kidnapper John about ransom money.
March 16, 1932: Condon receives sleeping suit from kidnappers.
March 28, 1932: Feeling that something isn't right, Betty Gow secretly hires Maxim Carr to investigate the case of the missing Charles Lindbergh Jr.
April 2, 1932: 11th and 12th ransom note received, Condon pays John's ransom.
April 3, 1932: Failed search for baby in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
May 12, 1932: 72 days after the kidnapping, the decomposed body of a baby was found in the woods near the Lindbergh house. The child had been dead, probably due to a fractured skull, since the night of the kidnapping. Two days later Charles Lindbergh identified his son's body by examining its teeth. The kidnapping investigation was now a murder investigation.
May 26, 1932: New Jersey police issue a $25,000 reward for information.
June 3, 1932: Newark elementary school student George Tallman goes missing in a manner similar to Charles Lindbergh Jr., however without the ransom notes. Due to the lack of fame of the parents compared to the Lindberghs, the case receives not as much publicity.
June 5, 1932: After being dejected by police, the Tallmans hire Maxim Carr to investigate their child's disappearance. Maxim becomes connected with the boy's schoolteacher, Liliette Holbrook, and the two begin to suspect there's something similar between the two children's cases.
August 14, 1932 72 days after his disappearance, the decomposed body of a child that would later be identified as George Tallman would be found in the woods close to the Saint Elizabeth Elementary School. Maxim Carr finds a rosary close to his body that didn't belong to the boy, however did belong to a pastor at Saint Elizabeth's.
September 1, 1932: Yet another child goes missing in New Jersey, this time young girl Paula Tillbury after she was left alone following a mass service at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart. Maxim notes that this church is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark.
September 2, 1932: As news of this disappearance breaks, the people of New Jersey begin to shelter their children as they worry about a connection between all of the crimes. Colonel Eugene Singer offers bank rewards for any information to Paula's disappearance. He sends his daughter Dianne to discuss this with detective Maxim Carr, and she joins forces with him and Liliette in the investigation.
November 12, 1932: 72 days after her disappearance, Paula Tillbury's body is found in the woods near the church she went missing in.
November 26, 1932: Maxim, Liliette, and Dianne follow a lead connecting the Newark Mount Carmel Guild - of which all families involved had connections with - and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Newark. They soon discover that the Guild was created by Bishop Thomas Walsh.
December 4, 1932: The trio investigate St. Patrick's Pro-Cathedral and the soup kitchen attached, discovering a closet in which a school blazer belonging to George Tallman was found.
December 13, 1932: Thomas Walsh tracks down Maxim and halts the investigation from continuing any further. Meanwhile, police investigating the Lindbergh case find ties between the murder and Bruno Richard Hauptmann.
December 19, 1932: Hauptmann is arrested as the police begin to rapidly try to close the case.
December 20, 1932: Police find $13,000 of ransom money at Hauptmann's residence.
December 26, 1932: Hauptmann is indicted for extortion.
January 8, 1933: Hauptmann is indicted for murder of Lindbergh baby.
March 3, 1933: Hauptmann's trial begins in New Jersey.
April 13, 1933: Jury rules Hauptmann guilty of first-degree murder in an almost record-fast decision.
April 28, 1933: Hauptmann is electrocuted for his crime.
May 5, 1933: Elie Murphy, child of two wealthy residents, goes missing after a school trip, Fears of the disappearances are sparked yet again, and Maxim Carr begins investigation on a more discreet level.
May 7, 1933: Knowing that he's racing against the clock, Maxim continues his leads in the Diocese of Newark. With the help of Liliette and Dianne again, they begin to explore any building with connections to it.
May 9, 1933: The three learn of the Diocese's plan to open the Saint Gertrude Cemetery by the end of the year and begin to explore the site. There they find evidence of group meetings and elaborate worship.
May 10, 1933: In the early hours of the morning, Maxim, Liliette, and Dianne hide as they watch a ritual of some sort take place in the cemetery by various members of the Diocese of Newark. They see the bishop as well as various pastors and priests consume blood, pray, and call Satan upon anyone who isn't a part of them. Maxim listens as they talk about their "next sacrifice" and how "the boy wasn't enough this time." As the group disperses, they leave an empty grave with the clothes of Elie Murphy as well as a murder weapon. During the daytime, Maxim flags the police down and shows them the evidence. They take it, but it is soon realized that nothing is going to be done with it, as the Diocese has threatened the police.
May 11, 1933: Maxim, Liliette, and Dianne steal the evidence back from the police and instead bring it to the local newspaper, who publish an article about the Diocese. The public begin to turn on them and protest the completion of the cemetery. Maxim later that night goes missing.
May 12, 1933: Without Maxim, Liliette and Dianne visit Morristown where they interact with the Sisters of St. Lucy Filippini, who tell them of their disconnect from the Archdiocese and the oddities of Tower Hill, their old estate, which they moved out of. They described priests moving in and out of it at odd times and how Thomas Walsh didn't tell them of an entire floor of the building.
May 13, 1933: Liliette and Dianne go to Tower Hill and sneak into the basement, where they find Maxim tied up. He explains that the Archdiocese had caught him as he found a trail leading to hidden corridors of St. Patrick's Pro-Cathedral. The three escape the manor after finding documents revealing Walsh's role in the whole ordeal.
May 14, 1933: Not yet 72 days since his disappearance, the body of Elie Murphy is found by Maxim, Liliette, and Dianne in the basement of St. Patrick's Pro-Cathedral after they manage to sneak in. Now faced with irrefutable evidence as well as the documents the three stole, the police close in on the various members of the Archdiocese. Thomas Walsh is arrested and charged with all of the murders/kidnappings, as well as various members of the group seen in the Cemetery.
May 15, 1933: The Diocese of Newark is effectively disbanded, Pope Pius XI making a statement denouncing their actions. The Catholic churches in the area all go under leadership changes or close entirely.
May 16, 1933: An article in the newspaper is printed about the entire ordeal, citing those who solved the case as "heroes." Maxim, Liliette, and Dianne, however, are not named, wishing to avoid the publicity from it all.
June 7, 1933: Maxim proposes to Dianne, of which she accepts.