On May 24th, 1924 two men named Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold planned to commit the perfect crime by murdering 14 year old Bobby Franks. It's said that they hadn't picked out a specific victim before hand; they just wanted somebody of a wealthy family because that would make more of a commotion. It was just by chance that they saw Bobby, and since Bobby was familiar with the two boys, being as they were neighbors and he and Loeb were second cousins, they had no problem luring the young boy into their rental car as he was walking home from school that afternoon. Once they were a short ways from his home, they gagged him, and hit him on the head with a chisel four times breaking his skull, and then let him bleed to death in the back of the car as they drove on. Later, they checked to make sure he was dead by holding his head under water. Once his death was confirmed they poured hydrochloric acid over his face to make his identification difficult, and disposed of his body in a drainpipe. They then proceeded to Leopold's house where they removed all the blood stains from their rental car and burned their bloody clothes, after that they enjoyed the rest of their evening drinking and playing cards.
At midnight the killers called Mr. Franks to inform him that his son had been kidnapped and that he would receive a note soon explaining how to get his son back. Mr. Franks immediately notified the police. Leopold and Loeb typed a ransom note using a stolen type writer and mailed it to Bobby's parents, but by the time their note was received the next day Bobby's body had already been discovered by a few workmen who happened to be walking past the culvert. When Leopold and Loeb and stuffed the body in the culvert they had left his feet sticking out and the workmen spotted them through some bushes. At first Mr. Franks refused to believe that it was his son's body, for he believed his son was waiting to be returned to him once he paid the ransom money. Later he was able to accept the fact that it was indeed his body. In the end, Nathan and Richard's thrill kill ended poorly. The police found Leopold's glasses near Bobby's body leading them to their criminals. As it turns out there were only three pairs of glasses like those sold. Leopold tried to claim that he had lost them weeks ago while bird watching but it had rained days before the murder and his glasses were clean. They took the two men into intense questioning and Loeb, followed soon after by Leopold, admitted to the murder. They were both sentenced to life in prison plus 99 years. While in prison Loeb was killed by a fellow prisoner. In prison Leopold taught in the prison's school, learned new languages, and did many other intellectually challenging things. He was released from prison after thirty four years. |