On the morning of May 22, 1924, a factory worker on his way home discovered the body of a young boy lying in a culvert near the Illinois and Indiana border outside Chicago. It was the body of Bobby Franks, a 14-year-old boy from a wealthy family in the city’s Kenwood neighborhood. Bobby’s death was instantly front-page news. Police and journalists zeroed in on two key clues – a pair of glasses and a typewriter with two defective keys. The glasses led them to a young man named Nathan Leopold and his close friend, Richard Loeb. During their lengthy police interviews, their alibi unraveled, their so-called “perfect crime” exposed just 10 days after the murder. While the pair seemed to relish the limelight brought on by the onslaught of media attention, a famous attorney stepped in to defend the arrogant young men who admitted to police: “We intended to murder him.”... Read more
Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were the quintessential picture of privilege. Both brilliant and wealthy, the two University of Chicago graduate students had bright futures. But under the glossy veneer lurked something much more sinister. In 1924, after several months of meticulous planning, Leopold and Loeb kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks – Loeb’s second cousin – all for the thrill of committing a “perfect” crime. The men wanted to put their self-professed superior intellect to the test. The kidnapping and murder were quickly dubbed the “Crime of the Century” and provoked a media frenzy. In the sensational sentencing hearing that followed, they were defended by none other than Clarence Darrow, the most famous lawyer in America. This is the story of a crime that is no less compelling today than when it first captivated a horrified nation one hundred years ago.
