Nathan Freudenthal Leopold Jr. (November 19, 1904 – August 29, 1971) and Richard Albert Loeb (; June 11, 1905 – January 28, 1936), usually referred to collectively as Leopold and Loeb, were two wealthy students at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
who kidnapped and murdered 14-year-old Bobby Franks in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
, United States, in May 1924. They committed the murder – characterized at the time as "the
crime of the century
"Crime of the century" is an idiomatic phrase used to describe particularly sensational or notorious criminal cases. Chua-Eoan, Howard (n.d.)"Crimes of the Century: The Top 25" ''Time''. Retrieved September 10, 2021. In the United States, it is of ...
" – hoping to demonstrate superior intellect, which they believed enabled and entitled them to carry out a "
perfect crime
Perfect crimes are crimes that are undetected, unattributed to an identifiable perpetrator, or otherwise unsolved or unsolvable as a kind of technical achievement on the part of the perpetrator. The term is used colloquially in law and fiction (es ...
" without consequences.
After the two men were arrested, Loeb's family retained
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow (; April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer who became famous in the early 20th century for his involvement in the Leopold and Loeb murder trial and the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. He was a leading member of t ...
as lead counsel for their
defense
Defense or defence may refer to:
Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups
* Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare
* Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks
* Defense industr ...
. Darrow's twelve-hour summation at their sentencing hearing is noted for its influential
criticism of capital punishment as
retributive rather than
transformative justice
Transformative justice is a series of practices and philosophies designed to create change in social systems. Mostly, they are alternatives to criminal justice in cases of interpersonal violence, or are used for dealing with socioeconomic issues in ...
. Both young men were sentenced to
life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
plus 99 years. Loeb was murdered by a fellow prisoner in 1936; Leopold was released on
parole
Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
in 1958. The case has since served as the inspiration for several dramatic works.
Early lives
Nathan Leopold
Nathan Leopold was born on November 19, 1904, in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
, the son of Florence (née Foreman) and Nathan Leopold, a wealthy German-Jewish immigrant family.
A
child prodigy
A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...
, Leopold claimed to have spoken his first words at the age of four months.
At the time of the murder, he had completed an undergraduate degree at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
with
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...
honors and planned to begin studies at
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States.
Each class ...
after a trip to Europe.
Leopold had reportedly studied fifteen languages, claimed to speak five fluently,
and had achieved a measure of national recognition as an
ornithologist
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...
.
Leopold and several other ornithologists identified the
Kirtland's warbler
Kirtland's warbler (''Setophaga kirtlandii''), also known in Michigan by the common name jack pine bird, or the jack pine warbler, is a small songbird of the New World warbler family (Parulidae), named after Jared Potter Kirtland, an Ohio doctor ...
and made astute observations about the parasitic nesting behavior of
brown-headed cowbird
The brown-headed cowbird (''Molothrus ater'') is a small, obligate brood parasitic icterid native to temperate and subtropical North America. It is a permanent resident in the southern parts of its range; northern birds migrate to the southern ...
s, which threatened the warblers. He evidently maintained his interest in birds after his crime, writing to the
Field Museum
The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...
from his prison cell regarding specimens he had donated.
Richard Loeb
Richard Loeb was born on June 11, 1905, in Chicago, to the family of Anna Henrietta (née Bohnen) and
Albert Henry Loeb
Albert Henry Loeb (February 18, 1868 – October 27, 1924) was a Chicago attorney and the former vice president and treasurer of Sears, Roebuck and Co. Loeb was the brother of Jacob Loeb, the former president of the Chicago Board of Education and ...
, a wealthy lawyer and retired vice president of
Sears, Roebuck & Company
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
.
His father was Jewish and his mother was Catholic. Like Leopold, Loeb was exceptionally intelligent. With the encouragement of his governess, he skipped several grades in school and became the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
's youngest graduate at age 17. Loeb was a student at the
University of Chicago Law School
The University of Chicago Law School is the law school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is consistently ranked among the best and most prestigious law schools in the world, and has many dist ...
and was especially interested in doing graduate work in history at the time of the murder.
Compared to Leopold, Loeb was not as strictly intellectual; he often socialized, played tennis, and read detective novels.
Adolescence and early crimes
The two young men grew up with their respective families in the affluent
Kenwood neighborhood on Chicago's
South Side. The Loebs owned a summer estate (now called
Castle Farms) in
Charlevoix, Michigan
Charlevoix ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Charlevoix County. The population was 2,348 at the 2020 census. Charlevoix is mostly surrounded by Charlevoix Township, but the two are administered autonomously ...
, as well as a mansion in Kenwood, two blocks from the Leopold home.
Though Leopold and Loeb knew each other casually while growing up, they began to see more of each other in mid-1920,
and their relationship flourished at the University of Chicago, particularly after they discovered a mutual interest in crime. Leopold was particularly fascinated by
Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...
's concept of "supermen" (''
Übermensch
The (; "Overhuman") is a concept in the philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche. In his 1883 book ''Thus Spoke Zarathustra'' (german: Also sprach Zarathustra), Nietzsche has his character Zarathustra posit the as a goal for humanity to set for itse ...
en''), interpreting them as transcendent individuals possessing extraordinary and unusual capabilities, whose superior intellects allowed them to rise above the laws and rules that bound the unimportant, average populace. Leopold believed that he and Loeb were such individuals, and as such, by his interpretation of Nietzsche's doctrines, they were not bound by any of society's normal ethics or rules.
[The Leopold and Loeb Trial:A Brief Account](_blank)
by Douglas O. Linder. 1997. Retrieved April 11, 2007. In a letter to Loeb, he wrote, "A superman ... is, on account of certain superior qualities inherent in him, exempted from the ordinary laws which govern men. He is not liable for anything he may do."
The pair began asserting their perceived immunity from normal restrictions with acts of
petty theft
Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...
and
vandalism
Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property.
The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The term f ...
.
Breaking into a fraternity house at the University of Michigan, they stole penknives, a camera, and a typewriter that they later used to type their
ransom
Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or the sum of money involved in such a practice.
When ransom means "payment", the word comes via Old French ''rançon'' from Latin ''red ...
note. Emboldened, they progressed to a series of more serious crimes, including
arson
Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...
, but no one seemed to notice. Disappointed with the absence of media coverage of their crimes, they decided to plan and execute a sensational "
perfect crime
Perfect crimes are crimes that are undetected, unattributed to an identifiable perpetrator, or otherwise unsolved or unsolvable as a kind of technical achievement on the part of the perpetrator. The term is used colloquially in law and fiction (es ...
" that would garner public attention and confirm their self-perceived status as "supermen".
Murder of Bobby Franks
![Bobby Franks alone](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Bobby_Franks_alone.jpg)
Leopold and Loeb (who were 19 and 18, respectively, at the time) settled on
kidnapping
In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...
and murdering a younger adolescent as their perfect crime. They spent seven months planning everything, from the method of abduction to disposal of the body. To obfuscate the actual nature of their crime and motive, they decided to make a ransom demand, and devised an intricate plan for collecting it involving a long series of complex instructions to be communicated, one set at a time, by phone. They typed the final set of instructions involving the actual money drop in the form of a ransom note, using the typewriter stolen from the fraternity house. A
chisel
A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge (such that wood chisels have lent part of their name to a particular grind) of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal by hand, stru ...
was selected as the murder weapon and purchased.
[Statement of Nathan F. Leopold]
Northwestern University Retrieved October 30, 2007.
After a lengthy search for a suitable victim, mostly on the grounds of the Harvard School for Boys in the Kenwood area, where Leopold had been educated, the pair decided upon Robert "Bobby" Franks, the 14-year-old son of wealthy Chicago watch manufacturer Jacob Franks. Bobby Franks was Loeb's second cousin and an across-the-street neighbor who had played tennis at the Loeb residence several times.
Leopold and Loeb put their plan in motion on the afternoon of May 21, 1924. Using an automobile that Leopold rented under the name Morton D. Ballard, they offered Franks a ride as he walked home from school. The boy initially refused, because his destination was less than two blocks away, but Loeb persuaded him to enter the car to discuss a tennis racket that he had been using. The precise sequence of the events that followed remains in dispute, but a preponderance of opinion placed Leopold behind the wheel of the car while Loeb sat in the back seat with the chisel. Loeb struck Franks, who was sitting in front of him in the passenger seat, several times in the head with the chisel, then dragged him into the back seat and gagged him, where he died.
[Statement of Richard Loeb](_blank)
Northwestern University Retrieved October 30, 2007.
With the body on the floorboard, out of view, the men drove to their predetermined dumping spot near
Wolf Lake
''Wolf Lake'' is an American supernatural drama television series that originally aired on CBS from September 19 to October 24, 2001. Nine episodes were produced, but only five aired before the series was canceled by CBS. The full series, includ ...
in
Hammond,
Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...
, south of Chicago. After nightfall, they removed and discarded Franks' clothes, then concealed the body in a
culvert
A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom ...
along the
Pennsylvania Railroad
The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...
tracks north of the lake. To obscure the body's identity, they poured
hydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid, also known as muriatic acid, is an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride. It is a colorless solution with a distinctive pungent smell. It is classified as a strong acid
Acid strength is the tendency of an acid, symbol ...
on the face and genitals to disguise the fact that he had been
circumcised
Circumcision is a surgical procedure, procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin ...
.
![Leopold and Loeb's ransom note for Bobby Franks](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Leopold_and_Loeb%27s_ransom_note_for_Bobby_Franks.jpg)
By the time the two men returned to Chicago, word had already spread that Franks was
missing
Missing or The Missing may refer to:
Film
* ''Missing'' (1918 film), an American silent drama directed by James Young
* ''Missing'' (1982 film), an American historical drama directed by Costa-Gavras
* ''Missing'' (2007 film) (''Vermist''), a Bel ...
. Leopold called Franks's mother, identifying himself as "George Johnson", and told her that Franks had been kidnapped; instructions for delivering the ransom would follow. After mailing the typed ransom note and burning their blood-stained clothing, then cleaning the blood stains from the rented vehicle's upholstery, they spent the remainder of the evening playing cards.
Once the Franks family received the ransom note on the following morning, Leopold called a second time and dictated the first set of instructions for the ransom payment. The intricate plan stalled almost immediately when a nervous family member forgot the address of the store where he was supposed to receive the next set of directions, and it was abandoned entirely when word came that Franks's body had been found. Leopold and Loeb destroyed the typewriter and burned a car robe (lap blanket) they had used to move the body.
They then went about their lives as usual.
Chicago police launched an intensive investigation;
rewards
Reward may refer to:
Places
* Reward (Shelltown, Maryland), a historic home in Shelltown Maryland
* Reward, California (disambiguation)
* Reward-Tilden's Farm, a historic home in Chestertown Maryland
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Reward" ...
were offered for information. While Loeb went about his daily routine quietly, Leopold spoke freely to police and reporters, offering theories to anyone who would listen. He even told one detective, "If I were to murder anybody, it would be just such a cocky little son of a bitch as Bobby Franks."
Police found a pair of eyeglasses near Franks's body. Although common in prescription and frame, they were fitted with an unusual hinge purchased by only three customers in Chicago, one of whom was Leopold.
When questioned, Leopold offered the possibility that his glasses might have dropped out of his pocket during a bird-watching trip the previous weekend.
Leopold and Loeb were summoned for formal questioning on May 29. They asserted that on the night of the murder, they had picked up two women in Chicago using Leopold's car, then dropped them off some time later near a golf course without learning their last names. Their
alibi
An alibi (from the Latin, '' alibī'', meaning "somewhere else") is a statement by a person, who is a possible perpetrator of a crime, of where they were at the time a particular offence was committed, which is somewhere other than where the crim ...
was exposed as a fabrication when Leopold's chauffeur told police that he was repairing Leopold's car while the men claimed to be using it. The chauffeur's wife confirmed that the car was parked in the Leopold garage on the night of the murder.
The destroyed typewriter was recovered from the
Jackson Park Lagoon on June 7.
Confession
Loeb was the first to confess.
He asserted that Leopold had planned everything and had killed Franks in the back seat of the car while Loeb drove. Leopold's confession followed swiftly thereafter, but he insisted that he was the driver and Loeb the murderer. Their confessions otherwise corroborated most of the evidence in the case.
Both confessions were announced by the
state's attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...
on May 31. Leopold later claimed (long after Loeb was dead) that he pleaded in vain with Loeb to admit to killing Franks. "Mompsie feels less terrible than she might, thinking you did it", he quotes Loeb as saying, "and I'm not going to take that shred of comfort away from her." While most observers believed that Loeb did indeed strike the fatal blows,
some circumstantial evidence – including testimony from eyewitness Carl Ulvigh, who said he saw Loeb driving and Leopold in the back seat minutes before the kidnapping – suggested that Leopold could have been the killer.
Both Leopold and Loeb admitted that they were driven by their thrill-seeking, ''Übermenschen'' (supermen) delusions, and their aspiration to commit a "perfect crime".
Neither claimed to have looked forward to the killing, but Leopold admitted interest in learning what it would feel like to be a murderer. He was disappointed to note that he felt the same as ever.
Trial
![Clarence Darrow](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Clarence_Darrow.jpg)
The trial of Leopold and Loeb at Chicago's
Cook County Criminal Court became a media spectacle and the third – after those of
Harry Thaw
Harry Kendall Thaw (February 12, 1871 – February 22, 1947) was the son of American coal and railroad baron William Thaw Sr.. Heir to a multimillion-dollar fortune, the younger Thaw is most notable for murdering the renowned architect Sta ...
and
Sacco and Vanzetti
Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a ...
– to be labeled "the
trial of the century
__NOTOC__
Trial of the century is an idiomatic phrase used to describe certain well-known court cases, especially of the 19th, 20th and 21st century. It is often used popularly as a rhetorical device to attach importance to a trial and as such i ...
." Loeb's family hired the renowned criminal
defense
Defense or defence may refer to:
Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups
* Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare
* Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks
* Defense industr ...
attorney
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow (; April 18, 1857 – March 13, 1938) was an American lawyer who became famous in the early 20th century for his involvement in the Leopold and Loeb murder trial and the Scopes "Monkey" Trial. He was a leading member of t ...
to lead the defense team. It was rumored that Darrow was paid $1 million
[Gilbert Geis and Leigh B. Bienen, ''Crimes of the Century'' (Boston, 1998).] for his services, but he was actually paid $70,000 (). Darrow took the case because he was a staunch opponent of
capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
.
While it was generally assumed that the men's defense would be based on a plea of
not guilty by reason of insanity, Darrow concluded that a
jury trial
A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a Trial, legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or Question of law, findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial in which a judge or Judicial panel, panel of judges makes all decisions.
...
would almost certainly end in conviction and the death penalty.
Thus, he elected to enter a plea of guilty, hoping to convince Cook County Circuit Court Judge John R. Caverly to impose sentences of
life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
.
The trial (technically an extended sentencing, as their guilty pleas had already been accepted) ran for thirty-two days. The state's attorney,
Robert E. Crowe
Robert Emmett Crowe (January 22, 1879 - January 18, 1958) was a Chicago lawyer and politician, who is best known as the prosecutor in the 1924 Leopold and Loeb murder case. He was 45 at the time and it would shape his career."Robert Crowe Servi ...
, presented over 100 witnesses, documenting details of the crime. The defense presented extensive psychiatric testimony in an effort to establish mitigating circumstances, including
childhood neglect in the form of absent parenting, and in Leopold's case,
sexual abuse
Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assa ...
by a governess.
One piece of evidence was a letter written by Leopold claiming that he and Loeb were having a homosexual affair. Both the prosecution and the defense interpreted this information as supportive of their own position. Darrow called a series of
expert witness
An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...
es, who offered a catalog of Leopold's and Loeb's abnormalities. One witness testified to their dysfunctional
endocrine gland
Endocrine glands are ductless glands of the endocrine system that secrete their products, hormones, directly into the blood. The major glands of the endocrine system include the pineal gland, pituitary gland, pancreas, ovaries, testes, thyroid ...
s, another to the delusions that had led to their crime.
Darrow's speech
Darrow's impassioned, twelve-hour-long "masterful plea" at the conclusion of the hearing has been called the finest speech of his career. Its principal arguments were that the methods and punishments of the American justice system were inhumane, and the youth and immaturity of the accused:
The judge was persuaded, but he explained in his ruling that his decision was based primarily on precedent and the youth of the accused. On September 10, 1924, he sentenced both Leopold and Loeb to life imprisonment for the murder, and an additional 99 years for the kidnapping.
A little over a month later, Loeb's father died of
heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, a ...
.
Prison
![Bundesarchiv Bild 102-12794, Nathan Leopold und Richard Loeb](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-12794%2C_Nathan_Leopold_und_Richard_Loeb.jpg)
Leopold and Loeb initially were held at
Joliet Prison Joliet or Jolliet may refer to:
People
* Louis Jolliet (1645–1700), French-Canadian explorer of North America
* Oscar Joliet (1878–1969), Belgian scholar-priest and Catholic Auxiliary bishop of Ghent
Places in the United States
* Joliet, Illi ...
. Although they were kept apart as much as possible, the two managed to maintain their friendship. Leopold was transferred to
Stateville Penitentiary in 1931, and Loeb was later transferred there as well. Once reunited, the two expanded the prison school system, adding a high school and junior college curriculum.
[''Life & Death In Prison'']
by Marilyn Bardsley. Crime Library – Courtroom Television Network, LLC. Retrieved April 11, 2007.
Loeb's death
On January 28, 1936, Loeb was attacked by fellow inmate James Day with a
straight razor
A straight razor is a razor with a blade that can fold into its handle. They are also called open razors and cut-throat razors. The predecessors of the modern straight razors include bronze razors, with cutting edges and fixed handles, produced b ...
in a shower room; he died soon after in the prison hospital. Day claimed that Loeb had
sexually assaulted
Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...
him, but he was unharmed while Loeb sustained more than fifty wounds, including defensive wounds on his arms and hands. His throat had been slashed from behind. News accounts suggested Loeb had propositioned Day; the authorities, perhaps embarrassed by alleged same-sex behavior in the prison, ruled that Day was defending himself.
A sexual motive for the killing was suggested. While some sources state that newsman Ed Lahey began his story in the ''
Chicago Daily News
The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.
History
The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty ...
'' with the
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
, "Richard Loeb, despite his erudition, today ended his sentence with a proposition" – no evidence has been found that this lead was ever published, and actual copy from that date reads otherwise. On February 19, 1936, in a column printed in the ''Syracuse Journal'',
Mark Hellinger
Mark John Hellinger (March 21, 1903 – December 21, 1947) was an American journalist, theatre columnist and film producer.
Biography Early life
Hellinger was born into the Orthodox Jewish family of Mildred "Millie" (nee Fitch) and Pol Helli ...
wrote, "I must tell you of the line that came to me from an unknown correspondent in Chicago. This anonymous contributor said he had the absolute low-down on the recent slaying of Dickie Loeb. Seems that Loeb made a slight mistake in grammar. He ended a sentence in a proposition..." Other newspapers at the time appeared to praise Day, who was later tried and
acquitted
In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...
of Loeb's murder.
There is no evidence that Loeb was a
sexual predator
A sexual predator is a person seen as obtaining or trying to obtain sexual contact with another person in a metaphorically "predatory" or abusive manner. Analogous to how a predator hunts down its prey, so the sexual predator is thought to "hunt" ...
while in prison, but Day was later caught at least once in a
sexual act with a fellow inmate. In his autobiography, ''Life Plus 99 Years'', Leopold ridiculed Day's claim that Loeb had attempted to sexually assault him. This was echoed by the prison's Catholic
chaplain
A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...
, a confidant of Loeb's, who said that it was more likely that Day attacked Loeb after Loeb rebuffed his advances.
Leopold's prison life
![Bundesarchiv Bild 102-10970, USA, Nathan Leopold in Stateville Penitentiary](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-10970%2C_USA%2C_Nathan_Leopold_in_Stateville_Penitentiary.jpg)
Leopold continued with his work after Loeb's death. Despite suffering from
depression, he became a model prisoner and made many significant contributions to improving conditions at Stateville Penitentiary. These included reorganizing the prison library, revamping the schooling system and teaching its students, and volunteer work in the prison hospital. In 1944, Leopold volunteered for the
Stateville Penitentiary Malaria Study The Stateville Penitentiary malaria study was a controlled but ethically questionable study of the effects of malaria on prisoners of Stateville Penitentiary near Joliet, Illinois, in the 1940s, conducted by the Department of Medicine at the Univer ...
; he was deliberately inoculated with
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
pathogens and then subjected to several experimental malaria treatments. He later wrote that all his good work in prison and after his release was an effort to compensate for his crime.
In the early 1950s, author
Meyer Levin
Meyer Levin (October 7, 1905 – July 9, 1981) was an American novelist. Perhaps best known for his work on the Leopold and Loeb case, Levin worked as a journalist (for the ''Chicago Daily News'' and, from 1933–1939, as an editor for ''Esquire ...
, a classmate at the University of Chicago, requested Leopold's cooperation in writing a novel based on the Franks murder. Leopold responded that he did not wish his story told in fictionalized form, but offered Levin a chance to contribute to his own memoir, which was in progress. Levin, unhappy with that suggestion, went ahead with his book alone, despite Leopold's express objections. The novel, titled
Compulsion
Compulsion may refer to:
* Compulsive behavior, a psychological condition in which a person does a behavior compulsively, having an overwhelming feeling that they must do so.
* Obsessive–compulsive disorder, a mental disorder characterized by i ...
, was published in 1956. Levin portrayed Leopold (under the pseudonym Judd Steiner) as a brilliant but deeply disturbed teenager, psychologically driven to kill because of his troubled childhood and an obsession with Loeb. Leopold later wrote that reading Levin's book made him "physically sick... More than once I had to lay the book down and wait for the nausea to subside. I felt as I suppose a man would feel if he were exposed stark-naked under a strong spotlight before a large audience."
Leopold's autobiography, ''Life Plus 99 Years'', was published in 1958 as part of his campaign to win
parole
Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
.
[ In beginning his account with the immediate aftermath of the crime, he engendered widespread criticism for his deliberate refusal (expressly stated in the book) to recount his childhood or to describe any details of the murder. He also was accused of writing the book solely as a means of rehabilitating his public image by ignoring the dark side of his past.][Larson EJ. ''Murder Will Out: Rethinking the Right of Publicity Through One Classic Case'']
Rutgers Law Review archive
. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
Leopold's post-prison years
After thirty-three years and numerous unsuccessful petitions, Leopold was paroled in March 1958. The Brethren Service Commission, a Church of the Brethren
The Church of the Brethren is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the Schwarzenau Brethren (german: link=no, Schwarzenauer Neutäufer "Schwarzenau New Baptists") tradition that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Germa ...
-affiliated program, accepted him as a medical technician at its hospital in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
. He expressed his appreciation in an article: "To me the Brethren Service Commission offered the job, the home, and the sponsorship without which a man cannot be paroled. But it gave me so much more than thatthe companionship, the acceptance, the love which would have rendered a violation of parole almost impossible." He was known as "Nate" to neighbors and to co-workers at Castañer General Hospital in Adjuntas
Adjuntas (, ) is a small mountainside town and municipality in Puerto Rico located central midwestern portion of the island on the Cordillera Central, north of Yauco, Guayanilla, and Peñuelas; southeast of Utuado; east of Lares and Yauco; an ...
, where he worked as a laboratory and X-ray assistant.
Later in 1958, Leopold attempted to set up the Leopold Foundation, to be funded by royalties
A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset o ...
from ''Life Plus 99 Years'', "to aid emotionally disturbed, retarded, or delinquent youths." The State of Illinois voided his charter, however, on grounds that it violated the terms of his parole.
In 1959, Leopold sought to block production of the film version of ''Compulsion'' on the grounds that Levin's book had invaded his privacy, defamed
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
him, profited from his life story, and "intermingled fact and fiction to such an extent that they were indistinguishable." Eventually the Illinois Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the State of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the five ap ...
ruled against him, holding that Leopold, as the confessed perpetrator of the "crime of the century", could not reasonably argue that any book had injured his reputation.
Subsequently, Leopold moved to Santurce and married a widowed florist. He earned a master's degree at the University of Puerto Rico
The University of Puerto Rico ( es, Universidad de Puerto Rico, UPR) is the main public university system in the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a government-owned corporation with 11 campuses and approximately 58,000 students and 5,3 ...
, then taught classes there; became a researcher in the social service program of Puerto Rico's department of health; worked for an urban renewal and housing agency; and did research on leprosy
Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...
at the University of Puerto Rico School of Medicine. Leopold was also active in the Natural History Society of Puerto Rico, traveling throughout the island to observe its birdlife. In 1963, he published ''Checklist of Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands''. While he spoke of his intention to write a book titled ''Reach for a Halo'' about his life following prison, he never did.
Leopold died of a diabetes-related heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...
on August 29, 1971, at the age of 66.
In popular culture
The Franks murder has inspired works of film, theatre, and fiction, including the 1929 play ''Rope
A rope is a group of yarns, plies, fibres, or strands that are twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have tensile strength and so can be used for dragging and lifting. Rope is thicker and stronger than similarly ...
'' by Patrick Hamilton, performed on BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
television in 1939, and Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
's film of the same name in 1948. A fictionalized version of the events formed the basis of Meyer Levin's 1956 novel ''Compulsion'' and its 1959 film adaptation
A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...
. In 1957, two more fictionalized novels were released: ''Nothing but the Night'' by James Yaffe and ''Little Brother Fate'' by Mary-Carter Roberts. ''Never the Sinner'', John Logan's 1985 play, was based on contemporary newspaper accounts of the case, and included an explicit portrayal of Leopold and Loeb's sexual relationship. In 2019, the story was fictionally retold again in the third season of '' The Sinner''.
In his book ''Murder Most Queer'' (2014), theater scholar Jordan Schildcrout examines changing attitudes toward homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...
in various theatrical and cinematic representations of the Leopold and Loeb case.
Other works said to be influenced by the case include Richard Wright's 1940 novel ''Native Son
''Native Son'' (1940) is a novel written by the American author Richard Wright. It tells the story of 20-year-old Bigger Thomas, a black youth living in utter poverty in a poor area on Chicago's South Side in the 1930s.
While not apologizing ...
'', the '' Matlock'' episode “The Sisters”, the ''Columbo
''Columbo'' () is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originally aired on NBC f ...
'' episode "Columbo Goes To College" (1990), Tom Kalin
Tom Kalin (born 1962) is a screenwriter, film director, producer, and professor of experimental film at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee.
His debut feature, '' Swoon'', is considered an integral part of the New Queer Cinema. In addition to ...
's 1992 film '' Swoon'', Michael Haneke
Michael Haneke (; born 23 March 1942) is an Austrian film director and screenwriter. His work often examines social issues and depicts the feelings of estrangement experienced by individuals in modern society. Haneke has made films in French, G ...
's 1997 Austrian film '' Funny Games'' and the 2008 International remake
A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...
, Barbet Schroeder
Barbet Schroeder (born 26 August 1941) is an Iranian-born Swiss film director and producer who started his career in French cinema in the 1960s, working with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Jacques Rivette. Since the late 1980s, he has dire ...
's ''Murder by Numbers
''Murder by Numbers'' is a 2002 American psychological thriller film produced and directed by Barbet Schroeder and starring Sandra Bullock in the main role, Ben Chaplin, Ryan Gosling, and Michael Pitt. It is loosely based on the Leopold and Loeb c ...
'' (2002), Daniel Clowes
Daniel Gillespie Clowes (; born April 14, 1961) is an American cartoonist, graphic novelist, illustrator, and screenwriter. Most of Clowes's work first appeared in '' Eightball'', a solo anthology comic book series. An ''Eightball'' issue typical ...
's 2005 graphic novel ''Ice Haven
''Ice Haven'' is a 2005 graphic novel by Daniel Clowes. The book's contents were originally published as the comic book '' Eightball'' #22 and were subsequently reformatted to make the hardcover ''Ice Haven'' book.
''Ice Haven'' takes the form o ...
'', Stephen Dolginoff
Stephen Dolginoff is an American playwright and composer. His most notable work is ''Thrill Me'', the musical version of the true story of Leopold and Loeb, which opened Off-Broadway at the York Theatre in 2005, featuring Dolginoff himself as Na ...
's 2005 off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
musical '' Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story'',
and the film ''Scream
Scream may refer to:
*Screaming, a loud vocalization
Amusement rides
* Scream (Heide Park), a gyro drop tower in Soltau, Germany
* Scream! (ride), a tower ride at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags New England
* Scream! (roller coaster), at ...
'' (1996).
References
Citations
Bibliography
* Leopold, Nathan F. ''Life plus 99 Years'', 1958 (Introduction by Erle Stanley Gardner
Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, 1889 – March 11, 1970) was an American lawyer and author. He is best known for the Perry Mason series of crime fiction, detective stories, but he wrote numerous other novels and shorter pieces and also a series of ...
)
* Baatz, Simon. ''For the Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb and the Murder that Shocked Chicago'' (HarperCollins, 2008).
* Baatz, Simon. "Criminal Minds," ''Smithsonian Magazine'' 39 (August 2008): 70–79.
* Higdon, Hal. ''Leopold and Loeb: The Crime of the Century'', University of Illinois Press, 1999. (originally published in 1975)
* Kalin, Tom (director), '' Swoon''. Film, 1990
* Levin, Meyer. ''Compulsion'', Carroll & Graf Publishers, 1996. (originally published in 1956).
* Logan, John (author), ''Never the Sinner'' (play), Samuel French, Inc., 1987
* Saul, John (author). ''In the Dark of the Night
"In the Dark of the Night " is a song written by lyricist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty for the 1997 Fox Animation Studios film ''Anastasia''. It is sung by Rasputin (Christopher Lloyd speaking, Jim Cummings singing) and serves as th ...
'', 2006
* Dolginoff, Stephen (author/composer). ''Thrill Me
''Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story'' is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Stephen Dolginoff. It is based on the true story of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, the so-called "thrill killers" who murdered a young boy in 1924 in order ...
: The Leopold & Loeb Story'' (musical, published by Dramatists Play Service)
* Morita, Yoshimitsu (director). ''Copycat Killer
A copycat crime is a criminal act that is modelled after or inspired by a previous crime. It notably occurs after exposure to media content depicted said crimes, and/or a live criminal model.
Copycat effect
The copycat effect is the alleged tende ...
''. Film, 2002
* Leopold, N.F. 1963. ''Checklist of the Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands''. University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras.
External links
Leopold and Loeb Trial Home Page
by Douglas Linder. Famous American Trials''Illinois v. Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb''. University of Missouri at Kansas City Law School. 1997. Retrieved September 14, 2008.
by Marilyn Bardsley. Crime LibraryCourtroom Television Network. Retrieved April 11, 2007.
Northwestern University Archives
''Thrill Me:The Leopold and Loeb Story''
ain site/CD ordering
from York Theatre Company
Harold S. Hulbert Papers
from Northwestern University Archives, Evanston, Illinois
"Leopold and Loeb Collection"
from Northwestern University Special Collections, Evanston, Illinois
*
''The Loeb-Leopold case : with excerpts from the evidence of the alienists and including the arguments to the court by counsel for the people and the defense (1926)''
stored on Archive.org
Murder by Birder
– A Brain Scoop video episode featuring Nathan Leopold
The Case of The Perfect Murder Gone Wrong (Leopold and Loeb) (Real True Crime // LegalEagle)
– by the YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
channel LegalEagle
{{Authority control
1900s births
20th-century American trials
20th-century American criminals
American murderers of children
American people convicted of murder
People convicted of murder by Illinois
American people convicted of kidnapping
1924 murders in the United States
Clarence Darrow
Crimes in Chicago
Crime in Chicago
Criminals from Chicago
Crime in Illinois
Criminals from Illinois
Criminal duos
American people of German-Jewish descent
American male criminals
Male murderers
Violence against men in North America
University of Chicago alumni
Incidents of violence against boys