Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, two intelligent students at the University of Chicago, attempted to commit the perfect crime by kidnapping and killing 14-year-old Bob Franks. They were inspired by Nietzsche’s concept of the Superman. Despite careful planning, they were caught due to mistakes and were defended by Clarence Darrow, who argued against capital punishment. They were sentenced to life plus 99 years and served their time in prison. Loeb was killed by another inmate, while Leopold was paroled and died in 1971. The case inspired works of fiction.
Nathan Leopold, Jr. and Richard Loeb were the defendants in an infamous murder and kidnapping trial in 1924. Bright students at the University of Chicago, they attempted to stage “the perfect crime” by killing 14-year-old Bob Franks and attempting to raise money for the ransom. Leopold and Loeb were inspired to get away with murder by the writings of the German philosopher Nietzsche and his concept of the Superman. Clarence Darrow represented Leopold and Loeb in court, giving one of the finest speeches of his career against capital punishment for the couple.
Leopold and Loeb met at the University of Chicago when they were teenagers. Both were intelligent and advanced students, but Nathan Leopold was a genius with an IQ of 210. At the time of the murder, Leopold was 19 and studying law at the University of Chicago; Loeb, 18, planned to do the same after taking some courses at Harvard Law School.
Leopold and Loeb carefully planned their crime within months. Before the kidnapping and murder scheme was underway, the couple had successfully committed other less serious crimes such as petty theft. Leopold and Loeb’s motive for murder was simply to get away with it, to prove their intellectual superiority by carrying out the perfect crime. They planned to kidnap a boy and collect the ransom money without getting caught; the murder of the victim was essential to prevent the identification of the kidnappers. They chose Richard Loeb’s neighbor and family friend as the victim, since they could easily get him into the car.
Despite careful planning, the couple made a few mistakes which led to their arrest. BobFranks body was found before the ransom could be collected. Nathan Leopold left his glasses at the crime scene. They had a rare hinge mechanism and only three pairs of such glasses had been purchased in the Chicago area. The couple’s alibi was to take some girls for a ride the night of the murder. It collapsed when it turned out that Leopold’s car was being repaired that evening.
Clarence Darrow took the boys case and advised them to plead guilty instead of not guilty by reason of insanity. This strategy allowed them to avoid a jury trial. Darrow, a staunch opponent of capital punishment, argued the murderers’ case before a single judge, criticizing a penal system that would sentence disturbed youths to death rather than attempt to rehabilitate them. His plea was successful, and Leopold and Loeb were both sentenced to life plus 99 years.
Leopold and Loeb served their sentences in Joliet Prison, where they used their education to teach. Richard Loeb was killed in 1936 by another inmate. The killing was ruled in self-defense according to the man’s claim that Loeb had sexually assaulted him. Leopold continued his studies, mastering 27 languages while incarcerated.
In 1958, Nathan Leopold was paroled. He moved to Puerto Rico, where he married a widow. After his imprisonment, Leopold wrote an autobiography and continued the ornithological studies he had begun in his youth before his trial. Leopold died of cardiac arrest at the age of 66 on August 30, 1971. The Leopold and Loeb case inspired a number of fictional works, most notably Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope and Michael Haneke’s Funny Games.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
