Leopold and Loeb | This Cruel and Vicious Murder | 3

This episode contains descriptions and details that some listeners might find disturbing.

Listener discretion is advised.

It's early in the morning of May 22, 1924.

The sun is already beating down as Tony Minka makes his way through the Nature Reserve near Wolf Lake, about 15 miles south of Chicago.

Tony works at a factory not far from the lake.

He's just finished his overnight shift and is eager to get some sleep.

Normally, he'd be taking a different route home, but he needs to pick up his watch from a repair shop, and the quickest way there is to follow the train tracks to the park.

As Tony moves his head to shake off a fly, his eyes fall on something strange.

To his left is a drainage culvert that runs underneath the tracks.

That's not unusual.

What's odd is that he's sure he can see a foot sticking out of the drain.

Tony stops and looks around.

He can already feel his heart racing.

He doesn't want to look closer, but he's all alone.

If he doesn't investigate, who will?

He takes a few cautious steps towards the culvert and bends down.

His worst fears are confirmed.

Inside is the naked body of what looks like a boy.

He couldn't be older than 15, Tony thinks.

Poor kid must have drowned someone.

Tony scrubs his face and looks around again.

He doesn't know what to do.

He knows he should tell someone, but he doesn't feel right just leaving the body here like this.

To his relief, though, he spots four rail workers on a handcart rolling along the tracks.

Tony scrambles up the short embankment to the tracks and starts waving his arms and shouting to the men.

They slow down as they get closer, but Tony isn't sure how to tell them what's happened.

He's a Polish immigrant and hasn't been in America that long, so his English isn't great.

He can't think of the right words to explain that he's found a dead body.

He gives up trying to explain and signals the men to follow him down to the culvert.

He points to the feet, and finally everything is clear.

Two of the workers climb down into the water to get close to the drain.

Reaching in, they grab hold of the body and pull it out.

The boy, whoever he is, is naked.

Carefully, they pass him to the other men who lay the body face up on the grass.

Now, Tony can see that this death wasn't an accident.

There are two deep gashes towards the front of his head, as well as bruises and swelling at the crown.

And the boy's face is discolored, like he's got some kind of rash.

Tony watches as the men carry the body up to the tracks and lift it carefully onto the handguard.

One of them, Paul Corth, comes back down to shake Tony's hand.

His eyes sweep the ground, checking to make sure they haven't missed grabbing any of the boy's clothing.

A few feet from the culvert, he spots a pair of tortoise shell glasses.

He picks them up, puts them in his pocket, and beckons to Tony to join them on the handguard.

Moments later, as the cart rolls along the track, Tony can't stop his eyes from returning to the boy lying at their feet.

Who could do this to an innocent young boy?

From Airship, I'm Jeremy Schwartz, and this is American Criminal.

Though they seemed like polar opposites in so many ways, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were a match made in hell.

Two young college graduates each brought up believing their brains made them special, and who let that go to their heads?

Once united, they turned from relatively well-behaved boys into boundary-pushing troublemakers, stealing cars for late-night joy rides, smashing shop windows and setting small fires throughout Chicago.

Their friendship wasn't without its problems, but they found a way to make it work for them both, and in late 1923, they started carrying out more elaborate crimes together.

But even carefully planned burglaries weren't enough, especially for Richard.

He'd always fantasized about being the best criminal the world had ever seen, and was desperate to commit the perfect crime.

Nathan, his worshipful and arrogant sidekick, thought that sounded like a good idea, an excellent way to prove to the world how superior the two of them were.

So, they spent months planning, coming up with a plot to kidnap and ransom a boy from their neighborhood.

They'd have to kill him, of course, to eliminate the only possible witness, but then they'd make off with the ransom money, and no one would ever catch them.

Once they had everything figured out and ready to go, Nathan and Richard were incredibly pleased with themselves.

Delirious, you might even say.

No, um, delusional.

I meant delusional.

This is episode three in our four-part series on Leopold and Loeb, this cruel and vicious murder.

It's nearing midnight on May 20th, 1924.

19-year-old Nathan Leopold sits at a desk in his study on the ground floor of his family's mansion.

Looking over his shoulder is 18-year-old Richard Loeb, his friend, accomplice, and occasional lover.

Nathan's got a pen in hand and is copying down Richard's words as he dictates a letter.

It's a ransom note which they intend to send to the family of their victim once they've killed him tomorrow afternoon.

The murder is just a means to an end.

This part of the plot, the ransom, is the central piece of the whole thing.

So they have to get this right.

That's why Dickie's taking the lead.

He's read plenty of detective stories over the years, including one from a couple of weeks ago about a kidnapping syndicate.

He's basing this note on the one the criminals used in the story.

After making some suggestions of his own, Nathan finishes the letter, then reads it to Richard.

Dear sir, as you no doubt know by this time your son has been kidnapped, allow us to assure you that he is at present well and safe.

You need fear no physical harm for him, provided you live up carefully to the following instructions, and such others you will receive by future communications.

Should you, however, disobey any of our instructions even slightly, his death will be the penalty.

The letter goes on to tell the reader not to contact the police, and to secure $10,000 in old bills and place the cash inside a securely wrapped large cigar box.

Then he's to stay at home and wait for a phone call at 1 p.m.

that day.

After a final threat to kill their son if any instructions are ignored, the note is signed with the name George Johnson.

When Nathan finishes reading, Richard gives him a nod.

That's perfect.

Satisfied, Nathan pulls his typewriter towards him.

It's a portable model, the one he stole from the Zeta Beta Tau frat house in Michigan last November.

He taps out the letter slowly, one key at a time.

Then, he carefully folds both sheets of paper and slides them into a blank envelope.

They'll address it once they know who their victim is, less than 24 hours from now.

On the morning of May 21st, Nathan wakes up and goes through the motions like it's just another day.

After breakfast, he climbs into his red Willie's Night Touring car and heads to the University of Chicago.

Starting at 8 o'clock, he goes to classes for French and, ironically, criminal law.

One of his professors notices that Nathan seems distracted, which is unusual because he's such an eager student.

Once his classes finish at 11, Nathan drives back to Kenwood to grab Richard, and the two of them head to a rent-a-car office on Michigan Avenue.

There, Nathan goes in alone, posing once more as traveling salesman Morton Ballard.

Having already established his identity and an account with the office's staff, he has no trouble renting a car for a couple of days.

He chooses a Willie's Night like his own, but one that's dark blue, so it's less noticeable than his.

With that taken care of, the guys stop at a restaurant for lunch.

Then Nathan gets back in his red Willie's Night, Dickie takes the rental, and they drive back to their neighborhood.

When they get to the Leopold house on 48th and Greenwood, Nathan tells the family's chauffeur Sven Englund that his brakes have been squeaking and he'd like them fixed.

Sven says he'll see what he can do, then watches Nathan help Richard move a couple of bundles from the red car into the blue and drive off once more.

At this point, Babe and Dickie have everything they need to carry out their plan, except a victim.

But the time for them to find one is finally here.

Just after 2.30, they pull up a block away from Nathan's alma mater, the Harvard School for Boys.

After letting Nathan take the lead with the rental, Richard is ready to do his part.

He leaves his friend in the car and walks over to the school.

Class is only let out a few minutes ago, so there are plenty of students milling around, chatting with their buddies or waiting for baseball games to get going.

Richard doesn't have any luck singling out a vulnerable boy.

There are kids everywhere, and one of the school's teachers is nearby supervising.

Plus Dickie's kind of a recognizable face at the school, since his younger brother Tommy goes there.

Eventually, though, he strikes up a conversation with 9-year-old Johnny Levinson.

He's in Tommy's class, so he knows Richard, but he doesn't like him very much.

Richard can be weird, creepy, mean.

Still, Johnny answers Dickie's questions about his plans for the afternoon, saying that he's going to be playing baseball in a nearby empty lot.

Hearing that, Richard decides he might just have found their victim.

Johnny's name is even on the list of potential candidates he and Nathan drew up a couple of days ago.

If they can get him walking home alone from the game, it'll be easy to snatch him off the street.

When Johnny runs back to his friends, Richard heads to meet Nathan at the car and tell him the plan.

But although they managed to spy on the game without anyone spotting them, they missed their chance to snatch Johnny.

He and a group of boys run off together down an alley and never come back.

After a while, Nathan and Richard start cruising through the neighborhood, hoping they'll spot their prey walking home.

But it's no good.

Johnny Levinson's disappeared.

Still, they don't want to just give up, so they spend the next couple of hours driving around, eyes peeled for any strays they can pick off.

It's hard, though.

They want someone small, and who they at least know a little about.

They're doing this to kick off a ransom plot, after all, so they need to choose someone from a wealthy family.

But it's no good.

As the afternoon drags on, they still haven't found an ideal target, and they're starting to get antsy.

They put all this time into the plan, and they don't want to have to start over another day.

But then, just after 5 p.m., they turn on to Ellis Avenue and see 14-year-old Bobby Franks walking home alone.

Bobby is Richard's distant cousin, so he knows the kid.

Hell, they were playing tennis together in the Loeb's backyard just yesterday.

But he's only a couple of blocks away from his home when they spot him, so there's no time to lose.

They turn the car around and pull up alongside Bobby.

Richard waves him over offering him a lift home, but Bobby says he's fine to walk.

Dickie doesn't miss a beat.

He says that he wants to ask about the racket Bobby was using in their game yesterday.

Bobby loves talking about tennis, so he hops onto the running board and hangs his arms inside the car.

Richard introduces Bobby to Nathan, and the 14-year-old finally climbs into the front seat.

Now, Nathan and Richard will both tell their own versions of how this next part happens, but most people tend to accept Nathan's side of the story as the most likely.

According to him, he's the one driving the car, and Richard is sitting in the back.

That's why Bobby ends up in the front seat.

When the kid closes the door, Nathan continues down Ellis Avenue, turning left at 49, a block away from the Franks' home.

As Nathan focuses on the road, Richard grabs the chisel from beside him on the seat.

He's taped the blade so he can wield the heavy wooden end as a club.

He brings his other hand up to cover Bobby's mouth, then brings the chisel crashing down onto his head, stunning him.

Dickie hits him again and again, and is shocked that Bobby's still conscious.

Afraid that someone will see what's going on, Richard drags Bobby into the back of the car.

The windows there have curtains, so even if they drive right by someone on the street, no one will see Richard stuffing a rag deep into Bobby's mouth.

They won't see him grab a roll of tape and press a strip across his cousin's lips.

No one, except Nathan and Richard, will see Bobby go limp.

Richard relaxes.

The plan is to kill Bobby later using the ether Nathan bought at a pharmacy.

For now though, they have to wait for nightfall so they can finish the job and hide Bobby's body.

So they drive around town for a while, their victim's bloody form lying across the floor in the back.

As the sun starts to set, they drive to Hammond, just across the border in Indiana.

They pull over on a quiet country road, take Bobby's clothes off and shove them in the trunk of the car.

But it's still not quite dark enough to take him to the lake.

So they drive around, killing more time until they pass a hot dog stand.

It has been hours since they ate lunch and it's right around dinnertime, so they stop to pick up something to eat and a couple of sodas.

Once they're done eating and it's finally dark, they head for Wolf Lake.

It's quiet there.

The sounds of frogs and crickets providing the only soundtrack to their covert operation.

They drag Bobby from the car.

That's when they finally realize that he's already dead.

That he's been dead for quite some time now.

But that doesn't bother them because it's just one less thing to do.

The guys use a blanket like a stretcher to carry Bobby the couple hundred feet to the covert they scoped out a couple of weeks ago.

They lay him on the ground and Nathan pours hydrochloric acid on his face, believing that it'll burn away the skin and obscure his identity.

He's also heard that bodies can be identified by the shape of their genitals, so he uses some of the acid there too.

With that done, Nathan takes off his jacket and shoes, puts on a pair of rubber boots, and slides down into the water.

Richard pushes Bobby's body into Nathan's arms, who shoves him head first into the culvert as far as he can.

Then he clambers out of the ditch and swaps his shoes again.

Richard hands him back his jacket.

They walk away from their victim's body, thinking they've just completed phase one of their perfect crime.

What they don't realize is that they've left behind a clue that will tie them to Bobby's murder and bring their whole scheme undone.

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It's after sundown on May 21st, 1924, less than an hour since Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb hid the body of 14-year-old Bobby Franks.

As they drive their rental car back towards Chicago, neither of them dwells on what they've just done.

To them, Bobby's death is just another step in their plan.

His life means about as much to them as an insect does to the entomologist dissecting it.

It's part of an experiment, a grand exercise in proving the theory of the Ubermensch.

Nathan's twisted take on Nietzsche's theory is that there are certain people who are so perfect that they are beyond the petty laws and morals of society.

His belief is that Richard is one of those people, which means he's allowed to commit any crimes he wants to, and doing so will prove both of their superiority over the rest of mankind.

To that end, they have to push ahead with the rest of the plan.

So, on their way home, they stop at a drugstore a few miles from their neighborhood.

Nathan gets out first, twisting from side to side, stretching out his back after so many hours spent in the car.

In the soft light thrown through the nearby windows, he can see dark red blooms across his tweed suit.

Hmm, blood.

He doesn't want the store clerk seeing that.

So, when he pushes open the pharmacy door, he turns towards the back right away.

With Richard just behind him, he heads to the payphone.

They rifle through the phone book to find the Frank's address and phone number.

Nathan carefully copies the address onto the envelope holding their ransom note and attaches six two-cent postage stamps to make sure it's delivered first thing the next morning.

Not wanting to stay in the store too long, Nathan leads Richard outside and they get back into the car.

They drive until they see a mailbox for them to drop the ransom note into.

That's another thing crossed off their list.

Next, they need to make a phone call.

So they head to another drugstore, where Nathan takes the lead again.

It's just before 10 p.m.

when the operator makes the connection.

Nathan hears a woman's voice, Flora Franks.

He asks to speak with her husband, but she tells him he's not at home.

So calling himself Mr.

Johnson, Nathan tells Flora that they've kidnapped her son and she'll be receiving further instructions about how to pay a ransom.

His heart's beating faster than he's ever felt before when he hangs up and walks back to the car.

A little later, they arrive at the Loeb's house.

The street is still and quiet.

You'd never know what the Franks' family were going through just across the road.

Moving quickly, Nathan and Richard gather up Bobby's clothes from the trunk, as well as the blanket they used to carry him to the lake.

Then they sneak inside through a side entrance.

Dickie leads the way down to the basement where the furnace is still burning.

He opens the grate and they toss the clothing into the flames.

They watch the fabric burn and twist in the fire for a moment, then head back outside.

They want to burn the blanket too, but it's so wet with blood that they decide it's too risky to burn it here.

They're worried it'll smell, so they hide it in the garden to take care of it later.

After that, there's not much they can do tonight.

All they have to do tomorrow is pull off their elaborate ransom plan to collect $10,000 and they'll be free and clear.

They are geniuses.

It's just before 9 a.m.

on May 22nd, and on Ellis Avenue, there's an overwhelming sense of dread in the Frank's home.

No one slept.

Not only are Jacob and Flora worried about their son, they're terrified they'll miss a phone call from the abductors.

Jacob and family friend Samuel Edelson spoke to the police in the middle of the night, but decided against asking detectives to begin a formal search.

Part of them hoped that all of this might be some kind of hopes, and that Bobby would have waltzed in the front door at daybreak.

They didn't want the police force out on a wild goose chase.

Instead, Samuel asked the phone company to trace any incoming calls to the Frank's home, in case the kidnappers call back.

But now the sun is up, and nothing.

No Bobby, no phone calls.

Until that is, a letter arrives for Jacob, marked special delivery.

It's the typed ransom note.

The letter makes everything feel more terrifyingly real than it has before, but it also gives them hope.

Bobby is still alive, and the men who took him have promised not to hurt him so long as they receive $10,000.

For context, in 1924, that would buy around 34 Ford Model Ts.

Of course, Jacob doesn't care how much he has to pay to get his son back, and 10 grand is hardly anything to him.

So he reads the instructions carefully and heads to the bank to withdraw the cash.

Meanwhile, about 12 miles south of Kenwood, Tony Menka notices Bobby's feet sticking out of the drainage culvert near Wolf Lake.

He flags down some passing workers, and together they transport the body to the nearest phone and wait for the police.

When the detectives arrive, Paul Korff hands over the tortoiseshell glasses he found near the culvert.

Assuming the spectacles belonged to Bobby, the police placed them gently on his face.

By noon, Jacob Franks is back home with the ransom money, sitting beside his wife, both of them staring out the front window.

But they're not the only ones invested in their son's disappearance.

Somehow, news of Bobby's kidnapping has already made its way to the press.

Samuel Edelson suspects that phone operators who've heard about the trace on the Franks line have tipped off their favorite reporters.

Now, he's in Jacob's study fielding calls from newspapers eager for the scoop.

Some journalists have heard about the body found out at Wolf Lake and are asking Samuel if it could be Bobby.

But he tells them it's not possible.

Bobby never wore glasses, he says.

And besides, the kidnappers have promised that Bobby is safe as long as they pay the ransom.

Still, Sam would rather rule it out.

Otherwise, the wondering will drive them crazy.

He asked Flora's brother Edwin to head to the city morgue and make sure that whoever this poor child is, it's not their Bobby.

At the front of the house, Jacob and Flora hold each other tight, their eyes flitting from the telephone to the front windows waiting for their son to come home.

But about 20 minutes later, a phone call comes in from the morgue.

It's Edwin.

He's seen the body from Wolf Lake, and it's definitely Bobby.

Whoever's glasses were on his face, they weren't his.

Just as Samuel's telling Jacob the news, the phone rings again.

Samuel picks it up with a sigh.

Within seconds, he snaps to attention, stiffening his spine.

It's George Johnson, the man who signed the ransom letter and who spoke to Flora last night.

He wants to speak to Jacob.

Samuel hands his friend the phone.

But Jacob's still processing the news that his son is dead.

He can barely focus on the voice bouncing down the line to his ear.

Mr.

Johnson, that's Nathan Leopold, is pitching his voice to disguise it, and he tells him that a cab will be pulling up outside the Frank's home in 10 minutes.

He needs to get in, bring the ransom money with him, and direct the driver to the drugstore at 1465 East 63rd Street.

Shocked and confused, Jacob asks for more time, but Nathan tells him he needs to go now, then hangs up the phone.

In that instant, Jacob's mind is hazy.

He wonders whether Edwin made a mistake at the morgue, or maybe the kidnappers don't realize that the body has been found.

Should he go to the drugstore, would that bring his son back?

Would it help catch his killers?

As Jacob and Samuel run through their limited options, they see a yellow cab pull up outside.

It's time to make a decision.

That's when Jacob realizes, he's forgotten the address Mr.

Johnson gave him.

He's sure it was on 63rd Street, or was it 64th, but the rest of the conversation is gone.

Even if he thought it was a good idea, he doesn't know where to go, and there's no way to find out.

All he can do now is head upstairs and tell Flora the news.

As the Franks family come to terms with the loss of their youngest member, Nathan and Richard have been carrying on with their plan, completely oblivious to the fact that Bobby's already been found.

They've spent the afternoon about five miles away from Kenwood in downtown Chicago.

Their elaborate plan will involve Jacob Franks boarding a Boston-bound train, when it stops at the 63rd Street Station.

They needed to leave the final set of instructions for him before that train left Central Station at 3 p.m.

When Nathan pulled up outside, Richard donned a pair of glasses, a dark hat and a large coat and headed in.

He couldn't look more conspicuous if he tried, but he thought it was a great disguise.

On the platform, he slipped into the last carriage of the train and hid a letter inside the telegraph box.

Inside were instructions on the exact moment Jacob will need to throw the cigar box of money from the back of the train.

With his part done, Richard headed back to the car to wait for Nathan, who'd been making phone calls.

First, he ordered a cab to arrive at the Frank's home around 2.30.

Then, he called to tell Jacob to take that cab to the drugstore on 63rd.

It's across the road from the station, where the Boston train will be arriving at 3.18.

They need Jacob to make it to the drugstore in time to receive a call at a payphone.

That's when they'll tell him which train to board for his final instructions.

It's gonna be tight, but that's intentional.

They didn't want Jacob to have time to alert the police before he had to set off.

As long as he follows their instructions, it should go just as they plan.

With everything ready, Babe and Dickie get in place on 67th Street near Stoney Island Avenue.

That's where the money should land when Jacob throws it from the back of the train.

But as they sit in the car, they realize that things haven't gone according to plan.

At a nearby newsstand, the front page of the Chicago Daily Journal is all about a body found near Wolf Lake.

They can't believe Bobby was discovered so quickly.

It seems impossible to Richard, whose criminal genius is unparalleled.

In his mind, that is.

After reading the article, they know the body hasn't been identified yet.

And although there's speculation that it's the missing Bobby Franks, they can't be certain that Jacob and Flora will have heard any of this news yet.

So, they decide that they may as well proceed with their plan.

After all, Nathan's determined to prove their superiority.

Just before 3 o'clock, they place a call to the drugstore on 63rd Street, fully expecting Jacob Franks to pick up.

But it's just a store clerk who answers.

And he tells Nathan, Oh, there's no Mr.

Franks here.

Nathan hangs up the phone and shrugs at his partner.

That's that.

All they're planning and it's come to nothing?

It's disappointing, but it's not the end of the world.

Sure, they didn't get the ransom money like they wanted, but they never needed it anyway.

And besides, just because that part of the plan didn't work out, it doesn't mean that they've totally failed.

They're still certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, have pulled off a flawless, perfect crime.

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It's around 4 p.m.

on May 22nd, 1924.

At the Leopold family estate on the corner of 48th and Greenwood, Sven Englund is inside the carriage house, watching a strange sight.

Downstairs on the driveway, Nathan Leopold and his friend Richard Loeb are cleaning a car.

But it's not Nathan's red willies night they're scrubbing.

It's a dark blue model.

Sven's never known young Master Nathan to willingly clean anything in his life, so he heads downstairs to take a closer look.

When he offers to help, though, the guys turn him down.

They explain that they've been bootlegging and spilled some red wine on the upholstery.

They just need to clean it up before they return the car to the rental office.

Sven stands there watching them another minute, just in case they change their mind.

But eventually, he turns around to head back inside.

Before he gets far, though, Nathan calls him back.

He asks Sven not to say anything about the rental car or the spilled wine to his father.

He's sure he wouldn't approve.

Sven nods, holds a finger up to his lips.

He won't say a word.

By the time they're done returning the rental car, it's been about 24 hours since Nathan and Richard kidnapped and murdered Bobby Franks.

News of the crimes has spread throughout Chicago incredibly fast, and it seems like everyone in the city is talking about the tragedy.

Jacob Franks is offering $5,000 for information leading to the capture of his son's killers.

The chief of police has said that his department will put up a thousand bucks.

And two of the city's biggest newspapers, The Tribune and The Herald and Examiner, each advertise rewards of $5,000 for any exclusive information.

Across the road from the Loeb's house, a crowd of people have gathered outside the Franks Mansion.

A mix of journalists seeking comment and looky-loos wanting to catch a glimpse of a bereaved family.

Nathan thrilled by all the attention.

Dickie, he's pleased, but he's realizing that people will never recognize him for his criminal genius if they don't know it was him.

Of course, he doesn't want to get caught, but maybe he can find a way to show them how his mind works anyway.

The next afternoon, Richard's at the Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity House on the University of Chicago campus.

He's just dropped by to meet a few of his frat brothers for lunch when he runs into Hayward Mayer, a fellow student and stringer for the Evening American.

Like everyone in town, they get to talking about the case, and Richard's off to the races.

By this stage, the police have launched a full investigation into the murder.

So the press have heard all about the ransom letter and know how the killers wanted Jacob Franks to meet them at a drugstore somewhere on 63rd Street.

Dickie says that's hawkwash.

No self-respecting criminal would meet their victim's father on a busy street in the middle of the day.

And it's clear to him that these kidnappers were superior to the average crook.

Why just look at their expertly crafted ransom letter?

No, no, they must have planned to call Jacob and give him instructions when he arrived at the drugstore.

Howard says it's an interesting theory, but that's not enough praise for Richard.

So he suggests that they go looking for the exact drugstore the kidnappers wanted Jacob to go to.

He'll bet they can find it.

Howard hesitates a moment, but when two of his frat brothers and fellow cub reporters walk in and hear about the plan, he gets on board.

He doesn't want to be scooped if Richard's right.

So instead of going out to lunch, Richard rides up and down 63rd Street in a car full of journalists, pretending to search for the right drugstore.

Eventually, he directs them to the place Jacob was supposed to go.

He follows his friends inside and asks the clerk if anyone called asking for a Mr.

Franks in the last 24 hours.

When the clerk says that a call like that did come in yesterday afternoon, the three reporters rush forward to ask more questions.

They can't wait to call this into their editors.

Since he's in a talkative mood, the reporters ask Dickie some more questions, including about little Bobby Franks.

They want some color for their stories, and they know he lived opposite the Loebs.

Richard snorts when he's asked to describe Bobby.

He looks his friends dead in the eye and says, if I were going to murder anybody, I would murder just such a cocky little son of a bitch as Bobby Franks.

I suppose it's not surprising the drive was pretty quiet back to school.

Richard's feeling very pleased with himself for the rest of the day, but the more Nathan reads about the case, the more worry creeps in.

He starts to realize just how many things didn't go to plan.

According to the news reports, the acid they poured on Bobby's face didn't burn his skin at all, just discolored it.

And his body was found almost immediately.

Their plan to get ransom money fizzled out.

The ransom letter is being analyzed by experts looking for clues.

Then there's the glasses.

His glasses.

He realized that they must have fallen from his jacket pocket when he took it off to climb into the water with Bobby's body.

Now they've been written about in the press too.

As he goes over it all, he starts to second guess everything.

What if they haven't covered their tracks as well as they thought?

Later that night, well after midnight, Richard drops by the Leopold house.

The guys are planning to get rid of the last of the evidence.

The bloody blanket, Bobby's belt buckle, his shoes, and Nathan's typewriter.

The portable underwood he used to type up the ransom letter.

Investigators are already looking at the note pretty closely, and he doesn't want to risk leaving anything that could tie it to him.

So, under cover of darkness, they take Nathan's car out and drive away from Kenwood.

At Lincoln Park, they pull over beside North Pond.

There, Dickie uses pliers to wrench the keys from the typewriter.

He drops them into the water before they drive to the harbor so he can ditch the rest of the machine.

The blanket they take to a small wooded area and set it alight, watching the remaining evidence literally go up in flames.

Before they head home, they throw away Bobby's shoes, belt buckle, and class pin, figuring there's no way those can ever be used against them, even if they're found.

While they drive around town, the guys come up with an alibi for the day of the murder.

They decide that if they're questioned by the police, they'll say they were together all afternoon, that they picked up some girls for a good time, then went home late.

Simple, but detailed enough that it sounds believable.

With that taken care of, Nathan feels like he can relax again.

All the cops have now is the ransom letter and a pair of glasses, and what good will either of those do?

As Nathan and Richard ease back into their everyday lives, the investigation into Bobby's murder is humming along.

Several teachers from the Harvard School for Boys are named as chief suspects.

Despite a complete lack of evidence against them, they're picked up and held for days.

They're possibly even subjected to torture in an attempt to elicit confessions.

But when that weak lead fizzles out, the police turn back to the best physical evidence they've got on hand, the glasses.

This is what brings them to Nathan Leopold.

Not because they know the glasses are his, but because they've heard he leads birdwatching classes in the area around Wolf Lake.

So they figure they'll ask him in case he's seen anything.

On Sunday, May 25th, just four days after the murder, detectives pay a visit to the Leopold house.

They're dressed in street clothes when they arrive.

There are still plenty of reporters in the neighborhood and the authorities don't want to embarrass a wealthy family like the Leopolds by associating them with the case.

They escort Nathan to a nearby precinct and ask him about his bird watching and if he knows of any other ornithologists or hunters who were at the lake often.

They're especially interested to know if any of them wear glasses.

He explains that he himself doesn't, and that's basically true.

He picked up the spectacles about six months ago to help with headaches, but stopped using them a couple of months later.

He doesn't give all those details to the cops, though, and doesn't want to risk it.

To the detectives, Nathan seems supremely unbothered.

He answers all the questions calmly, then writes out a statement and is on his way, believing he's covered his tracks nicely.

But behind the scenes, investigators are working to find the owner of the tortoiseshell glasses in other ways.

The lenses are a common prescription, so they won't have any luck finding their owner that way.

But a small diamond etched onto the lenses marks them as a product of Almer Co and company, who agree to take a closer look.

Turns out, the frames are made using a specific brand of hinges.

And of the more than 50,000 pairs of glasses Almer Co has sold, they've only sold three like this.

One to a respected local attorney, the second to a woman, and the final pair was bought by Nathan Leopold Jr.

By this stage, state's attorney Robert Crowe is heading up the investigation, and he seizes on this information.

Why would Nathan lie about wearing glasses unless he had something to hide?

While all this is going on, Nathan's been studying.

He's hoping to transfer to Harvard Law School in Boston for the next school year, and on May 28th, one week after the murder, he's taking his entrance exam.

As he's leaving campus that day, he stops to speak with one of his law professors.

Nathan asks point blank whether Bobby Frank's killers will face the death penalty if they're caught.

What if, he says, the murder was an accident?

What does Illinois law say about that?

And if the ransom was the real crime they wanted to commit?

Or what if the crime they intended wasn't a felony, like murder or kidnapping, but was a misdemeanor instead?

What if they said they only wanted to rape the boy?

What then?

Nathan doesn't like any of the answers he hears.

All of these scenarios, whatever the culprits intended, would mean the killer's gonna face the death penalty.

Nathan thanks his professor for his opinion and heads home.

Determined not to give the murder another thought.

But the next afternoon, there's a knock at the front door of the Leopold mansion.

It's three police officers, and they'd like Nathan to come with them.

The state's attorney has some questions for him about his glasses.

From Airship, this is episode three in our series on Leopold and Loeb.

On the next episode, Nathan and Richard's perfect crime unravels before them, and the city of Chicago demands bloody justice.

We use many different sources while preparing this episode.

A few we can recommend are the Leopold and Loeb Files by Nina Barrett and The Crime of the Century by Hal Higdon.

This episode may contain reenactments or dramatized details.

And while in some cases we can't know exactly what happened, all our dramatizations are based on historical research.

American Criminal is hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Jeremy Schwartz.

Audio Editing by Mohammed Shazi.

Sound Design by Matthew Filler.

Music by Thrum.

This episode is written and researched by Joel Callan.

Managing Producer Emily Burke.

Executive Producers are Joel Callan, William Simpson, and Lindsey Graham.