Leopold and Loeb Trial - The Clarence Darrow Collection

est of the clothes off, they compounded their crime by desecrating the boy’s body. They
poured hydrochloric acid on Bobby Franks’ face, a surgery scar on his abdomen and his
genitals in an attempt to prevent identification. 17 Leopold took off his own coat and shoes
and put on a pair of rubber boots so he could wade into the water. They placed Bobby
Frank’s body into the culvert, although Leopold had to struggle as the culvert was smaller
than he thought. Eventually they got the body placed into the culvert and out of sight - or
at least they thought so. When they had finished, Leopold asked Loeb to grab his coat.
When Loeb picked up Leopold’s coat or when he was carrying it, a pair of eyeglasses fell
out of a pocket about ten to twelve feet from the culvert. Neither realized the eyeglasses
had fallen to the ground.
Bobby Fails to Return Home
When Bobby failed to return home around 6:30 p.m., his parents Jacob and Flora Franks
began to worry. Bobby, the youngest of the family, had a seventeen year old sister and a
fifteen year old brother. But the family assured themselves that everything was alright.
Jacob Loeb checked the neighboring Loeb estate because Bobby often played tennis on
their court with Richard Loeb. Phone calls were made to several of Bobby’s friends but
none of them had any answers. They ate dinner and continued to worry. Later in the
evening, with no sign of Bobby, Jacob contacted friend and prominent attorney Samuel
Ettelson. The two searched the Harvard school grounds.
Ransom Plan
Leopold and Loeb stopped at a drugstore around 9:30 p.m. and, using a phone book,
looked up the phone number and street address for the Franks’ home. They wrote the
street address on the envelope containing the pre-written ransom letter. They placed the
ransom letter in a mailbox with enough postage to ensure delivery the next morning.
They drove to Loeb’s home and removed Bobby Frank’s clothing which they burned in
the furnace. The robe was large and soaked in blood and they were afraid it would smoke
too much, so they did not attempt to burn it but instead hid it in the backyard.
“Mr. Johnson”
The pair of killers then drove to Leopold’s house and parked the rental car down the
street. They got Leopold’s own car and drove to another drugstore. It was now about
10:30 p.m. Adding to the cruelty of their crime, Leopold used the phone at the drugstore
to call the Franks home. When Mrs. Franks answered, Leopold told her his name was
“Mr. Johnson” and said, “Your son has been kidnapped. He is all right. There will be
further news in the morning.” She fainted at the news and was still being revived by the
maid when Jacob Franks and Samuel Ettelson returned from their unsuccessful search.
Franks and Ettelson hesitated about contacting the police because they feared that might
provoke the kidnapper into harming Bobby. But eventually they decided they should
17 At least one account says Leopold had been told by someone that a person could be identified by their
genitals. Other accounts state that this was done to prevent Franks from being identified as Jewish because
it would obscure evidence of circumcision.
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