The Leopold-Loeb Case
CJ210: Criminal Investigation
Purdue Global University
, In the Leopold–Loeb case, one of the most notorious murders of the first half of the 20th century,
14-year-old Bobby Franks was murdered. The accused, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, were two
upper-class college students who thought they could get away with the perfect offence. I am going to
cover the who, what, where, when, why, and how of the murder, the investigation and the motivation
of the crime in this paper.
Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How
Two brilliant but mentally unstable teenagers named Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb
had mutilated them. Leopold was a graduate student at the University of Chicago, Loeb had
already completed his master’s and was finishing his. The victim was Bobby Franks, 14, and the
son of an affluent Chicago family. The act happened on 21 May 1924 when the two accused
abducted Bobby
Franks by locking him in their car. They took him out to a back corner in a valley and killed him. The initial
purpose for the murder was to carry out what the defendants called a "perfect crime," an act of
intellectual virtuosity. They planned the killing out very carefully and figured they would get away with it
because they had planned it carefully. The actual killing took place by chisel, and they knocked Bobby
Franks in the head. After the murder, they dumped his corpse in a culvert, and the corpse was found
afterwards. The accused thought they might not be caught, but the detectives eventually put together key
pieces of evidence that led to their conviction.
How Was Bobby Franks Killed and With What Type of Weapon?
Bobby Franks was murdered by blunt force head trauma with a chisel. The gun left obvious
traces of wound on his skull, the tool being the weapon. The fact that the injury was quite severe and
localized meant that the hit was intentional and meant to kill right away. Because the chisel was a
hard and solid object, it caused a lot of damage to the victim’s skull, one of the key features of blunt
force trauma injuries (Morse, 2002).
Primary Characteristics of the Wound
CJ210: Criminal Investigation
Purdue Global University
, In the Leopold–Loeb case, one of the most notorious murders of the first half of the 20th century,
14-year-old Bobby Franks was murdered. The accused, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, were two
upper-class college students who thought they could get away with the perfect offence. I am going to
cover the who, what, where, when, why, and how of the murder, the investigation and the motivation
of the crime in this paper.
Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How
Two brilliant but mentally unstable teenagers named Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb
had mutilated them. Leopold was a graduate student at the University of Chicago, Loeb had
already completed his master’s and was finishing his. The victim was Bobby Franks, 14, and the
son of an affluent Chicago family. The act happened on 21 May 1924 when the two accused
abducted Bobby
Franks by locking him in their car. They took him out to a back corner in a valley and killed him. The initial
purpose for the murder was to carry out what the defendants called a "perfect crime," an act of
intellectual virtuosity. They planned the killing out very carefully and figured they would get away with it
because they had planned it carefully. The actual killing took place by chisel, and they knocked Bobby
Franks in the head. After the murder, they dumped his corpse in a culvert, and the corpse was found
afterwards. The accused thought they might not be caught, but the detectives eventually put together key
pieces of evidence that led to their conviction.
How Was Bobby Franks Killed and With What Type of Weapon?
Bobby Franks was murdered by blunt force head trauma with a chisel. The gun left obvious
traces of wound on his skull, the tool being the weapon. The fact that the injury was quite severe and
localized meant that the hit was intentional and meant to kill right away. Because the chisel was a
hard and solid object, it caused a lot of damage to the victim’s skull, one of the key features of blunt
force trauma injuries (Morse, 2002).
Primary Characteristics of the Wound
