e reports to the police. Eventually the boys had more serious intentions. Leopold and Loeb began planning their “perfect crime” in 1923, nearly a year before the kidnapping and homicide of Bobby Franks. “It was to be the perfect crime . . .The victim would have to come from a family wealthy enough to pay a sizable ransom without flinching. They [Leopold and Loeb] were not even averse to considering the kidnapping and murder of one of their own fathers, but rejected the idea for the practical reason that they would be under too close a scrutiny. For the same reason, they rejected making Loeb’s younger brother the victim”(Grant 173). After trying to contemplate a worthy victim for many hours, the boys decided that they would just randomly choose someone who happened to be in the wrong place at the right time. Driving along the street in a rented car (even though they each had a car of their own), Leopold (in the drivers seat) and Loeb (in the back seat) spotted Bobby Franks, a distant cousin of Loeb, walking home from school. The two boys pulled over beside Bobby and asked him if he wanted a ride home. “Bobby willingly got into the back seat of the car with Richard. Loeb suddenly pushed him onto the floor and with a terrific force brought a chisel down on his head. Blood spurted all over the back seat. Three more times Loeb smashed the chisel into the boy’s head, until there was no doubt he was dead”(Aymar 359). The boys drove the body to Hammond, Indiana with the wrapped body in the back seat. At a deserted spot along the Pennsylvania railroad tracks, Leopold and Loeb poured hydrochloric acid over Bobby’s face, penis, and a scar to make identification difficult. Next, they stuffed the body into a waterlogged culvert and fled home to Chicago. Before the murder, Leopold and Loeb had prepared the ransom note in advance. In the note (which was later sent to the Franks...
