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History Daily

The Murder of Bobby Franks - Original

History Daily

Airship | Noiser | Wondery

History

4.42.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2024

⏱️ 21 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

May 21, 1924: In an effort to commit what they consider to be the “perfect crime,” Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks.


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Transcript

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0:00.0

There are more ways than ever to listen to History Daily ad-free.

0:04.1

Listen with Wondry Plus in the Wondry app.

0:06.0

As a member of NoisorPlus at noisor.com or in Apple Podcasts,

0:10.6

or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at IntoHistory.com. It's May 21st, 1924, in Kenwood, a neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.

0:31.6

Commuters dream past 14-year-old Bobby Franks as he walks home from school.

0:36.2

After a long day in the classroom, Bobby

0:38.3

daydreams about the supper he hopes his mom will have ready for him. But Bobby is so lost in his

0:43.7

thoughts that he doesn't hear a car slow down alongside him. It isn't until a voice from inside

0:49.5

the vehicle calls out that Bobby stops, turns, and squints against the low sun. It takes him a moment to recognize

0:56.4

the passenger in the back of the car. It's his 18-year-old cousin, Richard Lowe. The driver, though,

1:02.3

is a young man Bobby doesn't recognize. Richard reaches forward and opens the passenger door,

1:08.0

telling Bobby to jump in, that they'll give him a ride home. Bobby shakes

1:11.7

his head and says, no, his house is practically around the corner. A ride hardly seems worth it.

1:17.0

Bobby starts to walk again, but Richard calls him back, repeating his offer of a ride, and says

1:21.9

he wants to ask Bobby about his new tennis racket. Bobby takes one last look up the street.

1:27.1

His cousin seems so insistent,

1:29.3

so Bobby shrugs and gets into the car. But as soon as the car pulls away from the curb,

1:35.6

Richard clamps his hand over Bobby's mouth. Bobby struggles, but Richard has a strong grip.

1:41.1

As Bobby panics, he notices the car turns south, away from his house, away from

1:45.9

the home that he'll now never return to. Within moments of his abduction, Bobby Franks will be dead.

1:56.0

The brutal murder case will hit the headlines and shock the entire nation, and not just because one of the

2:01.3

killers will be identified as Bobby's relative. The two murderers will also turn on each other,

...

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