1906
1971
AKA: Babe, Morton D. Ballard
Richard Loeb
1907
1936
AKA: Dickie, Louis Mason
Murderers
In the 1920s two wealthy, gifted University of Chicago students kidnapped and murdered fourteen-year-old Bobby Franks. They were convinced they could commit the “perfect crime.” Their notorious case became the first to be called the “crime of the century.”
Leopold and Loeb shared similar backgrounds. Both Chicago natives, they were highly educated, intelligent—and spoiled by wealth and privilege. The son of a successful South Side manufacturer, Nathan “Babe” Leopold received an extravagant allowance from his indulgent parents, who allowed him a great deal of freedom. After his mother, Florence, died, he threw himself into his studies. With an IQ (intelligence quotient) estimated at 200 or above (well above what is considered to be genius), he was a brilliant student. He graduated from the University of Chicago when he was just eighteen years old. At the time he was fluent in nine languages and had become an expert in botany (the study of plants) and ornithology (the study of birds). A shy and bookish young man, Leopold had physical defects including malformed adrenal, pineal, thymus, and thyroid glands.
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