The Murder and Trial
Once they got Bobby in the car they drove to a park near the Frank residence and gagged him while smashing his skull 4 times with a chisel, and he eventually died from suffocation. After the killing they drove to lunch with the body still in the car. After lunch they drove to a culvert, or a tunnel carrying water, and held his head underwater to make sure he was dead. Then they poured acid on his face and genitals so the body would be difficult to identify and they stuffed his body in a drainpipe. The body was discovered early the next morning because they left Frank's feet sticking out of the drainpipe. Here is a picture of detectives investigation the crime scene where Frank's body was discovered.
After getting rid of the body they spent the rest of the day and Leopold's house drinking and playing cards. Around midnight they telephoned the Frank residence and told them they could soon expect a ransom demand for the return of their son. They then typed and mailed a letter on a stolen typewriter from Leopold's fraternity. The ransom could not be delivered to the killers, however, because by the time the letter arrived to the Frank household the body had been discovered and the two were quickly caught.
The murder was easily traced back to the two because of the stolen typewriter, and because Leopold dropped his glasses near where the body was hidden, and because of a special frame on the glasses they were also traced back to him. Within 10 days of the murder both men confessed, with Loeb breaking first and Leopold telling soon afterwards. Clarence Darrow was their defense attorney, hired by the wealth of the two families to win the best possible verdict, which for them was life in prison. During the trials the men would clown-around, and frequent pictures were taken of them smiling and laughing. Because of this the public became more hostile towards the "poor little rich boys". They received life in prison for the murder, and another 99 years for the kidnapping.