Ruth Snyder

Ruth Snyder was a woman convicted of murdering her husband, Albert Snyder, in a highly publicized case in the 1920s, which drew comparisons to the crimes of H.H. Holmes and Belle Gunness. Her trial was widely covered by the New York Daily News and other New York City newspapers, including the New York Times and the New York Herald. The case was also followed by Fulton Oursler, a journalist who wrote for the New York Mirror, and Damon Runyon, a reporter for the New York American. Snyder's story was often mentioned alongside those of other infamous women, such as Evelyn Nesbit and Madeleine Talmage Astor.

● Early Life

Ruth Snyder was born on March 27, 1895, in New York City to a family of modest means, similar to those of Emma Goldman and Rose Pastor Stokes. She grew up in a neighborhood near Times Square and attended P.S. 35, a public school in Manhattan. As a young woman, Snyder worked as a telephone operator for the New York Telephone Company, where she met her future husband, Albert Snyder, who was a life insurance salesman for the Prudential Life Insurance Company of America. The couple married in 1915 and had a daughter, Lorraine Snyder, in 1918, and later moved to a home in Queens Village, Queens, near the Jamaica, Queens neighborhood where Jackie Robinson would later live.

● Crime and Trial

In 1927, Snyder and her lover, Judd Gray, a corset salesman from Syracuse, New York, conspired to murder her husband, Albert Snyder, for the life insurance money, in a crime that drew comparisons to the Hall-Mills murder case and the Villisca axe murder case. The pair used a sash weight to bludgeon Snyder to death in their home in Queens Village, Queens, and then attempted to make the crime look like a burglary gone wrong, similar to the Leopold and Loeb case. However, their plan was soon discovered by the New York City Police Department, and they were both arrested and charged with murder. The trial was highly publicized, with coverage by the New York Daily News, the New York Times, and the New York Herald, as well as by journalists such as Dorothy Kilgallen and Walter Winchell. Snyder's defense team, which included attorney Samuel Leibowitz, argued that she was not responsible for the crime due to temporary insanity, but the prosecution, led by District Attorney Charles S. Whitman, presented evidence that she had planned and carried out the murder, similar to the case of Lizzie Borden.

● Execution and Aftermath

On January 12, 1928, Snyder was executed by electric chair at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York, along with her co-conspirator, Judd Gray, in an event that was witnessed by reporters from the New York Daily News and other newspapers, including the New York Times and the New York Herald. The execution was also attended by Warden Lewis E. Lawes and Governor Al Smith of New York. Snyder's execution was widely covered in the press, with many newspapers, including the New York Daily News and the New York Times, publishing front-page stories about the event, which was also reported on by radio stations such as WEAF and WJZ. The case was also the subject of a book by Fulton Oursler, which was later adapted into a film starring Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy.

● Personal Life

Ruth Snyder was married to Albert Snyder from 1915 until his murder in 1927, and the couple had a daughter, Lorraine Snyder, who was born in 1918, and was later raised by her aunt and uncle in Queens Village, Queens. Snyder's personal life was marked by infidelity and deception, as she carried on an affair with Judd Gray while still married to her husband, similar to the cases of Evelyn Nesbit and Nan Patterson. Her relationship with Gray was intense and passionate, but also marked by jealousy and possessiveness, which ultimately led to the murder of her husband, in a crime that drew comparisons to the murder of Julia Wallace and the case of the Lonely Hearts Killers.

● In Popular Culture

The case of Ruth Snyder has been the subject of numerous books, films, and plays, including a novel by Fulton Oursler and a film starring Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy. The case has also been referenced in popular culture, including in the works of Damon Runyon and Walter Winchell, and has been the subject of numerous documentaries and true crime podcasts, including those hosted by Sarah Kendzior and Nicholas Kristof. The case continues to fascinate the public, with many regarding it as one of the most infamous murder cases of the 20th century, alongside the cases of Leopold and Loeb and Belle Gunness. The story of Ruth Snyder has also been compared to those of other infamous women, such as Lizzie Borden and Aileen Wuornos, and continues to be a subject of interest for true crime enthusiasts and historians of crime and punishment.