Editing Leopold and Loeb (section)

=== Confession ===
Loeb was the first to confess.<ref name="AmExper" /> He asserted that Leopold had planned everything and had killed Franks in the backseat of the car while he (Loeb) drove. Leopold's confession followed swiftly thereafter.<ref>''[[Chicago Daily News]]'', September 10, 1924, p. 3.</ref> He insisted that he was the driver and Loeb the murderer. Their confessions otherwise corroborated most of the evidence in the case.<ref name="leopold-statement" /><ref name="loeb-statement" /> Both confessions were announced by the [[state's attorney]] on May 31.<ref>{{cite news |title=Two Rich Mens' Sons Confess to Franks Murder |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ceRPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2lQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6273%2C3287490 |access-date=December 26, 2021 |work=[[The Evening Independent]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=May 31, 1924 |location=St. Petersburg, Fla. |archive-date=December 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211227040016/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ceRPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2lQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6273,3287490 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Leopold later claimed, long after Loeb was dead, that he pleaded in vain with Loeb to admit to killing Franks. "Mompsie feels less terrible than she might, thinking you did it," he quotes Loeb as saying, "and I'm not going to take that shred of comfort away from her."<ref>Leopold, N. ''Life Plus 99 Years''. Doubleday (1958), p. 66. {{ISBN|1131524608}}</ref> Most observers believed that Loeb did strike the fatal blows.<ref name="Noe">{{cite web |author=Noe |first=Denise |date=February 29, 2004 |title=Leopold and Loeb's Perfect Crime |url=http://crimemagazine.com/leopold-and-loebs-perfect-crime-0 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428194636/http://crimemagazine.com/leopold-and-loebs-perfect-crime-0 |archive-date=April 28, 2018 |access-date=February 3, 2013 |work=Crime Magazine}}</ref> Some circumstantial evidence, including testimony from eyewitness Carl Ulvigh, who claimed that he saw Loeb driving and Leopold in the back seat minutes before the kidnapping, suggested that Leopold could have been the killer.<ref>''Leopold, Loeb & The Crime of the Century'', by Hal Higdon, p. 319</ref>

Both Leopold and Loeb admitted that they were driven by their thrill-seeking, ''Übermenschen'' (supermen) delusions, and their aspiration to commit a "[[perfect crime]]".<ref name="Linder" /> Neither claimed to have looked forward to the killing, but Leopold admitted interest in learning what it would feel like to be a murderer. He was disappointed to note that he felt the same as ever.<ref>{{cite book|title=Joint Report of All Psychiatrists|year=1924|location=Northwestern University Archives|pages=16}}</ref>