Ruth Snyder was executed in the electric chair on January 12, 1928, at at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York (home of Don and Betty Draper). Ruth had killed her husband for the love of another man, corset salesman Judd Gray. Gray helped commit Ruth's husband, Albert, to the grave, and followed Ruth to the chair.
Albert was no saint, mind you. He had passionately loved a young woman named Jesse Guishard. Unfortunately, Jesse died of pneumonia before they could marry. Even after marrying Ruth, Albert kept a photo of Jesse on the wall and named his boat after her. Ruth eventually took up with Gray and plotted with him to get rid of Albert. She convinced Albert to sign a life insurance policy with a double indemnity clause. They attempted to make the crime look like a break-in and accidental murder, but Ruth's state of undress while her husband lay dead in the next room tipped police that something was amiss. That and finding items that she claimed had been stolen.
At her execution, Tom Howard, a newspaper photographer working New York Daily News, snapped a photo of her last moments using a miniature camera hidden beneath his pants leg. It was plastered all over the front page the next morning.
READ MORE: The Crime Library
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ON FILM: Double Indemnity (inspired by)
IN PRINT: The Undressed Widow and Invitation to Death (inspired by)
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