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🎙️ Mugshot Mysteries: Episode 6 — Ruth Snyder: The Tabloid Murderess

January 1928: New Yorkers awoke to a front page screaming DEAD! Beneath it was a blurred photo of a woman in the electric chair, captured at the moment of death. That woman was Ruth Snyder, a Queens housewife whose affair and insurance plot spiraled into one of the Jazz Age’s most infamous crimes.

In this episode, we trace Ruth’s path from Queens to Sing Sing: her affair with corset salesman Henry Judd Gray, the forged double indemnity policy, the staged burglary, and the tabloid circus that made her the most notorious woman in America.

Her story inspired Double Indemnity and Machinal, reshaping how America saw crime, gender, and punishment. And that execution photo? It sparked a media ethics debate still alive today.

📰 Sources

• Wikipedia — Snyder’s life, crime, trial, and execution.
  👉 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Snyder
• Smithsonian Magazine — The ankle camera and the Daily News “DEAD!” cover.
  👉 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-a-new-york-tabloid-captured-the-first-photograph-of-an-execution-by-the-electric-chair-180981432/
• Metropolitan Museum of Art — Tom Howard’s execution photo as a cultural landmark.
  👉 https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/289035
• Tom Howard (Wikipedia) — Photographer and the iconic image.
  👉 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Howard_(photographer)
• Murder-Mayhem.com — The real case behind Double Indemnity.
  👉 https://murder-mayhem.com/double-indemnity-the-real-life-murder-that-inspired-a-crime-noir-classic
• OldSpirituals.com — The $48,000 policy and violent death clause.
  👉 https://oldspirituals.com/2019/01/28/snyder-gray-1/
• PleaseKillMe.com — Tabloid nicknames: “Ruthless Ruth,” “Viking Ice Matron,” “synthetic blonde murderess.”
  👉 https://pleasekillme.com/1927-ruth-snyder-judd-gray/
• Time.com — Media ethics and outrage over the photo.
  👉 https://time.com/3808808/first-photo-electric-chair-execution/
• New York Times Archive — Trial coverage and testimony (subscription may apply).

🧠 Themes

• Femme Fatale: From housewife to “ice woman.”
• Insurance Murder: The lure of double indemnity.
• Tabloid Frenzy: A trial turned carnival.
• Death as Spectacle: Journalism or voyeurism?
• Gender & Violence: Motherhood vs. murderess.

😷 PS: Forgive the scratchy voice—I recorded this while sick. Call it my “Jazz Age rasp.”

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Thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time with another face… and another mystery.