Ruth Snyder, 1928

In 1925, Ruth Snyder was an ordinary married housewife from Queens who started an affair with Henry Judd Gray. The two lovers began planning the murder of her husband. Snyder first convinced her husband to buy insurance, and, with the help of an insurance agent, the unsuspecting husband signed a $48K-life insurance with a double indemnity if an unexpected act of violence would kill the victim. On March 12, 1927, the couple killed Ruth’s husband and made it look like a burglary scene. However, the authorities weren’t convinced and the couple was found guilty of first-degree murder. The gruesome execution was captured by professional photographer Tom Howard the moment when electricity was running through her body.