In 1927, Ruth Snyder and Judd Gray were accused of murdering Ruth’s husband, Albert, after months of planning, an affair and a life insurance scheme. Their trial became a tabloid spectacle, but it was the forbidden photograph taken during Ruth’s execution that would define how the case was remembered.

A huge thank you to everyone supporting Historical True Crime on Patreon. Your support helps me continue researching and producing the show. You can find bonus episodes and support the podcast at patreon.com/historicaltruecrime.Source Materials

Landis MacKellar, The “Double Indemnity” Murder: Ruth Snyder, Judd Gray, and New York’s Crime of the Century

Stevie Simkin, Cultural Constructions of the Femme Fatale: From Pandora’s Box to Basic Instinct

People v. Snyder, New York Court of Appeals decision, November 22, 1927

The New York Times, “Mrs. Snyder and Gray Die in Chair,” January 13, 1928

The Washington Times, contemporary coverage of the investigation, trial, appeals, clemency requests and executions

Smithsonian Magazine, “The First and Last Time a Photographer Was Allowed in the Electric Chair”

TIME magazine archive coverage of the Snyder–Gray case

History.com, coverage of Ruth Snyder’s execution and the hidden-camera photograph

JSTOR Daily, historical analysis of Ruth Snyder, the tabloid press and the execution photograph

Contemporary reporting from the New York Daily News, including the January 13, 1928 front page featuring Tom Howard’s photograph

James M. Cain, Double Indemnity, for the case’s later influence on crime fiction and popular culture

In 1935, a tiger shark on display at Sydney’s Coogee Aquarium regurgitated a human arm. The victim was identified as missing man Jim Smith, but the discovery only opened a far more complicated investigation involving insurance fraud, harbour smuggling, conflicting statements, a second murder and several suspects who were ultimately acquitted. Nearly a century later, both deaths remain unsolved.

Support Historical True Crime on Patreon at patreon.com/historicaltruecrime. Members get access to bonus episodes and additional historical cases not released on the main feed.Source Materials

Phillip Roope and Kevin Meagher, Shark Arm: A Shark, a Tattooed Arm and Two Unsolved Murders

Alan J. Whiticker, Twelve Crimes That Shocked the Nation

Alex Castles, The Shark Arm Murders

Dictionary of Sydney, “Shark Arm Murder 1935”

ABC Radio National, “The Shark Arm Case,” featuring Alex Castles

Contemporary Australian newspaper coverage of the discovery of the arm, the investigation, the inquest, Patrick Brady’s trial and the murder of Reginald Holmes

New South Wales police records, witness statements and court material as reproduced and discussed in the works above

A conspiracy inside the royal household ended with the murder of Pharaoh Ramesses III. This episode follows the struggle over Egypt’s throne, the trials that followed, and the modern forensic evidence that revealed how the king died more than three thousand years later.

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Join at patreon.com/historicaltruecrime

Source Materials

A. de Buck, “The Judicial Papyrus of Turin,” The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 23, No. 2, 1937, pp. 152–164.

Susan Redford, The Harem Conspiracy: The Murder of Ramesses III, Northern Illinois University Press, 2002.

Eric H. Cline and David O’Connor, editors, Ramesses III: The Life and Times of Egypt’s Last Hero, University of Michigan Press, 2012.

Zahi Hawass, Somaia Ismail, Ashraf Selim, Sahar N. Saleem, Dina Fathalla, Sally Wasef, Ahmed Z. Gad, Rama Saad, Suzan Fares, Hany Amer, Paul Gostner, Yehia Z. Gad, Carsten M. Pusch and Albert R. Zink, “Revisiting the Harem Conspiracy and Death of Ramesses III: Anthropological, Forensic, Radiological, and Genetic Study,” British Medical Journal, Vol. 345, 2012.

Alexandre Loktionov, “Convicting ‘Great Criminals’: A New Look at Punishment in the Turin Judicial Papyrus.”

Hans Goedicke, “Was Magic Used in the Harem Conspiracy Against Ramesses III? (P. Rollin and P. Lee),” The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 49, 1963, pp. 71–92.

Mark Collier, Aidan Dodson and Gottfried Hamernik, “P. BM EA 10052, Anthony Harris, and Queen Tyti,” The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 96, 2010, pp. 242–247.

Erin Blakemore, “Who Killed Ramesses III? How Science Solved an Ancient Egyptian Murder Mystery,” National Geographic, August 2, 2024.