At five years old, Warren was the youngest of the four children of Earl and Helen Snyder. Sister, Joan, 16, and brothers, both members of Fulton’s Boy Scout troop, Gregg, 14, and Clif, 12, were all old enough to be in school on November 3, 1941. Not unlike most young children, Warren had some boundaries, but he was allowed to go to the corner of his own block at lunchtime to visit with the student-crossing guard.
When lunchtime was over, the crossing-guard went back into school. A local businessman driving by the corner, noticed a tall young man casually talking with Warren, but didn’t think much about it—after all, Fulton is a town where people tend to know each other, and are wont to stop and chat.
Warren Paul Snyder was a congenial boy with a captivating smile, well-known and well-loved in the small river community of Fulton, Illinois, in which his family had deep roots that dated back nearly one-hundred years.
(unsourced Fulton paper Nov 4, 1941)
IOWA EX-CONVICT ADMITS KILLING BOY WITH RAZOR
An ex-convict, Leo Jordan, 23, of Fulton, who had spent all but eight years of his life in Iowa correctional institutions, confessed that he slashed the boy’s throat with a razor blade yesterday afternoon. He said he had made an improper suggestion to the child and killed him in the fear that he would tell.
Jordan, who was released from Anamosa, Ia., reformatory last Aug. 11, maintained vigorously during several hours of questioning that he had nothing to do with the crime, although he and the boy had been seen together.
Then police confronted him with a broken piece of pencil found beside the child’s body. Quickly they searched the ex-convict and found in his pocket a short length of pencil, also broken. Jordan paled and trembled as they put the broken ends together and found that they fitted exactly. Then he admitted the killing.
Jordan said he was standing at a street corner about 1 p.m. yesterday, waiting to ride to his work in Clinton, Ia., across the Mississippi river from here, when he noticed the Snyder boy playing nearby. He talked to him and finally induced him to walk to a wooded lot where he cut his throat and left him to die.
When word was circulated that the boy was missing, hundreds of townsmen joined county officers and Boy Scouts in a prolonged search. A Boy Scout found the body.
Following the confession, feeling ran so high against Jordan that Sheriff Roy Crook removed him to an undisclosed place for safekeeping.
Only two weeks ago Jordan was arrested on a rape charge involving a young girl, but was exonerated. His long police record began with his entrance to the state juvenile home at Toledo, Ia., in 1926, as an incorrigible. Two years later he was transferred to the Boys’ Training school at Eldora, Ia., where he remained 10 years, during which time he escaped and was recaptured several times. Within six months of his release from Eldora, he was committed to the state reformatory at Alamosa, Ia., on a five year sentence for attempt to break and enter. He was released on August 11 of this year on a good behavior credit.
(Edwardsville Intelligencer Nov 8, 1941)
Morrison, Ill., Nov 8—Leo Jordan, 23, a surly ex-convict, faced a five count murder indictment today for the confessed razor blade slaying of five year-old Warren Snyder of Fulton Monday. The Whiteside county grand jury, recalled in special session, deliberated less than two hours before returning the indictment yesterday. Judge A. J. Scheineman ordered the prisoner held without bail at the Oregon, Ill., jail where he had been moved as a precautionary measure against possible violence.
(Edwardsville Intelligencer Jan 17, 1942 )
Man Sentenced to Die
Morrison, Ill., Jan 17—Leo Jordan, 23, Fulton, confessed slayer of five year-old Warren Snyder last November 23, today was sentenced to die in the electric chair on March 14th in the Joliet State Prison. Sentence was passed by Judge J. A. Scheineman, before whom Jordan pleaded guilty last week. The convicted man was taken immediately to Joliet.
(unsourced paper May 13,1942)
Joliet, Ill., May 13—(UP)—Leo Jordan, 23, who spent 15 years in correctional institutions, died in the electric chair at Joliet penitentiary early today for the murder of five-year-old Warren Snyder of Fulton.
