May Ruth Brown was born on March 27, 1895, in Manhattan, New York City, to a Norwegian father and a Swedish mother. She attended business school and worked various jobs, including as a switchboard operator and stenographer. In 1915, she married Albert Snyder, an art editor for Motor Boating magazine. The couple had a daughter, Lorraine, in 1918. Their marriage was strained; Albert was emotionally distant and continued to mourn his deceased fiancée, Jessie Guishard, often comparing Ruth unfavorably to her. This led to frequent arguments and a growing sense of dissatisfaction in Ruth's domestic life. ​

In 1925, Ruth began an affair with Henry Judd Gray, a married corset salesman. Together, they plotted to murder Albert Snyder to collect on a life insurance policy Ruth had secretly taken out on her husband, which included a double indemnity clause. After several failed attempts, on March 20, 1927, Ruth and Gray executed their plan. They attacked Albert while he slept, strangling him with picture wire, stuffing chloroform-soaked rags into his nose, and bludgeoning him with a sash weight. They then staged the scene to appear as a burglary.

However, inconsistencies in Ruth's account and evidence found at the crime scene led police to suspect her involvement. She eventually confessed and implicated Gray, who also confessed. Both were tried and convicted of first-degree murder in a highly publicized trial. The media sensationalized the case, dubbing it the "Dumbbell Murder" and portraying Ruth as a femme fatale.

On January 12, 1928, Ruth Snyder was executed in the electric chair at Sing Sing Prison, becoming the first woman executed there since 1899. A journalist from the Chicago Tribune, Tom Howard, secretly photographed the execution using a hidden camera strapped to his ankle. The image was published on the front page of the New York Daily News, causing a national sensation and raising ethical questions about media coverage of capital punishment. ​