In her final report in 2013, McGath said she believed there was enough circumstantial evidence to tie Hickock and Smith to the Walker murders. The 1959 murder of Herbert Clutter and his wife and kids in Holcomb, Kansas by Perry Smith and Richard Hickock was, by itself, rather unextraordinary. Perry Smith and Dick Hickock are notorious as the perpetrators of one of the most grisly mass murders of the 20th century: the slaying of four members of the Clutter Family in Kansas in 1959. But she was inactivating the case until new testing or evidence could advance it. They werent valuable items: Cliffs pocket knife, his cigarettes, and most strangely, Christines beloved drum majorette uniform she was saving in a chest so her daughter Debbie could wear it one day. Cliff and Don went hunting, while Christine and Dons wife Lucy stayed behind with the children. The bullet only brushed against the side of her skull; she died of a gunshot wound to the chest, though it is unknown if the shot came during the original struggle or some time afterward. Could they be from Christine's heel? Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. The bullet killed him instantly. I also want to get the Early Bird Books newsletter featuring great deals on ebooks. The Clutter case bore eerie similarities to the Walker case: both were quadruple homicides, with both parents and two children slaughtered (the Clutters other children escaped the violence because they were not home at the time). The Herald Tribune reports investigators are probing the possibility that the killers, who were the inspiration for Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood," brutally murdered the Walker family of Osprey, Fla. in 1959. Here are 10 revelations from the series: 1. But like other detectives, he had to handle them alongside other investigations. Perhaps a secret lover had been spurned. They'd found blood spattering the heels of Christine's suede pumps, surmising she'd used them as weapons. All four were bound and gagged as the search continued. The Walker family and the utter family. This didnt alarm Christine, and logically, the occupant of that car was then known to her, letting them in before being attacked. Capt. The FBI had purged the "In Cold Blood" killers' palm prints - a crucial loss, as a fingerprint examiner told McGath the faucet print used to exonerate the men was actually a partial palm print. Deputies were already working hard in the Walker home when the sheriff arrived. They also stopped to put air in the tires, and probably arrived home at about 4:30. [3][4] News stories noted there were gifts around the Christmas tree. Leonora LaPeter Anton went with Pat Myers to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office to witness him talking to Det. The assailant covered little Debbies face with Jimmies hat and shot her in the head, failing to kill her. He and his sister, Novella Cascarella, had spoken with the agency more than 15 years ago about exhuming Christine. Hopes of solving 1959 quadruple murder cold case are dashed as police fail to connect 'In Cold Blood' killers with slain Florida family By Ap Reporter 05:43 14 Aug 2013, updated 09:22 14 Aug 2013 Or maybe it was a home invasion that, for a second time, ended in slaughter. On November 15, 1959, Richard Hickock, 28, and Perry Smith, 31, slipped through an unlocked door into Herb and Bonnie Clutter's house and cut the phone lines. A family of four was killed in Florida five weeks after the murder of the Kansas family featured in Truman Capotes In Cold Blood.More than six decades later, a brother fights for answers. The best piece of evidence they obtained was the semen sample left behind from Christines rape, though that kind of bodily fluid was of no use to police in 1959. Last Updated On: November 20th, 2019. He passed a polygraph, and even though there is significant controversy over the validity of early tests, in 2006, Elbert was eliminated through DNA. Forty-seven years after Perry Smith and Richard Hickock were hanged for murdering a Kansas familythe crime profiled in Truman Capote's historic book, "In Cold Blood"they are under . McGath understood why Myers needed this. However, like all states, we have seen our fair share of bad folks, including these 10 infamous Kansas serial killers and homicides that won't soon be forgotten. . Not long afterward, Cliff also returned home with Jimmie and Debbie. Two suspects. Over the next six weeks, Hickock and Smith traveled about 10,000 miles, from Kansas and California to Mexico and Florida. So, again, he dialed the detective he trusted most. Consequently, investigators have stated that Smith and Hickock still remain the most viable suspects. He told Myers, if he could get the OK, he was still after a true copy of Christine's DNA. The . The morning of December 20, 1959, started out as a normal day for Daniel McLeod. He still spoke with the previous detective, who remained convinced Capote's killers were responsible. Now, this case remains officially unsolved and will likely stay that way forever. But then in 1987, this settlement was rocked by a grisly murder that still remains unsolved today. ; Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0; additional terms may . "I think we're closer now than we've ever been.". A couple and their four children were systematically hunted down as they vacationed in their cottage near Good Hart in the summer of 1968. She had time to hang up her purse and start putting the groceries away. It was among Florida's oldest unsolved crimes on record, notorious for its brutality, as well as for a pool of suspects that numbered over 600. The children also stayed behind to watch. And in Kansas, authorities had been focused on the Clutters, an agency spokeswoman said, and they have no evidence that officers interrogated the killers about the Walkers. interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders. Butch Dennison was also a popular suspect among armchair detectives. In early January, Myers called Clark and his boss six times with no reply. "It's basically a great mess," McGath said. Herbert and Bonnie, and their children, Nancy, 16, and Kenyon, 15, died from shotgun blasts to the head. Daniel McLeod rose at his ranch and began to set about his day. There have been minor developments in the case in the years since the scent went cold. The pair were among the many suspects given a polygraph which they both passed, being dismissed from the inquiry. Some authorities were positive he was the perpetrator, and throughout the history of this case, he was a favorite suspect for many, although his window of time to commit the crime was small. Kansas authorities stated that they would process the DNA samples with active cases taking higher priority, and that results would take "weeks or months. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat. Perry Smith. Jan 29, 2012. He used to live there. Cliff and the kids followed a half hour later in his work Jeep. Capote had insisted that the pair had an alibi for the time of the killings. The police heard about what had happened by around 5:45 that morning. They didnt find it; Herb, in reality, did all his business by check and there was no safe. No child had been spared. Solving these murders, McGath believed, was also about sending a message that law enforcement would doggedly pursue old crimes despite the passage of time. [Via: Wikipedia; NY Daily News; Tampa Bay Times;Daily Mail], Featured Photo of The Walkers: What Lies Beyond. In 1965, according to FBI statistics, agencies closed 90% of the year's homicides. He was seeking permission to exhume her from her grave. But cold cases, too, pose a conundrum. In this photo taken Oct. 19, 2009, the former home of the Herbert Clutter family is seen in Holcomb, Kan. Fifty years ago, the home was the scene of the brutal murder of Clutter, his wife Bonnie . Now Myers related to McGath what he'd heard from Clark: Though not a conclusive match, Tooker could not be discounted. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Through the years there have been almost 600 suspects but to this date, the case remains unsolved. McLeod also fell under suspicion. Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkZUtJDbwn8. Please enter valid email address to continue. One spring day in 2013, Myers sat alone inside his barbecue restaurant in Lake Placid, where a painting of cowboys wrangling a steer hung on the wall. But within weeks, Sheriff Boyer's attention turned - for a while - to two other suspects accused of murdering a family 1,600 miles away in a Kansas farm town of 270 called Holcomb. Hickocks former cellmate had worked for the Clutters, telling him that the father, Herb Clutter, kept a large amount of cash on the premises. After killing the Clutter family, Hickock and Smith fled to Florida in a stolen car, where they bought items from a department store in Sarasota, just a few miles away from the Walker home, on the very day that the Walkers were killed. Both had relatively minor items stolen. A bloodied high heel shoe was found at the scene, suggesting that Christine fought hard against her attacker, and possibly injured him. Cliff wanted to teach him a lesson, but ended up only telling him to stay away. Her husband Cliff, 25, then arrived with their 3-year-old son Jimmie and 1-year-old daughter Debbie. But depending on what time he went to dinner, its possible that he was unaccounted for during the time of the massacre. Joe Giasone, a 30-year veteran of the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, said the agency has 32 cold cases, ranging from the 1959 Walker murders up to a 2019 missing boater. This line of investigation stopped when police confirmed that he wasnt even in Florida on the day of the Walker murders. He and Kimberly McGath went back to 2007, when she expressed an interest in the languishing Walker file. Baby Debbie, they found in the bathtub, facedown in 4 inches of water, also shot in the head. Courtesy of Las Vegas Review-Journal Archive. Brandon Clark. But you need dedicated detectives primarily working on cold cases, and across the country in law enforcement, we're not seeing that.". McCall underwent three separate polygraph tests, and during each one, the suspect was so nervous that they all ended inconclusively. He hooked up his horse trailer, loaded his horse, and set off in good spirits for the day ahead. She said one of her regular customers had got drunk at the bar one night and began crying, saying that he had killed some people in Osprey, Florida, when he was a young man and mentioned the name Walker. She believed he did occasional work about town and was a gun enthusiast. Even after Christine married, authorities documented instances of half a dozen men propositioning her, patting her on the rear, grabbing her, trying to kiss her, especially when they had been drinking, which was often. Some fingerprints and shoe prints were found on the property, but even more contamination was revealed when one of the boot prints was proven to have come from a county-issued sheriffs deputy boot. Authorities acted on a lead that connected the 1959 murder of the Walker family with an earlierand much more famouscrime: the slaying of the Clutter family, the very case thatinspired Truman Capotes groundbreaking book, In Cold Blood. After running some errands that day, 24-year-old Christine Walker arrived home alone, at around 4:00 PM. Whether they were already in the house or Christine let them in is unknown for sure, but it seems likely the reason the family car was in a different location is that somebody else had parked in the family spot. He was photographed outside the house the day the bodies were discovered - with no marks on him, McGath commented. Despite these clues, and despite upward of 500 suspects over the years, the case could not be solved. You can join my mailing list for the latest articles and also like my Facebook page. [6] The case remains open. Hickock and Smith slaughtered the Clutter family on November 15, 1959 in Holcomb, Kansas, about 34 days before the Walker family homicide. "The morning of the murders all bus drivers were told to avoid that street due to the caution tape scene. Indeed, the Walker family killings are given several pages in In Cold Blood, the author dismissing any connection. A ranch worker for the Palmer Ranch, McLeod started his morning by getting ready, and then travelling to the home of his coworker Cliff Walker. Christine lay barefoot, bruised and bloody, her pink flowered dress pulled up, her slips and petticoats in a muddle. Detectives had told the public to look out for suspects with cuts. For example, in 1994, a woman called the Sarasota County Sheriffs Office and claimed to be a bartender in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. Rare photos show the "In Cold Blood" house in Holcomb, Kan., where the Clutter family was murdered was opened to the public in 2006 when the property was put up for sale. Myers wanted to feel that way too. I dont know if anyone ever collected or tested his DNA. Some believed it was an act. But the Walker murders had consumed detectives, then spit them out, for half a century. The Walkers were looking for a car. A day after they were sentenced to death, Hickock and Smith answered questions about the Florida murders while strapped to a mid-century lie detector test. She had no hard feelings, she said, but wished the sheriff's office had allowed her to keep pursuing the men. The crime, seemingly without motive, would later be chronicled in Truman Capote's seminal book, In Cold Blood. In December of 2012, the Sarasota County Sheriffs Department requested a court order to exhume the bodies of Hickock and Smith, in order to run DNA tests in an attempt to connect them to the Walker family murders. If you nenjoyed this story, please consider purchasing my book: Nordic Noir: 14 Unsolved True Crime Cases available now at Amazon. This could have been because he was curious or concerned about the other car, but he cant have been too worried, as he left his loaded shotgun in the back of the jeep. True Crime Detective covers some of the worlds most baffling murders. Will genealogy sites help solve cold cases? On December 20th, 1959 Don McLeod, a coworker and friend of Cliff Walker, arrived at the Walker home at sunrise to pick up Cliff for hog hunting trip they had planned. Christine was likely still struggling at this point as the first bullet barely grazed her. Peering through the windows, there was a very dim light on inside. Each new detective who came along just couldn't get to the last piece of the puzzle. Smith's tooth returned a female DNA profile - that of the examiner who analyzed the bones. On the night of the murders, at least seven men had been fishing at a nearby creek. The best chance to solve a decades-old quadruple murder in Florida ended Tuesday when sheriff's deputies said they could not link DNA to the two killers profiled in the book "In Cold Blood." The . Scientists managed to capture partial DNA for both of the men, however. Elbert, on the other hand, would be on the police radar for some time. The other two main suspects that people usually bring up are Perry Smith and Richard Hickock, who were hanged for the murder of the Clutter familya crime that occured just weeks before the Walker massacre. DNA has failed to connect two men featured in Truman Capote's In Cold Blood to the 1959 murders of a family of four in Osprey, but relatives still think all the evidence points to notorious killers. Truman Capote devoted several pages of In Cold Blood to the murder of the Walkers, but ultimately, concluded that Hickock and Smith couldnt have been the killers, as they had alibis. There in tiny Osprey, on the southern tip of the vast Palmer Ranch, the family's nearest neighbor was half a mile away. Six decades later, one morning last June, Pat Myers hobbled into the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office and sank into a seat across from a detective in a crisp white shirt. His femur turned up another unknown female profile. Another three were seen drinking on the road to the Walkers' house. However, while both Smith and Hickock would be dead and buried by the time Capote released his pioneering book, they were still very much at large on December 19, 1959. Her voice even sounded different. This story is based on more than 8,000 pages of records, most from the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, but also the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and archives of the Sarasota Journal, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the St. Petersburg Times. Christmas is usually a time of good cheer, good food, and good times spent with family. Determined not to leave any witnesses, Smith cut Herb Clutters throat and then shot him. Perry Smith in the army. [5], Physical evidence left at the scene included a bloody cowboy boot, a cellophane strip from a Kool cigarette wrapper, and a fingerprint on the bathtub faucet handle. [11] Hickock's and Smith's bodies were exhumed and DNA extracted. A while later, Cliff and the children were invited to stay at the McLeods for dinner, but he declined, wanting to get home to his wife. According to the sheriffs department, the Walkers had been considering buying a car of the exact make and model that Hickock and Smith had stolen. One by one, Kenyon, Nancy, and Bonnie were executed with a shotgun blast to the head. McLeod passed a polygraph and was quickly eliminated in any case. That's when she noticed that the supposed suspect's DNA was remarkably similar to Christine's own incomplete DNA sequence, gathered from her dress. Another is that it might have been someone she knew and voluntarily let in. They were robbed of all the things we bring children into this world to experience, and thats devastating. The sheriff had Hickock and Smith's pictures published on the front page of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. Perry Smith, left, and Richard Hickock were arrested in Las Vegas in connection with the November 15, 1959, murders of four members of the Clutter family in rural Kansas. Christines high school majorette uniform was gone, as was Cliffs pocketknife. In any case, a family was wiped out in the most terrible circumstance, and the killings remain yet another dark and unsolved stain in Floridas long and inglorious criminal history. But national clearance rates have sunk. All were shot in the head. He just wanted someone to write it in a report, to confirm it, to put it to rest. Indeed, the Walker family killings are given several pages in In Cold Blood, the author dismissing any connection. The doubt, the what-ifs, kept at him like a jackhammer. In a 2014 email to her supervisors, McGath wrote: "It feels like there's been a negative cloud surrounding me in regards to the cold cases." Arriving in Miami Beach, the pair was located just four hours away from the Walker family home and checked out of their motel the morning of the killings. The Walkers' wood frame cottage stood plain and white, surrounded by pasture land and hardwood forest. A blonde hair was found in Christines dress, and neither Smith nor Hickock were blonde. Just a few months after the massacre, bloody clothing from the Walker home was uncovered in a shed not far away. Or herself. 2 men found drugged after leaving NYC gay bars were killed, medical examiner says. Myers asked, five rows of wrinkles amassing above his large blue eyes. But Myers observed that letting the case languish, passing it from one detective to another and failing to exhume Christine 15 years ago to obtain her DNA, as he and his sister had asked, had cost the agency more money and delayed the results. Eyewitnesses have placed men matching their description in Sarasota that day. What is the value of solving an older crime versus a newer one? Florida analysts spent the equivalent of 44 full lab days that first year poring over evidence, making 2,920 fingerprint comparisons and conducting ballistics tests on more than 75 guns. Then she was taken to Jimmies bedroom and raped on the bed before being shot with a .22 firearm. Authorities believe that 24-year-old Christine Walker arrived at the family's farm home around 4pm on Saturday, December 19, 1959, where she was raped, then murdered by gunshot.