Despite this, many still believe that Hickock and Smith are the most likely suspects in the slaying. Boyer's conviction about a local killer influenced the probe for decades. About a month earlier, Smith and Hickock slaughtered the four-member Clutter family in Kansas, creating the tragedy that was immortalized in author Truman Capote's 1966 true . Either before or after Cliff and the children arrivedits unclear whichthe attacker forced Christine into Jimmies room, where she was raped and shot in the head. The order of killings of the family members down to the way they were killed. There were still gifts underneath the Christmas tree. Scientists managed to capture partial DNA for both of the men, however. Twenty-four-year-old Christine Walker was raped before being shot to death, while Christines husband Cliff, 25, and their children, three-year-old Jimmie and one-year-old Debbie, were all shot to death. It was only days before Christmas, and the Walker family had already begun to put a few presents around the tree in anticipation of Christmas morning. They'd found blood spattering the heels of Christine's suede pumps, surmising she'd used them as weapons. There came a point that his older sister, Novella, couldn't handle going anymore. Now, Clark was telling Myers, as he had several times before, that his suspicions lay elsewhere. He and Kimberly McGath went back to 2007, when she expressed an interest in the languishing Walker file. 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. Two suspects. In 2010, however, over 50 years after the crime, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office took another crack at the Walker family murders case. The taking of these items from the crime scene is suggestive that the killing was directly targeting Christine and the family rather than the tragic results of a home invasion. He confessed to everything, even crimes with which he was obviously uninvolved. memorial page for Clifford "Cliff" Walker (16 Oct 1934-19 Dec 1959), Find a Grave Memorial ID . Life in Ina was simple. However, in 2012, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office once again began to . Kansas exhumes bodies of 'In Cold Blood' killers The entire Walker family was dead, all murdered, including the children. Just days before Christmas 1959, the Walker family was murdered in their small Sarasota County home, a case that became one of Sarasota's most notorious unsolved crimes. In the early hours of November 15, 1959, Perry Smith and Richard Hickock entered the Clutter family home in Holcomb, Kansas. It was hard to imagine, McGath often told Myers, in their sometimes meandering phone calls, that anyone wouldn't classify the men as suspects. The folks at the gas station told him the Walkers were dead, and they took him to the house where he fell apart. armed forces vacation club for veterans 082 825 4557; welsh keith brymer jones wife zapperstore.xyz@gmail.com Sarasota Police sent out county deputies to investigate. Reconstructing events, police ascertained that the family had been out running errands and believe that Christine arrived home first, around 4pm on Saturday, December 19. interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders 2 men found drugged after leaving NYC gay bars were killed, medical examiner says. At the same time, DNA analysis has become more exact, especially in the past two decades, with testing that once required a million cells now potentially able to identify someone with a single cell, said DNA expert Greg Hampikian, director of the Idaho Innocence Project and a biology professor at Boise State University. 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. 2023 The Associated Press. Want more true crime? interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders Yes! The list goes on. Since 2004, multiple detectives had sought answers in DNA. 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." interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders. However, the best suspect at the time was possibly Curtis McCall, a man described as a troublemaker with a history of violence. In Colder Blood: On the Trail of Dick Hickock and Perry Smith Elbert knew where the house was. Giasone wasn't sure why previous leaders didn't pursue additional testing 10 years ago. [11] Hickock's and Smith's bodies were exhumed and DNA extracted. Equally, Smith prevented Hickock from carrying out a rape at the Clutter Farm, whereas Christine was assaulted before her execution. The floors were soaked with their blood. There was a store, a gas station, a firehouse, a bank, a post office and little all else. At the time of the murders, the Walkers had been thinking about buying a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air, and this was the same car that Smith and Hickock had stolen back in Kansas, using it during their flight across the country. It did not match the semen at the scene. I am a freelance long-form writer who writes on true crime, politics, history and more. The sheriff's office recently said it did not have any transcripts of those interviews. However, its possible that the police already had the killers in custody. As late as the 1990s, police got a tip from a woman that an elderly gentleman she served at a bar had confessed to her about committing the murders. So unfortunately, we can't really tell anything from these DNA results. One or two days prior, a man said they had asked to fix his bent fender for money, and a gas station owner said they'd asked about auto paint shops. After six decades, several police agencies had destroyed or misplaced evidence connected to the Walkers. At the second, the killers took personal things related to Christine, namely her high school majorette uniform and marriage license. 50 years after Michigan family's massacre in cottage - mlive Two men hanged almost five decades ago for a murder that inspired one of the greatest true-crime novels of all time could soon be unmasked as the perpetrators of another . Some suspect Stanley Mauck, the man who read the meters for the Walker residence, as he was the same meter reader who serviced the home of another recently murdered family. So, if youre looking for a publication that will keep you up at night, True Crime Detective is the perfect choice! Don McLeod got up at 5:30am on December 20th, 1959 in Osprey, Florida and headed over to his friend Cliff Walkers place so they could go out together to hunt wild hogs. An interview with Joe Berlinger, director of 'Cold Blooded'. Smith and Hickock denied participation and claimed they were in Miami, four hours away. interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders The house located in Osprey Florida was rent free for the Walkers in exchange for the hard, honest work Cliff did on the large Palmer Ranch. The pair got away with a radio, a set of binoculars, and less than $50. Famous Unsolved Murders of Families - Ranker This case has possible ties to the famous Clutter family murder that occurred in Kansas . He said detectives have no physical evidence, so far, connecting Hickock and Smith to the Walker murders, no fingerprints. Larry Hendricks wipes his eyes as he recounts finding the bodies of four members of the Clutter family that were murdered in Holcomb, Kan., in 1959. Sixty years later, 'In Cold Blood' murders still resonate The pair were among the many suspects given a polygraph which they both passed, being dismissed from the inquiry. That had never been clear, McGath replied. The bodies of the two men executed for the 1959 murders of a Kansas family that became infamous in Truman Capote's true-crime book In Cold Blood were exhumed Tuesday in an effort to solve slayings of a Florida family killed weeks later. Still, Kansas and Florida investigators have contended that there are flaws in the account, with some witnesses standing against the alibi. In 2019, Clark was able to test the stain again. But I dont know. Police never identified a motive, and 587 people were suspects at one time or another. After the slaughter at the Clutter family farm, the duo had stolen a car and began to make their way to Florida, headed for Miami. But the police stopped investigating him after he passed a polygraph. [6], In December 2012, Sarasota County investigators announced they were seeking an order to exhume Smith's and Hickock's bodies from Mount Muncie Cemetery, in the hopes that mitochondrial DNA extracted from their bones could be matched to semen found at the Walker home. She had no hard feelings, she said, but wished the sheriff's office had allowed her to keep pursuing the men. McLeod also fell under suspicion. McLeod hastily ran from the house and called the police. She told him he had already spoken to the murderer, someone with a face scar who "wore glasses. Truman Capotes wildly popular book In Cold Blood was written about the crime, and is considered the first real true crime novel. The items, including shirts, a blouse, and pants, belonged to Cliff and Christine and were all soaked. [5], According to Sheriff's records, the Walkers had been considering buying a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air, the same kind of stolen car that Smith and Hickock were driving through Florida. When she was well, Ella had vocally supported his efforts to find answers. The case wasnt a priority, and it would be August of 2013 before the results came in. As he saw his own health slipping, he felt the weight of that vow. They likely had been comparing their suspects all these years to Christine herself. DNA no match, but some still link 'In Cold Blood' killers to Osprey A woman came to police claiming that Butch had confessed to her about murdering the family, and also tried to hide bloody clothing in her presence. PodcastOne: Best Of - The Walker Family Murders Im going to go over a few of the main suspects, then tell you a little bit about my own personal theory. 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. Junk science was enough to clear Youmans in the eyes of authorities. Smith stopped his friend from raping Nancy first but was likely responsible for pulling the trigger on all four killings. The crime, seemingly without motive, would later be chronicled in Truman Capote's seminal book, In Cold Blood. Sarasota Sheriff Ross E. Boyer believed he was searching for someone local. They were inconclusive. One of them had a scratched face. A couple and their four children were systematically hunted down as they vacationed in their cottage near Good Hart in the summer of 1968. [10], The Sheriff's Office admitted that Hickock and Smith had been considered suspects as far back as 1960. 10 Haunting Unsolved Mass Murders - Listverse After lunch, they went to the McLeods. Christine, his half-sister, was dead - beaten, raped and shot with two different handguns. Herbert Clutter, his wife Bonnie, and their two youngest children, Nancy and Kenyon . For those few crime drama aficionados who aren't familiar with the case, in late November of 1959 two petty felons, Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Smith, arrived at a house near Holcomb, Kansas. interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders. The notorious "Bloody Benders" were a German immigrant family who owned both a general store and small inn in the early 1870s in Labette County . The actual cause of death is unknown, and she could have been shot in the bathtub. He'd lied to Novella before she died in 2021. So when he called one day in late August 2022, she responded. The public looked at Smith and Hickock as serious suspects for the Walker case, and their whereabouts at the time suggest that their involvement isnt impossible. No DNA link between Walker murders, 'In Cold Blood' killer She didn't want to cross a line. [6], A serial killer named Emmett Monroe Spencer confessed to the murders, but the confession was discredited by Sarasota County Sheriff Ross Boyer, who labeled Spencer a pathological liar. Despite what Capote asserted at the time, subsequent investigations have since revealed holes in Hickock and Smiths alibis, and some experts have asserted that polygraph tests of the era were notoriously unreliable. Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders - IMDb Working at the scene, police began to search the home for evidence and soon discovered that items were missing; some of them seem quite bizarre. (Wayback archive copy)", "Walker Slaying Confession Discredited by Sheriff", "The murderous journey from lies to prison and redemption", "Cold case: Stroudsburg bartender may hold key to unsolved Florida murders", "Walker investigation shows parts of 'In Cold Blood' don't add up (Wayback archive copy)", "DNA From 'In Cold Blood' Killers Could Solve 1959 Florida Cold Case", "No DNA link between Walker murders, 'In Cold Blood' killers", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Walker_family_murders&oldid=1138389492, December 1959 events in the United States, Unsolved mass murders in the United States, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 9 February 2023, at 12:07.
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