Smith stopped his friend from raping Nancy first but was likely responsible for pulling the trigger on all four killings. At around 3:30 PM on December 19, 24-year-old Christine pulled into the family farm after running a few errands. 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. She read a report that the pair sold two dolls to a minister in Louisiana for $1.50 in gas money after they had left Florida. The entire Walker family was dead, all murdered, including the children. interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders. Its hard to ignore the fact that he was connected to another mass murder and confessed to having homicidal thoughts. But the results were too tangled to isolate any individuals. Myers wondered how much longer he would be able to make the three-hour drive to Sarasota. Hickocks former cellmate had worked for the Clutters, telling him that the father, Herb Clutter, kept a large amount of cash on the premises. However, records and witness accounts collected by Kansas and Florida investigators show several factual contradictions in Capote's account. It worked. The detective persuaded officials to dig up the bodies last December in Kansas, where Smith and Hickock murdered the Clutter family in 1959 one month before the Walker slaying and were . The bartender never called again. Yet, Spencer was a known pathological liar, and his claims were soon dismissed as a false confession by Sarasota County Sheriff Ross Boyer. This page was last edited on 9 February 2023, at 12:07 (UTC). And though Clark was earnest, Myers feared the result would be no different. There was a bloody and discarded cowboy boot, a cellophane strip from a cigarette wrapper, and a fingerprint on the bathtub faucet. Behind many closed doors, kerosene lamps and frying pans flew. [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. At some point that day, Smith and Hickock bought items at a Sarasota department store, just a few miles from the Walker home. Christine had a lot of admirers. He kept making unwanted advances, and eventually Christine told her husband about her fear. He noted the family car was not in its usual position, and there were both a cut log and Christmas gifts laying on the porch. They'd killed a family of four in Kansas. On December 19, 1959, the entire Walker family was brutally murdered in their home in Osprey, Florida. If you nenjoyed this story, please consider purchasing my book: Nordic Noir: 14 Unsolved True Crime Cases available now at Amazon. McGath understood why Myers needed this. Authorities suspected the pair of murderingthe Walkers as well, but could never secure acharge after Hickock and Smith werecleared by the results of a polygraph test. Truman Capotes wildly popular book In Cold Blood was written about the crime, and is considered the first real true crime novel. The pair were among the many suspects given a polygraph which they both passed, being dismissed from the inquiry. Why not this family of four, too? The bodies were exhumed on December 18, 2012, but it wasnt until August of 2013 that results were officially announced. The brutal murders of Christine and Cliff Walker and their two children in Osprey, Florida had long been connected to Richard Hickock and Perry Smith of In Cold Blood infamy. McLeod later stated that it was odd . Capote had insisted that the pair had an alibi for the time of the killings. Not to mention this type of slut-shaming and victim-blaming has prevented real justice in our system for generations. 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 . But science has ruled him out. No one had documented the wrapping paper, and the minister was long dead. 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. Worrying that the family had succumbed to a gas leak, he broke in . I also want to get Early Bird Books newsletter featuring book deals, recommendations, and giveaways. What started as a robbery ended in the violent deaths of the mother, father, and two teenaged children. It is therefore believed that Smith and Hickock may have gained entry to the Walker home on the pretense of selling their car. In 1965, according to FBI statistics, agencies closed 90% of the year's homicides. The Clutter murders and subsequent investigation were documented in Truman Capote's true crime novel, In Cold Blood. "Do you realize, in December, it's going to be 64 years?". Clues found during the investigation included a bloody cowboy boot and a fingerprint on the handle of the bathtub faucet. She didn't want to cross a line. He'd lied to Novella before she died in 2021. His femur turned up another unknown female profile. However, the Clutter family killing resulted from false information, with the home deliberately targeted in the belief it contained significant cash. On December 19th, 1959, an entire family was found brutally murdered in Florida. 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. You are here: Home 1 / avia_transparency_logo 2 / News 3 / interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders June 7, 2022 / lawyers against mcfd / in charlie schlatter leukemia / by Clifford and the children had been ambushed, the young father on his back in the living room, still wearing his straw cowboy hat, a bullet hole in his right eye. [13] Said relative was later proven innocent through DNA testing.[14]. December 19, 1959 was no doubt a day like any other in Osprey, FL. Indeed, the Walker family killings are given several pages in In Cold Blood, the author dismissing any connection. It was hard to imagine, McGath often told Myers, in their sometimes meandering phone calls, that anyone wouldn't classify the men as suspects. However, based on the personal items that were stolen, Katherine Ramsland, of the University of Pennsylvania, finds Smith and Hickock unlikely and instead suspects that the killer knew at least one member of the Walker family. The pair got away with a radio, a set of binoculars, and less than $50. Clutter's throat was slashed. The notes for the planned book ran to 8,000 pages. When Don discovered the bodies of the Walker family, he was heartbroken and terrified. 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. But I dont know. Or herself. But the Walker murders had consumed detectives, then spit them out, for half a century. Kansas authorities told Boyer they passed. (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. On the Walkers' final day, they headed a dozen miles north for used car lots in bustling Sarasota. To have a theory was one thing; to have proof was another. 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. Christine, 24, bubbly and spirited, hung back with McLeod's wife. Over the past decade, though, the Walker family murders have taken on another chilling dimension, as the prime suspects are, at present, Perry Smith and Dick Hickock. Some try to blame the attack on Christine. 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. Tennessee has its own rough past, drenched in murderous stories that will keep you locking your doors. Sarasota Sheriff Ross E. Boyer believed he was searching for someone local. I didnt want to harm the man. At the second, the killers took personal things related to Christine, namely her high school majorette uniform and marriage license. A chilling account of two murders with multiple victims. "Behind every good woman, there's a good man," he said, as he filled her cup. Cliff was 25. When officers arrived, Herb Clutter, 48, lay sprawled on a mattress in the basement, stabbed, his throat slashed and a shotgun charge fired to his head. Neither of their children ever got an opportunity to go to school or play on a sports team, or kiss a person they loved. 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. He'd been able to make this trip only because his wife of 51 years, whom he cared for at home in Lake Placid, was in rehab after a fall. They wondered if this could be some sort of revenge killing. 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. Elbert knew where the house was. Life in Ina was simple. . He said what was thought to be sperm was more likely Christine's blood or skin cells. Oct 24, 2019. Blood evidence suggests that he wasnt killed by the first bullet and that the assailant continued to shoot at him while he crawled over to be next to his fathers body. McLeod also fell under suspicion. He took off with Jimmie and Debbie in a jeep that could be used by any of the Palmer Ranch hands. 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. Before she left the agency, McGath said, her supervisors declined her requests to do more genetic testing of the stain. Would he ever get an answer? Some thought he was in love with Christine. Tire tracks from the mystery car were likely gone now that there was a police vehicle parked in its place. 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. It is said that he complained to psychiatrists about homicidal tendencies. Entering, she wasnt attacked straight away and had enough time to store the groceries before she was ambushed by the assailant or assailants. June 7, 2021: Margaret "Maggie" Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh found dead at the family hunting lodge. People gossiped about a fight Cliff had gotten into a few days before the murder. Capote was obsessed with the case of the . A lieutenant told him that Clark had presented the plan to the sheriff. He and Kimberly McGath went back to 2007, when she expressed an interest in the languishing Walker file. 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. [1] Her husband Cliff, 25, then arrived with their 3-year-old son Jimmie and 1-year-old daughter Debbie. This line of investigation stopped when police confirmed that he wasnt even in Florida on the day of the Walker murders. As the sun set shortly after 5 p.m. on December 30, 1959, a driver stopped a 1956 Chevrolet . His hands were bound and his mouth was taped shut. He realized something must be wrong in the house and took the decision to enter, cutting through the screen door. Police hope genealogy sites will help solve more cold cases, Colombia wants to deport "cocaine hippos" to stop them from multiplying, Alex Murdaugh found guilty of murders of wife and son, How a tragic boating crash is connected to the family of Alex Murdaugh, killers made infamous in Truman Capote's true crime classic "In Cold Blood. So, with that being said, I lean toward Stanley Mauck, the meter-reader. In 2012, their bodies were exhumed to have DNA extracted to . The assailant covered little Debbies face with Jimmies hat and shot her in the head, failing to kill her. He'd had an alibi for most of the evening, she explained. The killer put two more bullets in the back of the childs skull. And the day after the murders, in Nocatee, east of Sarasota, three people said they had seen the men, one with a "scratched-up face," seeking U.S. 27, the main road north. https://t.co/zyzLrUZLRB. Yes! The items, including shirts, a blouse, and pants, belonged to Cliff and Christine and were all soaked. 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 She found it interesting that a car the Walkers were test-driving resembled the 1956 Chevy Bel Air the men had stolen in Kansas and driven to Florida. Both had relatively minor items stolen. Admit killing one family but not the other. There was a problem. Out of ammunition, the killer took the baby to the bathroom and drowned her in the bathtub. Sign up for The Lineups newsletter and get the creepiest cases delivered straight to your inbox. While the killers were still at large, legendary writer Truman Capote learned of the killings and decided to write about the slaughter, traveling to Kansas alongside childhood friend Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mocking Bird. Christine had grown up in one of those households. 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." The National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the Department of Justice, has called on agencies to create teams dedicated to handling these seemingly unsolvable cases - more than 100,000 of them from the previous two decades alone. 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. Each new detective who came along just couldn't get to the last piece of the puzzle. Curtis had apparently been violent in the past. But he told police he had seen the Walkers' neighbor, Wilbur Tooker, at their house at least two dozen times. A Miami Beach detective discovered that the day before the murders, the pair had checked in at a motel there, paying $18 for a week's stay. I am entirely self-funded and if you liked this article, please consider a donation via PayPal as a token of appreciation. Equally, Smith prevented Hickock from carrying out a rape at the Clutter Farm, whereas Christine was assaulted before her execution. Lucy wasnt one to eavesdrop, so all she remembered from hearing one side of her friend's conversation was that at one point they were talking about exchanging their current car. McCall underwent three separate polygraph tests, and during each one, the suspect was so nervous that they all ended inconclusively. Kansas authorities, hearing of the Walker murders, suggested Sarasota's sheriff take a look. However, its possible that the police already had the killers in custody. Last Updated On: November 20th, 2019. With a little investigation, however, it was determined that so much information had been leaked to the media that any civilian could have that kind of knowledge of the crime. Butch Dennison was also a popular suspect among armchair detectives. Maybe the killer was a relative who bore some grudge against the Walkers or simply wished to engage in his carnal fantasies. 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. Kimberly McGath in 2013 and last summer. They didnt find it; Herb, in reality, did all his business by check and there was no safe. Within hours, a crush of cars crawled down the shell road just to see where the family had lived. 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. The Walker family of Osprey, Florida, included father Cliff (25 years old), mother Christine (24 years old), a son named Jimmie (three years old), and a daughter named Debbie (two . In December of 2012, it was announced that Smith and Hickocks bodies would be exhumed to match their DNA to semen samples taken from Christine back in 1959. Detectives had told the public to look out for suspects with cuts. I also want to get the Early Bird Books newsletter featuring great deals on ebooks. He discovered the grisly scene. The Christmas tragedy that fell on Osprey in 1959 was an unimaginable horror and one that by all rights deserved justice. The husband was stabbed, while the wife was raped and shot. In February of 2018, DNA testing found that Smith did not provide the semen at the Walker crime scene. All four were bound and gagged as the search continued. 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. The details of their travels came out after their eventual capture in Las Vegas on Dec. 30, 1959, during interviews with investigators and other law enforcement. The detective picked up almost immediately, and Myers told him he wanted an update. The infamous killers hanged for the murders of a Kansas family may have also been responsible for the deaths of another family in Florida. Knowing they were seen throughout the state looking for work, investigators have theorized that the duo bumped into the Walker family and got talking or simply contacted them, either way under the pretense that they were planning on selling the vehicle. 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. At some point the assailant moved her body to the living room and made attempts to clean up the scene. Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkZUtJDbwn8. Now . Cliff was ambushed and killed by gunshot. Murderpedia. The year afterward, Capote published the book. Giasone wasn't sure why previous leaders didn't pursue additional testing 10 years ago. (The Walkers and McLeods were both employed by the wealthy Palmer family, on whose ranch land they both lived.) Christine lay barefoot, bruised and bloody, her pink flowered dress pulled up, her slips and petticoats in a muddle. [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. I can be contacted for projects through my website MichaelEastWriter.com where youll also find lots more content. But they were on the run, skipping across the country after the murders as the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, or the KBI, had just started to decipher the crime scene. So, if youre looking for a publication that will keep you up at night, True Crime Detective is the perfect choice! They were inconclusive. 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. Myers wanted to feel that way too. He'd played his violin - badly, according to the conductor - at a concert in Bradenton. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Learn more about the murder scene by using the interactive graphic below. The Herald-Tribune gained unprecedented access to investigators' files, which span more than four decades. He used to live there. 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. Tooker had apparently gone out to dinner, then went to perform in the violin section of the West Coast Symphony Orchestra. Baby Debbie, they found in the bathtub, facedown in 4 inches of water, also shot in the head. The Clutter family, along with their assailants, have become infamous over the years. The sheriff had Hickock and Smith's pictures published on the front page of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. . Local gossip was that McCall was engaged in an affair with Christine Walker, and he was known to own a .22-caliber gun. "I'm interested foremost in the living cases, where there is a danger to the public or when someone is wrongfully convicted or where a victim is wanting to find an answer," said Hampikian, the DNA expert. Cliff Walker wanted to trade in the family car for a 1956 Chevrolet, a two-tone . In the early hours of November 15, 1959, Perry Smith and Richard Hickock entered the Clutter family home in Holcomb, Kansas. 4 The Walker Family Murder. Her husband Cliff, 25, then arrived with their 3-year-old son Jimmie and 1-year-old daughter Debbie. / AP. Richard Luscombe in Miami. He hooked up his horse trailer, loaded his horse, and set off in good spirits for the day ahead. 1. On December 19th, 1959: The entire Walker Family was shot to death as the suspect left the home, Christine walker was home at the time of the attack to fight off her attackers as police believe that she was raped and shot, her husband; Cliff Walker was also shot as he came home along with their three year old son Jimmie and Debbie, who was two years old was drowned in the family's bathtub. Hickock and Smith confessed to the murders of the Clutter family, for which they were hanged in April of 1965. She sifted through thousands of pages, looking for the original DNA test of Christine's underwear that had detected a male suspect - a result detectives had leaned on for years. And he did move extraordinarily quickly. As it turned out, the tests exposed contamination at the lab. The leads went nowhere, and the case was soon going cold until police believed they had a break in 1962 when serial killer Emmett Monroe Spencer claimed responsibility. First, he turned on "Gunsmoke" - their daily routine. 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. Angered, the two robbers woke the family: Herb, 48; his wife, Bonnie, 45; and their two teenage children Nancy, 16, and Kenyon, 15. This article was originally published in the Tampa Bay Times. On a couch in an adjoining room was 15-year-old Kenyon Neal Clutter, bound, gagged and shot in the head. Herbert and Bonnie, and their children, Nancy, 16, and Kenyon, 15, died from shotgun blasts to the head. Jan 29, 2012. Join Mike and Gibby for this 'Best Of' episode as they discuss the facts of the murders and walk through the various suspects. There are countless other rumors about other individuals or groups who could have committed these crimes. Please enter valid email address to continue. This was such a young family. Sixty years ago, a prosperous farmer, his wife, and two of their children were murdered in their rural Kansas home in the middle of the night, by a pair of strangers. Evidence is the exact same in both cases. Kansas authorities stated that they would process the DNA samples with active cases taking higher priority, and that results would take "weeks or months. "The challenges of a case from that long ago you're bound by what was done in 1959," Giasone said. The Clutter murders were the topic of Truman Capote's 1965 best-selling true crime book In Cold Blood. A bloodied high heel shoe was found at the scene, suggesting that Christine fought hard against her attacker, and possibly injured him. Capt. COLD BLOODED: THE CLUTTER FAMILY MURDERS is a docuseries that focuses on the crime that shocked the nation - the 1959 brutal murder of four members of the Clutter family. An interview with Joe Berlinger, director of 'Cold Blooded'. Many people assume that Christine was the main reason the killer was there in the first place. 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. In mid-September, Myers clenched his jaw as he lifted his wife with a gait belt, transferring her from wheelchair to recliner at their modest home. He then took them to Rose Hill Cemetery and proceeded to bury them all alive. Unfortunately, the results proved inconclusive. "The morning of the murders all bus drivers were told to avoid that street due to the caution tape scene. When they were arrested, they had a pocket knife similar to the one described as missing from Cliff Walkers body. Through the years there have been almost 600 suspects but to this date, the case remains unsolved. But she was inactivating the case until new testing or evidence could advance it. | https://linktr.ee/MichaelEast. Cliff had threatened to kill him but he had a watertight alibi for the time of the murders. Now, Clark was telling Myers, as he had several times before, that his suspicions lay elsewhere. Just a few months after the massacre, bloody clothing from the Walker home was uncovered in a shed not far away. I thought he was a very nice gentleman. But then in 1987, this settlement was rocked by a grisly murder that still remains unsolved today. Junk science was enough to clear Youmans in the eyes of authorities. Then she was taken to Jimmies bedroom and raped on the bed before being shot with a .22 firearm. It generated pieces of two people's DNA, one male and one female. Cliff and Don went hunting, while Christine and Dons wife Lucy stayed behind with the children. Not long afterward, Cliff also returned home with Jimmie and Debbie. Cliff and Jimmie were slumped in the corner, and upstairs, Debbie lay in a blood-filled bath. 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. Many people at the time thought Christine dressed too provocatively, and because of that, was likely cheating on her husband.(?!?) Perry Smith, 31, and Richard Hickock, 28, met as petty thieves serving time at the Kansas State Penitentiary. After killing four members of the Clutter family in Kansas, 34 days before the Walker murders, Smith and Hickock fled to Florida in a stolen car, and were spotted at least a dozen times between Tallahassee and Miami.