Herbert Clutter, 48, his wife, Bonnie, 45, their daughter, Nancy Mae, 16 and son Kenyon, 15, were bound hand and foot and gagged. 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. interactive scene of 1959 walker family murdersgriffin park demolishedgriffin park demolished Spencer actually got a lot of things right in his confession, so at first listen, authorities thought it must be true. 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). Read on to learn about the Walker Family Murders, who were found brutally murdered in their home on December 20, 1959. interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders Comments: accident in st charles il yesterday 0 what year was the class of 2033 born th human allergic reaction to skunk spray kawai digital piano 250 He had initially believed the family had simply slept in, amused as his friend was also known to be a habitual early riser. Mortally wounded, he crawled to his dead father, seeking his protection. They listened as a fellow inmate bragged about a farmer who kept lots of cash in a safe. When they were arrested, they had a pocket knife similar to the one described as missing from Cliff Walkers body. In Florida, several larger departments - including Tampa, Jacksonville and Miami-Dade - have such teams. Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders: With Beth Tedrow, Larry Welch, Kevin Bascue, Gwyneth Frack. They were robbed of all the things we bring children into this world to experience, and thats devastating. Freelance writer. The mix-ups made McGath wonder about the evidence already tested. After committing the "In Cold Blood" murder of Herbert Clutter, his wife and two children on Nov. 15, 1959, Smith and Hickock hit the road, hiding out from law enforcement in Mexico and Florida . 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. 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. The pair were among the many suspects given a polygraph which they both passed, being dismissed from the inquiry. On December 19, 1959, Christine and Cliff Walker and their two children were murdered at their home in Osprey, Florida. Yet, the test showed that he was highly likely lying when asked if hed withheld information. Christine, his half-sister, was dead - beaten, raped and shot with two different handguns. He and his sister, Novella Cascarella, had spoken with the agency more than 15 years ago about exhuming Christine. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. 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. The following year, the mother of three would leave the agency to prioritize family. He ran from the house and jumped into the jeep, as his own truck had a trailer attached and he needed to get to a telephone as fast as possible. Richard Eugene "Dick" Hickock and Perry Edward Smith were a team of mass murderers, family annihilators, and robbers responsible for the massacre of the Clutter family after their attempted robbery went astray in 1959. Could the two men behind the infamous Clutter family murders have killed the Walkers as well? [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. Tooker, a 65-year-old retired railroad telegrapher, had made advances on Christine, which she rebuffed. Capt. Im not sure which theory I favor. All four were bound and gagged as the search continued. On the Walkers' final day, they headed a dozen miles north for used car lots in bustling Sarasota. Still, Kansas and Florida investigators have contended that there are flaws in the account, with some witnesses standing against the alibi. 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. Not to mention this type of slut-shaming and victim-blaming has prevented real justice in our system for generations. McGath stopped calling Myers. 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. Jimmie was curled up next to his dad, blood smeared on his clothes and in his hair, suggesting he'd crawled to his father as the killer shot him three times in the head. First published on February 6, 2023 / 12:00 PM. Here are 10 revelations from the series: 1. The agency issued a press release, noting Hickock and Smith were the most likely suspects. 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. In recent years, as suspicion amassed around the "In Cold Blood" killers, Myers grasped at the hope of closure. Capt. It worked. But, as she would find time and again, neither Kansas nor the Las Vegas Police Department could locate any of that evidence for her. Three-year-old Jimmie entered the house at the same time as his father and was also shot. So, again, he dialed the detective he trusted most. 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 that inspired Truman Capote's groundbreaking book, In Cold Blood. The murder is of particular note because it potentially involved the suspects of the murders that inspired the creative non-fiction novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Still, eight years off the job, she felt a certain duty to him. He said detectives have no physical evidence, so far, connecting Hickock and Smith to the Walker murders, no fingerprints. Myers leaned forward and rested his arms, sun-splotched from decades overseeing orange groves, on the table. But the killers, who had confessed to the Kansas murders, said they'd never been to Sarasota. No one had documented the wrapping paper, and the minister was long dead. Curtis had apparently been violent in the past. Tennessee has its own rough past, drenched in murderous stories that will keep you locking your doors. It's important to keep that in perspective.". The only information we have about Christines romantic life comes from tabloids, so we should obviously take this with a grain of salt. Daniel McLeod rose at his ranch and began to set about his day. He passed a polygraph, and even though there is significant controversy over the validity of early tests, in 2006, Elbert was eliminated through DNA. Another three were seen drinking on the road to the Walkers' house. Police said 77-year-old Glen Samuel McCurley was in custody Tuesday in connection with the 1974 murder of Carla Jan Walker, who was 17-years-old when she was abducted, held captive and sexually . But cold cases, too, pose a conundrum. She had never been able to fully put the case aside. An agency spokesperson declined to comment. This peeved Myers. Brought in for questioning, McCall denied having any romantic interest in Christine and evasively said he had sold the weapon not long ago. ; Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0; additional terms may . After calling out and making further attempts to ascertain the problem, Daniel looked further around the property. Nov 14, 2022 at 9:00 am. He claimed that he only saw Christine rarely and the last time he had seen her, she had been with her husband. Hickock had once said his philosophy was to "leave no witnesses.". A Florida Department of Law Enforcement serology supervisor confirmed the news to McGath and apologized. They had decided to unearth Christine from her grave in the next month. The killer put two more bullets in the back of the childs skull. But McGath's supervisors shut down her efforts to gather the men's boots from Kansas. 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 . 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. 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. At some point the assailant moved her body to the living room and made attempts to clean up the scene. But she was inactivating the case until new testing or evidence could advance it. Myers asked, five rows of wrinkles amassing above his large blue eyes. He stopped at a local gas station and inquired about the location of the Walker home, as if looking for Cliff. Boyer interviewed suspects in at least five other states. Cliff didnt take the time he would ordinarily take to unload the cattle feed he had bought in town before going inside. McGath understood why Myers needed this. I dont know if these were only rumors or how thoroughly they were investigated. The Clutter family, along with their assailants, have become infamous over the years. December 19, 1959 was no doubt a day like any other in Osprey, FL. Clark, 41, was the latest of a dozen investigators to examine the cold case. Kimberly McGath in 2013 and last summer. Entering, she wasnt attacked straight away and had enough time to store the groceries before she was ambushed by the assailant or assailants. Each new detective who came along just couldn't get to the last piece of the puzzle. Kansas authorities, hearing of the Walker murders, suggested Sarasota's sheriff take a look. He meant that agency officials didn't want to expose their bungling and lack of commitment. For all of the agency's early efforts, even obsession, investigators left stones unturned, resulting in dozens of men in the tiny Sarasota County town living under the frost of suspicion, many until their deaths. Some believed it was an act. Myers felt like he was ricocheting between theories, like a pinball. Safe house. 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. He caught a glimpse of Cliffs wife Christines feet on the floor, toes pointed toward the ceiling. A thought-provoking analysis of a quadruple homicide The author has presented a well-written and well-researched study of the horrific murders of the Walker family, Cliff, Christine, little Jimmy, and baby Debbie in Florida on December 19, 1959, just a month after the Clutters "In Cold Blood" murders in Kansas. He wore paja mas. I can be contacted for projects through my website MichaelEastWriter.com where youll also find lots more content. [13] Said relative was later proven innocent through DNA testing.[14]. In the end, though, the couple drove back, pausing at the ranch barn to pick up cattle feed. At another, the cowboy test drove a Hudson Jet. Christine, 24, bubbly and spirited, hung back with McLeod's wife. 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 . "The morning of the murders all bus drivers were told to avoid that street due to the caution tape scene. They were arrested in Las Vegas in late December after the inmate who had told them about the safe tipped off police. Could those dolls have been for Debbie? 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. In a recent interview, retired Sarasota Lt. Dario Valente recalled speaking with one of Boyer's chief investigators, who told him that while one of the Kansas killers denied the Walker murders, another confessed. Meanwhile, Tooker was seen as a local pervert, having tried to kiss Christine in the past, and regularly making indecent propositions. 2023 The Associated Press. The Walkers and their two toddlers were murdered on December 19, 1959 in Osprey, 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. One assumption is that he was already waiting for her when she got there and that he was the one who was parked in her usual spot. In every direction McGath turned, she was met with blunders and blurred results, common problems in cold cases. 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. But I dont know. Junk science was enough to clear Youmans in the eyes of authorities. The morning of December 20, 1959, started out as a normal day for Daniel McLeod. 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. The pair shot and killed Herbert Clutter, his wife Bonnie, and two of their children in . 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. On December 19th, 1959, an entire family was found brutally murdered in Florida. He and Kimberly McGath went back to 2007, when she expressed an interest in the languishing Walker file. Perry Smith, 31, and Richard Hickock, 28, met as petty thieves serving time at the Kansas State Penitentiary. Soft-spoken. Both had relatively minor items stolen. McLeod hastily ran from the house and called the police. Christines car wasnt parked in its usual spot, where it would have been most convenient to unload the groceries. All rights reserved. Police theorized that they had been grabbed and used to wipe the blood off the killer or killers. The Walker investigation was yet another of America's quarter-million unsolved homicides - a mounting crisis in the minds of justice experts - and a case study into how thousands of hours, tens of thousands of dollars, exhumed bodies, DNA tests, fingerprints and bullets can fail to add up to answers. Cliff Walker wanted to trade in the family car for a 1956 Chevrolet, a two-tone . His hands were bound and his mouth was taped shut. December 20, 1959, was seemingly an ordinary morning in Osprey, Florida. Her captain, she said, wanted a DNA connection. Myers could not imagine it being anyone else either. Another is that it might have been someone she knew and voluntarily let in. When arrested in Las Vegas, McGath found, Smith was carrying a pocket knife similar to one missing from Cliff's pocket. The house was dark as McLeod approached, but as he got closer, he saw a light flickering through the window. Yes! There were still gifts underneath the Christmas tree. About a month before the Walker family slaying occurred, the Clutters were killed in their Holcomb, Kansas home by Perry Smith and Richard Dick Hickock. When Don discovered the bodies of the Walker family, he was heartbroken and terrified. All were shot in the head. Worrying that the family had succumbed to a gas leak, he broke in with his pocket knife. But depending on what time he went to dinner, its possible that he was unaccounted for during the time of the massacre. Myers was 7 when a neighbor burst into his living room to announce what she'd heard on the radio. 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. Now, Clark was telling Myers, as he had several times before, that his suspicions lay elsewhere. "[5] The pair was arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 30, 1959, for the Clutter murders, and were executed by hanging on April 14, 1965. 1959 murder case. The relief the 82-year-old felt had come through on the phone. The Walker family and the utter family. The Christmas tragedy that fell on Osprey in 1959 was an unimaginable horror and one that by all rights deserved justice. Her husband Cliff, 25, then arrived with their 3-year-old son Jimmie and 1-year-old daughter Debbie. She fought viciously, using her high-heeled shoes and staining them with blood, even making it out of the house before being dragged back inside. He was seeking permission to exhume her from her grave. ". With the DNA testing in shambles, McGath turned to boot prints. There was a bloody and discarded cowboy boot, a cellophane strip from a cigarette wrapper, and a fingerprint on the bathtub faucet. That motive has to be discounted in the Walker family case. Herbert and Bonnie, and their children, Nancy, 16, and Kenyon, 15, died from shotgun blasts to the head. As it turned out, the tests exposed contamination at the lab. 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. As the sun set shortly after 5 p.m. on December 30, 1959, a driver stopped a 1956 Chevrolet . On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Maybe the killer was a relative who bore some grudge against the Walkers or simply wished to engage in his carnal fantasies. To have a theory was one thing; to have proof was another. 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." Several problems. Despite this, many still believe that Hickock and Smith are the most likely suspects in the slaying. It sounds like his night could have been too busy to carry out the crimes. Clark said he still hoped to get Christine's DNA, to clear up longstanding confusion. More than half a dozen cuttings came from Christine's underwear alone, with multiple partial DNA samples detected, as well as a stain containing a single sperm cell. Courtesy of Las Vegas Review-Journal Archive. "It was them, the 'In Cold Blood' killers," he'd said. On December 19, 1959, the entire Walker family was brutally murdered in their home in Osprey, Florida. 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. A bloodied high heel shoe was found at the scene, suggesting that Christine fought hard against her attacker, and possibly injured him. Instead, it was parked a cars width to one side, possibly indicating that another car was parked in her usual spot when she arrived. Capt. I am a freelance long-form writer who writes on true crime, politics, history and more. Recently, she'd told Myers she'd found a picture of Hickock with two small marks on his chin. Giasone wasn't sure why previous leaders didn't pursue additional testing 10 years ago. It did not match the semen at the scene. Myers, 71, had pleaded for answers most of his life, sometimes dropping into the sheriff's office when the phone fell quiet. Smith and Hickock denied participation and claimed they were in Miami, four hours away. It is therefore believed that Smith and Hickock may have gained entry to the Walker home on the pretense of selling their car. 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. Yes! Baby Debbie, they found in the bathtub, facedown in 4 inches of water, also shot in the head. "Do you realize, in December, it's going to be 64 years?".