He confessed to everything, even crimes with which he was obviously uninvolved. Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders: With Beth Tedrow, Larry Welch, Kevin Bascue, Gwyneth Frack. 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. The entire Walker family was dead, all murdered, including the children. 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. 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. Their funding has helped to solve about 2,000 violent crimes, including killings by the Golden State Killer and the Boston Strangler. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. (The Walkers and McLeods were both employed by the wealthy Palmer family, on whose ranch land they both lived.) "However," the release said, "DNA testing seems unlikely to provide conclusive evidence one way or the other.". He had no criminal record. 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. Im not sure which theory I favor. Both had relatively minor items stolen. At around 3:30 PM on December 19, 24-year-old Christine pulled into the family farm after running a few errands. Wilburs alibi doesnt start until after the murders. Cliff was ambushed and killed by gunshot. Capote's book detailing the Kansas crime would come out in 1966. The pair got away with a radio, a set of binoculars, and less than $50. And if he didn't push for this, who would? He then took them to Rose Hill Cemetery and proceeded to bury them all alive. Christine had grown up in one of those households. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement had lost an early semen sample from Christine's underwear. Now the killer turned to Debbie and shot her too. The Walker family was laid to rest in Arcadia, Florida on December 22, 1959. The folks at the gas station told him the Walkers were dead, and they took him to the house where he fell apart. He hooked up his horse trailer, loaded his horse, and set off in good spirits for the day ahead. Join Mike and Gibby for this 'Best Of' episode as they discuss the facts of the murders and walk through the various suspects. He'd had an alibi for most of the evening, she explained. www.dailymail.co.uk. The house was dark as McLeod approached, but as he got closer, he saw a light flickering through the window. Through the years there have been almost 600 suspects but to this date, the case remains unsolved. The sheriff had Hickock and Smith's pictures published on the front page of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. 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 . (Staff Photo by BILLY HEFTON . Christine, his half-sister, was dead - beaten, raped and shot with two different handguns. Now Myers related to McGath what he'd heard from Clark: Though not a conclusive match, Tooker could not be discounted. Despite these clues, and despite upward of 500 suspects over the years, the case could not be solved. So, again, he dialed the detective he trusted most. This peeved Myers. Several problems. By continuing to browse, you accept the use of cookies and other technologies. The case wasnt a priority, and it would be August of 2013 before the results came in. They likely had been comparing their suspects all these years to Christine herself. 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. The docuseries features people who knew her well and remember her as a great hostess and a lot of fun. interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders. Theyd only been married for five years. 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. Hickock and Smith slaughtered the Clutter family on November 15, 1959 in Holcomb, Kansas, about 34 days before the Walker family homicide. The husband was stabbed, while the wife was raped and shot. The Christmas tragedy that fell on Osprey in 1959 was an unimaginable horror and one that by all rights deserved justice. Police are said to have investigated Butchs father, but never even spoke to Butch. Last Updated On: November 20th, 2019. Love triangles can certainly make people do crazy things, but killing small children? Now her strokes had robbed her of articulation. Myers asked, five rows of wrinkles amassing above his large blue eyes. Don met the deputies at a local grocery and led them to the horrifying scene. He'd played his violin - badly, according to the conductor - at a concert in Bradenton. Days later, he received a return call. Brandon Clark done, since they'd met a year and a half earlier, to solve the murder of his sister? Boyer's conviction about a local killer influenced the probe for decades. Entering, she wasnt attacked straight away and had enough time to store the groceries before she was ambushed by the assailant or assailants. On the night of the murders, at least seven men had been fishing at a nearby creek. 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. Considering how far away the Walkers lived, and the fact that Christine stopped to put air in the tires, its likely she would have arrived home around 4. When they were arrested, they had a pocket knife similar to the one described as missing from Cliff Walkers body. Before she left the agency, McGath said, her supervisors declined her requests to do more genetic testing of the stain. 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. An agency spokesperson declined to comment. A Florida Department of Law Enforcement serology supervisor confirmed the news to McGath and apologized. 4 The Walker Family Murder. Deputies were already working hard in the Walker home when the sheriff arrived. Described as wild, he was violent and boisterous when drunk, many believing him to be mentally unwell. In recent years, as suspicion amassed around the "In Cold Blood" killers, Myers grasped at the hope of closure. [6] The case remains open. Evidence is the exact same in both cases. [13] Said relative was later proven innocent through DNA testing.[14]. Tire tracks from the mystery car were likely gone now that there was a police vehicle parked in its place. Most agencies, including Sarasota, do not. Sarasota Sheriff Ross E. Boyer believed he was searching for someone local. McLeod also fell under suspicion. Three-year-old Jimmie entered the house at the same time as his father and was also shot. Could the two men behind the infamous Clutter family murders have killed the Walkers as well? The second one didnt miss. Could they have crossed paths and made arrangements to trade cars? All had been shot in the head. It doesnt seem like thats what happened to me. His femur turned up another unknown female profile. 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. She earned praise for securing confessions and for her enthusiasm and empathy. Arriving at the house when Christine was alone, she wouldnt have suspected their real intention. 1959. It's important to keep that in perspective.". Kimberly McGath in 2013 and last summer. The mix-ups made McGath wonder about the evidence already tested. 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. Many justice experts recommend prioritizing cases where an arrest can be made. Courtesy of Las Vegas Review-Journal Archive. It is said that he complained to psychiatrists about homicidal tendencies. 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. Christine lay barefoot, bruised and bloody, her pink flowered dress pulled up, her slips and petticoats in a muddle. Due to the passage of time, only partial samples could be retrieved from the bodies, and these could not be matched to samples taken from the Walker home. 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. At some point the assailant moved her body to the living room and made attempts to clean up the scene. Worrying that the family had succumbed to a gas leak, he broke in with his pocket knife. 1. First published on February 6, 2023 / 12:00 PM. 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. Smith and Hickock denied participation and claimed they were in Miami, four hours away. He and his sister, Novella Cascarella, had spoken with the agency more than 15 years ago about exhuming Christine. The notes for the planned book ran to 8,000 pages. In her final report in 2013, McGath said she believed there was enough circumstantial evidence to tie Hickock and Smith to the Walker murders. Robbery was ruled out pretty quickly, though some things were taken from the house. Herbert Clutter, his wife Bonnie, and their two youngest children, Nancy and Kenyon . 2 men found drugged after leaving NYC gay bars were killed, medical examiner says. Capt. A similar circular print had been found in blood near Christine's body and at the Kansas scene. 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 ex-cons thought that the Clutters, who owned River Valley Farm in Holcomb, Kansas, had a safe containing $10,000 in cash in their house. One of them had a scratched face. They also stopped to put air in the tires, and probably arrived home at about 4:30. The town is small, comprising just a few thousand people, and residents enjoyed the relative peace that comes alongside that. "This case don't want to be solved," he said. 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. 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. In February of 2018, DNA testing found that Smith did not provide the semen at the Walker crime scene. 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. She wasnt accosted immediately as she entered her home. Myers wanted to feel relief. Emmett Monroe Spencer was a multi-murderer who was captured some time after the Walker massacre. Solving these murders, McGath believed, was also about sending a message that law enforcement would doggedly pursue old crimes despite the passage of time. "[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. Not to mention this type of slut-shaming and victim-blaming has prevented real justice in our system for generations. 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 surviving relatives of Bonnie Clutter who hated In Cold Blood because it portrayed her as emotionally impaired weren't necessarily just being defensive. Christine had a lot of admirers. In 2010, however, over 50 years after the crime, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office took another crack at the Walker family murders case. Hickock, a car mechanic and father from Kansas, had suffered a severe head injury in a car accident when he was 19.