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Clutter homicides
On this day, Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Edward Smith drove to Holcomb, Kansas with intentions to rob and kill the Clutter family. They only stole about $40 and a radio, and brutally killed four members of the family: Herbert, Bonnie, Nancy, and Kenyon Clutter. The killers bound and gagged their victims, and shot them in the head with a .22 shotgun, while standing a few inches away from them. Along with being shot in the head, Herbert Clutter's throat had also been slit open. -
Murder story revealed
Floyd wells, a former inmate of Hickock hears the story of the Clutter murders on the radio and realizes that it must have been Hickock and his friend Perry who murdered them. He was a previous employee at the Clutter family, and had told Hickock about them, and had mentioned that they were wealthy. Hickock then revealed to Floyd that he would rob and kill the Clutters with his friend Perry , in exactly the way that the murders had been done. The motive of the crime was revealed to be theft. -
Hickock and Smith arrested
Richard Hickock and Perry Smith are arrested by four officers from the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, for writing bad checks and parole violations. They are taken to the Las Vegas city jail. -
the first interview
Hickock and Smith are separately interviewed by the KBI officers who arrested them. Hickock is interviewed by Harold Nye and Roy Church, and smith is interviewed by Alvin Dewey and Clarence Duntz. At first they are not informed of the true nature of the interview, and explain to the officers everything that they did, and everywhere they had been since November 14 1959. The officers then accuse them of mass murdering the Clutters, and both of the accused, deny the claims. -
Murderers confess
Hickock was told that he would be taken to Kansas and be charged on four accounts of first degree murder so he said it was Perry who had killed the Clutters. Perry confessed while being driven to Kansas. He was told that Hickock had confessed, and was told that he said that Perry had once beaten a man to death. Upon hearing this Perry confessed by saying that he had never killed anyone and had made up the story in case they were ever caught, so he would know if Dick actually confessed. -
Murder Trial Begins
This was the first day Of Hickock and Smith's murder trial. The venue of the trial was discussed a lot before the trial, because most of the people in Garden City were well acquainted with the Clutters, and were very angry with the perpetrators. The people would likely want Smith and Hickock to suffer a lot, and face capital punishment. The jury could be prejudiced because of the Clutters status in the community. -
Verdict decided
Hickock and Smith were deemed guilty by a jury of 12 men. They were decreed guilty of four cases of first degree murder, and were sentenced to death by hanging. -
First execution date
This was the first execution date that was set for Hickock and Smith. They were scheduled to be hanged at one minute past midnight, but they evaded their deaths because the Kansas Supreme Court had granted them a stay awaiting the outcome of their appeals for a new trial, which had been filed for by their lawyers. -
Second execution date
This was the second execution date that was set for Hickock and Smith, after Judge Thiele of the Kansas Supreme Court decided that they had received a constitutionally fair trial. Their verdict was therefore kept the same, and this was the new execution date that was established. -
Death of the Clutter slayers
After years of delays, the Clutter murderers were finally hanged for their crimes on the gallows at the Kansas State Prison. This was the end of Richard Eugene Hickock's life, who died first at 12:41 a.m. at the age of 33. Perry Edward Smith died second, aged 36, at 1:19 a.m. This was the day that the investigators who worked tirelessly on the case finally got closure, and could conclude their case.
