Herbert Clutter, 48, his wife, Bonnie, 45, their daughter, Nancy Mae, 16 and son Kenyon, 15, were bound hand and foot and gagged. What started as a robbery ended in the violent deaths of the mother, father, and two teenaged children. Finding out who had murdered Christine had consumed his family for decades, and now, with many of them dead or far-flung, it had fallen on him to keep up the pressure. Some families, she knew, played their traumas over and over 50 or 60 years later. Cliffs cousin Elbert Walker came into town for no reason the day after the murders. But evidence suggests that it wasnt too long before the attack began. Capt. "I put a lot of faith in that," said Ron Albritton, a retired Sarasota detective and distant cousin of Cliff's who oversaw the inquiry through the 1980s and 90s. All Rights Reserved. McLeod hastily ran from the house and called the police. He caught a glimpse of Cliffs wife Christines feet on the floor, toes pointed toward the ceiling. A lieutenant told him that Clark had presented the plan to the sheriff. Consequently, investigators have stated that Smith and Hickock still remain the most viable suspects. Meanwhile, Tooker was seen as a local pervert, having tried to kiss Christine in the past, and regularly making indecent propositions. There is ample circumstantial evidence to suggest that Smith and Hickock may have been responsible for the Walker family murders. 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 Tooker died in the mid-sixties, and I dont believe theyve tried to salvage DNA from his long-buried remains. Brandon Clark done, since they'd met a year and a half earlier, to solve the murder of his sister? Through the years there have been almost 600 suspects but to this date, the case remains unsolved. interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders. Unfortunately, the results proved inconclusive. [5], Physical evidence left at the scene included a bloody cowboy boot, a cellophane strip from a Kool cigarette wrapper, and a fingerprint on the bathtub faucet handle. The infamous killers hanged for the murders of a Kansas family may have also been responsible for the deaths of another family in Florida. But like other detectives, he had to handle them alongside other investigations. 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. 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 . Christine, his half-sister, was dead - beaten, raped and shot with two different handguns. Who Killed the Walker Family? : The Tragic and Unsolved case - Medium He and his sister, Novella Cascarella, had spoken with the agency more than 15 years ago about exhuming Christine. In Cold Blood: The Brutal 1959 Murder of the Walker Family - The Lineup Cliff and Jimmie were slumped in the corner, and upstairs, Debbie lay in a blood-filled bath. There was a problem. interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders On December 19, 1959, Christine and Cliff Walker and their two children were murdered at their home in Osprey, Florida. He said . They didnt find it; Herb, in reality, did all his business by check and there was no safe. And what appeared to be a bloody fingerprint on the family's faucet apparently did not match either man. Enid man recalls scene of 1959 murders - Enidnews.com (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. 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. In 2010, however, over 50 years after the crime, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office took another crack at the Walker family murders case. "[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. Christine asked Lucy if she could use their telephone. Out of ammunition, the killer took the baby to the bathroom and drowned her in the bathtub. 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. Christmas is usually a time of good cheer, good food, and good times spent with family. It seemed to authorities for years that he would never be ruled out, but when technology changed, he was happy to provide a sample of DNA. Angered, the two robbers woke the family: Herb, 48; his wife, Bonnie, 45; and their two teenage children Nancy, 16, and Kenyon, 15. All were shot in the head. [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. Bodies of 'In Cold Blood' killers are exhumed in Kansas in effort to On Nov. 15, 1959, the Clutter family home was the scene of an unforgettable tragedy. However, for one Florida family, the Christmas season became a nightmare.. 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. A special was scrawled on the chalkboard: half a barbecue chicken and two sides for $7.95. There have been minor developments in the case in the years since the scent went cold. Scientists managed to capture partial DNA for both of the men, however. interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders Or herself. The Walkers were looking for a car. In 2012, their bodies were exhumed to have DNA extracted to . The actual cause of death is unknown, and she could have been shot in the bathtub. They were shot one by one. 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. She wasnt accosted immediately as she entered her home. Arriving at the house when Christine was alone, she wouldnt have suspected their real intention. Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders: With Beth Tedrow, Larry Welch, Kevin Bascue, Gwyneth Frack. The next morning, McLeod dropped by to go hog hunting with Cliff. Hickock had once said his philosophy was to "leave no witnesses.". [Via: Wikipedia; NY Daily News; Tampa Bay Times;Daily Mail], Featured Photo of The Walkers: What Lies Beyond. He'd opened the place after two decades in the orange groves. It was time to give Clark, the Sarasota detective, another nudge. McGath understood why Myers needed this. 10 Surprises from Cold-Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders Cliff was 25. Nov 14, 2022 at 9:00 am. The agency issued a press release, noting Hickock and Smith were the most likely suspects. The order of killings of the family members down to the way they were killed. 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. Sarasota Police sent out county deputies to investigate. 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. 15) Tony von Carruthers: In February of 1994, Tony shot his mother, her teenage associate, and his drug dealer in the Memphis area. The Walkers and their two toddlers were murdered on December 19, 1959 in Osprey, Florida. There was a bloody and discarded cowboy boot, a cellophane strip from a cigarette wrapper, and a fingerprint on the bathtub faucet. Capote had insisted that the pair had an alibi for the time of the killings. However, the Clutter family killing resulted from false information, with the home deliberately targeted in the belief it contained significant cash. Just a few months after the massacre, bloody clothing from the Walker home was uncovered in a shed not far away. 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 . Clutter Family Murders | Garden City Police Department This week on Out of the Past: The Walker Family Massacre. He kept making unwanted advances, and eventually Christine told her husband about her fear. 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. High among them: The killers made infamous in Truman Capote's true crime classic "In Cold Blood.". They wondered if this could be some sort of revenge killing. As she organized boxes of witness statements, ballistics reports and crime scene photographs into an 8,000-page digital record, more clues - and gaps - emerged. Learn more about the murder scene by using the interactive graphic below. Herbert Clutter, his wife Bonnie, and their two youngest children, Nancy and Kenyon . The Dardeen Family Murders Morbidology After six decades, several police agencies had destroyed or misplaced evidence connected to the Walkers. June 7, 2021: Margaret "Maggie" Murdaugh and Paul Murdaugh found dead at the family hunting lodge. Together, they interviewed hundreds of locals and the investigators working on the case. While a polygraph test appeared to clear them of the Walker murders, at least one expert has asserted that polygraph machines of the early 1960s were notoriously inaccurate. It was hard to imagine, McGath often told Myers, in their sometimes meandering phone calls, that anyone wouldn't classify the men as suspects. He was photographed outside the house the day the bodies were discovered - with no marks on him, McGath commented. But I dont know. The sheriff's office recently said it did not have any transcripts of those interviews. 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. "[8] In 1994, a bartender in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania contacted the Sarasota County Sheriffs Office, claiming that one of her customers had boasted of killing the Walker family; this tip was never verified.[9]. They were inconclusive. Cliff, who earned $55 a week managing a herd of deep red cows, wanted to trade in his wife's 1952 Plymouth. Junk science was enough to clear Youmans in the eyes of authorities. It was cold, but not expressly so, and he was headed to meet his friend and co-worker Cliff Walker to go hog hunting. The culprits were eventually arrested six weeks after the killings in Las Vegas and ultimately executed by hanging on April 14, 1965. [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.