01x01 - Farm Family Slain

[bunniefuu]

Reporter: In Holcomb, Kansas,
just west of Garden City,

this is the house in which
the Herbert Clutter family lived

and the house in which
they were m*rder*d.

Edwards: This isn't something
that happens to real people

in real life.

This can't be real.

Man #1: This case occurred
on November the 15th, 1959,

when a father, a mother,

and their two teenage children
were m*rder*d,

bound and gagged and shot
in the head with a shotgun.

Cullivan: He said,
"As I pulled the trigger,

I could see
his head split apart."

My God. How horrible.

**

**

Man #2: "I came out of prison
embittered, ruthless,

and emotionally unstable.

A few months later,
I committed the unforgivable."

Tedrow: It truly made
a different community.

There was fear
for the first time.

We didn't know
who did it or why.

Everybody was on edge.

Man #3:
The murders would have been

the only subject people
were talking about.

This was national news.

Crable: You can't separate
"In Cold Blood" and true crime.

There will never be
another book like this one.

Walters: Everyone knows
of the impact the book had

on journalism, on Kansas.

I wonder, what was
the impact on you?

Clarke: Truman said the whole
experience of "In Cold Blood"

scratched him down
to the marrow of his bones.

Edwards: There was Capote
in front of the house,

and it seemed like
a real invasion.

He had no business there.

Quakenbush: Even today, two
strangers coming into your house

at night and k*lling
all the family members present

would still be shocking.

They took away from a community,
a family. Why?

It couldn't have been
just money. Really?

**

**

All right.
My name is Anne Jones,

and this is my husband
Bob Jones.

We've been married for 51 years
and live in Garden City, Kansas.

And that's the end
of that story.

[Laughs]
You're a lot of help, Bob.

**

Well I grew up
west of Holcomb.

Holcomb was unincorporated,
and it was small.

And Main Street
was a dirt street.

The front door of the post
office never was locked.

You could get on your
Stingray bicycle

and ride to the park or local
zoo or anyplace you wanted.

We didn't fear anything.

I remember riding horses
in the sand hills all by myself.

I thought nothing of it.
I'd get on and go.

Penick: You would go to
the grocery store

and you'd see people
that you knew and you just --

you didn't really
know a stranger.

It was a good place to live,

and the Clutters

were a vibrant family,

and they were

a prominent family.

**

Tedrow: Eveanna and Beverly,
the two oldest girls

or surviving girls, were just
real leaders, both of them.

Beverly was in nursing school,

and Eveanna was married
and living in Nebraska.

Woman:
When this tragedy happened,

Eveanna was 23
and Beverly was 21,

and that's so young to have
to deal with all of this.

They felt like if we don't
give any interviews,

then we're not going to
sensationalize it even further

so it will just go away,

you know that whole story
will just disappear.

But this story just doesn't
ever want to go away

and so I think to correct
some of these misconceptions

that people have had
for a very, very long time,

I'm okay with that.

Who were these people and
what have they passed onto us?

Who was Grandma?

Who was Grandpa?

Mr. Clutter.
He's a great guy.

He was easily met.

When you walked into a room,
he wanted to talk to you.

Edwards: Uncle Herbert was
my mom's favorite brother.

One thing that I think of always
is just that feeling of safety.

You know, being in
Uncle Herbert's house

or in his company felt secure.

And you felt as though
you were in good hands.

Herb was active
in the Methodist Church,

and active in
Garden City Co-op,

and he was a pretty
large farmer.

**

Murrow:
This is River Valley Farm,

owned by Herb Clutter.

He has slightly more
than 640 acres.

**

**

**

This is Herb Clutter's combine.

It reaps, threshes,
and pours a stream

of golden wheat out the spout.

Herb Clutter explains.

This is only a part
of the machinery

needed to operate
an ordinary sized farm.

And, in order to make
these farms economical,

you certainly have to
have a farm big enough

in order to use
this machinery efficiently

and pay for the investment
that you have.

Tedrow: He was very well
thought of in agriculture.

The family made a big difference
in Garden City

and were well respected.

And it was devastating
the Sunday morning

when we heard the word
that they had been k*lled.

**

[Rooster crowing]

[Birds chirping]

[Church bells tolling]

Welch: It was Sunday morning
the 15th of November

and as I recall, two girlfriends
of Nancy went to the Clutters.

Every Sunday morning,
they go to church together.

Man: "Somewhere between 5
and 10 minutes after 9:00 a.m.,

we arrived there
at the Clutter residence.

My daughter got out
and rang the doorbell."

[Doorbell ringing]

Young woman: "I rang the bell
several times and got no answer.

I went around to the back door
and knocked.

We saw that the cars
were in the garage

and everything looked normal."

**

Girl: "The Ewalts came to our
house and wondered if we knew

where the Clutters were
that morning,

and we didn't, so we called
the Clutter house.

No one answered."

Man: "So she said, 'Well I'm
sure if Nancy Clutter had gone

someplace, she would've
called me first.

Lets go out, maybe
they're still sleeping.'"

**

Welch: They went off to
the Clutter house,

rang the doorbell,
nobody came to the door.

They opened the door,
it was unlocked,

and they went in yelling,

"Nancy, Nancy, its time
to go to church!"

[Bird crying]

Girl: "We could see that
they hadn't been out,

because the kitchen
was untouched,

there wasn't any dishes.

Nancy's purse was just laying
next to the back door.

It was open."

Young woman: "I went
through the kitchen,

then we got to the foot
of the stairs.

I still received no answer,
so we went upstairs.

Susan was a few steps
ahead of me.

She looked in Nancy's room
and screamed

and ran out of the house.

I didn't know why she screamed,
so I went on into the room.

I saw Nancy in bed.

I thought she was just
sleeping or something,

so I went over to shake her
to try to wake her up.

Then, I saw blood
all over the wall."

**

Man: "The first thing
that entered my mind

was to get an ambulance.

I went in the back door
and went to use the phone.

As I reached for it,

I noticed the receiver
was off the hook.

Then, I noticed that the
phone wires had been cut.

I immediately got in the car,
went to a phone,

and called the police.

I told them that something
was radically wrong

at the Clutter residence."

**

[Wind blowing]

Welch:
The sheriff, Earl Robinson,

a dear friend
of that family.

He knew the kids,
he knew Mr. and Mrs. Clutter,

and he came out.

**

And now we're entering
what would have been

the private property or the
private lane of the Clutters,

basically the driveway
to their residence.

The house is just right
over here to the right.

Man:
I received the call on the radio

that there had been
a bad accident in Holcomb.

Mr. Ewalt led the way
upstairs to Nancy's room,

and upon entering, we seen
that something had happened.

And, Mr. Ewalt said,

"Well, we gotta be looking
for the rest of them."

When you see four people
that you know

so savagely m*rder*d
like that,

and he knew the family,
that's gonna hurt even more.

Bascue: I can imagine it
would've been some shock.

It's something that
you're just not accustomed to,

but then to find four
in one house from one family

had to be something that
they probably never had seen

and that I had never heard
of happening in this community

up until that time.

I'm not real keen on
talking about it.

You didn't talk about it
after it happened, did you?

No.

At home? No.

Nobody talked about it.
Nobody.

My family never talked about it.

My mother never mentioned it.

It was too painful,

and I realized that there
is a period of time

in which something is
literally unspeakable.

It's unspeakable.

**

Was there any sign
of a struggle in the house?

And have you called in
any extra state help

to help you
in this investigation?

**

Bascue: Sheriff Earl Robinson,
I'm sure, when he responded

was overwhelmed by the crime
scene and knew immediately

that it was well beyond
what his department

was going to be able to work.

So it was very quickly turned
over into the competent hands

of the Kansas Bureau
of Investigation

and in particular, Alvin Dewey,

who assumed the lead agent
status.

Welch: Al Dewey was
an excellent investigator

and well respected
by law enforcement.

Not a lot of smoke
and mirrors around him,

and he arrived pretty quick.

He lived in Garden City.

And he went to the same church
as the Clutters.

* God, our father

Paul: I remember that morning
at the church,

and something seemed very wrong,
people were very upset.

And what I learned
is that the police

had come to get my dad.

**

I definitely remember thinking

something very bad
has happened.

**

Al:
The scene at the Clutter home

was not a pretty sight.

Mr. Clutter was found
in the furnace room,

bound and gagged,

shot in the head
with a 12-gauge shotgun,

and his throat cut.

Their only son, Kenyon, was in
another room in the basement,

tied to the couch,
bound and gagged,

and shot in the head
with a shotgun.

In the upstairs, the mother,
Bonnie Clutter,

was found in her room,
bound and gagged,

and shot in the side
of the head with a shotgun.

Nancy, the 16-year-old girl,
was found in bed,

bound, and shot in
the back of the head

with a 12-gauge shotgun.

**

Edwards: "One time when we were

and trying to say
our bedtime prayers,

we could not remember
the lines we had memorized.

'Give us this day
our daily bread

and forgive us our trespasses

as we forgive those
who trespass against us.'

But we couldn't
remember the order.

We couldn't remember how
to get past the trespasses."

Al: Any family that was least
likely to have been m*rder*d

should have been
the Clutter family.

Edwards: "If I should die
before I wake,

I pray the Lord my soul to keep,

but we kept missing a line.

It was something
between sleeping and dying."

Al: They were a good
Christian family,

very active
in the church, the school.

Edwards: "And did you pray
the Lord to keep your soul

when you were sleeping
and take it if you died?

Or did he take it
while you were sleeping

and keep it if you died."

Al: Because
of the family reputation

and their standing
in the community,

we were at a loss
as to why these vicious,

brutal, and senseless murders
had occurred.

**

[Birds chirping]

**

Edwards: My cousin Nancy
was born a month before I was.

Though we were the same age,

we just sort of grew up the same
time in sort of the same ways,

except her life was very
different than mine.

Anyway, these are some letters.

This is 1958, so this is a year
and a half before they died.

"Dear Diana, how is
everybody there?

Mother has the flu,
but the rest of us are okay.

You're planning on coming up
this summer, aren't you?

Do you like Tommy?
How many more do you like?"

[Chuckles] God.

"Gone to any parties lately?"
she says.

"Boy, I have.
We had three Friday.

I had one that night
after the ball game until 12:00.

The whole high school was here."

That last summer she had just
redecorated the basement,

so they did have a lot
of parties at their house.

She was responsible like
all of the family members

in terms of doing things
in the community

and going to church and, you
know, she was a good student.

But Nancy had a mind of her own,
that was for sure.

"I told Bob Friday night

that I wouldn't go
with anyone else anymore

so I guess we're
halfway going steady.

Mother doesn't know it.

The things he says
to me, well..."

[Chuckles]

"Love, Nancy."

She was boy crazy, you know?

But she really liked Bobby Rupp.

Rupp: We were in the same class,

so we knew each other
from 1st grade on.

She was just a very friendly,
outgoing person.

Plus, to me,
she was very pretty.

[Laughs]

I did go to the Clutter home
and spent the evening.

I left shortly after 10:00.

We were planning on going
to a midnight movie

on Saturday night,

and Herb suggested
that we go on Friday night.

Had we not gone on Friday night
and gone on Saturday night,

how much different things
might have been.

**

Do you have any leads
at the present time

on who might have committed
this quadruple m*rder?

Bascue: Alvin Dewey,
who was a local agent,

became the lead agent
in the case,

and assisted
by other KBI agents.

Welch: Al Dewey, Harold Nye,

Roy Church, and Clarence Duntz,

those four in particular
carried most of the load,

and they were
extremely experienced.

Al: We took photographs
of every room in the house...

...and, of course,
of the victims.

We searched for latent
fingerprints.

And there was a footprint
that was made on the floor

in the basement by an individual

who had stepped in some blood
of Mr. Clutter.

The laboratory could tell us
the name of the half sole

on this boot,
which was a cat paw half sole.

**

**

Edwards: "On Sunday afternoon,
my parents were still

out fishing in their boat.

A few minutes after I got home,

a 12-year-old neighbor
brought a note to the door.

'This came while you were gone,

and they left it with us
to give to you.'

The message was from the police.

'Clutter family m*rder*d
in Holcomb.'

That is all it said,
no details --

just a number to call
for the local police.

I was scared.

It felt like there was
no ground under me.

Nothing solid, nothing familiar.

Finally, shaking so much
I could barely talk,

or dial the telephone,

I called the number
on that message.

The message was real.

The police did not
have any details either,

just that four members
of the Herb Clutter family

in Holcomb, Kansas,

had been found dead
that morning in their home.

Uncle Herbert was my mom's
favorite brother,

the one who hadn't teased her
when she was a little girl,

the one who was her protector.

How could I tell my mother

that her brother and most
of his family were dead?

Who could have any
reason to k*ll them?"

**

Al: We find that m*rder

is usually committed
for a definite cause.

That is during a robbery,
a raid, or because of a grudge.

The only thing missing
from the Clutter home

was a little portable radio
and a pair of binoculars.

Thomas: When you look at
that type of a crime scene

with four people k*lled
and you see minute items taken,

that's usually
an afterthought.

There was a different motive
that brought them to that house

than a transistor radio
and a pair of binoculars.

There was a supposition
early on that it must've been

somebody local or somebody
who knew the Clutters,

because there was a certain
brutality to the murders,

as if there was
some personal vendetta.

We didn't know
who did it or why,

whether it was local
or just...

so, you know,
everybody was...

Everybody was on edge.

My father worked at
a hardware store in Garden City.

By noon on Monday
after the murders,

his hardware store and probably
every other hardware store

in town had sold out of locks.

There was an atmosphere of fear.

People were scared.

Maybe it was somebody
that they saw

when they were walking
down the street,

or at school,
or at any business.

The Clutter case happened
when one in three homicides

were committed by someone,
you know, associated

or a family member.

So, of course,
they had their general pool

of suspects emanating from the
family out to the associates,

out to the neighborhood.

Al: On the afternoon prior
to the m*rder,

Mr. Clutter took out $40,000
worth of life insurance,

double indemnity,
and as a result,

his two remaining daughters
are $40,000 richer today

than they would have been.

But in our investigation,

we found that
this insurance deal

had been in the brewing,
so to speak, for several months.

That theory was
quickly eliminated.

Edwards: Bobby Rupp was
under investigation.

Informants said that Mr. Clutter
had not approved of him.

Al: We had to take into
consideration

the position
of Nancy Clutter's body.

She had been shot
in the back of the head

while the other three
members of the family

had been looking
at the individual

that pulled the trigger
of that shotgun.

We had to think about
the boyfriend --

someone that could sh**t
the other members of the family

looking them in the face, but,
uh, couldn't do it to Nancy.

**

**

**

**

**

**

He was first questioned,
and then later given the chance

to take a polygraph,
which he passed.

But because
of that questioning, uh,

people automatically
came to a conclusion

that he must have been
the one who did it.

Kids at school treated him
differently so much so

that he eventually ended up
transferring

from Holcomb High School
to Garden City High School

just to get away from it.

**

They were receiving
lots and lots of tips

that they were following up on,

and the majority of those

were friends or acquaintances

or even business dealings
with Mr. Clutter from this area.

**

**

**

**

**

You know, from a law
enforcement perspective,

once you get beyond 72 hours,
it goes advantage criminal.

The ball was shifting
to their favor

because they've had more time
to put distance

between them and the event,

to get rid of any evidence

that could tie them
to the case.

So, those first 72 hours
is your best time

of finding those connections,

and in this case, you know,
the 72 hours had passed

and still, you know,
there's no real suspect.

**

Reporter: The agriculture
department today

released its official estimates
of this year's winter --

Man: "I just finished washing
when I heard a newscast start."

But once again, the weather
could ruin the whole picture.

Man: "Nothing was mentioned
about any k*lling,

and I wondered if I had
only dreamed about the Clutters.

Maybe I hadn't been involved
in k*lling anyone at all.

I thought about the blood
on the floor of my car.

If I had only dreamed
about the Clutters,

there definitely wouldn't
be any blood in my car.

**

There really is nothing
to k*lling a person.

It happens every day.

All my life I've been told
I'd never amount to anything.

Well, after the Clutter deal,

nobody will be able to say
d*ck Hickock never did

anything worthwhile.

I'll wait till they catch me,
if they do."

[Birds chirping]

**

Edwards:
"To the funeral in Garden City,

I wore the brown suit
and the dress shoes

that we had gotten
for the Homecoming game --

my first suit,
and my first pair

of spiked heels
with pointed toes.

Getting out of the car
at the church,

I wasn't sure I could walk
without falling or tripping.

**

Inside, the afternoon light
was flowing through

the big stained glass windows
of the First Methodist Church.

Four black, closed caskets
were lined up,

single file behind
the altar rail.

'We're grown up now, Nancy,'
I said silently.

'We can't get any more
grown up than this.'"

Tedrow: There were over a
thousand people at the funeral,

and the choir sang.

I just remember the sunlight

coming through
the stained glass.

**

**

**

**

**

Edwards: "Vigilant policemen
sat and stood among us,

as did plainclothes detectives

from the Kansas Bureau
of Investigation.

Herbert's surviving daughters,
my cousins Beverly and Eveanna,

were supported on either side
by the men who loved them.

It didn't make
any difference now

that they had
always been so good,

that they had always
gone to church,

and our family
almost never went.

We were all together now,

except I could walk out into the
pale November sunshine again,

and they couldn't.

They were better than I was,
and they were dead.

And I was still alive."

**

Welch: There was
a close relationship

between Al Dewey
and the sheriff

and the local media.

There was a reward.

The amount was $1,000,

and it was offered not
by law enforcement,

but by The Hutchinson News,

a newspaper
in Hutchinson, Kansas.

Man: Calls and bits
of information poured in.

Some were promising,
some were farfetched,

and others bordered on gossip.

Woman #1:
His partner Charles Taylor
just has the worst temper.

Man #1: Clutter had
a feud with Pete Preston.

Man #2: Phil Plumb says Clutter

was not as virtuous
as people thought.

Man #3: Someone stole a pick-up
down here in Enid.

Woman #2: A hand
who knows how to tie...

Man #4: ...Had his foot cut off

in an accident
at the Clutter farm.

Woman #3:
...Is a very mean individual.

Woman #4: ...Said Clutter
poisoned his dog.

Man #5: ...Is a mental case
who had a dislike for Clutter.

Man #6: And Clutter fired him.

Woman #5: Said he was
going to get even.

Man: In all, 250 people wrote
or called with tips.

One after another just fizzled.

All the leads, all the potential
leads, just did not pan out.

Thomas: At the end of those,
basically, six days,

they didn't have a suspect
coming to the top,

so they weren't finding evidence
of people with revenge motives

that I am aware of.

**

Edwards: "After the funeral,

some of those practical
Methodist aunts

decided that we should go to
the house and sort belongings

so that the girls,
Beverly and Eveanna,

wouldn't have to do it.

I think the police should have
kept us out of there.

**

I sat there and noticed
in whatever room

they were working in.

'Elaine, what should we do
with this clock?'

'Can Beverly use this
in her new house?'

How could any of them care
what happened to those things?

I felt that I was literally
trying to hold onto my mind

and at serious risk
of losing it.

When my mother started
going through

Nancy's drawers and closet,

it felt like
a violation of privacy.

I knew Nancy would not
want her aunts

or anyone looking
through her things.

How could the aunts and uncles
be in that house

and not feel the terror,
the isolation?

A hundred practical,
common sense, nosy aunts

could not have dispelled
the sickness of that house

and made it safe
as it had always been before.

It was a beautiful house.

Herbert and Bonnie
had designed it themselves,

but nobody should ever
have gone in it again."

**

Woman: They were very proud
when they built this house.

There were a couple of
different articles about it.

Grandma Bonnie was very, very
good at all of the housekeeping,

organizing parties.

They did a lot of hosting.

meetings, Co-op parties.

She was a very
great entertainer.

This was her scrapbook.

Bonnie Clutter, born in 1914,

Grandma Bonnie in
high school graduation.

She really wanted to
finish nursing training,

but she had
an appendectomy,

and back in those days, you were
out for a very long time,

and she wasn't able to finish.

Woman: She loved being outdoors
and teaching the children

about God's creation.

She would have them be quiet

and listen to all
the sounds around them.

Edwards: Aunt Bonnie was
very engaged in the family.

She was really very much
a mother and a teacher.

Tedrow:
Bonnie was a beautiful woman.

She was reserved,
but she was a true lady.

Edwards: I think of her as just
somebody that helped me learn

how to be a grown up,
how to be a grown-up woman.

**

[Wind gusting]

**

Man: "After I got out of prison,
I remember telling myself

that I just wanted to work
for the things every man wants,

like a family and the respect
of decent people.

But impatience and frustration,

unreasonable anger
and bitterness,

these are enemies within.

They can only be defeated
within.

Permitted to age, they'll k*ll
a man but leave in his wake

a creature torn and twisted.

I came out of prison
embittered, ruthless,

and emotionally unstable.

A few months later,
I committed the unforgivable."

Paul: There was a deputy chief

of the Garden City
Police Department

who took the photographs

that proved to be
the pivotal evidence.

Rohleder:
We got to the Clutters' place.

Sheriff Robinson
was waiting outside.

I started my photographing
first in the basement

in the north room where
Mr. Clutter was found dead.

**

Al: When we developed
the photographs,

we were able to see
a boot print made in the dust

that one could not observe
with the naked eye.

Thomas: Initially they were
looking for a suspect.

Once they were able to find
that second print,

they knew that there was
a potential of a second suspect.

So probably that was one of
the biggest clues they had

because you could help confirm
that you have the right k*ller

if you found that boot.

The crime scene photographer,
said -- They asked,

"Well, did you do that on
purpose?" and he says,

"No, that was just good luck
that I happen to take

that picture to give us
the second boot print," so...

**

Woman: Beverly was asked right
after it happened to go ahead

and change her name since they
were getting married in December

anyway around Christmas time

so they said it would be really
a good idea to go ahead

and change your name.

**

You know, here they had just
lost all of their family,

but they had no idea
at that point

why they had been m*rder*d.

So they didn't know if there was
a vendetta against the family

so it was a very
fearful time for them.

Frack: Some people say,
how did she do it?

Well, how did she do anything,
you know, live, even?

To me, it was just
the most sensible thing

you could have done.

Edwards:
"It was beautiful wedding.

Beverly and Eveanna stepped in
for their parents as hosts.

As though they had been
doing this all of their lives.

They took responsibility
for making everyone comfortable,

visited with each aunt,
each uncle, with grandparents,

with cousins, with family
friends and church members.

It was a fairy-tale wedding
in the middle of a nightmare."

**

Paul:
The crime affected our lives

because it k*lled Herb
and Bonnie and the two kids.

It also k*lled something
in our community.

Announcer:
We interrupt this program

to bring you
a special news bulletin.

Paul: Some people refer to
it as a loss of innocence,

but I think it was
more of a violation

of a presumed safety.

We had a lot more
freedom. Uh...

Things have just changed.

Penick: We no longer seem to be
that open type of community,

where you just could
go into anyone's home.

Their doors were never locked.

You knocked on the door,
you walked in.

We lost that.

And then, to lose
those good people...

and then we lost,

because now we're afraid.

**

Edwards:
Going back to Kansas for me was
going back to be with family.

I always loved going back
to visit Nancy, of course,

and the older cousins,
even though they didn't count

cause they were older.
[Chuckles]

But each one of them -- Nancy,
Kenyon, Beverly, and Eveanna,

each one of the kids
was special in their own way,

and Uncle Herbert
and Aunt Bonnie's goal was

really to help them grow into
the best person they could be.

And it was really fun
to see Kenyon that summer

and to see what he
was like grown up.

Oh, Kenyon was handsome,
and I remember him.

I can close my eyes and what
I see is this tall, lanky kid.

He's got a flat-top-type
hair cut, wearing glasses,

and he was -- as I remember him,

he was kind of
a little jokester.

[Chuckles]
He got this old Model A,

and all it had was the frame
and the gas tank

and then the engine
and then the radiator.

That's it.

I mean, if you fell out,
you fell out.

[Chuckles]

He's not one of these guys
that would sit down

and contemplate the world.

He was wanting
to do something.

We'd go hunting,
we'd do something.

In fact, we were pheasant
hunting a day or two

before they were k*lled,
so...

[Clicks tongue]

Thomas: On the 10th day
after the homicide,

there was word received
that a person might have

information related to
the Clutter killings.

Welch: The reward offer of
$1,000 from The Hutchinson News

got the attention
of an inmate at Lansing.

The director sent
Agent Wayne Owens

to interview him.

Man #1: "December 5th, 1959.

I just got back from
Kansas State Penitentiary

where the boss sent me
to interview a prisoner

who had something he wanted
to get off his chest.

The prisoner is Floyd Wells,

and he is a white male,

Now, he worked for the Clutters
during 1948 and 1949."

Man #2:
"This is just about the time
their new house was completed.

I remember just a short time
before I left the Clutters,

Mr. Clutter paid
a large lumber bill,

and I thought he paid in cash
with money from the safe.

Mr. Clutter made the remark
to me that he paid out

more than $10,000 that day."

Man #1: "Some time after
he was received at Lansing

for burglary and larceny,

Wells was a cellmate
to Richard Eugene Hickock,


Man #2: "Hickock said he was
about to get out,

and he was going to go west
looking for a job.

I was telling him about
how wealthy Mr. Clutter was.

We talked quite a bit
about Mr. Clutter."

Man #1: "Hickock
did some talking, too,

told Wells he had a friend by
the name of Perry Edward Smith.

Hickock stated that
when they got out

they were going
to pull some jobs

to get enough money to buy
a boat for deep-sea fishing.

Smith was paroled on July 6th.

Soon, Hickock was
paroled and told Wells

he and Smith were going
to the Clutters to find out

if he still had the $10,000
in their damn safe."

Man #2: "He told me
he'd probably tie them up

and then rob them
and then k*ll 'em.

I didn't believe he would.

A day after it happened,
I heard it on the radio.

I didn't hardly believe it."

Man #1: "I've told this story
to the boss,

and he feels it's worth
rushing to you fellas.

The only thing that remains
is to get a location

on Smith and Hickock,

'cause they are both not where
they're supposed to be."

Man: We drove to Highway 56
back into Garden City,

then went north
towards Scott City.

Then we turned off
on a gravel road.

We dug a hole in a ditch
on the side of the road

and buried the shells,
cord, tape, and gloves,

then headed back
across Kansas to Edgerton.

Most of our conversation
driving away

concerned our going
to Mexico the next weekend.

I worked all week like normal.

On Friday, we went
and played some pool.

The next day, I passed checks
at 8 or 9 places in Kansas City.

On that night, must have been,
what, November 21st?

We got a sandwich
at the Eagle Buffet

in downtown Kansas City,

and at 10:00 p.m.,
drove out of town.

We drove 1,700 miles
through Oklahoma,

Dallas, Texas,
then continued to Laredo,

crossing into Mexico
around 2:00 a.m. November 23rd,

spent a night at a house
of ill repute in Mexico City.

Sold my Chevrolet to some cop,

also sold him the portable radio
and binoculars from the Clutters

and got rid of all
the other stuff,

but even after
selling everything,

we were soon out of money again.

I found that my partner never
had any respect for a dollar

and he threw money
around more than I did.

Our last two days in Mexico
were costly ones.

We had less than $100
between us.

We bought two pistols,
and moved onto plan B,

returning to the States.

Welch: Agents were
going through the roster

of Mr. Clutter's employees

for the last 10 years,
and again came upon

Floyd Wells name,
which would further

corroborate
this bit of information

that they were working on.

Al:
We found that the pattern fit,

that Hickock did get out
of the institution

and did contact his buddy by the
name of Smith in Reno, Nevada.

So they set that into
process to start finding

this Richard Hickock.

**

**

**

**