Chapters (65)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty–one
- Twenty–two
- Twenty–three
- Twenty–four
- Twenty–five
- Twenty–six
- Twenty–seven
- Twenty–eight
- Twenty–nine
- Thirty
- Thirty–one
- Thirty–two
- Thirty–three
- Thirty–four
- Thirty–five
- Thirty–six
- Thirty–seven
- Thirty–eight
- Thirty–nine
- Forty
- Forty–one
- Forty–two
- Forty–three
- Forty–four
- Forty–five
- Forty–six
- Forty–seven
- Forty–eight
- Forty–nine
- Fifty
- Fifty–one
- Fifty–two
- Fifty–three
- Fifty–four
- Fifty–five
- Fifty–six
- Fifty–seven
- Author’s Note
- Acknowledgments
- Also by Becky Masterman
- About the Author
- Newsletter Sign-up
The Walker family murder case, which occurred near Sarasota, Florida, in December 1959, roughly two months after the Clutters were killed, is also real. Hickock and Smith have been linked to the crime because of the similarities to the Clutter family murders and because they were in Florida when it happened. It’s also true that the men’s bodies were exhumed later in order to test their DNA against the semen found in Christine Walker. No match was found, but it’s unclear whether the DNA samples were too corrupted to provide conclusive evidence. The Walker family murders are still unsolved.
Some significant discrepancies among police reports, archives, and Capote’s book:
In a clemency hearing, Richard Hickock claimed that they took over a thousand dollars from the Clutter house, though official confessions, and Capote’s book, put the amount at forty dollars. What would motivate Hickock to change the amount? And how else would he and Smith have been able to afford to travel from one coast to another, staying at hotels along the way?
Capote’s version has the killers going to Sarasota first and then Miami, either to make the narrative more interesting, or to help clear them of the Walker murders by placing them elsewhere at the time. My version of Hickock’s confession matches the police reports that had them going to Miami before Sarasota.
Smith did change his confession to take responsibility for all the murders at the Clutter home, giving as his motivation that he thought Hickock’s mother was “a sweet woman” and he did it to make her feel better. Hickock agreed to the change. Not a single person, including Capote, ever pressed Smith on why he really took the blame for killing all four people.
For further reading, I recommend Truman Capote and the Legacy of “In Cold Blood,” by Ralph F. Voss (2011), In Colder Blood, by J. T. Hunter (2016), Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee: From Scout to Go Set a Watchman, by Charles J. Shields (2016), and of course the book that started it all, In Cold Blood: A True Account of a Multiple Murder and Its Aftermath, by Truman Capote (1965).
The Kansas Historical Society Archives offer well over a thousand documents from, to, and about Hickock and Smith.
The internet also shows an extensive filmography on the topic, with a true crime series aired as late as 2018.