Part 1- The Last To See Them Alive

Chapter Summary Part 1: The Last to See Them Alive Holcomb, Kansas is a very small town of 270 people, with almost no buildings. The only available living spaces are an abandoned bank which has been converted into apartments, the old mansion converted for the same purpose (known as the Teacherage, since mostly teachers live there), and various ranches and farms. Herb Clutter is established as an important rancher and owner of River Valley Farm. He is also described as a prominent member of the community. The rest of the Clutter family includes Bonnie, Mr. Clutter's wife, who has frequent mental health problems, embarrassingly described as "little spells" by the rest of the family. Eveanna is the grown up daughter of the family, married with a son living in Illinois. Beverly was also a daughter of the Clutter family, living in Kansas City, studying to be a nurse. Kenyon, a fifteen year old, and Nancy, the "town sweetheart", a year older, are both the children of Mr. and Mrs. Clutter. The Clutter family, while not the richest in the town, was very well off. Mr. Clutter's high moral standards are established by describing his dissatisfaction with Nancy's prolonged relationship with Bobby Rupp, the popular high school basketball star, and by enforcing strict curfew rules. Mr. Clutter takes out a life insurance policy, ominously the night before his death. Dick and Perry meet in a café and are described. Perry is a very short, but powerfully built young man. Dick had a white father and a Cherokee mother, giving him his unique skin color and features. Nancy is further established as having many honors, such as the 4-H club, and routinely offers aid to anybody who needs it. She gets incredible grades and carries an extreme workload, especially for someone who is only 17. Dick and Perry drive to a Catholic hospital in order to buy stockings, but Perry's actual purpose is to meet up with his inmate friend who is also a priest Willie-Jay. Willie-Jay was a good friend to Perry while they were both in jail. Willie-Jay was not there. It is revealed that Perry sent the initial letter to Dick, telling him of a "perfect score." Perry exits the Catholic hospital, telling Dick that they didn't have any stockings. Dick and Parry drive to Holcomb, Kansas in the dark without headlights, and while drinking. Bobby Rupp describes his last visit to the Clutter home. It was a pretty typical night, with nothing eventful. Bobby and Nancy simply watched TV, prior to him leaving at 10:30 PM. Dick and Perry stop for dinner and order a very large feast. After arriving in Garden City, a town very close to Holcomb, they make a short stop for gas. Nancy Ewalt, a classmate of Nancy Clutter's, arrived with her father at the Clutter house because they carpooled to church every Sunday. When no one answers the door, they drive to the Teacherage to ask Susan Kidwell and her mother if they knew anything of the Clutter's. They didn't, so the group drove over to the Clutter residence and discovered they had all been brutally murdered. There is a subsequent drive back to the Teacherage accompanied by mass hysteria. Sheriff Robinson, accompanied by Mr. Ewalt goes through the Clutter home and finds all of the Clutters brutally bound and shot with a shotgun. The news of the quadruple homicide scares people enough to stop working, and gossip on the identity of the murderers ensues. Bobby is treated as the prime initial suspect, and begins to cry when he hears of his girlfriend's death.

Part 2- Persons Unknown

Persons Unknown Four of Herb Clutter's closest friends come to inspect the house and deal with the clean up. They are very emotionally distraught. Al Dewey, a KBI (Kansas Bureau of Investigation) agent who was previously an FBI agent is assigned to lead the case. There is a large media frenzy surrounding the Clutter case, so Dewey agrees to answer a few questions from the press, but only on facts, not speculation. In private, he believes that the murders were committed by two people who must have been in incredible rage to do such horrible things. There is an incredible lack of evidence, only a bloody footprint. The killers even calmly collected the spent shotgun shells. Dewey investigates Bobby Rupp, the possible motif being Mr. Clutter asking Nancy to break up with him, but finds him completely innocent. Harold Nye, another KBI agent, conducted a series of interviews with the Clutter's close friends, but found nothing of value. There is widespread fear of another attack in Holcomb. Dick and Perry are in a diner in Kansas City, reading a newspaper article describing the murders. They describe the murders as "a perfect score." They are overall jubilant, despite just committing four murders. Susan, Nancy's closest friend, talks about her close relationship with Nancy and her developing relationship with Bobby after the murders. They become quite close. They visit the coroner and look at the bodies, which were disfigured and bloated. Dick and Perry gain enough money to get to Mexico by skipping checks and conning people into cash at a clothes store and at a jewelry store. With newly found money and supplies, they set off in a car to drive to Mexico. Meanwhile, Al Dewey had little luck finding any leads on the Clutter case. The only new developments were the fact that Nancy had hidden her watch in her shoe, and that Kenyon's radio was missing. Beverly Clutter's marriage goes on despite the murders in order to not inconvenience any of the family members that had made long trips. Dick and Perry arrived in Mexico. Perry begins to believe there is something wrong with them for committing the murders, and that it is crazy for them to have gotten away with it. Perry recalls his murder of an African American to Dick, but in reality, never committed such a crime, and is having difficultly accepting the reality that he killed four people. Dewey talks about the many rumors that have started since the murders, none of which with much truth to them. Dick and Perry were in Mexico City for a week before driving south to Acapulco, where they meet a couple new associates. They rent a boat every day and go fishing for profits. They run out of money and drive back to Mexico City. Dewey finds a person sneaking around in the Clutter home, with the same weapons used in the murder in his car. Dick and Perry leave Mexico after gathering their things. Perry recalls a letter his father sent the Kansas State Parole Board detailing his life. Perry also receives a letter from his sister, urging him to stay away from her children, while hoping that Perry owns up to his crimes (she knows nothing of the murders) and to become a better person. Perry loathes his sister. Dewey is obsessed with the Clutter case, and his personal life suffers. He also loses 20 pounds and is in poor health because of his obsession. The man that he found sneaking around the Clutter's home is found to be completely innocent. Dick and Perry return to the USA, and await a hitchhiker willing to pick them up, as they have sold the car.

Photos

 

Herb Clutter Bonnie Clutter

Kenyon Clutter Nancy Clutter

 Perry Smith Dick Hickock

Plot Summary

In November of 1959, the slaying of four members of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas created a media frenzy. All four victims, Herb, Bonnie, Nancy, and Kenyon were found the morning of November 16th, bound and shot in the head with a shotgun. Upon preliminary investigation, little evidence was found to catch the killer or killers of the Clutter family, nor any indication of a motive. Only after a tip from a former cell mate of one of the killers did the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) discover the identity of Richard Hickock and Perry Smith. Richard and Perry had been on the run ever since the murder, traveling through Mexico, Nevada, Florida, and back to Kansas for a brief time. Arrested under the grounds of writing faulty checks, Smith and Hickock were brought in for interrogation. During this, Hickock, followed by Smith, made a verbal confession for the Clutter massacre. Their trial ended with their guilt, along with a sentence of death. They stayed on death row until April of 1965, and were then hanged.   

The Corner - Part 4 Summary

The murderers were held in FInney county jail where there were six cells.  The sixth cell was reserved for women inmates.  Perry Smith became the first man to be housed in the sixth cell, which was adjacent to the kitchen of Mr. and Mrs. Meier (the warden and his wife). Dick was put in the first cell, they wanted to keep the two as far away as possible.  Mrs. Meier took a liking toward Perry and prepared his favorite dinner dish for him, Spanish rice, frequently.  Snow fell on Kansas.  Dewey came to the jail with a printed statement with the confessions on them and had both perpetrators sign them.  Perry refused to sign because he said he had not told the complete truth and wished for something to be changed:  that he was actually the one to shoot all four members of the family.
Mr. Fleming was the lawyer assigned to Perry.  Perry was asked to take a lie detector test about the Walker case.  The Walker case was very similar to the Clutter case in that four members of a family were killed in cold blood.  The results came back inconclusive.  The Walker case was never solved.
Perry receives a letter from Don Cullivan, a man he used to be in combat with.  Perry was ecstatic to have a “friend.”  He thought about using Don as a means of escape, but wanted to include Dick, and abandoned those plans. March 10th- sheriff finds a shiv under Dick’s mattress.  Perry contemplates suicide via broken lightbulb.
The trial  is scheduled for March 22, 1960.  Prior to trial Dick and Perry are sent to a clinic in Larned to determine if they are “criminally insane.”  The same day of the trial, the Clutter’s home, and its contents are sold at auction.
At this point the Clutter case has been long forgotten by the nation. 14 men have been selected for the jury and Judge Tate was in charge of the proceedings. Both Dick and
Perry were asked to write a statement about themselves to be presented to the jurors.  Perry wrote of his childhood, his familial abuse and abuse suffered in the nunnery.  He wrote of the suicides of his siblings, and his jail time.  Dick writes less eloquently.  He writes little of his early life.  He comments on his 1st and 2nd wives his accounts with burglary and his struggle with pedophilia and pleads the jurors for help.
Wednesday the trial begins.  Nancy Ewalt and Susan Kidwell, the girls that found the bodies are two witnesses brought to the stand.  Both pictures of footprints are presented as evidence. .

Dick believes everyone is biased, “The judge up there! I never seen a man so prejudiced- Just no sense in having a trial.  Not with him in charge.  Why, that man was a pallbearer at the funeral!”  Floyd Wells offers his testimony.  Fleming, Hickock’s attorney, tries to set him up as an accessory to the crime, but ultimately Wells went free and collected his reward.  Dewey offered the most damaging testimony.  He spoke of the men’s confessions and his investigations of the murders.  Don Cullivan served as a character witness for Perry but did not win him much support.  

Perry hosted dinner for Cullivan in his cell where they could talk privately.  Perry openly contemplated suicide to Cullivan and said maybe he should do it then when he had someone who kind of cared for him there.  

The defendants refused to testify on their own behalf.  Mr. Hickock claims that Dick was never the same after a car crash he had endured in 1950.  The lawyer soon shut this theory down by when it was brought to light that Dick had a criminal record prior to 1950: he had been arrested in 1949.  Dr. Jones (the doctor from Larned) took the stand but was only permitted to answer yes or no to the questions asked of him.  He was asked if the defendants knew right from wrong at the time their committed their crime.  When asked this in regards to Dick,  Dr. Jones answered that  yes, he did know right from wrong, but with Perry he said he had not formed an opinion as of late.  He was dismissed. Upon further examination though, Dr. Jones had many more feeling about Perry’s case though.  Based on childhood experiences and current behavior Dr. Jones would dub him a ‘simple schizophrenic.  Lastly, Joe James, another character witness for Perry took the stand, but was quickly dismissed.  

The lawyers made their final statements.  Fleming mostly fought for life imprisonment, relying on Christian jurors to recognize the death penalty as morally wrong.  
The jury sentenced both defendants to death.
That night, Mrs. Meier can hear Perry crying like a child from her kitchen.  The next morning they are taken to Lavenworth, the Kansas state prison and taken to death row. Their first scheduled execution date is May 13, 1960.
There were three others on death row when they arrived: Earl Wilson, Bobby Joe Spencer, and Mr. Lowell Lee Andrews.  Wilson was a black man committed for the kidnapping, rape, and torture of a young white woman who survived but with severe disabilities.  Spencer was a white man sentenced for murdering an elderly Kansas woman who was the owner of his boarding house. Andrews, the most famous of their companions on death row, was convicted of the murder of his whole family.  He was very smart and thought to have ‘simple schizophrenia’ as well.
May 13th passed - The Supreme Court granted a stay pending appeals.  From their separate stalls, Dick and Perry could not see one another, but they could converse.  Perry hated Andrews though, for correcting his grammar, so he talked infrequently.  Perry began to starve himself in an attempt of suicide but decided to break his fast and in October was returned to his cell.
2 years pass.  Wilson and Spencer are both hanged.
The building was very old causing it to be very cold in the winter and insanely hot in the summers.  Death row did not participate in the work routine, and so were only allowed out of their cells once a week for a bath and change of clothing.  
George Ronald York and James Douglas Lathman joined death row for killing seven people across the country.
Hickock. who had started reading law book, began to fight his conviction.  He wrote letters of an unfair trial and attacked Fleming and Smith for an inadequate job.  Shultz- who was incharge of the case- filed a habeas corpus petition.  The case had a second hearing that lasted 6 days, but the appeal was denied. Ina report to the Kansas Supreme Court, Judge heile found the petitioners to have had a fair trial and denied the writ to abolish their verdict. Their new date for execution was October 25, 1962.  However, they were granted reprieve by a federal judge and evaded the date.
Andrews was hung November 30th, 1962.  His heart kept beating for 19 minutes.  Another three years passed and lawyers Joseph P. Jenkins and Robert Bingham replaced Shultz.  Their case was brought to the Supreme Court three times before they were hanged.

On April 15, 1965 Richard Eugene Hickock was hanged at 33 years old at 12:41 in the morning.  Perry Smith, at age 36, was hanged at 1:19 in the morning.  Dewey went to both the hangings but felt no catharsis at seeing the men die.  The warden read a recitation and asked for any last words, to which Hickock responded, “I just want to say I hold no hard feelings. You people are sending me to a better world than this ever was.”  Perry responded, “I think, its a helluva thing to take a life in the manner.  I don’t believe in capital punishment, morally or legally. Maybe I had something to contribute, something- It would be meaningless to apologize for what I did. Even inappropriate. But I do. I apologize.”

The book ends with Dewey visiting the Clutter grave. He runs into Susan Kidwell,Nancy’s friend, who is now a junior in college, who has moved on with her life, and now so can Dewey.  

Answers - Part 3 Summary

On November 17th, 1959 FLoyd Wells, a former cellmate of Richard Eugene Hickock, ear a radio report on the Clutter Massacre.  The radio report wanted anyone with knowledge of the killers to report to the KBI, and receive a $1000 prize.  Wells knew immediately who the murderer was : Hickock.  When Wells and Hickock shared a cell they talked a lot. Wells, eleven years earlier, worked on River Valley Farm for Mr. Clutter.  When Hickock and Wells began talking of past work experiences, Hickock became very interested in Mr Clutter.  He asked if he had a lot of money and a safe and Wells said he supposed that Mr. Clutter did.  Hickock wanted to know everything about Mr. Clutter’s life, how many children he had, their current ages, the layout of the house, and Mr. Clutter’s daily routine.  Hickock told Wells that he would rob Mr. Clutter and the slit his throat and shoot the rest of the family.  At the time, Wells assumed that Hickock was all talk and thought nothing of it.  After hearing the radio report, however, Wells knew it was Hickock’s doing.  He was reluctant, though, to tell the warden for he did not want to be pinned as an accessory to the crime.  After several weeks, Wells gave in and told the warden, the warden then called Logan Sanford who immediately phoned Dewey. Dewey is very happy at finally having viable suspects for the Clutter Case.  

Detective Nye goes on a series of investigations, mostly including interviews with Hickock and Smith’s family and people, such as store owners, who may have come in contact with them since the night of the Clutter murders.  He interviewed Mr. and Mrs. Hickock saying that Dick had written a series of false checks.  They asked them specifically of Hickock’s whereabouts the night of November 15th.  The parents told him that he had returned home the night after the 15th, very tired and very hungry.  When asking them if they knew where he might be now, Mr. Hickock told him to point to somewhere random on a map, and maybe he’ll be there.  He asked the motel owner of a place Smith stayed, what she knew about him and allowed Nye to search through a box of his things that he had asked to keep there until his next arrival.  Next, he visited Smith’s sister, who had a very poor relationship with Perry and insisted that she knew not where he was and was not interested in knowing.
During this time, Dick and Perry have been hitch hiking across the country.  They arrive in Nebraska and run from the rain into and old barn.  While in the barn, they spot a Chevy with it’s key in the ignition. They steal the car and Dick convinces Perry that they should go back to Kansas.  Perry is very reluctant to do so, but Dick guarantees they will be able to make money in Kansas.  After writing another series of faulty check in Kansas, and stealing new license plate off a wrecked car, the two leave for Miami in time for Christmas.  
Nye finds the string of faulty checks written under Hickock’s own name, but not before the two are out of the state. However, they know the car they have and a smart Pawn shop owner had the sense to write down the license plate number of their car before they left.  
On December 30th, Dick and Perry were caught in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Perry had just picked up a package from the post office that contained the  shoes he was wearing the night of the murder.  A patrole car recognized the car and license plate, follows them and when they stop, arrests them both. Dewey is ecstatic about the capture of the men and flies to Las Vegas immediately.
2 pm. -1st interrogation of boys.  The interrogators avoid the subject of the Clutter case because the boys were arrested only under terms of parole violation and faulty checks.  The question hovers around their activity over the past month, trying to subtly ask more detailed questions about november 15th.  Dick and Perry had created a false alibi for the night of the 15th- two hookers at a rundown motel.  Finally, at the end of the first interrogation Nye inserts, “I guess you know why we’re here, tell me Dick. Have you ever heard of the Clutter case?” (page 252)Dick was said to undergo an ‘intense visible reaction.’  He turned gray and his eyes twitched. In Perry’s interrogation, conducted by Dewey and Duntz, Dewey finally said, “Mr. Duntz is going to tell you where you really were that Saturday night.  Where you were and what you were doing” Followed by Duntz bluntly stating, “You were killing the Clutter family.”
Both refused to admit guilt to the crime until Nye showed Dick the photographs of the footprints.  Followed by Dick saying, “Perry Smith killed the CLutters, It was Perry. I couldn’t stop him. He killed them all.” Stepping out of the room following his confession, he fainted.
Even after telling Perry that Dick had confessed, Perry did not, thinking it was a ruse to get him to confess.  In the car, to transport the convicts back to Kansas, Dewey tells Perry that Dick told him the story of ‘the nigger’ that he had killed claiming he was a ruthless killer.  After this statement, to which Dewey hadn’t counted on a reaction, Dewey finally received one.  Perry began his full verbal confession.  
First, Perry got a letter from Dick with a plan to steal from the Clutter’s safe and leave no witnesses.  Perry wanted to get black stocking to shield their identities, but Dick was refusing.  Perry almost said no and did not join Dick, but for his own reasons, met Dick in Kansas.  When Dick and Perry arrived at the Clutter estate, the side door was unlocked, they could not find the safe so they woke up Mr. Clutter who slept on the first floor.  Perry cut the telephone cords.  Mr. Clutter offered to pay them off but they kept pestering him about his safe. He begged them not to bother Bonnie, his wife,because of her medical problems.  The found Bonnie and searched her purse, she had barely any money.  Next, they put both parents in the bathroom and went into
Kenyon’s room,told him to get dressed and put him in the bathroom as well.  Nancy comes out into the hall, trying not to act scared and gets put in the bathroom. Dickand Perry frisk the rooms bu find no money.  All they ended up stealing were binoculars and a radio.  They tied up each family members in different areas of the house.  Both Kenyon and Herb were brought to the basement.Bonnie was tied up in her own bed and Nancy in her own bed. They then taped everyone’s mouths shut except for Nancy.  Dick wanted torape Nancy, but Perry prevented it.  Right before they killed Herb, he asked how his wife was doing, they cut his throat and then shot him in the head.  Next to get shot was Kenyon, then Nancy, and lastly Bonnie.  Perry thought about shooting Dick-truly leaving no witnesses, but then decided against it. Dick and PErry received only about $40-50 a the Clutter house that night.
When the cars finally reached Kansas, there was a crowd formed to witness the arrival of the murderers.  Violence had been anticipated from the crowd, but there was none.

Character Analysis

Herb Clutter: Herb Clutter was 48 years old at the time of his murder.  He was the owner of River Valley Farms, a prosperous farm.  He was not the richest man in town but he and his family were very well off.  Herb was confident and widely respected in the community of Holcomb County, he was the “community’s most widely known citizen.”  He was also widely known and respected in Garden City, a close by county.  Herb Clutter was the  head of the building committee for the First Methodist Church and Chairman of the Kansas Conference of Farm Organizations.  During the Eisenhower Administration Clutter was a member of the Federal Farm Credit Board.  His imediate family includes his wife, Bonnie Clutter, and his children, Evanna, Beverly, Nancy, and Kenyon.

Bonnie Clutter: Originally Bonnie Fox, Bonnie was the sister of Herb Clutter’s college classmate.  Bonnie had some mental issues, she had been a psychiatric patient on and off for the last half dozen years of her life.  Bonnie became depressed after the births of her four children but during the last years of her life doctors told the Clutters that it was a physical problem in her spine and not in her head that was the cause of “poor Bonnie’s afflictions.”  Bonnie did not sleep with her husband, but in a different room, where she could be heard crying much of the time.

Nancy Clutter:  Nancy was 16 when she was murdered.  She had a steady boyfriend named Bobby Rupp.  She was an over achiever, because her mother was ill, Nancy took on much of the cooking around the house.  She was a straight A student, class president, a leader in the 4-H club, a member of the Young Methodists League, played piano and clarinet, she won at the county fair every year, for needlework, pastry, preserves, and flower arrangement, and a skilled rider.  The home economics teacher had said “Nancy Clutter is always in a hurry, but she always has time.  And thats one definition of a lady.”

Kenyon Clutter: Kenyon Clutter was 14 when he was murdered.  Like Nancy, Kenyon was an over achiever.  He was a member of the 4-H Club.  In his free time he invented things.  He was much quieter and less social than his sister.  He only had one really good friend, who was in the grade above him.  He liked to spend his time in the basement which had become a hangout for him and Nancy.  Both he and Nancy attended Holcomb High, instead of the more prestigious high school because Herb Clutter believed in community.

Perry Smith: Perry Smith was one of the killers of the Clutter family.  He came from a dysfunctional family.  His mother left his father taking him and his brothers and sisters from their father.  His mother started drinking and his father came back to find them.  His brother and sisters shunned their father because they had learned to hate him.  Perry did not hate his father and decided to go live with him.  They traveled around most of his childhood until they settled in Alaska to start a hunting lodge.  He has a normal sized torso but oddly small legs that were the result of a motorcycle accident.  He met Dick when they were in prison together.  He believes he is very educated and has dreams of going and finding treasure in Mexico.  He was hanged for the murder of the Clutters.

Richard Hickock: Richard, or Dick as he is referred to, Hickock was the other killer of the Clutter family.  Unlike Perry, Dick had a loving family.  He was smooth talking and less fanciful than Perry.  While in Mexico he becomes engaged to two different women, one young and beautiful, the other older and rich.  Dick uses the older woman for her money.  When they are in prison after they are caught Dick and Perry each decide to try to escape but Perry won’t leave without Dick, but Dick does not consider Perry a necessary part of his escape plan.  Before he was sent to prison he was married twice.  As part of his parole from his first incarceration he was required to live with his parents.  He was hanged for the murder of the Clutters.

Alvin Dewey: Alvin Dewey was the main agent of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) assigned to the case of the Clutter Massacre.  He was a member of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) before he joined the KBI.  He has a wife and two young sons.  He has three assistants who are fellow KBI agents, Harold Nye, Roy Church, and Clarence Duntz.

Bobby Rupp: Nancy’s boyfriend.  He was the last person, aside from Dick and Perry, to see the Clutters alive.  He was also a preliminary suspect in the murders.

Susan Kidwell: Nancy’s best friend.  She was Nancy’s confidant.  She along with another friend discovered Nancy’s body in her bed when they went to see if the Clutters were going to Church that morning.  She is an only child and lives with her mother because her father left when she was a child.

Beverly and Evanna Clutter: Beverly and Evanna split the $80,000 life insurance policy that Herb Clutter had taken out the day he was murdered.  Evanna was already married and Beverly was betrothed.  Nancy was making the bridesmaid dresses for Beverly’s wedding.

The Stockleins:  Alfred Stocklein worked on River Valley Farm and he and his family resided on the property.  On the night of the murders they were awake with a sick infant.