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.