The items, including shirts, a blouse, and pants, belonged to Cliff and Christine and were all soaked. One spring day in 2013, Myers sat alone inside his barbecue restaurant in Lake Placid, where a painting of cowboys wrangling a steer hung on the wall. He said detectives have no physical evidence, so far, connecting Hickock and Smith to the Walker murders, no fingerprints. Her captain, she said, wanted a DNA connection. The bartender never called again. The crime, seemingly without motive, would later be chronicled in Truman Capote's seminal book, In Cold Blood. Officers found, beneath the car seat, a toddler shirt and a pink jacket that could have matched Christine's dress, as well as an Army gas can and burlap bags that could have come from Cliff's military-style Jeep. The first person worth talking about is Don McLeod, the man who found the bodies. More than half a dozen cuttings came from Christine's underwear alone, with multiple partial DNA samples detected, as well as a stain containing a single sperm cell. Peering through the windows, there was a very dim light on inside. It was time to give Clark, the Sarasota detective, another nudge. He passed a polygraph, and even though there is significant controversy over the validity of early tests, in 2006, Elbert was eliminated through DNA. At the time of the murders, the Walkers had been thinking about buying a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air, and this was the same car that Smith and Hickock had stolen back in Kansas, using it during their flight across the country. However, based on the personal items that were stolen, Katherine Ramsland, of the University of Pennsylvania, finds Smith and Hickock unlikely and instead suspects that the killer knew at least one member of the Walker family. They likely had been comparing their suspects all these years to Christine herself. He'd played his violin - badly, according to the conductor - at a concert in Bradenton. It was quiet, which was odd as the family was known to rise early. But he told police he had seen the Walkers' neighbor, Wilbur Tooker, at their house at least two dozen times. He kept making unwanted advances, and eventually Christine told her husband about her fear. Cliff, 25, lived with his wife Christine, 24, and their two young children, Jimmie, 3, and Debbie 1. She had never been able to fully put the case aside. 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. Don met the deputies at a local grocery and led them to the horrifying scene. 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. Two suspects. By continuing to browse, you accept the use of cookies and other technologies. interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders on June 16, 2022 on June 16, 2022 On December 19th, 1959, an entire family was found brutally murdered in Florida. Why not this family of four, too? Just a few months after the massacre, bloody clothing from the Walker home was uncovered in a shed not far away. He noted the family car was not in its usual position, and there were both a cut log and Christmas gifts laying on the porch. 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. Cliff and Don went hunting, while Christine and Dons wife Lucy stayed behind with the children. Christmas is usually a time of good cheer, good food, and good times spent with family. Having McLeod take a few polygraphs was the extent of officials investigation of him in the fifties and sixties. The children also stayed behind to watch. That motive has to be discounted in the Walker family case. In all, hundreds of suspects were interviewed and given polygraphs. Don McLeod got up at 5:30am on December 20th, 1959 in Osprey, Florida and headed over to his friend Cliff Walkers place so they could go out together to hunt wild hogs. Equally, Smith prevented Hickock from carrying out a rape at the Clutter Farm, whereas Christine was assaulted before her execution. Recently, she'd told Myers she'd found a picture of Hickock with two small marks on his chin. "You get an arrest occasionally. Brandon Clark. 15) Tony von Carruthers: In February of 1994, Tony shot his mother, her teenage associate, and his drug dealer in the Memphis area. [13] Said relative was later proven innocent through DNA testing.[14]. Kansas authorities told Boyer they passed. I am a freelance long-form writer who writes on true crime, politics, history and more. Smith's tooth returned a female DNA profile - that of the examiner who analyzed the bones. It did not match the semen at the scene. McGath's recommendations at this time.". And if he didn't push for this, who would? After running some errands that day, 24-year-old Christine Walker arrived home alone, at around 4:00 PM. In the end, though, the couple drove back, pausing at the ranch barn to pick up cattle feed. High among them: The killers made infamous in Truman Capote's true crime classic "In Cold Blood.". June 17, 2022 . But science has ruled him out. "Behind every good woman, there's a good man," he said, as he filled her cup. It was among Florida's oldest unsolved crimes on record, notorious for its brutality, as well as for a pool of suspects that numbered over 600. 2. It doesnt seem like thats what happened to me. Cold Blooded: The Clutter Family Murders: With Beth Tedrow, Larry Welch, Kevin Bascue, Gwyneth Frack. Either before or after Cliff and the children arrivedits unclear whichthe attacker forced Christine into Jimmies room, where she was raped and shot in the head. She had graduated first in her police class, with a perfect entrance exam. Clifford and the children had been ambushed, the young father on his back in the living room, still wearing his straw cowboy hat, a bullet hole in his right eye. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. One of Cliff's cousins also aroused suspicion after he grew hysterical outside the Walker gate upon learning of the deaths and fainted at the funeral. In any case, a family was wiped out in the most terrible circumstance, and the killings remain yet another dark and unsolved stain in Floridas long and inglorious criminal history. Christine, 24, bubbly and spirited, hung back with McLeod's wife. 1959. Myers asked, five rows of wrinkles amassing above his large blue eyes. The same day, they were positively identified at a department store just a few miles away. (The Walkers and McLeods were both employed by the wealthy Palmer family, on whose ranch land they both lived.) Deputies were already working hard in the Walker home when the sheriff arrived. 1. After six decades, several police agencies had destroyed or misplaced evidence connected to the Walkers. The files tell the story of a murder mystery that changed a community and continues today. As he saw his own health slipping, he felt the weight of that vow. He caught a glimpse of Cliffs wife Christines feet on the floor, toes pointed toward the ceiling. There was a bloody and discarded cowboy boot, a cellophane strip from a cigarette wrapper, and a fingerprint on the bathtub faucet. "Go ahead, dig her up," Myers told him, for a second time. There are countless other rumors about other individuals or groups who could have committed these crimes. When she was well, Ella had vocally supported his efforts to find answers. The Bender Family. Christine had grown up in one of those households. Kimberly McGath in 2013 and last summer. And what appeared to be a bloody fingerprint on the family's faucet apparently did not match either man. [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. The best chance to solve a decades-old quadruple murder in Florida ended Tuesday when sheriff's deputies said they could not link DNA to the two killers profiled in the book "In Cold Blood." The . This week on Out of the Past: The Walker Family Massacre. But Jimmie didnt die. The bullet killed him instantly. Smith and Hickock had recently been released from the Kansas State Penitentiary. He used to live there. When officers arrived, Herb Clutter, 48, lay sprawled on a mattress in the basement, stabbed, his throat slashed and a shotgun charge fired to his head. [7] Spencer's confession was "determined to be cleverly constructed from real murders written up in newspapers and true-crime novels that he liked to read. Authorities believe that 24-year-old Christine Walker arrived at the family's farm home around 4pm on Saturday, December 19, 1959, where she was raped, then murdered by gunshot. Sixty years ago, a prosperous farmer, his wife, and two of their children were murdered in their rural Kansas home in the middle of the night, by a pair of strangers. However, in 2012, the Sarasota County Sheriffs Office once again began to look into a possible link, having originally considered them suspects as early as 1960 around the time of their arrest. 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. Some suspect Stanley Mauck, the man who read the meters for the Walker residence, as he was the same meter reader who serviced the home of another recently murdered family. However, while both Smith and Hickock would be dead and buried by the time Capote released his pioneering book, they were still very much at large on December 19, 1959. This line of investigation stopped when police confirmed that he wasnt even in Florida on the day of the Walker murders. So, if youre looking for a publication that will keep you up at night, True Crime Detective is the perfect choice! The year afterward, Capote published the book. Police theorized that they had been grabbed and used to wipe the blood off the killer or killers. Or maybe it was a home invasion that, for a second time, ended in slaughter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkZUtJDbwn8. Christmas 1959 was supposed to follow this tradition. Smith, a drifter from Nevada, had been placed in an orphanage at age 13 after his mother, an alcoholic, choked on her vomit. Im going to go over a few of the main suspects, then tell you a little bit about my own personal theory. Consequently, investigators have stated that Smith and Hickock still remain the most viable suspects. The family was young and growing and look set to be pillars of the community for many years to come. A woman came to police claiming that Butch had confessed to her about murdering the family, and also tried to hide bloody clothing in her presence. Christine left a few minutes before 3:30, but Cliff had some chores to finish with Don. Yet, Spencer was a known pathological liar, and his claims were soon dismissed as a false confession by Sarasota County Sheriff Ross Boyer. The brutal murders of Christine and Cliff Walker and their two children in Osprey, Florida had long been connected to Richard Hickock and Perry Smith of In Cold Blood infamy. The sheriff had Hickock and Smith's pictures published on the front page of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He stopped at a local gas station and inquired about the location of the Walker home, as if looking for Cliff. The house located in Osprey Florida was rent free for the Walkers in exchange for the hard, honest work Cliff did on the large Palmer Ranch. They found nothing. They were in the area at the time and had already committed one atrocity. Still, Kansas and Florida investigators have contended that there are flaws in the account, with some witnesses standing against the alibi. The best piece of evidence they obtained was the semen sample left behind from Christines rape, though that kind of bodily fluid was of no use to police in 1959. In a recent interview, retired Sarasota Lt. Dario Valente recalled speaking with one of Boyer's chief investigators, who told him that while one of the Kansas killers denied the Walker murders, another confessed. The leads went nowhere, and the case was soon going cold until police believed they had a break in 1962 when serial killer Emmett Monroe Spencer claimed responsibility. For example, in 1994, a woman called the Sarasota County Sheriffs Office and claimed to be a bartender in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. The pair got away with a radio, a set of binoculars, and less than $50. Would he ever get an answer? Joe Giasone, a 30-year veteran of the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, said the agency has 32 cold cases, ranging from the 1959 Walker murders up to a 2019 missing boater. Ozie Youmans, who was married to Cliffs sister, made unwanted advances toward Christine on multiple occasions. But evidence suggests that it wasnt too long before the attack began. Cliff was 25. Brought in for questioning, McCall denied having any romantic interest in Christine and evasively said he had sold the weapon not long ago. Unsolved murder of two parents and two children in Osprey, Florida, "Did 'In Cold Blood' murderers kill Florida family, too? In December of 2012, it was announced that Smith and Hickocks bodies would be exhumed to match their DNA to semen samples taken from Christine back in 1959. "Do you realize, in December, it's going to be 64 years?". They didnt find it; Herb, in reality, did all his business by check and there was no safe. Capote's book detailing the Kansas crime would come out in 1966. Baby Debbie, they found in the bathtub, facedown in 4 inches of water, also shot in the head. Only partial DNA had been retrieved, and any conclusions were therefore uncertain. Elbert knew where the house was. And the DNA from Christine's underwear, the report concluded, wasn't theirs. By 2020, the rate was 54% - meaning more cases grow cold. The Herald-Tribune gained unprecedented access to investigators' files, which span more than four decades. After the murder, rumors flew around that Christine was having an affair with Curtis McCall. Despite these clues, and despite upward of 500 suspects over the years, the case could not be solved. Herbert Clutter, 48, his wife, Bonnie, 45, their daughter, Nancy Mae, 16 and son Kenyon, 15, were bound hand and foot and gagged. The day before she died, Christine told her mother and mother-in-law that Cliff had been in a fight and "liked to got killed yesterday.". That's when she noticed that the supposed suspect's DNA was remarkably similar to Christine's own incomplete DNA sequence, gathered from her dress. A day after they were sentenced to death, Hickock and Smith answered questions about the Florida murders while strapped to a mid-century lie detector test. "I always looked at the Walker case as 'Keep looking,' because it's not Hickock and Smith.". His sister's murder was never far from his mind. On the Walkers' final day, they headed a dozen miles north for used car lots in bustling Sarasota. The floors were soaked with their blood. Don McLeod got up at 5:30am on December 20th, 1959 in Osprey, Florida and headed over to his friend Cliff Walker's place so they could go out together to hunt wild hogs. Myers wondered how much longer he would be able to make the three-hour drive to Sarasota. Curtis had apparently been violent in the past. 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 . She wasnt accosted immediately as she entered her home. This was such a young family. The Walkers and their two toddlers were murdered on December 19, 1959 in Osprey, Florida. The culprits were eventually arrested six weeks after the killings in Las Vegas and ultimately executed by hanging on April 14, 1965. The slaying of . Both killings involved a home invasion, and both involved the occupants being executed with a firearm. Freelance writer. She was at Myers' home when he spoke with the detective on the phone. But depending on what time he went to dinner, its possible that he was unaccounted for during the time of the massacre. It is therefore believed that Smith and Hickock may have gained entry to the Walker home on the pretense of selling their car. The Clutter murders and subsequent investigation were documented in Truman Capote's true crime novel, In Cold Blood. He'd lied to Novella before she died in 2021. The FBI had purged the "In Cold Blood" killers' palm prints - a crucial loss, as a fingerprint examiner told McGath the faucet print used to exonerate the men was actually a partial palm print. The second one didnt miss. The relief the 82-year-old felt had come through on the phone. All Rights Reserved. Clutter's throat was slashed. (Staff Photo by BILLY HEFTON . As it turned out, the tests exposed contamination at the lab. Police never identified a motive, and 587 people were suspects at one time or another. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Near her lay the bodies of Cliff and their three-year-old son Jimmie. Christine drove home first that afternoon. Scientists managed to capture partial DNA for both of the men, however. He and Kimberly McGath went back to 2007, when she expressed an interest in the languishing Walker file. In 2012, their bodies were exhumed to have DNA extracted to . Tire tracks from the mystery car were likely gone now that there was a police vehicle parked in its place. Most agencies, including Sarasota, do not. Now, Myers asked her, "What I don't get is, how did they get in the house with the dogs sitting there?" armed forces vacation club for veterans 082 825 4557; welsh keith brymer jones wife zapperstore.xyz@gmail.com McLeod also fell under suspicion. And Pat promised her he would make sure to keep it alive, to fight for a resolution. This case has possible ties to the famous Clutter family murder that occurred in Kansas . There came a point that his older sister, Novella, couldn't handle going anymore. Love triangles can certainly make people do crazy things, but killing small children? I didnt want to harm the man. The Walkers' marriage certificate, which was reported stolen, had turned up among items given to Cliff Walker's niece by a relative in 2013. Clark said he still hoped to get Christine's DNA, to clear up longstanding confusion. McLeod later stated that it was odd . He hooked up his horse trailer, loaded his horse, and set off in good spirits for the day ahead. Forty-seven years after Perry Smith and Richard Hickock were hanged for murdering a Kansas familythe crime profiled in Truman Capote's historic book, "In Cold Blood"they are under . He and his sister, Novella Cascarella, had spoken with the agency more than 15 years ago about exhuming Christine. But Myers observed that letting the case languish, passing it from one detective to another and failing to exhume Christine 15 years ago to obtain her DNA, as he and his sister had asked, had cost the agency more money and delayed the results. Cliff had threatened to kill him but he had a watertight alibi for the time of the murders. Eyewitnesses have placed men matching their description in Sarasota that day. Brandon Clark done, since they'd met a year and a half earlier, to solve the murder of his sister? Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Joe Giasone, a 30-year veteran of the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office, said the agency has 32 cold cases, ranging from the 1959 Walker murders up to a 2019 missing boater. The bodies were exhumed on December 18, 2012, but it wasnt until August of 2013 that results were officially announced. Solving these murders, McGath believed, was also about sending a message that law enforcement would doggedly pursue old crimes despite the passage of time. Hickock and Smith confessed to the murders of the Clutter family, for which they were hanged in April of 1965. 2023 The Associated Press. At the second, the killers took personal things related to Christine, namely her high school majorette uniform and marriage license. Unfortunately, the results proved inconclusive. Arriving at the house when Christine was alone, she wouldnt have suspected their real intention. Unfortunately, the sheriff noticed when he walked in that several things had been done to contaminate the crime scene. Experts blame the drop largely on slimmed-down police budgets and hundreds of unsolved serial killer cases. A while later, Cliff and the children were invited to stay at the McLeods for dinner, but he declined, wanting to get home to his wife. A boat crashes at a bridge near Parris Island in Beaufort County, South Carolina, on February 24, killing 19-year-old Mallory Beach, according to the South Carolina Attorney General in documents . There in tiny Osprey, on the southern tip of the vast Palmer Ranch, the family's nearest neighbor was half a mile away. All rights reserved. Though he is thought to have committed several murders, he was only actually convicted of one. Initial suspects in the case included Daniel McLeod himself, a local by the name of Wilbur Tooker, and a cousin of Cliff by the name of Elbert Walker. Want more true crime? The following year, the mother of three would leave the agency to prioritize family. Blood evidence suggests that he wasnt killed by the first bullet and that the assailant continued to shoot at him while he crawled over to be next to his fathers body. A lieutenant told him that Clark had presented the plan to the sheriff. There is ample circumstantial evidence to suggest that Smith and Hickock may have been responsible for the Walker family murders. "This case don't want to be solved," he said. Meanwhile, Tooker was seen as a local pervert, having tried to kiss Christine in the past, and regularly making indecent propositions. Cliffs cousin Elbert Walker came into town for no reason the day after the murders. Join Mike and Gibby for this 'Best Of' episode as they discuss the facts of the murders and walk through the various suspects. Capt. Myers, 71, had pleaded for answers most of his life, sometimes dropping into the sheriff's office when the phone fell quiet. Richard Luscombe in Miami. McGath had also considered Wilbur Tooker, Clark's favored suspect and the Walkers' closest neighbor, the one pushy with Christine. With the DNA testing in shambles, McGath turned to boot prints. COLD BLOODED: THE CLUTTER FAMILY MURDERS is a docuseries that focuses on the crime that shocked the nation - the 1959 brutal murder of four members of the Clutter family. The Walker family and the utter family. This was a very odd thing to do. The Walker family of Osprey, Florida, included father Cliff (25 years old), mother Christine (24 years old), a son named Jimmie (three years old), and a daughter named Debbie (two . Hickock and Smith slaughtered the Clutter family on November 15, 1959 in Holcomb, Kansas, about 34 days before the Walker family homicide. The house was dark as McLeod approached, but as he got closer, he saw a light flickering through the window. To be sure, Clark had told Myers, scientists would have to pinpoint Christine's DNA and remove it from the mixture. Yes! In February of 2018, DNA testing found that Smith did not provide the semen at the Walker crime scene. He said what was thought to be sperm was more likely Christine's blood or skin cells. Unable to find a safe, they obliterated all four members of the Clutter family. You are here: Home 1 / avia_transparency_logo 2 / News 3 / interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders June 7, 2022 / lawyers against mcfd / in charlie schlatter leukemia / by Courtesy of Las Vegas Review-Journal Archive. Wilburs alibi doesnt start until after the murders. Another three were seen drinking on the road to the Walkers' house. Indeed, the Walker family killings are given several pages in In Cold Blood, the author dismissing any connection. Boyer interviewed suspects in at least five other states. But they both knew that DNA had so far muddled the picture. She had time to hang up her purse and start putting the groceries away. interactive scene of 1959 walker family murders. [5], According to Sheriff's records, the Walkers had been considering buying a 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air, the same kind of stolen car that Smith and Hickock were driving through Florida. Through the years there have been almost 600 suspects but to this date, the case remains unsolved. So, again, he dialed the detective he trusted most. 2 men found drugged after leaving NYC gay bars were killed, medical examiner says. At around 3:30 PM on December 19, 24-year-old Christine pulled into the family farm after running a few errands. He was shot from a considerable distance as he entered his home. He confessed to everything, even crimes with which he was obviously uninvolved. Both had relatively minor items stolen. "Let me say this, Mr. Myers," Clark said. Working at the scene, police began to search the home for evidence and soon discovered that items were missing; some of them seem quite bizarre. "However," the release said, "DNA testing seems unlikely to provide conclusive evidence one way or the other.". Theyd only been married for five years. After calling out and making further attempts to ascertain the problem, Daniel looked further around the property. She also was there when he spoke with former Det. Now her strokes had robbed her of articulation. Myers leaned forward and rested his arms, sun-splotched from decades overseeing orange groves, on the table. Murderpedia. And though Clark was earnest, Myers feared the result would be no different. He then took them to Rose Hill Cemetery and proceeded to bury them all alive. Here are 10 revelations from the series: 1. The bodies of the two men executed for the 1959 murders of a Kansas family that became infamous in Truman Capote's true-crime book "In Cold Blood" were exhumed Tuesday in an effort to solve . He'd opened the place after two decades in the orange groves. He told the Sarasota Journal at least four people said they had seen the men, including a saleswoman at W.T. Despite this, many still believe that Hickock and Smith are the most likely suspects in the slaying. The house was dark as McLeod approached, but as he got closer, he saw a light flickering through the window. The murder is of particular note because it potentially involved the suspects of the murders that inspired the creative non-fiction novel In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Admit killing one family but not the other. It seems almost sure that there was more than one attacker, with forensic evidence discovering a dark-colored hair in the bathroom and a long blonde hair inside Christine Walkers dress. It was only days before Christmas, and the Walker family had already begun to put a few presents around the tree in anticipation of Christmas morning. As the sun set shortly after 5 p.m. on December 30, 1959, a driver stopped a 1956 Chevrolet . Hickock had once said his philosophy was to "leave no witnesses.". In New Jersey, he handed Madame Florence, a psychic consulted by police departments, a pair of Christine's bobby pins, department records show. First, he turned on "Gunsmoke" - their daily routine. Authorities suspected the pair of murderingthe Walkers as well, but could never secure acharge after Hickock and Smith werecleared by the results of a polygraph test. For those few crime drama aficionados who aren't familiar with the case, in late November of 1959 two petty felons, Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Smith, arrived at a house near Holcomb, Kansas. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. The killer put two more bullets in the back of the childs skull. Emmett Monroe Spencer was a multi-murderer who was captured some time after the Walker massacre. . She earned praise for securing confessions and for her enthusiasm and empathy. While that book devoted several pages to the Walker case, it dismissed a possible connection to Hickock and Smith, asserting that the two men had an alibi for that day. So when he called one day in late August 2022, she responded. Arriving in Miami Beach, the pair was located just four hours away from the Walker family home and checked out of their motel the morning of the killings. And in Kansas, authorities had been focused on the Clutters, an agency spokeswoman said, and they have no evidence that officers interrogated the killers about the Walkers. Still, it's a shame that the DNA test was inconclusive, because "Smith and Hickock did it" wasn't a terrible theory. "[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. Tooker died in the mid-sixties, and I dont believe theyve tried to salvage DNA from his long-buried remains. After lunch, they went to the McLeods. But the results were too tangled to isolate any individuals. They listened as a fellow inmate bragged about a farmer who kept lots of cash in a safe. The Wilbur Tooker theory also holds some merit, but theres just no real evidence for it. While police officially believe that Smith and Hickock remain the best suspects in the cold case, its worth noting that the marriage license was eventually returned to the family when a relative included it in items that were given to Cliff Walkers niece.