Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder and assault. Reader discretion is advised.
Paul Smith and Richard Hickock were reportedly serving time in prison when they interacted with a man who claimed to have previously worked with the Clutter family. According to the Garden City Police Department, the man told Smith and Hickock that Herb Clutter was a very wealthy man who always kept some stashed cash in a safe in his house outside of Holcomb, Kansas. Smith and Hickock immediately decided to get to the stashed cash in somehow.
Herbert W. Clutter was the founder of the Kansas Wheat Growers’ Association and was appointed to the Federal Farm Credit Board in 1954. He was reportedly a local member of the Agriculture Department’s Price Stabilisation Board. The Clutter farm and ranch were reported to cover almost 1000 acres in one of the richest wheat areas, according to the New York Times.
Upon their release, Paul Smith and Richard Hickock went to the Clutter home and attempted to find the safe that they heard about. However, when they realised there wasn’t such a safe, they awoke a 48-year-old Herb Clutter who offered them some cash and claimed that was all her had on him. They woke the rest of the family up and at that time only four of the six Clutters were home. They were, Herb’s wife, 45-year-old Bonnie Mae Clutter, their son, Kenyon Neal Clutter, who was 15 and their 16-year-old daughter, Nancy Clutter were home with Herb.
Paul Smith and Richard Hickock managed to go through the residence and collect some fifty dollars of cash. They also allegedly got their hands on a pair of binoculars and a transistor radio. Once they thought they procured everything possible, they killed all four Clutters present in the house by shooting.
How were Paul Smith and Richard Hickock caught?
Nancy Clutter’s classmates, Susan Kidwell and Nancy Ewalt, found the Clutter family dead. They reported the family murders to the police, the New York Times reported. In the initial investigation, authorities assumed that nothing seemed to be stolen. They said that the murders might have been carried out by a psychopathic killer. Herb and Kenyon Clutter were found in the basement while Bonnie and Nancy were found dead in their beds.
Herb Clutter’s throat was slashed and he was stabbed. He was also shot in the head. Paul Smith and Richard Hickock bound his hands and taped his mouth shut. Kenyon Clutter was also bound, gagged and shot in the head while Nancy was only bound. Bonnie Clutter was also bound and gagged. All of the victims were shot in the head.
The police discovered a bloody footprint from Smith at the crime scene, with the help of a photograph. The footprint was not visible to the naked eye. They also found a tire mark left by the killers in a hurry, according to records of the Garden City Police Department.
Meanwhile, Paul Smith and Richard Hickock reportedly fled to Kansas city. They moved to Mexico from Kansas city and lived there for a while. They then pawned the binoculars that they stole from the Clutter residence and made their way to Omaha. The duo then went on to Iowa where they stole a car and drove back to Kansas city. They also traveled to Florida and Nevada. It was finally in Nevada that the Kansas Bureau of Investigations caught them on December 31, 1959.
Paul Smith and Richard Hickock were executed by hanging on April 14, 1965.
