The Clutter Family Murders: An Examination of Truman Capote’s ‘In Cold Blood’
On the night of 14th November 1959, in the peaceful town of Holcomb, Kansas, everything seemed ordinary at the Clutter family’s farmhouse. The family had finished their day, and as night fell, they each retired to their rooms, unaware of the horror that would soon descend upon them. That evening, Herb Clutter, his wife Bonnie, and their two teenage children, Nancy and Kenyon, were the only ones at home. The two older daughters, Beverly and Eveanna, had already left the family home, one living in Illinois and the other studying in Kansas City.
As the Clutter family slept, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith were en route, armed with a shotgun, knife, flashlight, and gloves. These two ex-convicts had been planning this crime for weeks, driven by the mistaken belief that Herb Clutter had a fortune locked away in a safe. The truth was that Herb, a respected farmer, dealt almost exclusively in cheques. Had they asked anyone in town, they would have known this. But misinformation from a former cellmate led them to believe they were about to pull off a major heist.
Hickock and Smith entered the home through an unlocked door and began their hunt for the alleged cash, all while the family was asleep. But when their search turned up empty, the two men chose a path of senseless violence. What followed was a series of cold, brutal murders—each carried out with disturbing precision.
Upon rousing the Clutters, they pushed Bonnie, Nancy, and Kenyon into a bathroom on the second floor of the house, then led Herb to his first-floor office. After their initial search for a safe failed, they retrieved the other three members of the family from the bathroom. Bonnie's hands were tied in front of her; she was gagged, then tucked into bed in a room on the second floor. Nancy's hands were tied behind her—inexplicably, she was not gagged—and tucked into bed. Then the men took Herb and Kenyon to the basement.
First they gagged Kenyon, tied his hands behind his back, and tied the rope to an overhead steam pipe in the furnace room. Then they decided to cut him free and move him to the adjoining playroom, bound and gagged; they set him at an oblique angle on the small couch and stuffed a white pillow behind his head, presumably to make him more comfortable. Finally, the killers bound and gagged Herb and pushed him down onto a mattress box on the concrete floor in the furnace room. Smith stayed in the furnace room while Hickock returned upstairs to resume his search for the safe.
A short time later, Hickock returned to the basement, disappointed and angry at finding no safe. The pair had already planned to leave no witnesses, and they briefly debated what to do. Finally, Smith—known to occasionally be unstable, and prone to fits of rage—slit Herb Clutter's throat, then shot him in the head. Moments later, Smith and Hickock reentered the playroom, where Smith shot Kenyon to death. They headed upstairs, then to the second floor, where they entered Nancy's room and shot her to death. Lastly they shot Bonnie Clutter in the side of her head. Each of the four victims had been killed by a single shotgun blast to the head, though Herb's throat was cut as well, and the killers retrieved each spent shell. Recounting later the sequence of the night's events, Smith claimed that he had stopped Hickock from raping Nancy.
Smith later described how he felt hesitant about killing Nancy, saying that she reminded him of someone he once cared about. However, this hesitation did not stop him from pulling the trigger. The image of Nancy lying in her bed with her hands bound and her head shattered by a gunshot is one that haunted investigators, townspeople, and even Smith himself after the fact.
Capote’s In Cold Blood: Filling in the Gaps with Fiction
Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood is widely regarded as a true-crime classic, but as time has passed, several inaccuracies in the book have come to light. While Capote claimed to have faithfully reported the events surrounding the Clutter murders, it’s clear that he took certain creative liberties to enhance the narrative.
For instance, Capote’s portrayal of the night of the murders paints Perry Smith as the more remorseful of the two killers, suggesting that he was reluctant to commit the murders, especially that of Nancy Clutter. In his recounting, Capote even hints at Smith feeling an emotional connection to Nancy, which supposedly delayed her murder. This portrayal has been criticised by those who point out that both men were equally involved in the planning and execution of the crimes. Hickock, though perhaps more pragmatic in his approach, showed no more remorse than Smith.
Another inaccuracy lies in Capote’s depiction of Bonnie Clutter. As mentioned earlier, Capote exaggerated Bonnie’s mental health struggles, portraying her as a reclusive, bedridden figure suffering from severe depression. The real Bonnie Clutter was known to be much more involved in her community, though she did have periods of nervousness and pain. Family members were particularly critical of this portrayal, as it painted a skewed picture of who she truly was.
Moreover, Capote described the scene in Nancy’s room with a level of detail that investigators questioned. He claimed that Nancy had carefully laid out her dress for church the next day, a poignant detail meant to highlight her innocence. However, this may have been one of the novelistic touches that Capote added to enhance the emotional resonance of the scene.
Capote’s ability to draw readers into the personal, emotional lives of the characters certainly made In Cold Blood a compelling read, but it also blurred the lines between fact and fiction. His vivid portrayals of the murderers, particularly Perry Smith, gave the book a sense of psychological depth, but some have argued that Capote became too sympathetic toward the killers, especially Smith.
Aftermath
The discovery of the bodies the next day by Nancy’s friend triggered a massive investigation. Law enforcement quickly descended upon the scene, but the initial lack of solid evidence made solving the case difficult.
The pair were in Las Vegas when they were apprehended on the 30th of December while picking up a parcel containing personal belongings that Smith had shipped from Mexico. Among the items were the boots worn during the murders.
Local police had run the plates on the car they were driving and found it had been stolen in Iowa. They picked the men up and arrested them for the vehicle theft. The Clutter murder investigators were notified that the men who killed the Clutter family had been apprehended.
Smith and Hickock were flown from Nevada to Garden City in Kansas, where they were separately questioned. Both eventually confessed to the murders of the family, though Hickock always argued that Smith killed all four people, not him.
Three months later, on the 29th of March 1960, a jury found both Richard Hickock and Perry Smith guilty and sought the death penalty for their crimes.
The men lived on death row for five years at Leavenworth prison in Kansas. During their incarceration, they would talk about the crimes in graphic detail to anyone who would listen, including people outside the prison. One of Perry Smith’s ex-Army friends said in an interview, “He said, ‘As I pulled the trigger there was a flash of blue light. I could see his head split apart.’”
The pair were eventually hanged at the gallows on the 14th of April 1964. Perry Smith was 36 years old, and Richard Hickock was 33.
