2 Ex-Convicts Tied
to Kansas Slayings
Las Vegas, Nev. (AP) - An ex-convict said Sunday
he and a companion shot four members of the prominent Herbert W. Clutter family to death, one by one, in their
home near Garden City, Kan., last Nov. 15.
Detective Lt. D. J. Handlon said the statement
was made by Richard Eugene Hickock, 28, of Edgerton, Kan., and that Hickock implicated Perry Edward Smith, 31,
of Las Vegas. Smith hasn't said anything.
Kansas Bureau of Investigation agents quoted Hickock
as saying he and Smith invaded the Clutter home intending to rob a safe. They didn't find a safe, so they tied
up the four Clutters and shot them, one at a time, Hickock told the officers.
The plan was hatched while the two were serving
terms in the Kansas prison for burglary, KBI agents said.
The slayings formed one of the most baffling murder
cases in Kansas history until a tip from a former Clutter employee started a search for Hickock and Smith, county
attorney Duane West said at Garden City Sunday night.
The pair was arrested in Las Vegas last Wednesday.
West said he would file murder charges against
the two Monday.
Smith was released from the Kansas prison last
July and Hickock last August both on parole. Bad check charges were filed against both in Kansas last month.
Handlon said Hickock made a full admission and
his statement was tape recorded. Afterward, Hickock fainted in a hallway outside the interrogation room, collapsing
into the arms of Handlon and KBI agent Clarence C. Duntz.
Herbert W. Clutter, 48, his wife Bonnie, 45, a
daughter, Nancy Mae, 16 and a son, Kenyon, 15 were found slain in their home seven miles west of Garden City Nov.
15.
They had been bound, gagged and shot in the head
with a shotgun. Clutter's throat had been cut.
The bodies of Mrs. Clutter and daughter Nancy were
in separate bedrooms. Clutter and Kenyon were found in the basement. All but Kenyon were wearing pajamas. He had
on blue jeans and a T-shirt.
Clutter, appointed by President Eisenhower in 1954
to the Federal Farm Credit Board for two years, owned 1,000 acres of prime wheat land in addition to herds of cattle
and sheep.
He was a member of the board of directors of the
mammoth Consumers Cooperative Association headquartered at Kansas City, Mo., and board chairman of the Garden City
Co-op. The family was active in Garden City Methodist Church. (Dallas Morning News, January 4, 1960, page 1, section
1)
