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The Clutters were a normal family in Holcomb, Kansas. Patriarch Herbert Clutter was a well-respected, prosperous farmer. A self-made man, his once-modest farm now employed 18 farmhands. He and wife Bonnie had 4 children; the two youngest children Nancy and Kenyon were still living at home in November 1959. On November 15, 1959, the body of Nancy Clutter is found by two friends. She has been shot in the head. When authorities arrive, they discover three more victims. Bonnie, Kenyon and Herbert have all been shot. Herbert’s throat has also been cut. 

Investigators are baffled and initially suspect that the perpetrator is someone close to the family. There is little evidence at the crime scene. The investigation stalls until Floyd Wells, a prisoner at the Lansing Correctional Facility and former employee of Herb Clutter, reports that his former cellmate Dick Hickock maybe responsible. A manhunt for Hickock and his accomplice Perry Smith begins.  

Truman Capote pioneered the “non-fiction novel” genre in 1966 when he published In Cold Blood. He learned of the murders in a brief article in the New York Times and wanted to write about the effect of the crime on the community. He went to Holcomb accompanied by his friend Harper Lee and became immersed in the case eventually spending five years researching and writing the book. 

More information about In Cold Blood:

Capote Classic ‘In Cold Blood’ Tainted by Long Lost Files by Kevin Helliker
Kansas Bureau of Investigation documents which surfaced in 2013, raise questions about the accuracy of Capote’s book.
The Wall Street Journal, February 8, 2013.

Capote’s Co-Conspirators by Patrick Radden KeefeThis article examines Capote’s relationships with key players in the Kansas murder investigation.
The New Yorker, March 22, 2013

Fact-Checking “In Cold Blood” by Ben Yagoda
In this 2013 article published in Slate, Yagoda examines the notes of the book’s original fact checker, Sandy Campbell.