# "In Cold Blood" question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 15, 2019, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-cold-blood-question/843509 "2019-11-15T22:38:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-cold-blood-question/843509/1 "2019-11-15T22:38:03Z")
From Wikipedia’s “On This Day” November 15 was the day the infamous [Clutter family murders](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clutter_family_murders) were committed. The article doesn’t mention one salient thing however: how were the killers identified? ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-cold-blood-question/843509/2 "2019-11-15T22:59:58Z")
If memory serves (having coincidentally watched a portion of the 1990s-era miniseries not too long ago) it was from a tip by a (still incarcerated) former cellmate of Dick Hickok. It went down like this: 1. Cellmate worked on the Clutter farm for a time between stints in prison. 2. During a later stint in prison, but some time prior to the murders, Cellmate was incarcerated with Dick Hickock. 3. While incarcerated, Cellmate told Dick Hickock an exaggerated tale of this “wealthy” farmer (Clutter) he’d worked for. The kind of guy who had a safe with probably lots of money in it. 4. Hickock eventually got out, hooked up with Perry Smith, and shared the story of the Clutter farm, with it’s supposed safe full of riches, with him. 5. Smith and Hickock decided to rob the place for a big score. As it happened, while Clutter was reasonably well off by most standards, he wasn’t exactly wealthy as Cellmate had let on. In the event, Smith and Hickock got away with a paltry sum, leaving four dead in their wake. 6. Cellmate, on hearing of this heinous crime that garnered massive media attention for the time, volunteered the information to the authorities about Hickock, indicating that Hickock had heard his (exaggerated) story and had in fact expressed an interest in robbing the place. 7. The authorities now had suspects, with mugshots, who thought they had gotten off scot free and so weren’t even pretending to be someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-cold-blood-question/843509/3 "2019-11-15T23:14:58Z")
After a quick search: Floyd Wells, a former cell mate of Hickock, had worked on the Clutters’ farm. He had told Hickock abouit the farm, and thought there was a safe containing $10,000 there. After he heard about the murders he suggested Hickock as a possible suspect to the police. He received a reward of $1000 for his information. > **[Chapter 3](https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/i/in-cold-blood/summary-and-analysis/chapter-3)** > > Summary > Floyd Wells, a former cell mate of Dick Hickock, hears about the Clutter family murders and is struck with the realization that he knows who killed them > **[Perry Edward Smith](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Edward_Smith)** > > Perry Edward Smith (October 27, 1928 – April 14, 1965) was one of two career criminals convicted of murdering the four members of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, United States, on November 15, 1959, a crime that was made famous by Truman Capote in his 1966 non-fiction novel In Cold Blood. Along with Richard Hickock, Smith took part in the burglary and multiple murder at the Clutter family farmhouse. > Perry Edward Smith was born in Huntington, Nevada, a now-abandoned community in Elko Count... [http://incoldbloodaplang.weebly.com/blog/floyd-wells-an-innocent-man](http://incoldbloodaplang.weebly.com/blog/floyd-wells-an-innocent-man) > **[Floyd Wells in In Cold Blood | Study.com](https://study.com/academy/lesson/floyd-wells-in-in-cold-blood.html)** > > Have you ever told someone something and later lived to regret it? If so, you'll be able to empathize with Floyd Wells, a convicted felon who... ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-cold-blood-question/843509/4 "2019-11-16T04:45:14Z")
Perry Smith was identified as a suspect after 1) investigators found evidence of two killers at the crime scene (including two sets of footprints), 2) Hickok was fingered by his cellmate as one likely perpetrator, and 3) Smith came under suspicion after authorities were told that he was Hickok’s cellmate. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-cold-blood-question/843509/5 "2019-11-16T05:13:51Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > 1. Smith and Hickock decided to rob the place for a big score. As it happened, while Clutter was reasonably well off by most standards, he wasn’t exactly wealthy as Cellmate had let on. In the event, Smith and Hickock got away with a paltry sum, leaving four dead in their wake. IIRC (from the book), a further problem was that Mr Clutter was a big cheque-writer, and hated to have cash about the place too much