Crime Elements Copy Those Found in IN COLD BLOOD

Updated: May 20, 2000

Excerpts From In Cold Blood

 "Nancy’s bedroom was….girlish, and as frothy as a ballerina’s tutu. Walls, ceiling, and everything else except a bureau and a writing desk, were pink or blue or white. The white and pink bed, piled with blue pillows, was dominated by a big pink-and-white Teddy bear----a shooting- gallery prize that Bobby had won at the county fair…..I don’t remember screaming….I only remember Nancy’s teddy bear staring at me. And Nancy. And running…" p.55, 56, 110

"I frisked the girl's room, and I found a little purse--like a doll's purse. Inside it was a silver dollar." p.240

"She was lying on her side….The bedcovers were drawn up to her shoulders…..Her hands were tied behind her, and her ankles were roped together with the kind of cord you see on venetian blinds…" p.62

"The cord around her wrists ran down to her ankles, which were bound together, and then ran on down to the bottom of the bed, where it was tied to the foot board—a very complicated, artful piece of work. Think how long it took to do! And her lying there, scared out of her wits…..Her mouth had been taped with adhesive…" p.63

"So we followed him down to the basement. Or playroom…Sheriff led the way, but inside you couldn’t see your hand until Mr. Ewalt found the light switch. It was a furnace room….I took one look at Mr. Clutter…..He’d been shot…his throat had been cut too….His mouth was taped…He was sprawled in front of the furnace…Sheriff…was pointing at was a blood-stained footprint. On the mattress box. A half-sole footprint…. There was a steam pipe overhead, and dangling from it, was a piece of cord…Obviously, at some point Mr. Clutter had been tied there, strung up by his hands, and then cut down…." P.64,65

"Alfred Stoecklein….wished ‘folks would stop yappin’ and try to understand ‘ why he and his wife, though they lived scarcely a hundred yards from the Clutter home, had not heard the slightest echo of gun thunder….A west wind, like it was, would carry the sound t’other way. ..there’s that big barn ‘tween this house and our’n ….And did you ever think of this? Him that done it, he must’ve knowed we couldn’t hear….him that done it had it figured out to the final T…." p.78,79

"…photographs taken at the scene of the crime…twenty blown up glossy print pictures of Mr. Clutter’s shattered skull …Nancy’s bound hands…the bold and bloody impression of a Cat’s Paw half sole…" p.83

"Why had the murderers taken the trouble to move the (mattress) box ….unless the intention had been to make Mr. Clutter more comfortable…Those bedcovers. Now, what kind of person would do that--tie up two women …and then draw up the bedcovers, tuck them in, like sweet dreams and good night? Or the pillow under Kenyon’s head …" p.103

"He ( speaking of Perry, one of the murderers ) also sent me money now and then when he had it. He also sent me $30.00 a month while in Korea war while he was there from beginning until the end (he served 15 months)…."p.128, Korea or Korean war mentioned on pages 134, 137, 145, 187, 276

 

A letter to Perry upon his return to jail:

Written by his Christian sister, a "conventional" wife and mother To exort Perry to be reponsible for his behavior

Perry hates this sister, probably because she is the only one in his dysfunctional family that has any semblance of a

normal happy life, she is a constant reminder of what he isn’t or doesn't have ( Perry’s jealous brother drove his wife

to suicide, then killed himself; His other sister, an alcoholic, committed suicide; his mother was an alcoholic who slept

around, Perry had to clean after her and take care of her. She choked to death on her own vomit.). Perry has his

intellectual, and homosexual, jail mate friend, Willie-Jay, analyze the letter for him. Willie-Jay paints the sister as a

hypocrite, a dull creature of convention and traditional values, who therefore, can never understand or appreciate Perry

and his nonconformity, he is the one who is being true to his real self, not molded by social pressure to conform. He

suggests that to play along with her rather than to react is the best way to use her, or conventional society in general.

(pp.138-145)

Is this the world view of the murderer? Go along to get along; Use/manipulate people; Play the game; Most people,

particularly Christians or Religious people, are hypocrites; They are weak people who are pressured into being

"normal"? Did the murderer want to hurt the Ramseys because, like Perry's sister, they were "goody two-shoes" (highly

successful and high profile)? Perry said he wished his sister had been at the Clutter's house that night...he would have

blown hair all over the wall also...a "sweet" thought. The motive for these killings, at least with Perry, was not money

but revenge, against all the people he thought had hurt him, and generalized into an attack against a representative

normal, moral, hardworking family. He had a great resevoir of resentment and hate for his parents, the loss of his other

siblings, the Nuns at the orphanage, the crippling of his legs and the beatings and rape he apparently suffered while in

Korea. He also was a man/boy looking for emotional support and direction in his life and he kept giving control of it

away to his friend, and some say lover (Dick and Perry were apparently bisexual, Dick was a pedophile as well). His

desire to please Dick made him vulnerable to his manipulation.

 

A former employee of Mr. Clutter’s, Floyd Wells, meets Dick Hickock, in Lansing (Kansas) prison and tells

him about the rich Clutter family. Dick becomes obsessed with murdering them and stealing their money. Wells tells

Hickock all about the house, its layout, where the money is kept. pp.159-163

" Dick smiled and winked at her. He was sorry he felt as he did about her, for his sexual interest in female children was a….secret he’d never confessed to anyone and hoped no one suspected….Seducing pubescent girls, as he had done ‘8 or 9’ times….He took the child’s hand and said, ‘You’re my baby girl, You’re my little sweetheart.’…..

"Having once served in the Merchant Marine, he understood rope and was clever with knots. He chose a white nylon cord...." p.37

"Dick put on gloves; I’d already put on mine. He carried the knife and flashlight. I had the gun."p.236

"’…when you turned off the upstairs light, that left the house completely dark.’ ‘Did. And we never used the lights again. Except the flashlight.’" p. 243, 244

"One thing I (Dick Hickock) never told you about the Clutter deal is this. Before I ever went to their house I knew there would be a girl there. I think the main reason I went there was not to rob them but to rape the girl." P.278

Perry used to get beat by the nuns at the orphanage for wetting his bed...."She woke me up. She had a flashlight, and she hit me with it. Hit me and hit me."P.93

Perry dreams a lot about travel and adventure. He sees the movie "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" 8 times. p.15. The old man reminds him of his father. The Movie concerns a down on his luck American, Dobbs, in Mexico who is reduced to panhandling to survive ("Say buddy, will you stake a fellow American...?") When he finally takes a two week job, working in the jungle, his boss cheats him out of most of his money. He meets an old prospector who tells them of a great treasure of gold but warns them of the power of gold to change a man's character; from good intentions to greed. ( Is there a person who thinks wealth has changed John Ramsey and caused him to cheat someone out of their money? ). In the end the greedy Dobbs is killed by bandits, the bandits are executed and the gold dust is blown away by the wind.

The two killers arrived at the Clutters house just after midnight (the 15th. of November, 1959). They were there about 2  hours (THe Ramseys lived on 15th. St.).

"…the Kansas Supreme Court decreed that their lives must end between midnight and 2:00am.,…"p.337

The two murderers were hung (strangled) on the gallows. P.337 Perry expired at 1:19 am (meaning his last minute of life was 1:18?). I wonder if the killer followed the time of death in his modeling of this crime?

Perry and Dick confessed on January 3rd., 1960, the day Nancy Clutter would have turned 17 years old (the garrote cord from knot to handle measured 17 inches).