Perry Smith (murderer)

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Perry Edward Smith (born October 27, 1928 in Huntington , † April 14, 1965 in Lansing ) was one of the two perpetrators who murdered a farming family in Kansas on November 15, 1959. This crime gained great prominence through the American writer Truman Capote , who processed the crime and its history into a factual novel , which he published in 1965 under the title In Cold Blood .

Family and early years

Perry Smith was born in Huntington, Nevada . His parents, Flo Buckskin and "Tex" John Smith, were rodeo actors. Smith was of Irish and Native American descent. When Perry was a year old, the Smith family moved to Alaska , where Smith's father made a living making whiskey . He abused his wife and children, which is why he was abandoned by his wife in 1935, who moved with the children to San Francisco . From then on Perry lived with his alcoholic mother. After her untimely death he was admitted to a Catholic orphanage , where he was allegedly subjected to physical and psychological reprisals for wetting his bed . He later lived in a Salvation Army orphanage where a guardian allegedly tried to drown him. As a teenager, Perry moved around with his father, was part of a street gang and spent time in juvenile detention centers .

Two of his brothers committed as a young adult suicide , the last remaining sister broke contact with him from.

Service in the military and motorcycle accident

Smith joined the Merchant Navy at the age of 16 . In 1948 he joined the Army and served in the Korean War . While serving in the military, Smith spent several weeks under arrest for excessive drinking in public and brawling with Koreans and other soldiers. Despite these misconduct, he was "honorably" discharged, which means that his service performance had been assessed as "good" or "excellent". From then on he lived for a while near Tacoma , where he had found a job as a car painter. From one of his first paychecks he bought a motorcycle and raced amateur races. In one of these races he lost control of the bike and collided head-on with a car. Smith was critically injured and spent six months in a Washington hospital. Because of his severe bruises on both legs, he suffered permanent damage and from then on suffered from chronic pain . To relieve the pain, he took large quantities of ASA tablets.

The Clutter Family Murder and Time in Jail

Perry Smith met Dick Hickock in prison. Hickock and Smith later stated unanimously that through what a cellmate told them, they had the idea to rob the Clutter farming family. That cellmate had previously worked on the clutter farm in Holcomb and told Hickock that there was a safe in the house that held $ 10,000  . This claim later turned out to be false; there was no such safe in the house.

Smith and Hickock were arrested on December 30, 1959 in Las Vegas and transferred to investigators around FBI agent Alvin Dewey .

Smith confessed to having cut the throat of father Herbert Clutter and shot Herbert and son Kenyon Clutter in the head from close range . The transcript of the proceedings shows Hickock and Smith arguing about who shot the two women, Bonnie and Nancy Clutter. This question could not be finally clarified in the negotiation.

Smith had only had basic schooling. Nevertheless, he showed great interest in art, literature and music. He read a lot, and while in detention he wrote poetry and painted pictures for other inmates from photos of their families.

Relationship with Truman Capote

While researching his novel In Cold Blood , Truman Capote had extensive conversations with Smith and eventually became friends with him. While Capote does not hint at a single line that his relationship with Smith might not have been purely platonic, this possibility has been considered on a number of occasions.

execution

Perry Smith and Dick Hickock were hung on April 14, 1965 in the Kansas State Penitentiary in Lansing . Smith died at 1:19 a.m. Both were buried in Mount Muncie Cemetery in Lansing.

additional

The bodies of Perry Smith and Dick Hickock were exhumed on December 19, 2012 . The authorities hoped to solve a 53-year-old case. On December 19, 1959, the Walker family was murdered in Osprey, Florida . The DNS Perry and Walker was compared with traces of semen that had been found in the pants by Christine Walker. In August 2013, the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office stated that the DNA did not match that of the exhumed.

Representation in art

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anatomy of a Murder , Time Magazine, December 22, 1967
  2. ↑ a b c d Truman Capote: In cold blood . Verlag Reinhard Mohn OHG, Gütersloh (no year)
  3. ↑ a b c d Guy Rocha: In Cold Blood: The Nevada Connection ( Memento of the original from June 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Nevada State Archives and Library, September 2007. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / dmla.clan.lib.nv.us
  4. ↑ In Cold Blood: A Legacy . Lawrence Journal World.
  5. ^ A b c Sally J. Keglovits: In Cold Blood Revisited: A Look Back at an American Crime ( Memento February 2, 2008 on WebCite ). US Courts.gov., June 2004. Accessed February 2, 2008.
  6. ↑ Bruntz, Michael. Witness to execution . Lawrence Journal-World. April 5, 2005.
  7. ↑ Suzanna Adam: Death penalty: Kans continue to debate capital punishment decades later . Lawrence Journal-World, April 6, 2005.
  8. ^ Robert L. Pela: Truman Capote: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, and Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career. - book reviews . The Advocate dated December 23, 1997.
  9. ^ Cora Van Olson: 'In Cold Blood' Killers Suspected in Cold Case of Florida Family Massacre . In: Crime Library . Retrieved May 5, 2013.
  10. ↑ 'In Cold Blood' Killers Exhumed, Investigators Hope to Solve 53-Year-Old Cold Case . ABC News. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
  11. ^ 'In Cold Blood' killers' bodies exhumed in second murder investigation . In: NBC News , December 19, 2012. Retrieved May 5, 2013. 
  12. ^ Bill Sanderson: 'In Cold Blood' killers' bodies exhumed to check for link in 1959 Florida slaying . In: New York Post , December 20, 2012. Retrieved May 5, 2013. 
  13. ↑ Donna Koehn: No DNA link between Walker murders, 'In Cold Blood' killers . In: Herald Tribune , August 13, 2013. Retrieved September 30, 2013. 

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Smith, Perry
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smith, Perry Edward (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American murderer
DATE OF BIRTH October 27, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Huntington's
DATE OF DEATH April 14, 1965
Place of death Lansing