Killers dug up; link to 2nd case sought

LANSING, Kan. - The bodies of two men executed for the 1959 murders of a Kansas family were exhumed Tuesday in an effort to solve the slayings of a Florida family killed weeks later.

Kyle Smith, deputy director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, said bone fragments were collected from the skeletal remains of Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, who were hanged for the murders of Herb and Bonnie Clutter and their children in Holcomb, Kan., on Nov. 15, 1959. The murder is the subject of Truman Capote’s true-crime book In Cold Blood.

The fragments were collected at the request of a Sarasota County sheriff’s detective, who has been trying to determine whether Hickock and Perry Smith were responsible for the deaths of Cliff and Christine Walker and theirtwo young children on Dec. 19, 1959, in their home in Osprey, about four hours northwest of Miami near Sarasota. Smith and Hickock fled to Florida after the Clutter murders.

Hickock and Perry Smith have been considered suspects in the Walker slayings since 1960, and Kyle Smith said Florida officials have expressed an interest several times over the decades in renewing the investigation. DNA testing now has advanced enough that older material can be analyzed more effectively, he said.

Sarasota County detective Kimberly McGath said she requested the exhumation to obtain DNA that could be compared with that from semen found on Christine Walker’s underwear. All the Walkers were shot. Christine Walker also was beaten and raped. Their 2-year-old daughter also was drowned in a bathtub.

Front Section, Pages 3 on 12/19/2012

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