Thursday, December 3, 2009
The Walker Case
On December 19th, 1961, a little more than a month after the Clutter murders, the Walker family of Osprey, Florida were murdered. The family of four were all shot by a rifle. The murders were so similar, that the sheriff of Sarasota County interrogated Perry and Dick with a lie detector. The narrator ominously mentions that "the murderer of the Walker family remains unknown" (258). What is the significance, if any, of this case?
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The significance of this case is that when this case happened, it was a huge deal, which is the same with the Clutter case. Because they were both such big deals in their counties, the detectives wanted to make sure that they had nothing to do with each other. Basically, the detectives thought that it couldn't hurt to interrogate Dick and Perry a little bit, just to make sure they had nothing to do with it. This case also shows how serious and common these murders are. What happened in these two cases is not something that they want to let fly by quickly and so the detectives find it necessary to go through the case and find all possible killers. Finally, a point is that Dick and Perry are clearly heard of nationwide. If people in Florida were interrogating them, that means that they are famous for what they have done. Detectives know that if they could get away with the Clutters murder, they can get away with anything. So Capote bringing up this case just showed that Perry and Dick were famous for what they've done and this case was serious, so the detectives just had some suspicion that Dick and Perry could have killed the Walkers.
ReplyDeleteThe significance of the Walker family murders shows how the book is centered upon the thoughts of the people who knew the Clutters. From their secluded town in Kansas they heard little about such atrocities that would occur every so often in parts of the United States. To them this crime was completely alien, and in such a small community where everyone knew each other, the crimes impact was magnified. It was mere coincidence however that the Walker family murder happened near where Dick and Perry were staying at the time. The fact that the Walker family murder(s) poses the question if there are more pairs like Dick and Perry. Where simple crimes escalate into multiple murders. It also begs the question of whether or not Dick and Perry did a good job on the run, and if it was it just bad luck that they were caught and not the murder from Florida.
ReplyDeletethe significance of the walker case is to show how people perceive the killers. the thought of dick and perry is that they are cold blooded murderers. so therefor the murders in florida would be questionable because they went to miami and the murders where very similar.shot with a rifle, vs shot with a shotgun and very brutally murdered. the only difference between a rifle shot and a shotgun shell is that rifle is a single projectile, vs shotgun which can be single shell or loaded with many small projectiles called "shot." though the peoples idea is that the murders of both families are so brutal that they could only be caused by one person, like the manson murders (Helter Skelter)
ReplyDeleteThe case is put in to show that it is not an original concept to kill off an entire family for a profit, and in fact it happens though not often. A mystery to this day, it also shows that Dewey was lucky to have solved the case of the murders of the Clutters. It also shows why the Clutter murder was so exceptional, and why it justifies the writing of a book. The fact that they were able to catch the murderers shows conviction, an imperfect crime, and sheer luck. While yes, this may often happen, it’s not often solved which is why In Cold Blood is such a unique book.
ReplyDeleteDick and Perry both had traveled to Florida, as stated earlier in the story. When Dick had told Nye about that while being interrogated, it was written down and therefore saved for future references. When the murder of the Walker family had been brought up, it was obvious for the sheriff of Sarasota County to question who killed the family, similarly to Alvin Dewey during the Clutter murders. I believe that there is little significance in this occurrence because of the mere fact that Dick and Perry had no connections to Sarasota whatsoever. I think that this case is brought up to once again show how Dick and Perry are murderers. Also Capote wants to insure that the reader knows how big the Clutters case was. If the case were not big at all, then at no point would a murder in Florida be connected with a murder in Kansas. Besides those two points, it seems that no other idea makes this case a significant one.
ReplyDeleteThis is clearly an ironic occurance,for the obvious reasons that if Dick and Perry get caught, and the detectives realize they were in Florida around the times of the murder, they would be primse suspects. I feel that although Dick and Perry had nothing to do with the murders, however there is a high chance that the actual murderers got the idea from the Clutter murder because of the similarity between the two. Although it was fairly unlikely that Dick and Perry had a connection with the Walker family murders, but with the similarities between the two, and how seemingly cold hearted they were, the detectives thought it would not hurt to interrogate Dick and Perry about this one as well. The detectives had a feeling that Dick felt that if he could get away with one horrific murder, adding one more to his resume would not be a problem. However, this what not that case.
ReplyDeleteI think that the walker case was a coincidence thrown into the story to keep you thinking if Dick and Perry might have done some other bad crimes not spoke of until that point in the book. Also to show that Dick and Perry were known all over the country and not just in Holcomb Kansas. That the story was bigger than just a small side story, that it was a big deal everywhere that they might have gotten away with the murder of the clutters. Also for other reasons, the detectives knew that Dick and Perry were in Florida at the time of the murder and that it would not be surprising if they had committed this crime also so they decided there was no risk to interrogating them hoping to solve the case, even though this didn’t work out it didn’t hurt anything. Also another reason that the detectives thought it was them was because of the way that the family was killed so cold hardily and that there were similarities between the to murder cases. I think that this was put into the story to show that there are more people out their than just 2 people that would do something horrific like Dick and Perry.
ReplyDeleteDick and Perry took a lie detector test on January 20 about the Walker Case. It is not surprising that the detectives in both cases (Clutter and Walker case) would suspect Dick and Perry of the crime, because of the crime the killings were very similar. In the Walker case, just like the Clutters there were four victims, namely Mr. and Mrs. Clifford Walker and their two children, once again a boy and a girl. Just like the Clutters, the Walkers were all shot in the head with a rifle.
ReplyDeleteWe do not have enough evidence to conclude that the Clutter murders and the Walker murders are connected. It is not reported in the book of what rifle the murders used in the Walker case, or any other details about how the bodies were left or found. Because, we know the movements of Dick and Perry we know they are innocent of the Walker murders. Though, it is significant that another family would be murdered in this way, for no apparent reason. This leads us to think that this could be a copy cat crime. Perhaps the most significant thing is that Perry Smith comments to the Kansas State detectives, “I’ll bet who ever did this must be somebody that read about what happened out hear in Kansas. A nut.” (258) So, Perry is calling himself a nut.
The walker case was a murder case similar to the clutters, in which an entire family was murdered. This family lived an isolated area, like the clutters did. They were killed similarly to the way that the clutters were, and overall, the murders were shockingly similar. The reason Truman Capote chooses to add the segment where Dick and Perry get the polygraph test (lie detector) to see if they committed the murder against the Walker’s as well, is to show that time did not stop for the investigation of the Clutter’s murder. There were other crimes, other murders, and many other events that happened while the investigation was occurring, and Capote just wanted to make sure that the reader did not go off into a fantasy land where the only thing that existed was the Clutter’s murder and its investigation. Including the Walker case helps the readers sense of reality, but additionally, it helps the reader realize that these types of murders occur throughout the country, and that the Clutter is an impossible scenario. It gives the investigation less of a fairy-tale feel and makes it seem like more of a real story.
ReplyDeleteAgreeing with what was previously stated before reflects that murders like these seemed not to happen very often. Opposed to today where it shows just pure luck, and evidence to find the criminal in a case like this. It was agreeable that the Sheriff of Sarasota County wanted to interrogate Dick and Perry; because of the oddly similar cases. Just to stay on the safe side it wouldn’t hurt to interrogate these mastermind criminals from Kansas. I feel that whoever committed the crime in Florida thought that since this same thing just had occurred in Kansas, he could commit his crime. Using the same tactics while going about his murder, he thought he could frame Dick and Perry; having convinced people it was them who committed the murder case in Florida. With the odds of having two murders committed around the same time period, committed the same way it seemed very unusual.
ReplyDeleteOne must not forget that Both Dick & Perry came out of the Clutter house empty handed.
ReplyDeleteDick entered the house for looting and, when no safe was in the house, went for the rape ( of Nancy).
Although Perry withheld him from doing so, Perry was instable enough to slid someone’s (Herberts) throat.
By (not) doing so they both had tremendous frustrations to deal with and working themselves off the Walkers seems obvious from their perspective.
Am curious about DNA-results.