In Cold Blood: Alvin A. Dewey
Claudia Rice, Hayley Maxwell
Bio of Alvin A. Dewey, Jr.
- Born on September 10, 1912 in Kingman County, Kansas
- Died November 6, 1987 of a stroke at the age of 75
- Began his career with Garden City Police Department in 1936
- Became a special agent with the FBI and met his wife, a stenographer, while in Louisiana
- He and his wife, Marie, had two sons, Alvin A. Dewey III and Paul Dewey
- Dewey was asked to run for sheriff of Finney County, won election and resigned from FBI
- Served three terms as Finney County Sheriff (nine years)
- Became a special agent of the KBI in 1955
- Spent 42 years in law enforcement
- He was a 32nd degree Mason, life member of the Elks Lodge #1404 in Garden City, member of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, and belonged to the First United Methodist Church
Newspaper reporting on the murders
Smith's boot
Nylon rope used to bind Clutter family
Dewey's Significance
- Dewey lead the investigation of the Clutter case with the help of four other KBI agents working underneath him.
- He chased down leads and helped conduct interviews with Hickock and Smith
- Capote uses Dewey to show the investigation, the chase, the interviews, and the trial from a first hand account
- He (Capote) uses Dewey's point of view to bring up the controversial topic of the death penalty by showing the process by which Dewey went through to convict the killers
- Capote uses Dewey to show the professional aspect of the trial and conviction, creating a contradicting view point on capital punishment
From left to right:
Truman Capote, Alvin A. Dewey, Marie Dewey
In Cold Blood - 1996 prt. 2