In Cold Blood
By Truman Capote
Summary
In Cold Blood is the true story about a family in Holcomb Kansas that were murdered in 1959. The story is based off of the murderers Perry Smith and Richard "Dick" Hilkock and how they came to murder the Clutters. Given false information Smith and Hilkock raid the house tying up the family members. After only finding out the family was actually poor, Smith ended up slicing Herbert Clutter's neck and shot the rest of the family with a 12-gauge Savage Model 300 straight to the head. After being sentenced to Deathrow they were soon hung on April 14, 1965.
Perry Smith
Born October 27, 1928 Perry Smith was arrested December 30, 1959 and charged with murder of the Clutter Family.
Richard "Dick" Hilkock
Born June 6, 1931 Richard "Dick" Hilkock was arrested December 30, 1959 and charged with murder of the Clutter Family.
Clutter Family
Family of six, father Herbert, mother Bonnie, son Kenyon and daughter Nancy were the four members murdered in the family.
Theme
Mental Illness
In the book it's revealed that Richard Hilkock and Perry Smith did in fact have mental illnesses before the murder. Richard Hilkock was rumored to have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after coming back from the Korean-War. Perry Smith was brutally abused as a child when he was sent to a catholic orphanage. Because they had these mental illnesses they say that those were some reasons why they committed those murders.