Perry Edward Smith

ABOUT PERRY EDWARD SMITH

Made infamous by his inclusion in author Truman Capote 's nonfiction work In Cold Blood, this convicted murderer was sentenced to death for robbing and subsequently killing Herbert, Kenyon, Bonnie, and Nancy Clutter during a 1959 home invasion in Holcomb, Kansas.

After serving briefly in the United States Merchant Marine, he joined the United States Army and fought in the Korean War.

His body and that of his accomplice were exhumed in 2012 so that authorities could collect evidence that might link the two men to the long-unsolved Florida murders of Christine and Cliff Walker and the two Walker children.

The son of professional rodeo performers Tex Smith and Flo Buckskin, he grew up in Nevada, Alaska, and California. He and his three siblings lived in an orphanage for part of their childhoods.

He and fellow criminal Richard Hickock were accomplices in the murders of the Clutter family.