Clutter Family Murders: Why Did Paul Smith and Richard Hickock Kill the Clutters? By Paul Smith and Richard Hickock were reportedly serving time in prison when they interacted with a man who claimed to have previously worked with the Clutter family. According to the , the man told Smith and Hickock that Herb Clutter was a very wealthy man who always kept some stashed cash in a safe in his house outside of Holcomb, Kansas. Smith and Hickock immediately decided to get to the stashed cash in somehow.
Herbert W. Clutter was the founder of the Kansas Wheat Growers’ Association and was appointed to the Federal Farm Credit Board in 1954. He was reportedly a local member of the Agriculture Department’s Price Stabilisation Board.
The Clutter farm and ranch were reported to cover almost 1000 acres in one of the richest wheat areas, according to the . Upon their release, Paul Smith and Richard Hickock went to the Clutter home and attempted to find the safe that they heard about. However, when they realised there wasn’t such a safe, they awoke a 48-year-old Herb Clutter who offered them some cash and claimed that was all her had on him.
They woke the rest of the family up and at that time only four of the six Clutters were home. They were, Herb’s wife, 45-year-old Bonnie Mae Clutter, their son, Kenyon Neal Clutter, who was 15 and their 16-year-old daughter, Nancy Clutter were home with Herb. Paul Smith and Richard Hickock managed to go through the residence and collect some fifty.
