Dick Hickock Timeline and Summary

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• Like Perry, most of what we know of Dick's life outside of the six years in the book, we get from his parents' and neighbors' reports and his own statement to the court.
• Dick was born on June 6, 1931, one of two sons of a poor farmer and his wife.
• His family is stable and happy, and except for his father being strict, Dick has no complaints.
• He letters in several sports in high school and hopes to go to college but can't afford it.
• He goes to work after high school and seems to be a hard worker.
• Around this time he becomes sexually interested in young girls.
• He falls in love with and marries his 16-year-old girlfriend and has three sons with her.
• Shortly after his marriage, he gets into an auto accident that leaves him with serious head injuries.
• After starting to see another woman, his wife leaves him. He thinks that the divorce was what started his drinking.
• Because of his drinking, he neglects his business and starts writing bad checks to cover expenses.
• This escalates until he finally goes to prison, where he meets Floyd Wells.
• Dick hears from Floyd about the allegedly wealthy Herb Clutter and plans to rob and kill him once he's paroled.
• He meets Perry Smith, also recently paroled, and invites him to come along.
• They carry out their plan and flee to Mexico, where they stay until their lack of money makes Dick decide to make his way back to Kansas.
• Floyd names them as the possible killers, and they're picked up in Las Vegas and brought to Kansas to be tried.
• Dick's found to be sane and convicted of four counts of Murder One.
• After five years on death row, he's hanged on April 14, 1965.