In Cold Blood

In Part I, Agent Nye pays a visit to the parents of Dick Hickcock, who offer some clues about Dick’s early life. Though a decent student and talented athlete, as a young man Dick could not afford to attend college. Instead, at the age of nineteen he married a sixteen-year-old girl named Carol, and the pair had three children. They spent several years living above their means and accruing debt, and Dick began to gamble and write bad checks before finally divorcing Carol for another woman. Eventually, Dick was sent to prison for theft, where he met Perry and others. However, for the few months prior to the fateful night of November 14th, Dick had been living peacefully in his parents’ home, earning an honest living at the Bob Sands Auto Shop. On that night, he convinced his parents that he would be accompanying Perry to meet Perry’s sister in Fort Scott, where she was holding a sum of fifteen hundred dollars for Perry.