my thoughts on The Walker Family Murders

Christmas is usually a time of good cheer, good food, and good times spent with family. Christmas 1959 was supposed to follow this tradition. However, for one Florida family, the Christmas season became a nightmare.

The Walker family of Osprey, Florida, included father Cliff (25 years old), mother Christine (24 years old), a son named Jimmie (three years old), and a daughter named Debbie (two years old). On December 19, 1959, the entire Walker family was out running errands. The first to return to their modest ranch-style house was Christine. At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary to the housewife. She even managed to put away her groceries before she was attacked.

Despite being caught off guard by her attackers, Christine managed to fight back. In fact, investigators later found that Christine’s shoes were coated in blood that did not belong to her. Ultimately, Christine was killed with a shot to the head from a .22-caliber gun. The next to die were Cliff, Jimmie, and Debbie. Cliff and Jimmie were dispatched with the .22, while Debbie was also shot but was likely killed by being drowned in the family’s bathtub. Detectives theorized at the time that the killer or killers had run out of ammunition.

The bodies were not found until the following day. Daniel McLeod, a ranch worker at the Palmer Ranch, where Cliff Walker worked, went to the Walker home in order to grab Cliff for a planned pig-hunting excursion. Daniel immediately informed the police of his gruesome discovery.

A subsequent search of the Walker home found that several items were missing: Cliff’s pocketknife, Cliff and Christine’s marriage license, and a high school majorette uniform that Christine had once worn. Given the personal nature of these stolen items, investigators theorized that the killer or killers had known the Walkers, and given that Christine had been raped, it was likely that she was the main target.[2]

searchinGirl wrote:I didn’t know this before. I wonder if these murders were in anyway inspired by the Clutter Family Murders committed only a month before in Kansas.