Alvin Dewey Explained

Alvin Dewey
Birth Name:Alvin Adams Dewey
Birth Date:10 September 1912
Birth Place:Murdock, Kansas, United States
Death Place:Garden City, Kansas, United States
Spouse:Marie Bellocq

Alvin Adams Dewey (September 10, 1912 – November 6, 1987)[1] was an American special agent of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Early life

Dewey was born in Murdock, Kansas, on September 10, 1912, to Alvin Adams Dewey Sr (6 September 1879 – 26 January 1948), originally from Illinois, and Nellie E. Dewey (née Butler; 21 August 1885 – 15 October 1968).

Career

Dewey is most known for his role as the chief investigator of the 1959 murders of the Clutter family[2] in Holcomb, Kansas, a case made famous by Truman Capote's 1966 book In Cold Blood. He worked to find the killers, Perry Edward Smith and Richard Hickock, in late 1959, before they were found on 30 December of that year in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Dewey had previously worked as a Kansas state trooper, as an FBI special agent,[3] and as the sheriff of Finney County.

Personal life

Dewey was married to Marie Louise Dewey (née Bellocq; 22 June 1919 – 6 May 2002) and resided in Garden City for most of his life.

Film portrayals

Dewey was portrayed in the 1967 film version of In Cold Blood by John Forsythe, by Sam Neill in the 1996 TV miniseries adaptation, by Chris Cooper in 2005's Capote and by Jeff Daniels in 2006's Infamous.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Alvin Adams Dewey, II. findagrave.com. 23 February 2017.
  2. News: Alvin Dewey Dies. The New York Times . 23 February 2017. The New York Times. 8 November 1987.
  3. Web site: Alvin A. Dewey. www.gcpd.org. 23 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170428051043/http://www.gcpolice.org/History/Dewey.html. 28 April 2017. dead.