Richard Eugene Hickock was born on June 6, 1931, in Kansas City, Kansas. He grew up in a working-class family and was known for his intelligence and charm. After high school, he aspired to attend college but lacked the financial means. Instead, he worked as an auto mechanic. In 1950, Hickock suffered a severe head injury in a car accident, which left his face disfigured and may have contributed to behavioral changes. He later turned to petty crimes, including writing bad checks and theft, leading to his incarceration at the Kansas State Penitentiary. While imprisoned, he met Perry Edward Smith, with whom he would later commit the infamous Clutter family murders.

On November 15, 1959, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith entered the home of the Clutter family in Holcomb, Kansas, intending to rob them based on information from a former cellmate, Floyd Wells, who claimed that Herbert Clutter kept large sums of cash in a safe. Upon finding no safe and little money, the pair decided to eliminate all witnesses. Herbert Clutter's throat was slashed before he was shot; his wife Bonnie, and their children Nancy and Kenyon, were each shot in the head. The killers fled with approximately $50, a portable radio, and binoculars.

The brutal murders shocked the nation and led to an extensive investigation by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation. Hickock and Smith were arrested in Las Vegas on December 30, 1959. They were extradited to Kansas, where they stood trial in March 1960. Both were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.

Hickock and Smith were tried together in Finney County District Court. On March 29, 1960, they were both found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. After exhausting all appeals, they were executed by hanging at the Kansas State Penitentiary on April 14, 1965. Hickock was pronounced dead at 12:41 a.m., followed by Smith at 1:19 a.m.