Many know their names, but they don’t know the story behind the most notorious criminals in American history. It began in Texas in January 1930 when Bonnie and Clyde met. Bonnie was 19 and married a convicted murderer. Clyde was 21 and unmarried.
Clyde was arrested for burglary and escaped due to Bonnie bringing him a gun, though he was found and sent back to prison. He was paroled in February of 1932. He found Bonnie, and they returned to their previous life of crime.
According to FBI.gov, “At the time they were killed in 1934, they were believed to have committed 13 murders and several robberies and burglaries.”
In late 1932, the infamous spree began. Bonnie and Clyde were traveling with a gunman named Raymond Hamilton. However, he left later that year and was replaced by William Daniel Jones. Soon after being released from prison, Clyde’s brother Ivan M. “Buck” Barrow joined their group with his wife. The group was now five people.
In July of 1933, Buck died, and his wife was captured by the local police. In November of 1933, William Jones was captured by the police. Bonnie and Clyde kept robbing banks and killing people.
The Dallas Sheriff’s Department attempted to catch Bonnie and Clyde but were unsuccessful, and the two escaped to Oklahoma. After Oklahoma, they fled to Louisiana, where they robbed a person.
Then, on Jan. 16, 1934, five prisoners escaped, including Raymond Hamilton. With the help of Bonnie and Clyde. During the escape, two guards were shot with pistols owned and discarded by Clyde.
On April 1, 1934, Bonnie and Clyde shot two highway patrolmen. Then, on April 6, 1934, they abducted and wounded the police chief in Miami, Oklahoma. They became known as the “Barrow Gang.”
The FBI soon had jurisdiction and began to follow the couple’s trail.
On May 23, 1934, the police found the couple hiding. They hid in bushes, waiting for Bonnie and Clyde to reveal themselves, and when they did, they fired and killed the two instantly.
The question is, how did the two commit various heinous acts while getting away with it for so long?
“The first FBI crime lab wasn’t even established until 1932, so during the height of Bonnie and Clyde’s robberies, investigators didn’t really have access to solid forensic sciences,” said forensics teacher Sally Pham. “Forensic sciences like fingerprinting, ballistics, DNA testing – things that would have helped the police identify Bonnie and Clyde – either weren’t very developed or didn’t even exist. Because technology wasn’t as advanced at the time, trying to identify Bonnie and Clyde most likely relied on eyewitnesses rather than video/picture surveillance.”
Though Bonnie and Clyde had committed horrendous crimes, they still did not get a trial due to the police at the time taking justice into their own hands. The law side of how the police at the time were allowed to shoot and inevitably kill Bonnie and Clyde is best explained by Criminal Justice teacher Colton Orr.
“We don’t really have this constitutional rule yet accorded to the Supreme Court. Even though every person has the right to a trial…If you think about 1934, the police are a whole different system of justice than we have now,” Orr said.
Bonnie and Clyde’s case is very complex and inherently confounding. This is a very infamous case that, to this day, brings up a multitude of questions. The names and their horrendous crime are no longer unknown and can still teach those interested in true crime and bank robberies.
