Did this purse belong to Bonnie and Clyde? Oklahoma university works to solve mystery
A purse stamped with the name Bonnie Elizabeth Parker — of the infamous Bonnie and Clyde duo — and what is believed to be one bullet hole might have belonged to the notorious criminal.
Now, with DNA research, forensic scientists at the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO) are hoping to solve this mystery.
The artifact was donated to the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, and now the museum wants to verify if the purse belonged to Bonnie Parker.
“We decided to turn to science and contacted UCO, who graciously accepted to help us on this quest,” said Melissa Owens, interim chief curatorial officer and registrar with the museum. “There are not many items directly associated with either Bonnie or Clyde. If it is Bonnie’s then as a historical piece it’s priceless.”
UCO’s W. Roger Webb Forensic Science Institute in Edmond has conducted DNA tests on the purse and completed fingerprint scans, hoping for “indisputable evidence,” according to a Tuesday, Jan. 4, news release from the university.
“It’s a mystery and we are going to use forensic science to solve that mystery,” said Caitlin Porterfield, instructor of forensic science at UCO, adding that the team will conduct “a number of techniques.”
The DNA screening is being led by Rhonda Williams, UCO associate professor of forensic science and a former employee of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, according to the release.
“I think it’s very possible to pull DNA off this purse,” Williams said. “The question will be, who’s is it? If we find DNA and we can somehow link it, that’s amazing and the museum can use it for their exhibits.”
While no DNA sample from Parker exists, she says UCO will compare any DNA found on the purse with a sample from the criminal’s last known living relative.
The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum says it plans to display the purse in an “outlaws and lawmen” exhibit scheduled to open this year, regardless of what the DNA results find.
Who were Bonnie and Clyde?
Clyde Champion Barrow and Bonnie Elizabeth Parker were a duo known for committing a string of robberies and burglaries while running from the law, according to UCO.
They were shot and killed by officers in a Louisiana ambush on May 23, 1934, in what the Federal Bureau of Investigation calls “one of the most colorful and spectacular manhunts the nation had seen up to that time.”
Bonnie and Clyde met in Texas in 1930, the FBI says, while Bonnie was 19 and Clyde was 21. Their crime spree began in 1932, and included “bold robberies which made headlines across the country,” escaping capture multiple times, shootouts with police and abducting a police chief.
“Before dawn on May 23, 1934, a posse composed of police officers from Louisiana and Texas, including Texas Ranger Frank Hamer, concealed themselves in bushes along the highway near Sailes, Louisiana,” according to the FBI. “In the early daylight, Bonnie and Clyde appeared in an automobile and when they attempted to drive away, the officers opened fire. Bonnie and Clyde were killed instantly.”
This story was originally published January 5, 2022 at 9:40 AM with the headline "Did this purse belong to Bonnie and Clyde? Oklahoma university works to solve mystery."