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| Charles Starkweather's Mug Shot |
Charles Starkweather was an American spree killer who
personified the pop-culture image of the rebel without a cause who runs away
with his lover and kills everyone who gets in their way. Romantic, right? Quite
frankly, it is not even romantic when they do it on television but when Charles
Starkweather did it, it was outright disgusting. There was nothing romantic or
inspiring about it.
Charles Starkweather was born to Guy and Helen Starkweather
on November 24, 1938. He was third of the couple's seven children. Guy and
Helen raised their children on a very small income in Lincoln, Nebraska. Guy
was a carpenter, who was often out of work because of arthritis. Helen was a
waitress who worked hard to make ends meet. According to everyone, including
Charles, his parents were not abusive, he never went hungry and he always had
clothes on his back.
Charles was born with a few impairments. He had a small
speech impediment, bowed legs and he was severely near-sighted. He was teased
for the former two when he went to school. Both the teachers and the students
also thought him of as slow. However, he probably was not slow. His vision
problems went unnoticed until he was fifteen years old. Between being made fun
of for not being able to speak properly and having difficult seeing, Charles
did not really have a chance to do well at school.
The young Charles Starkweather was a pitiable creature. He
is described as being kind and well behaved, but he was resentful of his
family's lack of status and the bullying he was subjected to. His resentment
began to show in his teen years. He became a very able athlete and would fight
any one who dared to make fun of him. He dropped out of high school when he was
sixteen and began working low-paying jobs. These jobs cemented a belief in him
that he would always be poor until he died. His own conviction of his doom and
his poor way of solving it caused his prediction to come true.
When Charles Starkweather was 18-years-old, he met a
13-year-old girl named Caril Fugate. Caril and Charles began dating. Charles
felt like Caril made his life better and Caril was impressed by Charles' James
Dean-esque clothing (he was a poor imitation of the famous actor) and cars.
Theirs was the sort of relationship in which each individual nurtures the bad
elements of the others personality. They made each other feel right by doing
wrong.
Everything began going downhill for Charles (as we would see
it) when he allowed Caril to drive his car and she hit another vehicle. Guy
Starkweather's name was on the car, so he was forced to pay for the damage to
the vehicle Caril hit. When he confronted Charles about it, Charles got
physical with his father. Guy kicked him out of the house and Charles was
forced to find another place to stay. After living a somewhat vagrant lifestyle
for a short time, Charles' whole life changed.
In December of 1957, Charles Starkweather was denied credit
at a gas station. He came back with a shotgun later, robbed the place and then
killed the clerk a short distance from the station. Robert told Caril about the
murder, but she told no one. On January 21, 1958, Charles went to Caril's
house. Her mother told him that she was not allowed to see Caril anymore. He
left and then waited for Caril to get out of school. The two of them barged
into the house later and began arguing with Caril's mother and stepfather.
Charles had gone to the house with a rifle. During the
scuffle that followed the argument, he shot and killed Caril's parents and
stabbed her two-year-old sister to death. The couple disposed of the bodies in
the outhouse and the chicken coop before spending nearly a week in the house
with a poorly spelled sign on the door that said everyone was sick with the
flu. Everyone, including Guy Starkweather, assumed that Charles had done
something bad. Unfortunately, by the time the bodies were found by the husband
of Carol's older sister, Caril and Charles were gone.
Starkweather had a family friend outside of town named
August Meyer. On January 27, 1958, Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate
arrived at the 72-year-old man's house, where he lived alone. They killed him,
stole some of his belongings and then hitched a ride with two teens- Carol King
and Robert Jensen. They forced King and Jensen back to August's house, where
they killed them. Carol was shot and then stabbed in the stomach and pubic
area. Her pants were pulled down. However, there was no evidence of sexual
assault. Caril later said that Charles stabbed Carol while she sat in the car.
Charles Starkweather claimed that Caril did it out of jealousy. They were both
liars, so it is hard to tell what really happened.
After Caril and Charles killed the teenage couple, they
stole their car and went back to Lincoln. They drove by Caril's house, stupidly
thinking that they could stay there. There were people at the house, so Charles
and Caril stayed in the car for the night. The next morning, Starkweather
decided to break into a house on the "rich" side of town. They wound
up in the Ward house. After making Mrs. Ward make him breakfast, Charles killed
her and assaulted on of her dogs. Mr. Ward came home later and Starkweather
then killed him and the family maid. Caril and Charles then packed up the
Wards' car with goods stolen from their house and went back to Caril's house.
Not surprisingly, people were still there.
At this point, Charles Starkweather decided to drive west
toward Washington State. On January 29, 1958, he noticed a man asleep in his
car on the side of the road. Charles walked up with his gun and shot the man
several times. He and Caril entered the car, but were unable to release the
parking brake. A young man walked over to see if they needed help. Lucky for
that helpful young man, a deputy sheriff pulled up. Caril jumped out of the car
immediately and ran up to the man, yelling that Starkweather had just killed a
man.
Charles somehow managed to get the car moving and took off
without his beloved girlfriend. He was found and chased by police, who shot at
him and broke one of the car's windows. Charles immediately stopped. He was
bleeding from scratches he received from the broken glass. The reason he
stopped was that he thought he had been shot. After all this, Charles
Starkweather was, according to one of the police who nabbed him, a "yellow
son-of-a-b*%$@."
Charles Starkweather and Caril Fugate stood trial for murder
separately. Both lied to authorities profusely. Caril claimed that Charles had
kidnapped her and that the only reason she went with him is that he threatened
to kill her family. Contradictory to that statement, she had confessed that she
was present with Charles Starkweather when her family was murdered.
Furthermore, her later statements and his showed that she had ample opportunity
to run away.
Charles Starkweather was found guilty of murder and sentenced
to death. His sentence was carried out quickly. Caril Fugate was also found
guilty of murder. She was sentenced to life in prison, but was paroled in June
of 1976.
Sources
I read several years ago, that Caril and her husband had been in a very bad auto accident in which her husband was killed and Caril severely injured. Does anyone know whether she is still alive?
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