Charles Starkweather
Charles Starkweather was an American criminal born in 1938 in Lincoln, Nebraska, who became infamous for a series of violent murders he committed in 1957-1958. Growing up in a working-class family, Starkweather faced personal challenges, including bullying about his socioeconomic status and physical appearance. At seventeen, in a bid to escape a life he feared would mirror that of his father, he turned to crime. His criminal spree began with the murder of a gas station attendant and escalated drastically when he shot the parents of his girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, with whom he later fled.
Starkweather and Fugate became notorious for their violent acts, which included multiple murders as they traveled across the Midwest. Their killing spree sparked community panic and led to a massive manhunt. Eventually, Starkweather was captured and received the death penalty, while Fugate was sentenced to life in prison. Starkweather's actions have had a lasting cultural impact, inspiring various artistic interpretations and drawing parallels with subsequent criminal behaviors in American society. His life and crimes have been the subject of numerous books and films, reflecting the complex interplay between crime and media representation.
Subject Terms
Charles Starkweather
American spree murderer
- Born: November 24, 1938
- Birthplace: Lincoln, Nebraska
- Died: June 25, 1959
- Place of death: Lincoln, Nebraska
Major offenses: Multiple murders
Active: December 1, 1957-January 27, 1958
Locale: Lincoln, Nebraska
Sentence: Death by electrocution
Early Life
Charles Starkweather (STARK-weh-ther) was born into a working-class family in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1938. His father, a carpenter, suffered a series of physical ailments that kept him from working consistently, so the family remained relatively poor. Charles resented the teasing he received from his schoolmates about his modest economic condition. He was also teased about his slight speech impediment and bowed legs. At age seventeen, Charles reached a crossroads in his life. He was dating a fourteen-year-old girl, Caril Ann Fugate, whom he wished to marry, but he feared that his life would be similar to that of his father: working as a manual laborer, never having enough money, and then simply dying without anyone caring. Determined to break the cycle, Starkweather turned to crime.
Criminal Career
On December 1, 1957, Starkweather committed the first of eleven murders when he robbed a Lincoln gas station and killed the attendant, Robert Colvert. With cash in hand, Starkweather went to the Fugate residence in north Lincoln on January 21, 1958, where he argued with Caril’s parents, Velda and Marion Bartlett, who opposed their young daughter’s dating the older and ill-bred Starkweather. With Fugate present, Starkweather shot both of her parents to death and strangled to death Fugate’s two-year-old sister. Starkweather stuffed the corpses in the outhouse, and he and Fugate remained in the home for two days, pondering their next move. To forestall visits from any curious neighbors, Fugate posted a note on the door warning that the family suffered from influenza and that potential callers should stay away. Three days after the murders, family members became worried and called the police, who found Starkweather and Fugate gone and the corpses concealed in the outhouse.
Fleeing Lincoln, Starkweather and Fugate headed for the rural farm of August Meyer, a Starkweather family friend. Needing a place to hide, Starkweather killed Meyer before he could hear the news of the Fugate murders and alert the police. After hiding at the Meyer residence, on January 27, Starkweather and Fugate set out hitchhiking. They got a ride from a young Lincoln couple, seventeen-year-old Robert Jensen and sixteen-year-old Carol King. Forcing the couple at gunpoint to return to the Meyer farm, Starkweather murdered both Jensen and King in the storm cellar behind the house. Starkweather and Fugate took Jensen’s car. With nowhere else to go, they returned to Lincoln. While police combed north Lincoln for Starkweather, the fugitive couple sought refuge in one of the town’s affluent neighborhoods. Starkweather selected the home of C. Lauer Ward, one of Lincoln’s wealthiest men, in which to hide. Why Starkweather chose that particular home is unknown, and he never provided a reason.
Starkweather knocked on the door, and the maid, Lillian Fencl, answered. Starkweather ordered Fencl at gunpoint back into the house and threatened Ward’s wife, Clara. Later that afternoon, Starkweather, convinced that Clara Ward was trying to escape, stabbed her to death in an upstairs bedroom. Shortly afterward, C. Lauer Ward returned home from work and was killed by a shotgun blast. Starkweather then killed Fencl to eliminate her as an eyewitness.
Starkweather and Fugate commandeered Ward’s car and fled Lincoln, heading west toward Wyoming. The following day, January 28, authorities discovered the bodies at the Ward residence. Panic arose in the community of Lincoln. Nebraska governor Victor Anderson called out twelve hundred National Guardsmen. Armed parents escorted their children to school. By then, Starkweather and Fugate were in Wyoming. Starkweather murdered Merle Collison, a shoe salesman who was asleep in his car, and tried to drive off in Collison’s automobile but was unable to release the parking brake. Starkweather flagged down another car, but the driver struggled with him as a deputy sheriff drove by. Starkweather tried to flee but after a short pursuit surrendered.
Legal Action and Outcome
After her arrest, Fugate claimed she was Starkweather’s hostage, not an active participant in the murders. Angered by Fugate’s betrayal, Starkweather insisted that Fugate had committed some of the murders and that she could have escaped any number of times while he was asleep. Starkweather, who refused the advice of his defense attorneys to plead insanity, did little to aid in his own defense at his trial. The jury, after less than twenty-four hours of deliberation, found both Starkweather and Fugate guilty of the first-degree murder of Robert Jensen. On November 28, 1958, Starkweather received the death sentence, while Fugate, a minor at the time of the crimes, was sentenced to life in prison. Again refusing to participate in his own appeals, Starkweather died in the electric chair at the Nebraska State Penitentiary on June 25, 1959. Fugate remained in prison until paroled in June, 1976, all the while claiming her innocence.
Impact
Charles Starkweather’s murderous spree seemed to foretell of similar murder sprees, like those of Manson Family and David Berkowitz, the Son of Sam, in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Starkweather, who tried to emulate actorJames Dean’s image (for which the Lincoln newspapers labeled him a “rebel without a clue”), became a romanticized figure for some disaffected youth. Starkweather’s lashing out at society influenced many later artists, from Bruce Springsteen to Quentin Tarentino. His murders have spawned numerous books and television movies, including Badlands (1973), directed by Terrence Malik and starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek.
Bibliography
Beaver, Ninette, B. K. Ripley, and Patrick Trese. Caril. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1974. Ninette Beaver was a Lincoln newspaper reporter at the time of the Starkweather/Fugate murders; her book concentrates on Caril Fugate’s side of the story.
O’Donnell, Jeffrey. Starkweather: A Story of Mass Murder on the Great Plains. Lincoln, Neb.: J & L Lee, 1993. A general volume on Starkweather’s crimes containing extensive information provided by those involved in the case.
Sargeant, Jack. Born Bad. London: Creation Books, 1996. The first half of the book is a summary of the Starkweather/Fugate murders, while the second half concentrates on the cultural influence of the murders since the 1950’s.