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{{short description|American spree killer (1938–1959)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2014}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Charles Starkweather
| image = Charles Starkweather circa 1957.png
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Starkweather {{circa}} 1957
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1938|11|24|mf=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Lincoln, Nebraska]], U.S.
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1959|6|25|1938|11|24|mf=yes}}
| death_place = [[Nebraska State Penitentiary]], Nebraska, U.S.
| criminal_status = [[Execution by electrocution|Executed by electrocution]]
| resting_place = [[Wyuka Cemetery]]
| partners = [[Caril Ann Fugate]] (1956–1957)
| time_at_large = 60 days
| beginyear = December 1, 1957
| endyear = January 29, 1958
| country = United States
| states = Nebraska, [[Wyoming]]
| locations = {{unbulleted list|
* Lincoln and [[Bennet, Nebraska]]
* [[Douglas, Wyoming]]
}}
| fatalities = 11<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/killer-couple-strikes-the-heartland | title=Teenage killers murder three people | newspaper=History }}</ref>
| injuries = 0
| weapons = {{unbulleted list|
* [[Winchester Model 1906]]
* [[Stevens Arms|.410 Stevens Model 59A]]
* [[.38 Special|.38-caliber]] [[revolver]]
* [[Knife]]
}}
| apprehended = January 29, 1958
| imprisoned = [[Nebraska State Penitentiary]]
| criminal_penalty = [[Capital punishment in Nebraska|Death]]
| conviction = [[First degree murder]]
}}
'''Charles Raymond Starkweather''' (November 24, 1938 – June 25, 1959)<ref name="Wishart2004">{{cite book|author1-link=David J. Wishart|last=Wishart|first=David J.|title=Encyclopedia of the Great Plains|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rtRFyFO4hpEC&pg=PA462|access-date=October 22, 2010|year=2004|publisher=U of Nebraska Press|isbn=978-0-8032-4787-1|page=462}}</ref> was an American [[spree killer]] who murdered eleven people in [[Nebraska]] and [[Wyoming]] between November 1957 and January 1958, when he was nineteen years old.<ref name="Rule2004">{{cite book|last=Rule|first=Ann|title=Kiss Me, Kill Me: Ann Rule's Crime Files|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jtj8_7WxpUkC&pg=PA224|access-date=October 22, 2010|year=2004|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-0-671-69139-4|page=224}}</ref> He killed ten of his victims between January 21 and January 29, 1958, the date of his arrest. During his spree in 1958, Starkweather was accompanied by his fourteen-year-old girlfriend, [[Caril Ann Fugate]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Five for Charles Starkweather, murderer |publication-place=[[Evanston, Illinois|Evanston]], [[Illinois]] |date=1 October 1967 |id={{ProQuest|<!-- Add ProQuest data here -->}} |first=C.G. |last=Hanzlicek |volume=10 |page=60 |journal=[[TriQuarterly]] |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/078275aa3ee1eabbe819548b12ec8976/1 |issn=0041-3097 |oclc=889376903 |publisher=[[Northwestern University Press]] |issue=2 |access-date=8 September 2021 |editor1-first=Charles |editor1-last=Newman |editor1-link=Charles Newman (author) }}</ref>
Both Starkweather and Fugate were convicted on charges for their parts in the homicides; Starkweather was sentenced to death and executed seventeen months after the events. Fugate served seventeen years in prison, gaining release in 1976.<ref name="FlowersFlowers2005">{{cite book|last1=Flowers|first1=R. Barri|author-link=R. Barri Flowers|author2=H. Loraine Flowers|title=Murders In The United States: Crimes, Killers And Victims Of The Twentieth Century|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gh6q_-Vzc0YC&pg=PA176|access-date=October 22, 2010|year=2005|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-2075-9|page=176}}</ref> Starkweather's execution by [[electric chair]] in 1959 was the last [[Capital punishment in Nebraska|execution in Nebraska]] until 1994.<ref name="lachance">{{cite journal |title=Executing Charles Starkweather: Lethal punishment in an age of rehabilitation |first=Daniel |last=Lachance |date=1 July 2009 |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=337–358 |doi=10.1177/1462474509334607 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1462474509334607 |editor1-first=Alessandro |editor1-last=De Giorgi |editor2-first=Vanessa |editor2-last=Barker |journal=[[Punishment & Society]] |issn=1462-4745 |publisher=[[Sage Publications]] |s2cid=145675504 |publication-place=[[Thousand Oaks]], [[California]] |lccn=sn99017542 |oclc=42208145 |editor3-first=Kelly |editor3-last=Hannah-Moffat |editor4-first=Mona |editor4-last=Lynch |editor4-link=Mona Lynch |access-date=8 September 2021 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Criminologists and psychologists have analyzed the Starkweather case in an attempt to understand spree killers' motivations and precipitating factors.<ref name="parker">{{cite news |newspaper=The Buckingham Post |volume=65 |issue=30 |publication-place=[[Buckingham, Quebec|Buckingham]], [[Quebec]] |date=25 November 1960 |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=8 September 2021 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CxYeAAAAIBAJ&pg=PA39&article_id=2740,4258335 |page=4 |department=International news section |title=Backward look at a boy killer |agency=[[Newsweek]] |publisher=Estate of A.H. Parker |editor1-first=A.H. |editor1-last=Parker }}</ref><ref name="eugor">{{cite news |newspaper=Eugene Register-Guard |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=8 September 2021 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5PlVAAAAIBAJ&q=%22Charles+Starkweather%22&pg=PA2&article_id=5326,3260562#v=onepage |title=Reason sought by criminologist for youth's wild slaying spree |first=James Melvin |last=Reinhardt |publication-place=[[Eugene, Oregon|Eugene]], [[Oregon]] |page=12B |date=17 June 1958 |volume=91 |issue=238 |editor1-first=Alton F. |editor1-last=Baker |editor2-first=Robert B. |editor2-last=Frazier |editor3-first=Alton F. |editor3-last=Baker Jr. |editor4-first=A.H. |editor4-last=Currey |editor5-first=Arne |editor5-last=Strommer |editor6-first=Jari E. |editor6-last=Fugle |editor7-first=W.B. |editor7-last=Johnston Jr. |agency=[[Associated Press|The Associated Press (AP)]] }}</ref><ref name="delisi">{{cite journal |title=The Starkweather Syndrome: exploring criminal history antecedents of homicidal crime sprees |pages=37–47 |first1=Matt |last1=DeLisi |first2=Andy |last2=Hochstetler |first3=Aaron M. |last3=Scherer |first4=Aaron |last4=Purhmann |first5=Mark T. |last5=Berg |doi=10.1080/14786010801972670 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14786010801972670 |volume=21 |issue=1 |date=13 March 2008 |access-date=8 September 2021 |issn=1478-601X |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |publication-place=[[London]] |journal=Criminal Justice Studies: A Critical Journal of Crime, Law and Society |s2cid=145389937 |editor1-first=Richard |editor1-last=Tewksbury |editor2-first=David v. |editor2-last=Baker |editor3-first=Elizabeth Erhardt |editor3-last=Mustaine |editor4-first=Heith |editor4-last=Copes |editor5-first=Brian |editor5-last=Payne |url-access=subscription }}</ref> It also became notorious as one of the earlier crime scandals that reached national prominence, much like the [[Lindbergh kidnapping|kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh's son]], with the media outlets covering the case at the time openly condemning Starkweather.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Marshall |first=Chris E. |title=Fear of crime, community satisfaction and self-protective measures: Perceptions from a Midwestern city |journal=Journal of Crime and Justice |year=1991 |pages=97–121 |volume=14 |issue=2 |doi=10.1080/0735648X.1991.9721440 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0735648X.1991.9721440 |issn=0735-648X |publisher=Midwestern Criminal Justice Association /[[Taylor & Francis]] |editor1-first=George W. |editor1-last=Burruss |editor2-first=Matthew |editor2-last=Matusiak |editor3-first=Dena |editor3-last=Carson |editor4-first=Cory |editor4-last=Haberman |publication-place=[[Cleveland]], [[Ohio]] |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{cite thesis |url=https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/5065/|series=Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers |title=Reporting a mass murder: Coverage of the Charles Starkweather case by the "Lincoln Star" and the "Omaha World Herald" |first=Michelle Barret |last=Ravnikar |type=Master of Arts |publisher=[[University of Montana]] |year=1986 |format=PDF |editor1-first=Warren J. |editor1-last=Brier |via=[[ScholarWorks]] at University of Montana |department=University of Montana Graduate School |publication-place=[[Missoula]], [[Montana]] |volume=5065 |access-date=8 September 2021 }}</ref>
==Early life==
Starkweather was born in [[Lincoln, Nebraska]], the fourth of seven children of Guy and Helen Arnold Starkweather.<ref name="biography">[http://www.biography.com/articles/Charles-Starkweather-233080 Charles Starkweather] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101127164522/http://www.biography.com/articles/Charles-Starkweather-233080 |date=November 27, 2010 }}, biography.com; accessed June 21, 2015.</ref> The Starkweathers were a working-class family; Starkweather's father was a carpenter who was often unemployed due to [[rheumatoid arthritis]] in his hands; Helen worked as a waitress to supplement the family's income.<ref>''Killers'' {{ISBN|978-0-752-20850-3}} p. 174</ref> Guy Starkweather admitted at Charles's trial to having pushed his son into a window; later his wife would divorce him on the grounds of extreme cruelty.<ref>Strand, p. 17</ref> The family was downwardly mobile: Starkweather's great-great-grandfather, [[George Anson Starkweather (New York politician)|George Anson Starkweather]], was a member of the United States House of Representatives from New York's 21st district from 1847 to 1849.<ref name="Genealogical">{{cite book |last=Starkweather |first=Carlton Lee |date=1904 |title=A Brief Genealogical History of Robert Starkweather of Roxbury and Ipswich, Massachusetts |url=https://archive.org/details/briefgenealogica00star/page/134/mode/2up |___location=Auburn, NY |publisher=Knapp, Peck & Thomson |pages=134–135 |via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>
Starkweather attended Saratoga Elementary School, Irving Junior High School, and [[Lincoln High School (Lincoln, Nebraska)|Lincoln High School]]. In contrast to his family life, Starkweather later recalled nothing positive of his time at school.<ref name="karisable"/> He was born with [[genu varum]], a mild [[birth defect]] that caused his legs to be misshapen, and claimed he was teased by classmates because he had a [[speech impediment]].<ref name="karisable"/> His elementary school teacher did not recall him being teased.<ref>Strand, p. 10</ref>
As he grew older and stronger, the only subject in which Starkweather excelled was [[physical education]],<ref name="biography"/> where he found an outlet for his rage against those who bullied him. Starkweather then began to bully those who had once picked on him.<ref name="bookrags">[http://www.bookrags.com/biography/charles-starkweather-cri World of Criminal Justice on Charles Starkweather], BookRags.com; accessed June 21, 2015.</ref> Eventually, he felt rage against anyone he disliked. Author Ginger Strand argues that his writings from prison suggest a strong element of class envy and bitterness.<ref>Strand, 18–19.</ref> Starkweather went from being one of the most well-behaved teenagers in the community to one of the most troubled. His high school friend Bob von Busch would later recall:
{{blockquote|He could be the kindest person you've ever seen. He'd do anything for you if he liked you. He was a hell of a lot of fun to be around, too. Everything was just one big joke to him. But he had this other side. He could be mean as hell, cruel. If he saw some poor guy on the street who was bigger than he was, better looking, or better dressed, he'd try to take the poor bastard down to his size.<ref>Allen, William. ''Starkweather: The Story of a Mass Murderer''. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976. Print.</ref>}}
By the time Starkweather dropped out of school, his parents and family were reportedly afraid of him due to his violent outbursts.<ref>{{cite news |title=Parents feared for own lives |agency=[[Associated Press|The Associated Press (AP)]] |volume=LXIV |issue=105 |newspaper=Schenectady Gazette |publication-place=[[Schenectady]], [[New York (state)|New York]] |date=30 January 1958 |access-date=8 September 2021 |via=[[Google Books]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=goUuAAAAIBAJ&q=%22Charles+Starkweather%22&pg=PA1&article_id=3708,3640196#v=onepage |publisher=Daily Gazette Company |editor1-first=John G. |editor1-last=Green |editor2-first=Eleanor F. |editor2-last=Green |editor3-first=Anna C. |editor3-last=Hume |page=1 |department=Main section }}</ref>
==Relationship with Caril Ann Fugate==
{{Main|Caril Ann Fugate}}
In 1956, at eighteen, Starkweather was introduced to thirteen-year-old Caril Ann Fugate.<ref name="cawthorne"/> Starkweather dropped out of high school in his senior year and took a job at a newspaper warehouse<ref name="biography"/><ref name="bookrags"/> because it was near Fugate's school; he began to visit her every day after school. Starkweather taught Fugate how to drive, and one day she crashed the car belonging to Starkweather's father, who banished Starkweather from the family home. Starkweather quit his warehouse job and became a garbage collector.<ref name="biography"/>
Starkweather began developing a [[nihilism|nihilistic]] worldview, believing that his current situation was the final determinant of how he would live the rest of his life while striving only to satisfy his biological needs and acquire power over others.{{explain|date=January 2022}}<ref name="reinh" /><ref name="vanc">{{cite news |first=James Melvin |last=Reinhardt |title=Killer hungered for a girl, a gun, power |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=9 September 2021 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4z9lAAAAIBAJ&q=%22Charles+Starkweather%22&pg=PA39&article_id=1021,1599462#v=onepage |agency=[[Associated Press|The Associated Press (AP)]] |page=39 |date=9 June 1958 |newspaper=The Vancouver Sun |volume=LXXII |issue=208 |publication-place=[[Vancouver]], [[British Columbia]] |publisher=Sun Publishing Company, Limited/Pacific Press Limited |editor1-first=Donald |editor1-last=Cromie |editor2-first=J.L. |editor2-last=Dampier |editor3-first=H. |editor3-last=Koshovoy |editor4-first=C.H. |editor4-last=MacKay |editor5-first=J.J. |editor5-last=Rooney |department=International news section }}</ref> He began plotting bank robberies, and settled on a personal philosophy: "Dead people are all on the same level".<ref><!--author ? -->''Born Bad'' <!-- publisher? -->{{ISBN|978-1-87159-262-7}} p. 21</ref>
==First murder==
Late on November 30, 1957, Starkweather became angry at Robert Colvert, a service station attendant in Lincoln, for refusing to sell him a stuffed animal on [[credit]]. He returned several times during the night to purchase small items until finally, brandishing a shotgun, he forced Colvert to give him $100 from the till. He then abducted and drove Colvert to a remote area, where they struggled over the gun, injuring Colvert before Starkweather killed him with several shots to the head.<ref name="karisable"/>
==1958 murder spree==
[[File:Caril Ann Fugate Nebraska 1958.A.jpg|180px|thumb|Caril Fugate, pictured en route to [[Lincoln, Nebraska]]. February 3, 1958]]
On January 21, 1958, Starkweather went to Fugate's home.<ref name="Wishart2004"/> Fugate's mother and stepfather, Velda and Marion Bartlett, told him to stay away. He fatally shot them, then clubbed to death their two-year-old daughter Betty Jean.<ref name=karisable>[http://karisable.com/skazfulgate.htm Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate], retrieved (December 9, 2009)</ref> He hid the bodies in an outhouse and chicken coop behind the house.<ref>Strand, p. 30</ref>
Starkweather later said that Caril was there the entire time, but she said that when she arrived home, Starkweather met her with a gun and said that her family was being held hostage. She said Starkweather told her that if she cooperated with him, her family would be safe; otherwise, they would be killed. A note reading "Everybody is sick with the flu" was placed in the family home's window.<ref name="Note">{{cite news|url=https://www.ketv.com/article/14-year-old-caril-ann-fugate-notorious-murder-spree-pardoned-starkweather-murders-nebraska/30926733 |title=14-year-old Caril Ann Fugate was convicted in a notorious murder spree. Now she wants to be pardoned |website=KETV Omaha |date=14 February 2020|access-date=14 June 2024}}</ref> The pair remained in the house until shortly before the police, alerted by Fugate's suspicious grandmother, arrived on January 27.<ref name=karisable/> When the police broke in, they found no one there and the house in apparent order. A few days later, Charles's brother Rodney and his friend Bob Von Busch searched the house and premises, finding the stashed bodies. The police issued an alert to pick up both Starkweather and Fugate.<ref>Strand, p. 11</ref>
Starkweather and Fugate drove to the farmhouse of seventy-year-old August Meyer, one of his family's friends who lived in [[Bennet, Nebraska]]. Starkweather killed him with a shotgun blast to the head.<ref name="karisable"/> He also killed Meyer's dog.<ref>Leyton, Elliot. [https://books.google.com/books?id=js73x02HJ80C ''Hunting Humans'' (p. 205)]; Pocket Books (1988); {{ISBN|9780671659615}}</ref>
Fleeing the area, the pair drove their car into mud and abandoned it. When Robert Jensen and Carol King, two local teenagers, stopped to give them a ride, Starkweather forced them to drive back to an abandoned [[storm cellar]] in Bennet. He shot Jensen in the back of the head. He attempted to [[rape]] King, but King put up too much resistance for him to do so.<ref>''Born Bad'' {{ISBN|978-1-87159-262-7}} p. 40</ref> He became angry with her and fatally shot her as well. Starkweather later admitted shooting Jensen, but claimed that Fugate shot King. Fugate said she had stayed in the car the entire time. The two fled Bennet in Jensen's car.<ref name="cawthorne" />
Starkweather and Fugate drove to a wealthy section of Lincoln, where they entered the home of industrialist Chester Lauer Ward and his wife Clara.<ref name="karisable"/> Starkweather stabbed their maid Ludmila "Lilyan" Fencl to death, then waited for Lauer and Clara to return home. Starkweather killed the family dog by breaking its neck to keep it from alerting the Wards. Clara arrived first alone and was also stabbed to death. Starkweather later admitted to having thrown a knife at Clara but insisted that Fugate had stabbed her numerous times, killing her. When Lauer Ward returned home that evening, Starkweather shot and killed him. While Starkweather and Fugate were in the house, the Wards' newspapers arrived, and they cut out the front-page pictures of themselves and Fugate's dead family. These pictures were found on them later, casting doubt on Caril's claim that she didn't know her family was dead.<ref>Strand, p. 40</ref> Starkweather and Fugate filled Ward's black 1956 [[Packard]] with stolen jewelry from the house and fled Nebraska.<ref name="vanc" />
The murders of the Wards and Fencl caused an uproar within [[Lancaster County, Nebraska|Lancaster County]].<ref name=karisable/> The flames of public fear were fanned by the era's ongoing panic about "juvenile delinquency."<ref>Strand pp. 34–35</ref> Law enforcement agencies in the region sent their officers on a house-to-house search for the perpetrators. [[Governor of Nebraska|Governor]] [[Victor Emanuel Anderson]] contacted the [[Nebraska National Guard]], and the Lincoln chief of police called for a block-by-block search of that city. After several sightings of Starkweather and Fugate were reported, the Lincoln Police Department was accused of incompetence for being unable to capture the pair.<ref name="parker" /> Vigilante gangs were formed, and local sheriff Merle Karnopp started forming a posse by arming men he found in bars.<ref>Strand, p. 41</ref>
Needing a new car because of Ward's Packard having been identified, the couple came upon traveling salesman Merle Collison sleeping in his [[Buick]] along the highway outside [[Douglas, Wyoming|Douglas]], [[Wyoming]]. After Collison was awakened, he was fatally shot. Starkweather later accused Fugate of performing a [[coup-de-grâce]] after his shotgun jammed. Starkweather claimed Fugate was the "most trigger-happy person" he had ever met. Fugate denied ever having killed anyone.<ref name="Rule2004" />{{failed verification|date=January 2023}}
The salesman's car had a [[parking brake]], which was something new to Starkweather. While he attempted to drive away, the car stalled because the brake had not been released. He tried to restart the engine, and a passing motorist, geologist Joe Sprinkle, stopped to help. Starkweather threatened him with the rifle, and an altercation ensued. At that moment, [[Natrona County]] Sheriff's Deputy William Romer arrived on the scene. Fugate ran to him, yelling something to the effect of: "It's Starkweather! He's going to kill me!"<ref name="cawthorne">{{cite book |pages=174–192 |chapter-url=https://www.archive.org/details/killerscontractk0000cawt/page/174 |chapter=4. Rebel Without A Cause |first=Nigel |last=Cawthorne |editor1-first=Nigel |editor1-last=Cawthorne |editor2-first=Geoff |editor2-last=Tibballs |title=Killers: Contract killers, spree killers, sex killers, the ruthless exponents of murder, the most evil crime of all |isbn=9780752208503 |orig-date=1993 |year=1994 |edition=2nd |publication-place=[[London]] |publisher=Boxtree Limited |series=True Crime |via=[[Internet Archive]] |url=https://www.archive.org/details/killerscontractk0000cawt/page/n7/mode/2up }}</ref>
Starkweather drove off and was involved in a car chase with three officers—Romer, Douglas Police Chief Robert Ainslie, and Converse County Sheriff Earl Heflin—exceeding speeds of {{convert|100|mph}}. A bullet fired by Heflin shattered the windshield and flying glass cut Starkweather deep enough to cause bleeding. He stopped, surrendered, and was taken into custody near Douglas on January 29, 1958.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sequence of Events in the Charles Starkweather Case |url=https://lincolnlibraries.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/StarkweatherTimeline.pdf |access-date=17 April 2022 |work=Lincoln Evening Journal |date=June 25, 1959}}</ref> Heflin said, "He thought he was bleeding to death. That's why he stopped. That's the kind of [[cowardice|yellow]] son of a bitch he is."<ref>{{cite news |newspaper=Alton Evening Telegraph |agency=[[Associated Press|The Associated Press (AP)]] |publication-place=[[Alton, Illinois]] |page=1 |department=Main section |first=Joe |last=McGowan |title=Youth who slew ten captured in Wyoming |date=30 January 1958 }}</ref>
==Trial and execution==
[[File:Grave of Charles Raymond Starkweather (1938–1959) at Wyuka Cemetery, Lincoln, NE.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Starkweather's grave at Wyuka Cemetery]]
Starkweather chose to be extradited from Wyoming to Nebraska. He and Fugate arrived there in late January 1958. He believed that either state would have executed him. He was not aware, however, that [[Milward Simpson]], [[Governor of Wyoming|Wyoming's governor]] at the time, opposed the [[death penalty]].<ref>[http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/mass/starkweather/reckoning_9.html Profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131130004948/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/mass/starkweather/reckoning_9.html |date=November 30, 2013 }}, trutv.com; accessed June 18, 2015.</ref> Starkweather first said that he had kidnapped Fugate and that she had nothing to do with the murders. However, he changed his story several times. He testified against her at her trial, saying that she was a [[Accomplice|willing participant]].<ref name="Tougher Than the Rest">Sawyers, June Skinner (2006). ''Tougher Than the Rest: 100 Best Bruce Springsteen Songs''. Omnibus Press. pp. 69–75. {{ISBN|978-0-8256-3470-3}}.</ref>
Fugate has always maintained that Starkweather was holding her hostage by threatening to kill her family, claiming she was unaware they were already dead. Judge Harry A. Spencer did not believe Fugate was held hostage by Starkweather, as he determined she had had numerous opportunities to escape. When Starkweather was first taken to the Nebraska penitentiary after his trial, he said that he believed that he was supposed to die. He said if he was to be executed, then Fugate should be also.<ref>''Born Bad'' {{ISBN|978-1-87159-262-7}} pp. 69–71</ref>
Starkweather was convicted after the jury deliberated for 22 hours for the murder of Jensen, the only murder for which he was tried. On May 23, 1958, he was sentenced to death, and Starkweather was executed in the [[electric chair]] at the [[Nebraska State Penitentiary]] in Lincoln, Nebraska, at 12:04 a.m. on June 25, 1959.<ref>{{cite news|title=Starkweather Executed: Calm To The End, No Final Words|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/77473754/the-miami-news/|access-date=May 10, 2021|newspaper=The Miami News|page=1-A|date=June 25, 1959|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> Half an hour before the execution, the doctor who was supposed to pronounce Starkweather dead, B.A. Finkel, suffered a fatal heart attack.<ref name="Omah760704">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/omaha-world-herald-starkweather-death-ha/125491466/|date=July 4, 1976|page=62|first=Odell|last=Hanson|agency=Associated Press|title=Starkweather Death Haunts the Memory|newspaper=Omaha World-Herald|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=May 29, 2023}}</ref><!-- Sun --> Starkweather gave no last words but in a letter from prison to his parents, wrote: "but dad I'm not real sorry for what I did cause for the first time me and Caril have (sic) more fun."<ref name="Tougher Than the Rest" /> He was reportedly indifferent about his impending death and had become resigned to his fate.<ref name="reinh">{{cite news |first=James Melvin |last=Reinhardt |title=Teenage slayer of 11 awaits execution with indifference |newspaper=[[Ocala Star-Banner]] |publication-place=[[Ocala]], [[Florida]] |via=[[Google Books]] |date=12 June 1958 |page=21 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=348UAAAAIBAJ&q=%22Charles+Starkweather%22&pg=PA21&article_id=5866,2297883#v=onepage |editor1-first=John H. |editor1-last=Perry |editor2-first=John H. |editor2-last=Perry Jr. |editor3-first=H.D. |editor3-last=Leavengood |editor4-first=R.N. |editor4-last=Dosh |editor5-first=Bernard |editor5-last=Watts |publisher=John H. Perry Associates |volume=92 |issue=15 |access-date=8 September 2021 }}</ref>
Following the execution, Starkweather was buried in [[Wyuka Cemetery]] in Lincoln, as are five of his victims, including the Wards.<ref>Zimmer, Ed. {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20120715024349/http://nebraskahistory.org/histpres/reports/Wyuka_Cemetery_Tour.pdf "Wyuka Cemetery: A Driving & Walking Tour"]}}, nebraskahistory.org; accessed June 21, 2015.</ref><ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20110307215553/http://www.nebraskahistory.org/index.shtml Nebraska State Historical Society website]}}, nebraskahistory.org; retrieved June 3, 2014.</ref>
Fugate was convicted as an accomplice and received a [[life sentence]] on November 21, 1958. She was paroled in June 1976 after serving seventeen and a half years at the [[Nebraska Correctional Center for Women]] in [[York, Nebraska]]. She settled in [[Hillsdale, Michigan]].
==Victims==
# Robert Colvert (21), gas station attendant
# Marion Bartlett (58), Fugate's stepfather
# Velda Bartlett (36), Fugate's mother
# Betty Jean Bartlett (2), Fugate's sister
# August Meyer (70), Starkweather's family's friend
# Robert Jensen (17), boyfriend to Carol King
# Carol King (16), girlfriend to Robert Jensen
# Lillian Fencl (51), maid in the Ward household
# Clara Ward (50), Chester Lauer Ward's wife
# Chester Lauer Ward (47), wealthy industrialist
# Merle Collison (34), traveling salesman
Starkweather also killed two family dogs.
==In popular culture==
{{Multiple issues|
{{In popular culture|section|date=August 2023}}
{{More citations needed|section|date=August 2023}}
}}
===Representation in film and television===
* The Starkweather–Fugate case inspired the films ''[[The Sadist (1963 film)|The Sadist]]'' (1963), ''[[Badlands (film)|Badlands]]'' (1973), ''[[Guncrazy]]'' (1992), ''[[Kalifornia]]'' (1993), ''[[Natural Born Killers]]'' (1994), and ''[[Starkweather (film)|Starkweather]]'' (2004).<ref>{{cite web |title=Natural Born Killers: La ola de crímenes que inspiró la película de Oliver Stone |series=True Crime |url=https://www.gq.com.mx/entretenimiento/articulo/natural-born-killers-de-oliver-stone-historia-real-charles-starkweather-y-caril-ann-fugate |language=Spanish |first=Pamela |last=González |issn=0016-6979 |publication-place=[[New York City]], [[New York (state)|New York]] |date=1 September 2021 |access-date=8 September 2021 |publisher=[[Condé Nast]] ([[Advance Publications|Advance Publications, Inc.]]) }}</ref>
* "A Case Study of Two Savages," a 1962 episode of the TV series ''[[Naked City (TV series)|Naked City]]'', was also inspired by the Starkweather killings (the couple were played by [[Rip Torn]] and [[Tuesday Weld]]).
* The 1968 first season [[Robert Stack]]-segment episode "The Bobby Currier Story" of ''[[The Name of the Game (TV series)|The Name of the Game]]'', was also based on these events.
* The made-for-TV movie ''[[Murder in the Heartland]]'' (1993) is a biographical depiction of Starkweather, with [[Tim Roth]] in the starring role.
* ''[[Stark Raving Mad (1981 film)|Stark Raving Mad]]'' (1981), a feature film starring Russell Fast and Marcie Severson, is a fictionalized account of the Starkweather–Fugate murder spree.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}
* The [[Peter Jackson]] film ''[[The Frighteners]]'' (1996) features a Starkweather-inspired killer who goes on a similar murder spree, and has a female accomplice.
* The fourth episode, "Dangerous Liaisons" (aired September 2, 2010), of season four from the ID series ''[[Deadly Women]]'', covers the murders.
* "Teenage Wasteland", the Season 4 premiere episode (aired December 6, 2016) from the ID series ''[[A Crime to Remember]]'', also covers the Starkweather–Fugate murder spree.
* In "Fun with Chemistry", Season 1 Episode 7 of ''[[Breakout Kings]]'', Starkweather and Fugate are mentioned as spree killers.
* ''The 12th Victim'' (2023) the [[Showtime (TV network)|Showtime limited series]] focuses on Fugate's role in the crime spree.
===Literature===
* [[Wright Morris]]' 1960 novel ''Ceremony In Lone Tree'' is based, in part, on Starkweather's murders.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Ceremony at Lone Tree and Badlands: The Starkweather Case and the Nebraska Plains |jstor=40630085 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40630085 |first=Ginny Brown |last=MacHann |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=165–172 |publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]] |journal=[[Prairie Schooner]] |issn=0032-6682 |publication-place=[[Lincoln, Nebraska|Lincoln]], [[Nebraska]] |editor1-first=Kwame |editor1-last=Dawes |editor1-link=Kwame Dawes |date=20 June 1979 |access-date=8 September 2021 }}</ref>
* The 1974 book ''Caril'' is an [[unauthorized biography]] of Caril Ann Fugate written by Ninette Beaver.
* Liza Ward, the granddaughter of victims C. Lauer and Clara Ward, wrote the novel ''[[Outside Valentine]]'' (2004), based on the events of the Starkweather–Fugate murders.
* The novel ''Not Comin' Home to You'' (1974) by [[Lawrence Block]] has fictional events that are similar to the Starkweather and Fugate spree.
* Horror author [[Stephen King]] has said that he was strongly influenced by reading about the Starkweather murders when he was a youth, and that he kept a scrapbook of articles about them.<ref>{{cite web |first=Tim |last=Adams |title=The Stephen King interview, uncut and unpublished |date=14 September 2000 |website=[[The Guardian]] |publication-place=[[London]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/sep/14/stephenking.fiction |editor1-first=Katharine |editor1-last=Viner |editor1-link=Katharine Viner |issn=0261-3077 |publisher=Guardian Media Group plc (Scott Trust) |editor2-first=Alan |editor2-last=Rusbridger |editor2-link=Alan Rusbridger |editor3-first=Neil |editor3-last=Berkett |archive-date=8 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140508223532/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/sep/14/stephenking.fiction |access-date=8 September 2021 }}</ref> Starkweather is mentioned in King's novel ''[[The Stand]]'' as an acquaintance of [[Randall Flagg]], the main antagonist of the book.
* Author [[Harry N. MacLean]] released a non-fiction book about the killings entitled ''Starkweather, The Untold Story Of The Killing Spree That Changed America'' (2023). MacLean lived in Lincoln at the time and knew several of the victims.
===Visual arts===
* In 2011, art photographer [[Christian Patterson]] released ''Redheaded Peckerwood'',<ref>{{cite news |first1=Christian |last1=Patterson |first2=Luc |last2=Sante |title=Violence, dissected |date=8 September 2012 |access-date=8 September 2021 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/opinion/sunday/violence-dissected.html |editor3-first=Arthur Ochs |editor3-last=Sulzberger Jr. |editor3-link=Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. |page=SR9 |volume=CLXI |editor1-first=A.G. |editor1-last=Sulzberger |editor1-link=A.G. Sulzberger |editor2-first=Dean |editor2-last=Baquet |editor2-link=Dean Baquet |oclc=1645522 |issn=0362-4331 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |issue=72 |department=Sunday Review section }}</ref> a collection of photos made each January from 2005 to 2010 along the 500-mile route traversed by Starkweather and Fugate. The book includes reproductions of documents and photographs of objects that belonged to Starkweather, Fugate, and their victims. Patterson had discovered several of these objects while making his photographs and they had never been seen publicly before or identified with these figures.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.mackbooks.co.uk/books/15-redheaded-peckerwood.html|title=Redheaded Peckerwood by Christian Patterson|access-date=December 23, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151209125859/http://www.mackbooks.co.uk/books/15-Redheaded-Peckerwood.html|archive-date=December 9, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* The comic book series ''[[Northlanders]]'' referred to the murder spree in its 2010 story arc ''Metal''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=9801|title=Brian Wood On Northlanders: Metal |publisher=Warren Ellis|date=June 10, 2010|access-date=August 10, 2012}}</ref>
===Music===
* [[Bruce Springsteen]]'s 1982 song [[Nebraska (song)|"Nebraska"]] is a first-person narrative based on the Starkweather murders.
* [[J Church (band)|J Church]]'s 1993 song "Hate So Real" retells the Starkweather murders.
* "Starkweather homicide" is referenced in the lyrics to singer-songwriter [[Billy Joel]]'s 1989 music single, "[[We Didn't Start the Fire]]".
* The 2009 [[Church of Misery]] song "Badlands (Charles Starkweather & Caril Fugate)" is about the Starkweather murders.
* [[Nicole Dollanganger]]'s 2012 song "Nebraska" details the events of the Starkweather murders.
* The band [[Blood for Blood]] featured a photo of Charles Starkweather on the cover of their 1997 7-inch ''[[Enemy (Blood for Blood album)|Enemy]]''.
* The Philadelphia metalcore band [[Starkweather (band)|Starkweather]] took their name from Charles Starkweather.
===Video games===
* Lionel Starkweather, a [[snuff film]] director named after by the murderer, is the primary antagonist in the stealth-horror game ''[[Manhunt (video game)|Manhunt]]''. He is voiced by [[Brian Cox (actor)|Brian Cox]].
==See also==
* [[List of people executed in Nebraska]]
* [[List of people executed in the United States in 1959]]
* [[List of rampage killers in the United States]]
==Footnotes==
{{Reflist}}
==References==
* Allen, William. ''Starkweather: Inside the Mind of a Teenage Killer''. (2004), Emmis Books, 240 pages. {{ISBN|978-1-57860-151-6}}
* {{cite book |url=https://www.archive.org/details/killerscontractk0000cawt |first1=Nigel |last1=Cawthorne |first2=Geoff |last2=Tibballs |title=Killers: Contract killers, spree killers, sex killers, the ruthless exponents of murder, the most evil crime of all |isbn=9780752208503 |orig-date=1993 |year=1994 |edition=2nd |publication-place=[[London]] |publisher=Boxtree Limited |series=True Crime |via=[[Internet Archive]] }}
* Del Harding, reporter for the Lincoln, Nebr., Star, who covered the murders, the Starkweather and Fugate trials, and Starkweather's execution.
* {{cite book
|last=Newton
|first=Michael
|title=Waste Land: The Savage Odyssey of Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=40oMAAAACAAJ
|access-date=October 22, 2010
|date=1998
|publisher=Pocket Books
|isbn=978-0-671-00198-8}}
* {{cite book
|last=O'Donnell
|first=Jeff
|title=Starkweather: A Story Of Mass Murder On The Great Plains
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TV3jAAAACAAJ
|access-date=October 22, 2010
|year=1993
|publisher=J & L Lee Publishers
|isbn=978-0-934904-31-5}}
* Strand, Ginger. ''Killer on the Road: Violence and the American Interstate''. (2012), University of Texas Press. {{ISBN|978-0-292-72637-6}}
==External links==
* Bardsley, Marilyn. [https://web.archive.org/web/20090831072214/http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/mass/starkweather/index_1.html Charles Starkweather & Caril Fugate]. ''[[Crime Library]]''. Retrieved on July 30, 2009.
* [http://www.christianpatterson.com/redheaded-peckerwood/ "Redheaded Peckerwood" on Christian Patterson web site.]
* [http://nebraskahistory.pastperfectonline.com/byperson?keyword=Starkweather%2C+Charles Nebraska State Historical Society]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=zFUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA20 ''Life'' Magazine article February 10, 1958]
{{s-start}}
! colspan="3" | [[Capital punishment in Nebraska|Executions carried out in Nebraska]]
{{s-bef|before=[[Roland Sundahl]]|before2=<div style="font-weight: normal">April 30, 1952</div>}}
{{s-ttl|title=Charles Starkweather|years=June 25, 1959}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Harold Lamont Otey]]|after2=<div style="font-weight: normal">September 2, 1994</div>}}
{{s-end}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Law|1950s}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starkweather, Charles}}
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:1959 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American murderers]]
[[Category:20th-century executions by Nebraska]]
[[Category:20th-century executions of American people]]
[[Category:American male criminals]]
[[Category:American murderers of children]]
[[Category:American rapists]]
[[Category:American robbers]]
[[Category:Executed American mass murderers]]
[[Category:Executed people from Nebraska]]
[[Category:Family murders in the United States]]
[[Category:History of Lincoln, Nebraska]]
[[Category:People convicted of murder by Nebraska]]
[[Category:People executed by Nebraska by electric chair]]
[[Category:People from Lincoln, Nebraska]]
[[Category:People with speech disorders]]
[[Category:Executed American serial killers]]
[[Category:Murder in Nebraska]]
[[Category:Mass murder in the United States in the 1950s]]
[[Category:Serial killers from Nebraska]]
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