Rebroadcast: Charles Starkweather

This week Lauren tells Josh about infamous spree killer Charles Starkweather and his accomplice Caril Ann Fugate.

Sources:

• Crime Library: Charles Starkweather & Caril Fugate by Marilyn Bardsley
• All That’s Interesting: The Chilling True Story Of Charles Starkweather, The Teenage Serial Killer Who Terrorized America’s Heartland by Marco Margaritoff 
• Let’s Go to Court: Episode 42 Spree Killer Charles Starkweather & the Pricey Murder for Hire Plot
• 100 Most Infamous Criminals: Charles Starkweather by Jo Durden Smith 
• Wikipedia

Speaker 1: Hi Warriors, Welcome to Aren't you Worried? I'm your host,

Lauren Perry, and this week is a rebroadcasting week. We

had some unexpected things happen in the family, and so

I just decided that I needed the week to just

kind of be present and be available and helpful wherever

I could. So I hope you guys enjoy this week's

rebroadcasted episode. It was, I believe the first time my

cousin Josh joined me on the pod. And yeah, I

hope you guys enjoyed the episode. Next week, Amanda and

I will be back with regularly scheduled programming following the

following week as well. So the first two weeks of

August are Amanda and I are back in action. So

we I'll talk to you then, love you bye. I'm Lauren,

and with me this week is Josh. Hi, Josh, Hello,

welcome to Most Wanted? Do you want? Do you want

to tell everyone a little bit about yourself? If not, totally.

Speaker 2: Fine, Uh, Well, I'm your older cousin, so I've known

you your whole life yep. And hobbies anything. I like

to drive cars around in circles. You turn left, turn left,

sometimes right, mostly left.

Speaker 1: If you're turning right, isn't that bad?

Speaker 2: Well, we did a couple of road course races, which

are fun. Okay, So anybody that thinks race car drivers

can't turn right, they're only like seventy five percent right,

And uh, I'd like to catch them fish and go

look for some deers in the woods.

Speaker 1: Nice.

Speaker 2: Yeah?

Speaker 1: Do you in Minnesota? Do you bear hunt? Is that

a thing that we are allowed to do?

Speaker 2: It is a thing, but I do not do it, Okay.

I mostly because if I shoot one, I would have

zero idea what to do with it.

Speaker 1: That's fair.

Speaker 2: I'm not gonna I'm not going to drag that out

and put it in my truck by myself. I could

get the deer, but.

Speaker 1: Oh that's I didn't even think about the whole going

to get it part. I forget that. That's like a yeah,

a thing you have to do.

Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, if you want. I mean, it's kind

of point is to eat it.

Speaker 1: So that's true. Have you had bear Yeah?

Speaker 2: We had one down there. I had won this year

on camera, just briefly. Okay, last year I had a

few that they used my water tanks as like a

hot tub. Yeah, that's sweet.

Speaker 1: That you offered that to them.

Speaker 2: Yeah, and then I had to go down and fill

it back up against they knocked half the water out

of it. Whatever. They were probably comfy for a little bit.

Speaker 1: I think it was hot, probably, Yeah, so everyone. As

he said, he's my cousin. And when I was looking

for people to come on his guests with me, I

thought of him because he also puts a microphone in

front of his face every week and records his own podcast.

Do you want to give your show a shout out?

Speaker 2: It is called the Enduro Show. It's on all the platforms.

I actually talked to you and Amanda a little bit

before I did mine. And if you want to learn

about four cylinder front wheel drive in duro racing, it's

about the only one that I could find that covers it.

So wow, If you're interested, by all means, check it out.

If not, well that's fine too.

Speaker 1: So I do have a question for you that I

have been asking all of my guests their first times

on the first time on the podcast, and that is

what was the true crime case that you remember the most,

maybe one from growing up or whatever.

Speaker 2: Well, the big one was Jacob Weterlinge. Yep, because I

think up until that point, parents is kind of what

their kids just kind of roam and then all of

a sudden they're like, oh my god, these kids will

get kidnapped. Yep, that one like on a personal level.

And then I went to school for law enforcement. I

actually did a report on John List. So I liked

your episode on that thanks, because we had to do

it was like a forensics class, So we had to

do a report on some case that was solved using

some sort of uh like forensic technology. So they did

the mold of his face and that's how his neighbor

turned him in after he had been missing for years.

Oh yeah, that was kind of that was what I.

Speaker 1: Did, by non nice. Okay, well those are great because

John List scares me still even after that episode. I'm like,

that guy said a nut, but.

Speaker 2: Wonder he was a bit. He was a bit off right.

Speaker 1: So are you ready to get into today's.

Speaker 2: Episode, Let's do it?

Speaker 1: Okay. Charles Starkweather and his accomplice Carol and Fugate are

featured on the Most Wanted List from the Great State

of Nebraska. They were also featured in Joe Jordan Smith's

book one hundred Most Infamous criminals. So we're going to

hop into an ad break and then I'm going to

get started. Any of you are full time remote workers

like me, you know the value of comfort and comfort

with a positive message is just next level. That's why

I'm proud to be an affiliate for kind Cotton, a

wonderful and cozy clothing brand that spreads kindness and good

vibes wherever you go. I've got the softest crew neck

Kindness sweatshirt from their prideline that I've almost worn out.

And Lauren has a gorgeous mustard yellow long sleeved tea

with B kind and embroidered on the front. It's just

the cutest thing. And I recently added to my collection

during Hispanic Heritage Month and now have a Kindness tea

in the most beautiful purple color in Spanish. It's just delightful.

And the best part, for every purchase made, a book

is donated to a child. Those regular podcast listeners out

there know how much I love to read and have

sometimes read entire books for a podcast episode, So this

is my favorite thing about this brand by far. Check

out my kind Cotton affiliate link in the show notes

and on social media and use a Most Wanted pod

as a promo code in order to get ten percent off.

In the mid to late nineteen fifties, teenagers were going

crazy for James Deen. Though his life was tragically cut

short in nineteen fifty five when he was involved in

a car accident, it seemed his legacy lived on. Girls

went crazy for his bad boy persona and boys wanted

to be just like him. Among them was Charles Starkweather.

Charles Starkweather was born into a poor, uneducated, but hard

working family in Lincoln, Nebraska, on November twenty fourth, nineteen

thirty eight. He was the third of seven children born

to Guy and Helen Starkweather. Despite being born during the

Great Depression, the family always had food and a roof

over their heads. They were poor, but they did not

stop Charles from having a decent childhood and good memories

from the family. From the things his family did together,

Guy was ascribed as a handsome and talkative man who

was better suited for a white collar work than the

carpenter's trade he had chosen. He didn't have the necessary

physical stamina, and because of various ailments, including a week

back in arthritis, he did not work regularly.

Speaker 2: That's right. What oh I remember reading on it now

and a thing?

Speaker 1: Yeah yeah. Helen a small a small woman with frizzy redhair,

was strong and kind, the one who held things together.

She worked as a waitress to help add to the

limited family income. While Charles's early childhood memories were very pleasant,

his school life was traumatic. The comfort he had at

home vanished in the classroom. Kids laughed at him for

his minor speech impediment and teased him for having for

being bowlegged. He didn't apply himself in school, and when

he was fifteen, it was discovered that he had suppear myopia.

Is that myopia? He couldn't read. He couldn't read even

the largest letters on the eye chart, so he was.

Speaker 2: I feels pain nearsighted.

Speaker 1: Is that nearsighted that you can only see stuff really

close to your face? Yes, it's the one where he

can only see stuff really close to his face, that one.

Speaker 2: I have the same problem, but thanks for contacts.

Speaker 1: Seriously, he was well coordinated and strong. His gymnastic abilities

were the only legitimate course of self esteem that he had.

The flip side of the coin is that he used

some of the same physical abilities to fight on a

continuous basis with other kids. He blamed all of his

fights on being made fun of as a child. Sometimes

his battles were brief outbursts of violence, but other times

they were frenzied and prolonged, not ending until it was

broken up or his opponent lay senseless. He earned the

reputation for being one of the meanest, toughest kids in Lincoln.

So when he was in the ninth grade, he met

Bob van Busch, and after the two fought, they actually

became friends. Bob said of him, he could be the

kindest person you've ever seen. He'd do anything for you

if he likes 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 another side.

He could be mean as hell, even cruel. If he

saw some poor guy in the street who was bigger

than he was, better looking, or better dressed, he'd take

the poor bastard down to his size. So, as I mentioned,

him and Bob were James Dean fanatics, Charles not only

took that. Charles not only took on his personality, but

he also took on the look of James Dean.

Speaker 2: He sure did the hair. That hair, yeah, although that

wasn't even like the James Dean haircut that I was

thinking of.

Speaker 1: Oh that was the only one I pound because again, uh,

I didn't know who James Dean was.

Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, he's just googled James Dean and then

googled this dude, Charles. It's a slight different look.

Speaker 1: Although he looked the part, he didn't have much luck

with the ladies, that is until Bob von Busch met

Barbara Fugate in nineteen fifty six. Charles eventually became interested

in Barbara's younger sister, Carol. The four of them double

dated despite Carol's age, she was thirteen years old when

they started dating and Charles was eighteen.

Speaker 2: Yeah. I trying to think if that was more normal

at that point in time.

Speaker 1: It did seemed to be.

Speaker 2: It was supposed to be more like the twenties when

that was way more popular.

Speaker 1: Maybe it didn't seem like it was accepted. Maybe it

was just because her family was like, this guy's a dick.

Speaker 2: Well, yeah that could be too.

Speaker 1: But yeah, I was gonna say we don't mind age

gaps on this podcast, and I'm not going to point

out our age gaps Amanda's partner, but this one is illegal.

Speaker 2: So well, you guys weren't thirteen when you guys started

dating that fars I remember anyway.

Speaker 1: That no, not even close. So Carol had a wide

streak of rebellion and also had a volatile temper. She

was also not much of a scholar. Her teachers considered

her a slow learner, but Charles thought she was a wizard.

He treated her like a goddess, and probably because she

was so young, she thought he was pretty cool too.

So William Allen, the author of Starkweather, the Story of

the mass Murderer, states she was impressed by his cars,

his toughness, his looks, and despite his poverty, the way

he could give her almost anything she wanted. Charles said

that Carol meant more to him than anything had before.

Without her, he would be thrust back into a world

he hated so much. Carol almost made him stop hating himself.

He saw himself reflect did in her eyes, and he

looked good. So Charles quit school at the age of

sixteen and went to work loading and unloading trucks at

a warehouse. The warehouse was near Carol's school, near the

school Carol attended, so he could see her every day.

He even went to have lunch with her in middle school.

Speaker 2: That's cute.

Speaker 1: Mm hmmm.

Speaker 2: Did they confuse him with like the janitor maybe or something?

Speaker 1: Maybe that's as Maybe maybe he wanted her to be

interested in the things he was interested in, so he

taught her how to drive. One day, Carol took Charles's

hot rod and she got into an accident, and Charles's

dad was also an owner of the vehicle, so he

was pissed when he not only had to pay for

the vehicle or the vehicle damages on his car, but

also for the other person that she hit because his

dumbest son let his thirteen year old girlfriend go for

a joy ride.

Speaker 2: Yeah yeah.

Speaker 1: As someone that's been very blessed working in the car

industry but growing up having people that could always fix

my cars, this would piss me off so much.

Speaker 2: Yep yep.

Speaker 1: The argument about the vehicle became physical and Charles was

kicked out of the house. So Charles moved into the

same rooming house where his friend Bob and Barbara Fugate lived.

Now that the relationship with his parents was very strained,

Carol became the center of his life. He began telling

people that Caro he and Carol were getting married, and

then he started telling his friends that Carol was pregnant

with his child, a lie that backfired when Carol's parents

found out, which is I'm assuming why her parents were like, Uh,

you're not dating this dude. But this wasn't enough for Charles.

Charles quit his job so he could become a garbageman.

He did it so he could be off work by

the time Carol was done with school, so they could

spend even more time together.

Speaker 2: He really had his life planned out around her.

Speaker 1: Oh yeah, The pay for his new gig was only

forty two dollars a week, which was not enough to

support him, let alone Carol. Charles began seeing himself trapped

in a life of poverty with his limited intellect. The

only way out was that the only way out that

he could envision was to do something really drastic. Gradually,

Charles had convinced himself that he was going to have

to lead a life of crime to get the money

and respect that he craved. One day, he wanted to

buy a stuffed toy dog for Carol at the gas station,

but realized that he didn't have enough money for it.

Even worse, the gas station attendant refused to let him

buy the toy on credit.

Speaker 2: I forget how popular that was like back then?

Speaker 1: Is that what Layoway was? No?

Speaker 2: Layoway's like where you would pay like increments like every week, oh,

until you paid it off that you could get it.

Speaker 1: What's so baying?

Speaker 2: Wow, It's like, hey, I'm going to take this now

and I'll come back and pay you for it when

I have the money.

Speaker 1: Isn't that how a lot of people lost a lot

of money?

Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's like a credit card without you know,

the credit card portion of it.

Speaker 1: I get it. So he would get back at these

people who turn their noses down at him. He really would.

On December first, nineteen fifty seven, he was ready to

do what needed to be done. He bar rowed a

twelve gage shotgun from an acquaintance and headed to the

gas station where he had been denied the credit the

day before. Robert Colvert, the twenty one year old who

refused him the credit, was on duty again at the

gas station by himself. Culvert was working on a carburetor

when Charles came in to the filling station. It seemed

that Charles kind of got cold feet, though, because the

first time he went in he only bought a pack

of cigarettes and then drove away. A few minutes later,

he turned the car around went back to the station,

but this time he only bought some gum, so he

left again.

Speaker 2: It's a master criminal.

Speaker 1: I'm gonna pay for this stuff, but don't worry, I'll

get my money back, so he didn't go far this time.

He drove a little bit farther and put on a disguise,

a bandana tied over much of his face and a

hunter's hat to cover his red hair. Then Charles walked

back to the station with the loaded shotgun and a

canvas bag for the money in the register by the

time Colvert. By this time, Colvert was back working on

the car and didn't know that there was anyone even

in the station with him until he felt the shotgun

japped into his back. Charles then marched Clvert back to

the office and made him open the cash drawer. Charles

scooped the money out and put it in the canvas bag,

and then ordered Colvert to open the safe, but Culvert

didn't have the combination. Charles accepted that explanation and decided

that he was just going to take one hundred dollars

or so that was in the cash straw. But Charles

wasn't done with Culvert. What.

Speaker 2: I was just curious if he decided to take the

stuffed animal at the same time too, since he didn't

buy it, like you know earlier.

Speaker 1: You know, I didn't find that anywhere, But that is

that is what that's curious. I bet he probably did.

Speaker 2: I mean, it would would make sense. That's like prompted

this entire thing.

Speaker 1: Right, I'm taking all this money and the stuffed dog, although.

Speaker 2: That maybe would have had a clue who it was.

Speaker 1: Yeah, but Charles wasn't done with Culvert. He decided he

was going to take him for a ride. Charles forced

the terrified gas station worker into his vehicle and forced

him to drive to a piece of property on the

edge of town. Once they arrived there, he shot the

gas station worker in the head and left him there.

The robbery and murder quickly made headlines in this quiet town,

but they never suspected Charles. He was a little bit paranoid, though,

so he took the precaution of painting his car a

different color. However, Charles is a dumb ass and didn't

stay under the radar long. The murder gave Charles a

feeling of euphoria in peace. He had money, he had

a girl, and he had killed someone and no one noticed.

It gave him an enormous feeling of power. He now

operated outside the laws of man.

Speaker 2: A true rebel god, just like his hero.

Speaker 1: He except his true hero was an actor.

Speaker 2: Yeah right, he always played the rebel character.

Speaker 1: Oh diddy, Oh wait, hold on, rebel without a cause?

First movie that comes up? All right? Yeah. So, the

day after he robbed the gas station and murdered Robert Colvert,

Charles admitted to Carol that he had that he had

held up the gas station, but that someone else had

shot Culvert, but she knew better. The killane created a

bond between them, and that sealed their fate. He could

grab anything he wanted to give Carol, and the two

of them could enjoy the life for at least a

little while before their time ran out. It didn't matter

that their time was probably very short. They were going

to live it up. When the euphoria wore off, Charles

was left with some grim realities. He had been fired

from his job as a garbageman. His landlady had locked

him out in the freezing cold because his rent was

pasted due Both his family and Carroll's family were completely

against their relationship and did everything they could to break

him up. He was desperate. On January twenty first, nineteen

fifty eight, Charles drove over to Carroll's family home. The

house in the yard were strewn with litter and unused

construction materials. Charles took out a twenty two caliber rifle

that he had borrowed and some ammunition and knocked at

the back door. Carrol's mother came to the door. What

really happened afterward is impossible to confirm. The account is

based on stark Weather's recollection after the fact. He claimed

that he was carrying the rifle in hopes that he

could go hunting with Carol's stepfather with the goal of

repairing their relationship. According to Charles, Velda and Marian, Velda

being the mother, Marian being the stepfather, we're balth.

Speaker 2: That you specified that because I was curious.

Speaker 1: I'm sorry, I totally skipped over a word, so I

thought I was like, I should go back and say that.

So Velda is Carol's mother. Marian is Carol's stepfather, and

they were both in the house. Their two and a

half year old child, Betty Jean, was crying. Velda told

Charles again that she did not want him seeing Carol anymore.

A loud argument followed, and Velda allegedly hit Charles a

couple times. He claimed that he left the house without

the rifle and drove around for a while before he

came back to get the gun. When he came back,

Marian literally kicked him out of the house. Stark Weather

went to a payphone, called Maryon Bartlett's place of employment

and told them that he was ill and would not

be to work for a couple days. Then he went

back to Carrol's house and waited for her to come

home from school. When Charles told Carol what had happened

with her parents, she went in the house and argued

with her mother. Stark Weather followed her in the house.

He said that Velda began hitting him again, shrieking that

he made Carol pregnant. He hit Velda back, and they

struggled for a few minutes before Charles got his gun.

At that moment, Marion Bartlett came into the room, allegedly

with a claw hammer in hand, and Starkweather shot him

in the head. Then Charles claimed that Velda came at

him with a huge knife and stark Weather shot her

in the face. As if this wasn't enough, he ran

the butt of the rifle a couple times into the

head of the baby that would not stop crying.

Speaker 2: Then, yeah, he if he was trying to give some

self defense. Out of those first you, he kind of

just threw it away on the third one a.

Speaker 1: Little bit little bit. Charles then said that he picked

up the knife that the old lady had started to

walk into the bedroom, and the little girl kept yelling,

and he told her to shut up, and I started

to walk again, and I just turned around and threw

the kitchen knife I had at her. They said it

hit her in the throat, but I thought it hit

her in the chest. I went into the bedroom, mister

Bartlett was moving around, so I tried to stab him

in the throat, but the knife wouldn't go in, so

I had hit it a couple times on the top

with my hand until it went in. Carol's reaction to

the role of this slaughter was never determined, since the

only two living witnesses were Charles and Carol. The real

truth may never be known. Carol claimed that she had

broken up with Charles before these tragic events and was

terrorized while he attacked her family. After that, Velda's body

was dragged into an old outhouse and shoved down the

toilet opening. Carol's baby sister was put into a box

that had been used for garbage and was also taken

to the outhouse. Marion Bartlett was dumped on the floor

of the chicken coop. After the murders, they cleaned up

the house, and over the next six days, Carol and

Charles stayed at the home watching TV, eating junk food,

having sex, and warding off visitors. In the days after

the murders, a number of visitors came by the house.

Carol turned most of them away with a sign that

she wrote on the front door, saying stay away. Everybody

is sick with the flu flu spelled flue.

Speaker 2: Yes, either one of them must have had the greatest education.

Speaker 1: No, well, and so I took some of these quotes

and the whole thing is just like blue scribble underneath.

I'm like, no, don't change it. I have to say it.

How they wrote it because it's so not correct, that's

the best. One day, Marian Bartlett's boss came to the

door to see how sick he was, and Carol came

out and told him that her father was still very

ill in bedridden. When Carol's sister, Barbara and her husband

Bob came to visit, Carol dismissed them with the flu story,

but they were suspicious, and later Bob von Bush came

back with his brother to investigate. This time the story

had changed. In tears, Carol told them to leave, Please

don't try to get in. Mom's life will be in

your hands if you do, and the brothers immediately notified

the police. Later the police showed up and were told

by Carol that the family had the flu. When the

police asked why her brother in law would call the police,

Carol told them that Bob von Bush did not get

along well with her family, so he made it up.

Since Carol seemed sincere and credible and not in any danger,

they left. Bob and Barbara, still not convinced nothing was wrong,

sent over one of Carroll's close friends who heard a

third story. Carol told her friend in a low whisper,

some guy is back there with Chuck and he has

a Tommy gun. I think they're going to rob a bank.

The friend didn't tell the von Bushes that story, but

she did tell her father, who called the police. The

next day. Then Carol's grandmother showed up. Carol seemed to

know that the grandmother wasn't going to fall for the

flu story, so she embellished on one of the other

stories that she had made up. Pansy became angry with

Carol that she wouldn't let her in Pansy's the grandmother.

Carol refused to let her in, and Pansy went to

the police. Finally, at Pansy's insistence, the police went and

made The police went and made a cursory look inside

the house, and they didn't see anything for a warrant.

The house was empty. The police were satisfied that they

seemed that there seemed to be no sign of disorder

or violence inside the house.

Speaker 2: How long was it before the cops showed up.

Speaker 1: I believe they showed up on day five, and so

this is about to be day six.

Speaker 2: They didn't notice any kind of smell coming from the backyard.

Speaker 1: Okay, that's what I was wondering.

Speaker 2: But I mean, I guess it depends how far away

the outhouse was, but I always thought they were releasing

somewhat close proximity to the house.

Speaker 1: Well, and a chicken coop, isn't that mostly exposed to

the elements for the most part.

Speaker 2: I think for the most part, I think they usually

have like some sort of like sheltered part where they

like lay their eggs and stuff.

Speaker 1: Oh that's true, so it's.

Speaker 2: Not still like you know, has like an opening to

the pen.

Speaker 1: Right. But later that day, Bob von Bush demanded that

the police make a thorough search of the property, but

they refused. Meanwhile, Guy stark Weather had been trying to

get the police to pick up his son for questioning,

but he was he was too wow, but he too

was refused. I wrote that stupid Bob von Bush and

his brother went to the Bartlet house and searched the

property on their own since the police wouldn't do it.

One look inside the outhouse and the chicken coop confirmed

their worst fears. This time the police paid attention.

Speaker 2: Amazing what a body will do, I know, right.

Speaker 1: Especially three and one of them was like, I feel

so bad that they literally put their mother in like

the opening, like that's terrible. Yeah, yeah, I mean it's

all terrible, but it's like huh man.

Speaker 2: Maybe yeah, I don't know, it's I think throughout the

story and can just tell he's kind of an idiot.

Speaker 1: Oh yeah. Well, so a police bulletin went out to

pick up Charles stark Weather and Carol and Fugate when

the police. But what the police did not anticipate was

that this was just the second act of this escalating drama.

One stark Weather and Fugate realized that they had better

skip town. They realized that Charles's car was not going

to take them very far. One place they could find temperate,

temporary refuge was Charles's seventy two year old family friend,

August Meyer. By all accounts, August Meyer was a kind

old bachelor who had known Charles since he was a boy.

On January twenty seventh, nineteen fifty eight, they pulled onto

the dirt road that led to the Meyers farm, and

immediately they got stuck in the mud. They were only

there for a short time before Charles shot and killed

mister Meyer and his dog.

Speaker 2: What did the dog do?

Speaker 1: I I can't I fucking hate this guy because this

is not the only dog that he is mean to.

Speaker 2: Died.

Speaker 1: I'm sorry. I was like, I don't need to include that,

and then every other source brings it up. I'm my god,

damn it.

Speaker 2: Yeah, all right.

Speaker 1: So Charles carried the body of his old friend into

an outbuilding and hit it with a blanket. Then he

and Carol went into the Meyers home, stole his money

and guns, ate his food, and fell asleep. The next day,

when Charles checked on the body of his friend, he

was spooked by the fact that the blanket was suddenly gone.

Fearing discovery, the two took off, but got their vehicles

stuck again in the mud, so they started on foot.

Is that birds?

Speaker 2: What is that outside?

Speaker 1: Okay? I was like, what the fuck is that?

Speaker 3: Okay?

Speaker 1: So, hiding their shotguns, the two of them hitched a

ride from seventeen year old Robert Jensen and sixteen year

old Carol King. Within minutes, the shotgun was at Jensen's

neck and Charles was demanding their money. He forced Jensen

to drive back towards Myers's farm and forced them into

an abandoned storm cellar. There he put six bullets into

Robert Jensen's head. Carol King was shot once in the head.

Her body was left half naked, with her jeans and

panties around her ankles. She had been stabbed repeatedly in

the abdomen and pubic area, but there was no evidence

of seamen in or around her China. Well, all this

was happening, Carol allegedly was sitting in the car.

Speaker 2: That's what I don't get about this particular murder pair

is if he was so obsessed with his thirteen year

old girlfriend and now he just essentially killed these people

to take their car. He's like, Wow, I'm just going

to rape this girl while I'm at it. That's what

I'm like, You're like doing all this because you're obsessed

with your girlfriend. And he's like, well, I'm just gonna

rape this one, you know.

Speaker 1: That's so it was said, and I didn't include this,

But now I'm going to tell you anyways that he

couldn't perform, and then that's why his girlfriend, Carol stabbed

her in the abdomen in the pubic area. But that

doesn't make any sense. So she was mad that her

boyfriend couldn't rape someone. But that's the story he tells.

Speaker 2: So yeah, that's fair.

Speaker 1: So yeah, but oh but don't worry because Carol wasn't

there for that. She was in the car, so yeah

she was, she wasn't involved. So the bodies of the

two teenagers were left in the storm cellar while Charles

and Carroll took off with Jensen's car. So these two

are really fucking stupid, if I haven't already made that clear.

They talked about going to Washington State, but instead they

drove back to Lincoln, Nebraska, where everybody knew them and

everybody was looking for them.

Speaker 2: They'll never suspect it.

Speaker 1: Right, as if they were not stupid enough. They drove

past the Bartlet home to see if the body of

Carroll's parents had been discovered. They got their answer when

they saw all the police cars parked around the property,

but since they were in Jensen's car, no one noticed

them during their drive by.

Speaker 2: Nice please work.

Speaker 1: It took them six days to go investigate.

Speaker 2: Yeah, they had other things to do. I don't know

what it would what they were, but they must have

been really busy bingo maybe, yeah, I mean hanging out.

Speaker 1: Down the street.

Speaker 2: Oh yeah, just the police work side of this, I mean,

obviously it's the fifties, and I feel like things gotten.

They got a little bit better at their job since then.

Speaker 1: Yeah, but it's like, what what seriously, what were you doing?

Did you have to get home to your wife's cast role.

I'm confused.

Speaker 2: Well, it's still the Midwest. It might be a hot dish.

Speaker 1: But oh god, him an idiot, you're so right.

Speaker 2: Well, I guess it's a skirt of the Midwest.

Speaker 1: But yeah, Lincoln, Nebraska. It could be either. It could

be a toss up totally.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 1: So the following day, January twenty eighth, nineteen fifty eight,

Starkweather's car had been spotted in the mud at the

Meyers farm. Shortly afterwards, the bodies of Meyer and the

two teenagers were found. Charles was very familiar with a

rich part of town from his garbage collecting days, so

he chose the large home of Sea lower Ward, a

forty seven year old close friend of the governor and

president of the Capital Bridge and Capital Steel companies. That morning,

Clara Award, the industrialist, socially prominent wife, and Lilian Fencil,

they're heard of hearing fifty one year old maid were home,

as were their Chesapeake Bay retriever Queenie and their small poodle, Susie.

As far as I'm aware, these dogs don't die.

Speaker 2: Well, I mean, they're probably dead by now.

Speaker 1: But well, okay, he did not kill them.

Speaker 2: Okay, okay, as.

Speaker 1: Far as I'm aware, he did not kill them. But

he doesn't leave them alone either, because he's a dick.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 1: So, when Lilian Fenzil answered the door, Charles pointed the

gun at her. He ordered Lilian to lock up Queenie

in the basement. Recognizing that the maid was hard of hearing,

he wrote her notes to make sure to make sure

she understood.

Speaker 2: I would assume this pointing a gun at her would

be pretty evident of what to.

Speaker 1: Do, but but to make But if she's hard of hearing,

like say, she can't hear it all, she maybe doesn't

realize that the dogs are barking, So she maybe doesn't

realize that he wants her to put them away.

Speaker 2: I don't know, but oh, I'll give him points for

being creative on that.

Speaker 1: At least he's an asshole. Fuck this guy. So he

told her to keep making breakfast for Missus Ward. When

Clara Ward came into the kitchen, Charles assured her that

nothing bad would happen. Clara was calm and agreed to cooperate.

Then Carol went into the library and took a little nappy.

Charles ordered Clara Ward to fix in some pancakes and

serve them to him in the library. When she did so,

he changed his mind and had her fixing waffles instead. Still,

missus Ward kept her cool and was gracious to Charles

the whole.

Speaker 2: Time, because it's probably the smart play.

Speaker 1: Yeah, to just go along with it. Yeah, yeah, So

around one pm, Clara Ward asked permission to go upstairs

and change her shoes. After a few minutes, Charles went

upstairs to see what was keeping her. He claimed that

she armed herself with the twenty two and shot him

and missed. Charles, in retaliation, threw a knife at her

and it stuck her in the back, and then.

Speaker 2: He sart to bend the world's best knife thrower in

the nineteen fifties.

Speaker 1: Right, yeah, So then he repeatedly stabbed her in the

neck and chest. Then he sat down to write a

letter that was addressed to the law only it was

a twisted, illiterate tirade confessions and attempt at self justification.

So please bear with me I'm really going to try.

I and Carol are sorry for what has happened, because

I have hurt everybody because of it, and so has Carol.

But I'm saying one thing. Everybody then came out there

was lucky they're not dead, even Carol's sister.

Speaker 2: So that was the letter.

Speaker 1: That was the letter. Oh wow, yep, that was it.

The later or later, the two of them loaded the

Wards Black nineteen fifty six, packered with food and prepared

to escape in style.

Speaker 2: See what's class?

Speaker 1: I don't. I looked up what a packard was, and

they just kept bringing me to GM stuff and I

was like, I don't think.

Speaker 2: I think GM block packard.

Speaker 1: Okay, well it's a nice car for this rich neighborhood,

Cadillac ask Okay, Okay, that makes sense. They of course

ransacked the house, taking everything that looked valuable. Around five

point thirty, the paper arrived, and Charles was thrilled he

was a star, someone to be feared. Him and Carrol

had made the front page. Half an hour later, Sea

lauer Ward came home from work to face the barrel

of Starkweather's gun. After a long scuffle, Charles finally got

the upper hand and shot him as well. Then they

turned to Lillian Carol and Charles tied her to the

bed and stabbed her to death. Charles claimed that Carol

killed the maid, while Carol claimed the opposite. The next day,

Ward's cousin in business associate missed him at work and

called the house throughout the morning. Then around noon he

went over to the house and let himself in. He

found the bodies of the three in the house. Downstairs,

Queenie barked furiously, and upstairs Susie cowered under the bed

with a broken neck. Governor Anderson was notified immediately of

the savage attack of his friend. Shortly after, he called

out the National Guard, and they were soon cruising the

streets with jeeps armed with Mountain machine guns. Parents with guns,

parents with guns drawn rushed to the school and took

their children home. The city was completely off and block

by block a search began. The FBI started an investigation.

A thousand dollars reward was offered by the mayor. Aircrafts

were sent or sent up to help look for the wards.

Blackpackered Charles and Carroll tried to go back to Carroll's

house again, but quickly realized that wasn't going to be

an option, so they headed west for Washington State. They

drove all night and crossed over into Wyoming the next morning,

January twenty ninth, nineteen eighty or nineteen fifty eight. I'm sorry.

Along the way, they looked for a car to steal,

and finally came across Merle Collison, who was sleeping in

his Buick parked along the highway. Charles pulled up to

him and announced that they were just going to trade vehicles.

Before Collison could respond, Charles shot him a number of

times in the head, neck, arm, and leg.

Speaker 2: I mean, I guess they did trade vehicles.

Speaker 1: Still, I was gonna say, I don't think it's really

a trade. When you're like, we're gonna trade, just kidding,

you're gonna die.

Speaker 2: I guess if he left his body in the other car,

I mean technically they still traded.

Speaker 1: Nope, he leaves his body in the Buick that they

now have. But that's fine. With Collison dead in the

front passenger seat and Carol in the back, Starkweather started

the car, but he could not figure out how to

release the emergency break. At this time, a young passerby

saw two vehicles pulled over, so he assumed they were

having car trouble. As he approached the vehicle, he saw

a body slouched over in the passenger seat, and then

Charles pulled the gun on him and told him to

show him how to take the emergency break off or

he was going to kill him. So now there's three

vehicles pulled over on the side of the highway with

one man standing outside of the vehicles with his hands

in the air like this isn't whatever. So while they

were struggling, William Romer, a Wyoming Deputy sheriff, came by

the scene and immediately Carol jumped out of the back

seat and ran up to Romer, take me to the police.

He's killed a man, she blurted out, crying and pointing

at the car. And in the meantime of all this chaos,

somehow between the guy standing outside, Carol screaming like a

crazy woman, and Romer just trying to figure out what

was going on, Charles manages to get out of the

buick and back into the packard and takes off. It's

like it's like he's a guys, you know, standing there

with his hands up, clearly from someone sitting there some

ladies yelling about the guy sitting there. But yet you

let the guy sitting there get out of the car

and leave. Makes sense to me.

Speaker 2: Yeah.

Speaker 1: Roamer ordered a roadblock and began his pursuit Douglas police

Chief Robert Ainsel. We're gonna go with Ainsel, who happened

to be in the car with Sheriff Earl Heflin, received

Romer's call. When the packard raced by them on the

road to Douglas. The two were on his tail. They

shot out the back window of the packard and suddenly

it comes to an immediate stop after they had gone

over one hundred miles per hour chasing them. They told

Charles to get out and put his hands up, but

he declined to do so, so Ansel shot the ground

near Charles's feet. He started putting his hands towards his pants,

and they shot again, thinking he was reaching for a gun,

but he was actually just tucking in his shirt. He

eventually did get on the ground and was taken into custody.

But what made him stop so abruptly when they shot

out the window. The shattered glass had hit him in

the ear and it began bleeding profusely, so he thought

he had been shot, so he stopped so he could

receive medical attention.

Speaker 2: So I find about this whole story. The funniest is,

like your whole thing was you're going to run away

with your thirteen year old maybe fourteen year.

Speaker 1: Old now girlfriend, Nope, she's still thirteen.

Speaker 2: Oh she's still thirty. Okay, and then you killed it.

And what are we had for a body count? Now

I lost counten eleven eleven? Okay, now you get so

finally the police catch up, Junior, You're like, yeah, yeah, okay,

I'm done.

Speaker 1: It's like I just also I need medical attention.

Speaker 2: Yeah, it's like, like what, you're just willing to shoot

his number of people to get cars and whatever, But

I just didn't want to play the game.

Speaker 1: No, nope, God forbid. He's the one that actually dies here.

Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I would have expected to be like,

you know, like, well I killed eleven people, I'm probably

going to die like go shootout style or something. No,

just give gives right up.

Speaker 1: Literally, just as like I quit White Flag. Just take

it easy on me. It's no big deal. Sorry. So

the news of the spree killer who looked like a

wish dot com James Deen spread like wildfire, and he

loved every second of his quote fame.

Speaker 2: Oh I didn't think about that angle. I bet that's

why he did it, because that way he got to

live through his fame. He wanted to be famous, right.

Speaker 1: Yeah, Yeah, that's a very good point. I didn't think

of about that either. Yeah.

Speaker 2: Yeah, that's has to be why he just gave up

like he did. Oh yeah, because he was going to

be famous, but if he was dead, he wasn't going

to get to see it.

Speaker 1: Right. That's a very good point.

Speaker 2: That probably makes a lot of sense.

Speaker 1: Yeah. So, so from Charles's perspective, his options were not

terribly attractive. He believed that he could go to the

gas chamber in Wyoming for the murder of Mary of

Merle Coulism, or he could go to the electric chair

in Nebraska for the many other killings. He chose Nebraska,

and he and Carol were extradited at the end of

January of nineteen fifty eight. What he didn't know, and

nobody thought to tell him, was that they if they

had stayed in Wyoming, he probably would have received a

life sentence because the Wyoming governor had The Wyoming governor

was a death penalty opponent.

Speaker 2: I mean, I guess if you're a teenager and you're stupid,

you're stupid.

Speaker 1: No, you wouldn't know that, No, I don't.

Speaker 2: I still think I wuld probably choose gas chamber over

electric chair, though.

Speaker 1: See. And I'm pretty sure there's like a moratorium on

the death penalty now, but I wouldn't know which ones

have it and which ones don't.

Speaker 2: Well, I mean, the internet exists now, so you could, like.

Speaker 1: Right, but if you're in jail, yeah, do you get

access to the internet so you can choose where you

want to be. I'm sure we have lawyers.

Speaker 2: Now, Yeah, i'd say lawyer. I mean they probably had

lawyers back then too, but they don't think they were

going to do that much good.

Speaker 1: No. So, Carol maintained that she was a hostage throughout

the entire ordeal and that she kept going with Charles

because she feared that he would kill her family if

she didn't.

Speaker 2: She's smarter than she looked, her acted well.

Speaker 1: The only problem with that story was that she admitted

to being present to all of the Nebraska murders that

included her parents and half sister. Now, so, so much

for going with Charles to save her family. Charles and

Carol were both charged with first degree murder and murder

while committing a robbery. Since both were being tried as adults,

both faced the prospect of the electric chair. The prosecution

chose the murder of Robert Jensen, the teenager, on which

to try them, since that was the most potential uh,

since it had the most potential to shock and outrage

the jury, since they were just teenagers.

Speaker 2: Themselves, not the two and a half year old.

Speaker 1: I mean his story saying that he accidentally slit her throat.

Speaker 2: Yeah, he threw the knife. I forgot about that.

Speaker 1: Yeah, because he's what did you say, he's the best.

Speaker 2: The best knife thrower in the world in the nineteen fifties.

Speaker 1: Yes, that's right. So Charles's trial began on May fifth,

nineteen fifty eight, and I have to assume it included marks.

He maintained that he was completely sane, while his lawyers

were trying desperately to cobble together the makings of the

insanity defense. Nevertheless, the defense lawyers entered a plea of

innocent by reason of insanity. But to Charles and his family,

the stigma of being insane was worse than the stigma

of being a cold blooded murderer.

Speaker 2: Well, yeah, you're not gonna be famous.

Speaker 1: Then. I didn't write the quote down, but yeah, he said,

no one remembers an insane person. Everyone remembers a murderer.

I think was like his quote.

Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that really just kind of solidifies that whole argument.

Speaker 3: Uh huh.

Speaker 1: Initially, Charles told the authorities that Carol had nothing to

do with the crimes in Douglas, Wyoming. He said, don't

be rough on that girl. She didn't have a thing

to do with it. But as time went on and

Charles realized that Carol was trying to position herself as

an unwilling hostage instead of his girlfriend, he began to

implicate her in the crimes. He suggested that she was

responsible for several of the murders and all of the mutilations.

He even said this famous line, if I'm going to

the electric chair, she's going to be sitting on my lap.

But Carol's trial is stilt come. So the jury made

his decision within twenty four hours, guilty on both counts

of first degree murder.

Speaker 2: I was gonna say twenty four minutes.

Speaker 1: Maybe, yeah, Well, I'm sure they wanted lunch one or

two times, it's fine. Sure, yeah, So the men and

women on the jury specifically asked for the death penalty.

Charles Starkweather was executed by electric chair on June twenty fifth, nineteen,

at fifty nineteen fifty nine. He was twenty years old.

At Carrol's trial, the defense was built upon her being

a hostage forced by stark Weather to go with him

on the murder spree. It was not a very credible defense,

and she was found guilty of murder on November twenty eighth,

nineteen fifty eight. Because she was a fourteen year old girl,

she received a life sentence instead of the electric chair.

She was sent to the Nebraska Center for Women, where

she served her sentence. Carol Ann Fugate served seventeen and

a half years before being paroled in June at nineteen

seventy six. Carol, as far as I can tell, is

still alive and she is eighty one.

Speaker 2: Do you know how popular it was for like thirteen

slash fourteen year olds to get tried as adults back then.

I don't.

Speaker 1: I was just I don't I know that she was

the youngest person at the time to get tried as

an adult for murder. Oh really, I don't know how

common it was, though, I gotcha, and she was fourteen

by the time she was tried.

Speaker 2: Yeah, I was a little surprised by that, which they

tried her as an adult.

Speaker 1: Yeah, but with the possibility of paroles. So yeah, yeah,

so this case. So that is it. But this case

has inspired some movies. I've seen one of them, but

it has inspired the movie bad Lands, which came out

in nineteen seventy three, Natural Born Killers, which came out

in nineteen ninety four, and Stark Weather, which came out

in two thousand and four. I've seen it natural Born Killers,

and I hated it.

Speaker 2: I don't know if I ever saw the whole thing

of that, but I was the one I recognized the most.

Two I do they just I was surprised there is

no mention of like Bonnie and Clyde in this whole thing,

like they Yeah, no, because they meet us very it

seems very much.

Speaker 1: I thought the same thing. Yeah, I thought the same thing.

Speaker 2: But yeah, I guess they weren't Robin Banks. And that's

kind of why those guys were heroes. Oh, they're taking

money from the government, and you know, I'll give because

it was the depression and nobody had any money and

whatever was that.

Speaker 1: Bonnie and Clyde's thing is that they were just bank robbers.

Speaker 3: Yeah.

Speaker 1: I thought they killed a ton of people. Oh they did,

but oh but but they were bank Robbie people just

happened to also be killed. I gotcha.

Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's been a while since i'n't looked

it up, but yeah, it was kind of the premise,

like their whole killing was part of their robbing. This

guy just killed people because he was too stupid to.

Speaker 1: Do anything else, correct, I mean you kind of just.

Speaker 2: You know, like secretly dated your thirteen year old girlfriend

and kept your job, normal person.

Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, kept your jobs.

Speaker 2: But he uh, he just had that whatever complex were

you wanted to be James Dean so bad.

Speaker 1: Yeah, but you know, the wish dot conversion.

Speaker 2: Yeah. So it turns out he also had red hair,

so he probably didn't have a soul, but which I've

only seen black and white pictures, so that part of

the problem.

Speaker 1: Yeah, if you go to Google image doesn't go down

like five. There's a comparison to Matt Damon. I don't

know what cheeseburger dot com is, but that's what did it.

Speaker 2: Nice? Right? I just I couldn't get over the whole thing.

I'm like, he's just really stupid. Yeah, he's really what

it is? Oh, there's Matt Damon one that Yeah, that's wow.

Speaker 1: I was just like, oh, okay. Then, but again, I

don't know what cheeseburger dot com is, so I don't

know what kind of zz. That's true. So it's way cooler, yeah,

way better. So there are other forms of media about

this case. There was a bunch of books and movies.

Bruce Springsteen wrote a song called Nebraska based on this.

I have never heard of it, but apparently there's like

no chorus, there's no real flow to it. It's just

a telling of the song or like of the case

in song form.

Speaker 2: So interesting.

Speaker 1: Yep. And then it's also mentioned in Billie Joels We

Didn't Start the Fire, which I know the song, but

I had to look up it just I think it

just says dark weather, murderer, her murders.

Speaker 2: Yeah, they're it's hard to follow that song, to watch

the lyrics or read the lyrics.

Speaker 1: Yeah exactly. I was like, I'm at work, I don't

need to do this. It's fine.

Speaker 2: Yeah, So that is the end.

Speaker 1: Of Charles Stark Weather and Carol Ann Fugate. What are

your final thoughts on this case?

Speaker 2: Uh, Like I said, he was an idiot and he

just wanted to hang out with his thirteen year old

girlfriend and like just picked the stupidest way possible to

do it. And like I said, I think there was

some sort of is it like delusions of grandeur or

something like that where he just thinks he's supposed to

be famous? Yep, and there has to be something to that.

But he said he was really really stupid, and like

I said, and get over. Like when I first read

through this thing, like how when he got like the

window shot out, He's like, nope, nope, I'm out. I'm done.

Like you just shot like or stabbed like eleven people, yes,

and you get finally you get shot like no no, no,

no no no, yeah, I quit just kid away.

Speaker 1: I have a question, and I can cut this if

I don't. I just have a question. How do you

feel about the death penalty? Are you gray on it?

Speaker 2: I'm more pro than con I would say sure, as

long as there is.

Speaker 3: Like uh.

Speaker 2: Unquestioned evidence. Yeah, Like I think when I was like Texas,

I think I've heard, like, you know, they have like

the express lane for it, where if you have like

three witnesses watch you commit this murder, you just get

put to like the front of the line. I don't

know if that's still a thing. I heard that a

while ago. Sure, And it's like if literally if you

have three people watch you do this and then you

get caught and it's like we had three people watch

you do this, yeah, or now because there but it

was a freaking you know, video camera in their pocket. Yeah,

that's like if it's on camera, it's like yeah and

if you you know, yeah, so yeah, the only problem

is is that you know, there's no take backs, right, so,

like you know, there's obviously been people that have gone

to whatever form of death via government that were proven

innocent later.

Speaker 1: Yeah.

Speaker 2: But yeah, so like this one, like obviously like yes,

there was no.

Speaker 1: Question that this guy did this right well, and then.

Speaker 2: Unless she was the one doing it all and he

just loved her so much that he took the fall

for her.

Speaker 1: But yeah, but then I still wouldn't be okay if

she got it, you know, because she was so young,

and there was arguments and I think these came later

the arguments like she possibly had like Stockholm syndrome a

little bit mm hm. So so like I wouldn't have

been okay if she had gotten it because of how

young she was, but I'm totally fine that he did.

So I don't know. I was just curious.

Speaker 2: Yeah, it's yeah, I mean both over then again, I'm like,

if you're thirteen years old and you're just out killing

people because you want to hang out with your nineteen

year old or twenty year old boyfriend, it's like, well,

i mean maybe you do know what you're doing. Yeah,

and you don't have the best life ahead of you, right,

because it's not gonna be like, oh now we're gonna

be together and everything's gonna be great, and I'm just

gonna be a normal functioning person in society.

Speaker 1: Well, i mean she was out after seventeen and a

half years and got married and was with that guy

that she married.

Speaker 2: True, yeah, in case he died.

Speaker 1: Yeah. So it's it's so hard.

Speaker 2: It's like an option or like a different scenario. It

is like yeah, where you just end up leading this

life of crime that could have been stopped. But it's like, well,

you were thirteen, we gave you a chance, right, right,

So usually they end up back in jail anyway.

Speaker 1: Then, So yeah, I was a little surprised that, like,

it was totally the situation she was in. It wasn't

because she was like a murder was cool.

Speaker 2: Yeah, she was not a Bonnie as a body and

Clyde because she was all about oh god.

Speaker 1: All right, Well, thank you so much Josh for joining

us or for joining me this week. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2: That was fun.

Speaker 1: All right, Thank you everyone.

Speaker 3: I'll talk to you next week. Bye.

Speaker 1: This content is can credentialed, which means you can report

instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline

at six one seven two four nine four two five five.

That's six one seven two four nine four two five five,

or on their website at Creator Accountabilitynetwork dot org.