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Revision as of 09:22, July 31, 2016
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==Background==
==Background==
[[File:Starkweather_family.jpg|thumb|248px|Starkweather's parents and brother.]][[File:Barlett_family.jpg|thumb|248px|Barlett family, Caril to the left.]]
[[File:Starkweather_family.jpg|thumb|248px|Starkweather's parents and brother.]][[File:Barlett_family.jpg|thumb|248px|Barlett family, Caril to the left.]]
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Charles Starkweather was born the third of seven children in 1938 in Lincoln, Nebraska. His father, Guy, was a carpenter who had arthritis in his hands and was often unemployed. His mother, Helen, worked as a waitress. Though the family was poor, it managed. In school, Charles was often bullied because he had bowed legs and a slight speech impediment. He was also very near-sighted, not even able to read the top letter on an eye chart, but it wasn't discovered until he was a teenager; before that, he had been thought of as a slow learner. During gym class, his physique became better and he started exacting revenge on those who had bullied him and also became a bully himself. After watching ''[[wikipedia:Rebel Without a Cause|Rebel Without a Cause]]'', he became obsessed with actor [[wikipedia:James Dean|James Dean]], who had the
main
role, and started dressing like his character and imitating him. At the age of 16, Charles dropped out of high school. He was introduced to his girlfriend (and later partner-in-crime), Caril Ann Fugate, through the girlfriend of his best friend, Bob von Busch. Caril was 13 at the time and he was 18. Though he was five years older than her, they were madly in love with each other. He took a job at a Western Union newspaper warehouse as a truck unloader; he chose that location because it was close to Caril's junior high school. At some point, Caril crashed his car, a 1949 Ford, while he was teaching her how to drive. Guy Starkweather, who was the legal owner of the car, paid for the damages and threw Charles out of the household, no longer willing to put up with his behavior. Charles then quit his job at the warehouse and became a garbage collector, using his route to plan bank robberies (though he never actually carried them out).
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Charles Starkweather was born the third of seven children in 1938 in Lincoln, Nebraska. His father, Guy, was a carpenter who had arthritis in his hands and was often unemployed. His mother, Helen, worked as a waitress. Though the family was poor, it managed. In school, Charles was often bullied because he had bowed legs and a slight speech impediment. He was also very near-sighted, not even able to read the top letter on an eye chart, but it wasn't discovered until he was a teenager; before that, he had been thought of as a slow learner. During gym class, his physique became better and he started exacting revenge on those who had bullied him and also became a bully himself. After watching ''[[wikipedia:Rebel Without a Cause|Rebel Without a Cause]]'', he became obsessed with actor [[wikipedia:James Dean|James Dean]], who had the
lead
role, and started dressing like his character and imitating him. At the age of 16, Charles dropped out of high school. He was introduced to his girlfriend (and later partner-in-crime), Caril Ann Fugate, through the girlfriend of his best friend, Bob von Busch. Caril was 13 at the time and he was 18. Though he was five years older than her, they were madly in love with each other. He took a job at a Western Union newspaper warehouse as a truck unloader; he chose that location because it was close to Caril's junior high school. At some point, Caril crashed his car, a 1949 Ford, while he was teaching her how to drive. Guy Starkweather, who was the legal owner of the car, paid for the damages and threw Charles out of the household, no longer willing to put up with his behavior. Charles then quit his job at the warehouse and became a garbage collector, using his route to plan bank robberies (though he never actually carried them out).
==Killing Spree, Capture and Conviction==
==Killing Spree, Capture and Conviction==
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Police arrived on the 27th after Fugate's grandmother became suspicious and called them, by which time she and Starkweather had already gone to a farm in Bennet, Nebraska and killed the owner, August Meyer, and fled. They hitched a ride from two teenagers, Robert Jensen and Carol King, and killed them after forcing them to drive them to a nearby abandoned storm shelter. The next day, by which time they had already left the area, the duo's old car, which had gotten stuck in the mud, was found along with the bodies of Meyer and the teenagers. Starkweather and Fugate then fled to a wealthier part of Lincoln with Jensen's car and attacked the home of a wealthy industrialist named C. Lauer Ward. Only his wife, Clara Ward, and their maid, Lillian Fencl, were home at the time. After killing Ward and one of the household's two dogs, they forced Fencl to make them breakfast. When Mr. Ward himself came home that afternoon, he was shot to death. Fencl was then tied to a bed and killed as well. They then left in the Wards' Packard. When the bodies were found, a full-scale manhunt began seriously and the police started a house-by-house search of the area and even called in the National Guard. The FBI were also brought in. The mayor of Lincoln offered a reward of $1,000. When Starkweather and Fugate realized that the Packard they were driving would attract attention, they approached a Buick owned by Merle Collison, a traveling salesman, near the highway close to Douglas, Wyoming, shot him to death, stole the vehicle and drove away.
Police arrived on the 27th after Fugate's grandmother became suspicious and called them, by which time she and Starkweather had already gone to a farm in Bennet, Nebraska and killed the owner, August Meyer, and fled. They hitched a ride from two teenagers, Robert Jensen and Carol King, and killed them after forcing them to drive them to a nearby abandoned storm shelter. The next day, by which time they had already left the area, the duo's old car, which had gotten stuck in the mud, was found along with the bodies of Meyer and the teenagers. Starkweather and Fugate then fled to a wealthier part of Lincoln with Jensen's car and attacked the home of a wealthy industrialist named C. Lauer Ward. Only his wife, Clara Ward, and their maid, Lillian Fencl, were home at the time. After killing Ward and one of the household's two dogs, they forced Fencl to make them breakfast. When Mr. Ward himself came home that afternoon, he was shot to death. Fencl was then tied to a bed and killed as well. They then left in the Wards' Packard. When the bodies were found, a full-scale manhunt began seriously and the police started a house-by-house search of the area and even called in the National Guard. The FBI were also brought in. The mayor of Lincoln offered a reward of $1,000. When Starkweather and Fugate realized that the Packard they were driving would attract attention, they approached a Buick owned by Merle Collison, a traveling salesman, near the highway close to Douglas, Wyoming, shot him to death, stole the vehicle and drove away.
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Because the car had a parking brake, which Starkweather wasn't accustomed to, the car wouldn't move when he started it. A bypasser offered to help, only to be threatened by Starkweather with a knife. A nearby deputy sheriff, William Romer, noticed the exchange and called for backup, setting off a pursuit. Fugate got out of the car, crying and saying that Starkweather had killed someone, while Starkweather ran back to the Packard and started driving towards Douglas. Police picked up the chase and fired at the car, which stopped in the middle of the road; a bullet had shattered a windshield, cutting Starkweather near the ear enough to make him bleed. Thinking he had been mortally wounded, he pulled over and surrendered so he could get medical attention. Both he and Fugate were then arrested and tried in Nebraska. At first, Starkweather stated that he had forced Fugate to come with him, but then started changing his story repeatedly, finally asserting that she had been a willing accomplice who had actually committed some of the murders. Fugate maintained that she had been held hostage, though she wasn't believed. Starkweather was only tried and found guilty of the murder of Robert Jensen and sentenced to death. Because there was evidence suggesting that Fugate had had oppurtunities to leave Starkweather that she hadn't taken, she received a life sentence as his accomplice. At noon of
July
25 the next year, Starkweather was executed by electric chair. Fugate's life sentence was commuted and she spent 17 years at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women in York, Nebraska before being released early for good behavior. A retired medical aide, she was last known to live in Hillside, Michigan. In 2007, she married a man named Fredrick Clair. They were in a car accident together in 2013 when their SUV went off the road. Fugate survived with serious injuries, but Clair died.
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Because the car had a parking brake, which Starkweather wasn't accustomed to, the car wouldn't move when he started it. A bypasser offered to help, only to be threatened by Starkweather with a knife. A nearby deputy sheriff, William Romer, noticed the exchange and called for backup, setting off a pursuit. Fugate got out of the car, crying and saying that Starkweather had killed someone, while Starkweather ran back to the Packard and started driving towards Douglas. Police picked up the chase and fired at the car, which stopped in the middle of the road; a bullet had shattered a windshield, cutting Starkweather near the ear enough to make him bleed. Thinking he had been mortally wounded, he pulled over and surrendered so he could get medical attention. Both he and Fugate were then arrested and tried in Nebraska. At first, Starkweather stated that he had forced Fugate to come with him, but then started changing his story repeatedly, finally asserting that she had been a willing accomplice who had actually committed some of the murders. Fugate maintained that she had been held hostage, though she wasn't believed. Starkweather was only tried and found guilty of the murder of Robert Jensen and sentenced to death. Because there was evidence suggesting that Fugate had had oppurtunities to leave Starkweather that she hadn't taken, she received a life sentence as his accomplice. At noon of
June
25 the next year, Starkweather was executed by electric chair. Fugate's life sentence was commuted and she spent 17 years at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women in York, Nebraska before being released early for good behavior. A retired medical aide, she was last known to live in Hillside, Michigan. In 2007, she married a man named Fredrick Clair. They were in a car accident together in 2013 when their SUV went off the road. Fugate survived with serious injuries, but Clair died.
==Modus Operandi==
==Modus Operandi==