Charles Starkweather
| Charles Starkweather | |
|---|---|
Mug shots of Starkweather
|
|
| Born |
Charles Raymond Starkweather November 24, 1938 Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Died | June 25, 1959 (aged 20) Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Electrocution via electric chair |
| Nationality | American |
| Criminal charge | First degree murder |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Criminal status | Executed |
| Partner(s) | Caril Ann Fugate |
|
Time at large
|
60 days |
| Killings | |
| Victims |
|
|
Span of killings
|
December 1, 1957–January 29, 1958 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | Nebraska, Wyoming |
| Location(s) |
Lincoln and Bennet, Nebraska Douglas, Wyoming |
| Killed | 11 |
| Weapons |
Winchester Model 1906 .410 Stevens Model 59A .38-caliber revolver Knife |
|
Date apprehended
|
January 29, 1958 |
| Imprisoned at | Nebraska State Penitentiary |
Charles Raymond "Charlie" Starkweather (November 24, 1938 – June 25, 1959) was an American teenaged spree killer who murdered eleven people in the states of Nebraska and Wyoming in a two-month murder spree between December 1957 and January 1958. All but one of Starkweather's victims were killed between January 21 and January 29, 1958, the date of his arrest. During the murders committed in 1958, Starkweather was accompanied by his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate.
Starkweather was executed 17 months after the events, and Fugate served 17 years in prison before her release in 1976. The Starkweather-Fugate spree has inspired several films, including The Sadist (1963), Badlands (1973), Kalifornia (1993), and Natural Born Killers (1994). Starkweather's electrocution in 1959 was the last execution in Nebraska until 1994.
Starkweather was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, the third of seven children of Guy and Helen Starkweather. The Starkweathers were a poor but respectable family of working-class background. Guy Starkweather was by all accounts a mild-mannered man; he was a carpenter who was often unemployed due to rheumatoid arthritis in his hands. During Guy's periods of unemployment, Helen Starkweather supplemented the family's income as a waitress.
Starkweather attended Saratoga Elementary School, Irving Junior High School, and Lincoln High School. In contrast to his family life, Starkweather remembered nothing positive of his time at school. Starkweather was born with genu varum, a mild birth defect that caused his legs to be misshapen. He also suffered from a speech impediment, which led to constant teasing by classmates.
The only subject which Starkweather excelled at was gym. It was in gym class where he found a physical outlet for his growing rage against those who bullied him. Starkweather used his newfound physicality to begin bullying those who had once bullied him, and soon his rage stretched beyond those who had bullied him to anyone whom he happened to dislike. Starkweather soon went from being considered 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:
...
Wikipedia