Share

Charles Starkweather biography

1 photo

Quick Facts

  • PLACE OF DEATH: Lincoln, Nebraska
more about Charles

Best Known For

Charles Starkweather was an American spree killer who murdered eleven people in Nebraska and Wyoming during a two-month road trip with his girlfriend.

Synopsis

Charles Starkweather was an American spree killer who murdered eleven people in Nebraska and Wyoming during a two-month road trip with his 13 year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate. The victims included Fugate's mother, stepfather and two year old sister. The pair was caught after a high-speed chase. Starkweather claimed insanity, pleading innocent, but was sentenced to death on June 29, 1959.

Contents

Profile

Murderer. Born Charles Raymond Starkweather on November 24, 1938 in Lincoln, Nebraska. The third of seven children born to Guy and Helen Starkweather, Charles Starkweather grew up during the Great Depression. He left school at 16, taking work as a lorry loader for a local newspaper business. Starkweather also became romantically involved with a kindred rebellious spirit, Caril Ann Fugate, who was only 13 years old at the time.

Starkweather left the newspaper haulage job to find work as a refuse collector, but the injustice of his poverty, as he saw it, began to consume him. By age 19, he convinced himself that crime was his only route to financial gain and, within a week of his birthday, he took his first victim, gas station attendant Robert Colvert, for $100. Shortly after, Starkweather shot and killed Fugate??s mother and stepfather, Velda and Marion Bartlett, and killed her two??year old half-sister, Betty Jean.

Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate were officially on the run, killing family friend August Meyer on January 27, 1958 and stealing food and money from his farm. They then robbed and killed a teenage couple, Robert Jensen and Carole King. After returning home to Lincoln, they sought refuge at the home of a wealthy industrialist, C. Lauer Ward. They killed both Mr. and Mrs. Ward and their maid, then headed to Washington state, where Starkweather??s brother lived. En route, Starkweather killed shoe salesman Merle Collison for his car, after which a high-speed chase ended in Starkweather??s surrender.

Starkweather pleaded innocent by reason of insanity and was found guilty. He was sentenced to death on June 29, 1959. Fugate claimed she was a hostage, but the jury found her guilty. Because she was 14 years old at the time, she received a life sentence. She was paroled in June 1976.


© 2012 A+E Networks. All rights reserved.

ADVERTISEMENT
233080 233080
profile id: 233080
profile name: Charles Starkweather
profile occupation:
related profile id: 233080
related profile name: Charles Starkweather
related profile occupation:
related profile img: /imported/images/Biography/Images/Profiles/S/Charles-Starkweather-233080-1-402.jpg
related profile URL: /people/charles-starkweather-233080
profile
pop
Your Connections

Sign in with Facebook to see how you and your friends are connected to famous icons.

specific profile connection
See More Bio Connections
Your Friends' Connections
specific friend connection
Profile Connections
    Show More Connections
    Included In These Groups

    See all related groups

    Celebrity Connections

    Show More Connections
    Fact Check: We strive for accuracy and fairness. If you see something that doesn't look right, contact us!