Starkweather and Fugate: the January 1958 killings and trials

Charles Starkweather, then 19, was sentenced to death and executed by electric chair at the Nebraska State Penitentiary on 25 June 1959. His companion, Caril Ann Fugate, was 14 when the killings took place. A Lincoln jury convicted her in November 1958 and fixed a sentence of life imprisonment. She was paroled in 1976. The case centred on ten deaths over nine days, from 21 to 29 January 1958, in Nebraska and Wyoming.

Background to the January 1958 killings

Starkweather was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, on 24 November 1938. He left high school before graduating and worked as a garbage collector. In 1956 he began a relationship with Fugate, who was 13 at the time and five years his junior. Starkweather was later linked to an earlier death, that of a gas station attendant killed during a robbery at the turn of November and December 1957. Accounts differ on whether that happened on 30 November or 1 December. He was convicted of first degree murder, and his total of eleven victims includes that man.

The events of 21 to 29 January

Lincoln and Bennet

On 21 January 1958, Starkweather went to the Lincoln home of Fugate's family. Her stepfather, Marion Bartlett, and her mother, Velda Bartlett, were killed, along with her two-year-old half-sister, Betty Jean. Fugate later said she believed her family was being held hostage and that she acted to keep them safe. The two stayed in the house for about six days and turned visitors away. Relatives became suspicious, and police arrived on 27 January to find the pair gone.

On the same day they drove to a farm at Bennet, about 20 miles south of Lincoln. There Starkweather killed August Meyer, aged 70, a family friend. When their car became stuck in mud, two teenagers, Robert Jensen, 17, and Carol King, 16, stopped to help and were killed. The pair then took Jensen's car back to Lincoln.

Lincoln and Wyoming

On 28 January, C. Lauer Ward, his wife Clara and their maid, Lillian Fencl, were killed at the Ward home in Lincoln. Starkweather and Fugate left in the Wards' car and travelled west. Near Douglas, Wyoming, on 29 January, Merle Collison, a travelling salesman from Great Falls, Montana, was killed. In total, the couple's journey left seven people dead after the three members of Fugate's family. Two dogs also died in the course of the spree.

Capture in Douglas

Starkweather was stopped after a pursuit on 29 January. Officers from Converse County were involved, and he was arrested near Douglas. Fugate was taken into custody the same day. Both were held in Wyoming before being returned to Nebraska. Starkweather made statements in custody, and he later testified that Fugate had taken part in some of the killings.

The trials

Starkweather

Starkweather was tried in Lancaster County for the murder of Robert Jensen. The trial took place in May 1958, and he was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. He maintained that he had killed most of the victims himself but said Fugate had killed some. The sentence was carried out on 25 June 1959. It was the last execution in Nebraska until 1994.

Fugate

Fugate's trial opened on 27 October 1958. She continued to deny any part in the killings. She told the court she had acted out of fear for her family. The jury did not accept that she was a hostage. It heard evidence that she had opportunities to leave, and it considered Starkweather's own testimony. On 21 November 1958 she was found guilty of first degree murder over Jensen's death. Her trial differed from Starkweather's in that the prosecution did not ask for a death sentence, which is generally understood to reflect her age. The jury set life imprisonment, and she was sent to the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women in York. A 1959 ruling of the Nebraska Supreme Court, recorded as Fugate v. State, left the conviction in place.

Sentence reduced and release

In 1973 the Nebraska Board of Pardons commuted her sentence, which in plain terms means it was replaced by a lesser one. The new term was 30 to 50 years, which made her eligible for parole. Governor J. James Exon and Secretary of State Allen J. Beermann voted in favour; Attorney General Clarence A. H. Meyer dissented. Described as a model prisoner, she was paroled on 20 June 1976 after about 18 years in custody. Parole means release under supervision, not a pardon, and the conviction remained on her record.

She later lived in Michigan, working as a janitorial assistant and a nanny. In February 2020, using her married name, Caril Ann Clair, she applied to the Nebraska Board of Pardons for a pardon. Relatives of some victims supported the request. The board refused it, noting among other things that her request was too broad. She has always maintained her innocence.

Why the case is still discussed

The case drew national attention at the time, and criminologists and psychologists have studied it in efforts to understand spree killings. It has also inspired films, including Badlands in 1973, and a well-known Bruce Springsteen song. Legally, it is often cited as an example of how courts weigh a claim of duress against the evidence of what a defendant did and had the chance to do. It also shows how two people involved in the same events can face very different outcomes, in part because of age and the role the jury attributed to each.

Summary of outcomes

• Starkweather: convicted of first degree murder, sentenced to death, executed on 25 June 1959.
• Fugate: convicted of first degree murder in November 1958, sentenced to life imprisonment, commuted in 1973 to 30 to 50 years, paroled on 20 June 1976.