Starkweather: Depravity, Dystopia, And The Death Penalty In The Heart Of America

Charles Starkweather 1958 - Source: Wikipedia

 By Dr. R. Scott Clark -Posted at The Heidelblog:

Published June 25, 2023

On this date in 1959, the state of Nebraska executed the death sentence upon Charles Starkweather, an admitted, notorious spree killer and mass murderer. Certainly, when “Charlie” (as he was known) was captured after a shootout in Douglas, Wyoming there was little doubt, and by the end of his trial, it was certain that he had committed a shocking and brutal series of murders in and around what was then a sleepy college town and state capitol, Lincoln, Nebraska. The only real question that remained through the trial, which persists to this day, is the involvement of Caril Ann Fugate, whose family Charlie murdered. It is unknown whether she accompanied him willingly during his spree, cooperated with or even committed some of the murders, or if she was simply a hostage (as she later claimed) and suffered from Stockholm Syndrome (wherein, in order to survive captivity, one comes to sympathize with one’s captors—Patty Hearst is a famous example of this syndrome).

The Starkweather case is notable for a number of reasons. First, he is considered one of the first of the modern spree killers and mass murderers. Second, he was accompanied (willingly or unwillingly) by his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate. Third, it symbolized to many a troubling undercurrent in the new rock and roll music and rebellious youth culture that Charlie seemed to embrace and embody. He was a short, pugnacious, nasty, bow-legged, banty rooster of a teen, he posed as Lincoln’s answer to James Dean. He wore his hair like Dean, he strutted about with a pack of cigarettes rolled up in his tee-shirt sleeve, his jeans rolled up a bit, with a cigarette dangling from his pouting lips. Fourth, because of the way he selected his victims. Had anyone thought to commit a mass school shooting in 1958, Charlie would have been the guy to do it.

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