Charles Starkweather and Caril Ann Fugate: Nebraska’s Deadly Crime Duo

Bonnie and Clyde vs. Their Darker Shadow: Meet Charles Starkweather

When you think crime duos, Bonnie and Clyde pop up like the original poster kids. They’re the legend, the blueprint everyone else gets measured against. If you buy into the idea that riding together through a hail of bullets is the ultimate “ride or die,” then there’s got to be the exact opposite on the scale.

That opposite? Charles Starkweather.

Born the fourth of seven kids in 1950s Nebraska, Charles came from a family that had seen better days. His great-great-grandfather once sat in the U.S. House of Representatives, but by the time Charles came around, the family was struggling hard.

His dad was a carpenter sidelined by rheumatoid arthritis. Mom picked up waitress shifts to keep food on the table. And Charles? Bow-legged, with a speech impediment, he didn’t exactly light up the schoolyard. He was the kind of kid you barely noticed.

High School, Leather Jackets, and a Dangerous Edge

Things started to shift when Charles hit high school. Suddenly, he was stronger than the other boys—stronger than his own dad, actually. It wasn’t officially said that his dad was abusive, but he did admit to pushing Charles into a window once when he was a kid. By the time Charles hit his teens, the family said they were all scared of him.

Stocky but solid, Charles became the guy who wore leather jackets like armor and chain-smoked like it was his job. He bought a motorbike and rode it everywhere like a tiny rebel king.

To most kids around him, and to Charles himself, he was someone to watch. But only as long as he knew he was the coolest person in the room.

One childhood friend summed him up like this: “He could be the kindest guy you’d ever meet. If he liked you, he’d do anything for you. He was a total blast—everything was one big joke. But then there was the other side. He could be mean as hell, straight-up cruel. If he spotted some guy who was bigger, better looking, or dressed sharper, Charles would drag that poor bastard back down to his level.”

With that rough edge, Charles dropped out in his senior year and got a job at a newspaper warehouse. That’s where he crossed paths with thirteen-year-old Caril Ann Fugate.

He started hanging around her school gates every day. Charles was eighteen by then, but back then, an eighteen-year-old dating a thirteen-year-old didn’t raise many eyebrows. Neither did them getting serious.

From Crashing Cars to a Deadly Spiral

A few months in, Charles took Caril out in his father’s car to teach her how to drive. Let’s just say Caril wasn’t exactly a natural. She crashed it—bad enough to put a serious dent in the family finances. Hard times meant Charles’ dad wasn’t thrilled. In fact, he kicked Charles out of the house as punishment.

Feeling cornered, Charles quit the newspaper warehouse job and took up work as a garbage man. If he thought life was already heading downhill, he figured he might as well get used to the ride.

Caril wasn’t about to stick around for that bleak vibe. She broke up with him.

What she probably didn’t know: by then, Charles had already started unleashing his frustrations in some seriously violent ways.

In November 1957, a couple months before the breakup, Charles was at a gas station trying to buy a stuffed doll. Problem was, he didn’t have any cash. He pressured the attendant, 21-year-old Robert Calvert, to let him buy on credit. Robert said no. Charles left, came back a few times making small purchases, until finally he showed up with a shotgun.

He demanded $100 from the register and dragged Robert out to a quiet spot. They wrestled over the gun. Charles won. He shot and killed Robert.

Two days after Caril ended things, she came home and found Robert’s body already inside the house. According to her, Charles ordered her inside and gave her a strict warning.

Hostage in Her Own Home: The Grim Reality Behind the Front Door

Caril’s family, her mother, stepfather, and two-year-old half-sister, were all being held captive. The message was clear: behave, and they would live. Step out of line, and they would die.

Here’s where it gets murky. Did Caril know what had already happened to them? The truth was Charles had already killed her family and stashed their bodies in the chicken coop out back. Whether she knew for sure or just sensed something was off, she kept up the act.

For days, Caril lived in the house with Charles. Every time someone knocked, she sent them away. Eventually, they put a sign in the front window:

“Stay away. Every body is sick with the flue. Miss Bartlett.”

Yes, the spelling was terrible. But “Miss Bartlett” was underlined twice. Caril later said she did that on purpose, a quiet signal that something was wrong since the only “Miss” Bartlett in the house was her toddler sister.

Caril’s grandmother smelled something fishy and threatened to call the cops if she couldn’t talk to the rest of the family. Charles didn’t like that one bit. He ordered Caril out, and they sped off in the family car.

Next stop was August Meyer’s farm. August was a family friend, seventy years old, and not scared of Charles at all.

That confidence didn’t last.

Their car got stuck in the mud. August kindly offered his horses to pull them out. Instead, Charles had other plans. As August showed him to the stables, Charles pulled out his shotgun and fired. Then he killed August’s dog by beating it to death with the gun, breaking the shotgun in the process.

Because nothing says “friendly visitor” like murder and dog brutality.

The reason for killing August is incredibly unclear and it didn’t exactly solve the young couple’s problem either. Their car was still stuck in the mud and now they couldn’t exactly stay on the farm where Charles had just killed another person. Salvation came in the form of seventeen-year-old Robert Jensen and sixteen-year-old Carol King. The two of them had been driving by when they saw Charles and Caril struggling with their car. Not knowing that Charles had now already killed a total of five people, Robert and Carol King offered them a lift.

Charles and Caril got in, only for Charles to then threaten the other two into driving to a nearby storm cellar. It turned out that Charles had another gun on him. He shot and killed Robert before attempting to assault Carol King. Carol King put up a fight and when Charles lost his temper with her, he shot and killed her too.

Charles and Caril then got away in their new car and drove to an affluent neighbourhood in Lincoln. They picked a house, seemingly at random, and attacked.

Charles stabbed the family maid, a woman named Ludmila, to death before he killed the dog too. Then he stabbed wife Clara Ward to death and shot husband Chester Lauer Ward when he got home.

The two of them now had a fancy hideout and were free to rest up for a while. They filled the Ward’s car with jewelry and other valuables and raided the house. It was during this time that newspapers arrived with news of Caril’s murdered family and it is here that the exact level of Caril’s involvement comes into question.

It is easy to believe that Caril was simply another of Charles’ victims, especially considering that she was then only fourteen-years-old and he was nineteen. But, we are also operating under the assumption that Caril didn’t know that her family had already been murdered and was, in fact, only going along with Charles because she believed that he would kill her family if she didn’t.

Killing August and the Deadly Ride with Strangers

Why Charles killed August Meyer is still a mystery. It didn’t help their stuck car situation, and now they couldn’t exactly stay on the farm after another murder.

Rescue showed up in the form of Robert Jensen, 17, and Carol King, 16. They were just driving by and saw Charles and Caril struggling with their car. They had no idea Charles had already killed five people. Being nice teenagers, they offered a ride.

Charles and Caril climbed in, but the kindness ended there. Charles pulled a gun and forced Robert and Carol to drive to a nearby storm cellar. He had another gun on him. Charles shot and killed Robert, then tried to assault Carol. She fought back, but when Charles lost his temper, he shot and killed her too.

With two more bodies in the trunk, Charles and Caril escaped in their new car and drove to a wealthy neighborhood in Lincoln. They picked a house, apparently at random, and attacked.

Charles stabbed the family maid, Ludmila, to death and then killed the dog. He stabbed Clara Lauer Ward and shot her husband, Chester, when he got home.

Now with a fancy hideout, Charles and Caril took a moment to rest. They loaded the Ward’s car with jewelry and valuables, raiding the place.

That’s when newspapers arrived with news of Caril’s murdered family, raising big questions about how involved Caril really was.

It’s easy to think Caril was just another victim. She was only fourteen, he was nineteen.

But that assumes she didn’t already know her family was dead and was only going along with Charles because she thought he’d kill them if she didn’t.

The Final Verdict: Who Was Caril Really?

At first, Charles insisted Caril had nothing to do with the murders. Then he switched gears and said she played an active role in some of them, including the killings of Clara Ward and Merle Collinson.

Caril always denied any involvement, saying she only went along because she believed her family was still alive—and that fear kept her trapped.

Maybe the truth lies somewhere in the middle. After all, we’re talking about a terrified teenager caught in a nightmare.

Charles was sentenced to death and executed a year later at just twenty years old. Even then, he claimed Caril deserved to die with him.

Caril got life in prison but was paroled after seventeen years. She turned her life around, became a model inmate, and later worked in a hospital as a nanny.