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

0:00 Bonnie and Clyde are the crime duo everyone knows. But what if I told you there's a pair that flips the whole story upside down. Meet Charles Starkweather, an Nebraska kid who went from leather jackets and motorcycles to a nationwide nightmare. And then there's Carol Anne Fugget, barely a teenager stuck in the middle of it all. This isn't a love story. It's a ride through violence, fear, and a mess no one could have predicted. Before we jump in, if you like your true crime brief and bingeable, you're exactly where you need to be. Hit follow now for at least two new episodes every week. This is 10 minute murder.

0:40 Let's get into it. [MUSIC] 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.

1:23 That opposite, Charles Starkweather. Born 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 sideline by rheumatoid arthritis. Mom picked up waitress shifts to keep food on the table. And Charles, bo legged with a speech impediment. He didn't exactly light up the school yard. He was the kind of kid you barely noticed. Things started to shift when Charles hit high school. Suddenly he was stronger than the other boys, stronger than his own dad, actually.

2:06 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 teenage years, 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 motorcycle and rode it everywhere like a tiny rebel king. To most kids around him and to Charles himself, he was someone to watch. Not only as long as he knew, he was the coolest person in the room. One childhood friend summed him up like this. Quote, "He could be the kindest guy you'd ever meet. If he liked you, he'd do anything for you.

2:47 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 of his senior year and got a job at a newspaper warehouse. That's where he crossed paths with 13-year-old Carol Anne Fugut. He started hanging around her school gates every day. Charles was 18 by then, by the way, but back then, an 18-year-old dating a 13-year-old didn't raise as many eyebrows as it obviously does today. And neither did them getting serious.

3:28 A few months in, Charles took Carol out in his father's car to teach her how to drive. Let's just say Carol wasn't exactly a natural. She crashed it. Bad enough to put a serious dent in the family finances. Hard times meant Charles's 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. He thought that if his life was already heading downhill, he figured he might as well get used to the ride. Carol 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.

4:13 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 Carol ended things, she came home and found Robert's body already inside the house.

4:54 According to her, Charles ordered her inside and gave her a strict warning. Carol's family, her mother, stepfather and two-year-old half-sister, were all being held captive inside. The message was clear. Behave, and they would live. Step out of line, and they would die. And here's where it gets murky. Did Carol 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. According to Carol, he told her that they were being held captive, but he had already killed them. Whether she knew for sure or just since something was off, who knows, she just kept up the act.

5:34 For days, Carol lived in the house with Charles. Every time someone knocked, she sent them away. Eventually, they put a sign on the front window. Stay away. Everybody is sick with the flu. Miss Bartlett. And by the way, flu is spelled F-L-U-E. Yes, the spelling is terrible, but Miss Bartlett was underlined twice. Carol later said she did this on purpose, a quiet signal that something was wrong, since the only Miss Bartlett in the house was her toddler sister. Carol'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 Carol out, and they sped off in the family car.

6:16 Next stop was August Mayor's Farm. August was a family friend, 70 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 them to the stables, Charles pulled out a shotgun and fired. Then he killed August's dog by beating it to death with the gun, breaking the shotgun in the process. As 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, still stuck in the mud, and now they couldn't exactly stay on the farm where Charles had just killed another person.

7:03 Salvation came in the form of 17-year-old Robert Jensen and 16-year-old Carol King. The two of them had been driving by when they saw Charles and Carol struggling with their car. Not knowing that Charles had already killed a total of five people, Robert and Carol offered them a lift. And by the way, these are two different carols. I realize it gets confusing. Charles and Carol got in. Only four Charles did then threaten the other two into driving to a nearby storm shelter. It turned out that Charles had another gun on him. He shot and killed Robert before attempting to assault Carol King. While King put up a fight and when Charles lost his temper with her, he shot and killed her too.

7:46 Charles and the original Carol then got away in their new car and drove to an affluent neighborhood in Lincoln. They picked a house, seemingly at random, and attacked. Charles stabbed the family maid, a woman named Ludmilla. He killed her and the dog again too. He then stabbed the wife Clara to death and then shot her husband Chester when he got home. The two of them now had a fancy hideout where they were free to rest up for a while. They filled up the ward's car with jewelry and other valuables and raided the house. It was during this time that newspapers arrived with the news of Carol's murdered family. And it is here that the exact level of Carol's involvement comes into question.

8:29 It is easy to believe that Carol was simply another of Charles's victims, especially considering that she was only 14 years old and he was 19 at the time. But we're also operating under the assumption that Carol didn't know 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. At first, Charles insisted Carol 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 and Merle Collinson. Carol always denied any involvement, saying she only went along because she believed her family was still alive and that fear kept her trapped.

9:12 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 20 years old. Even then, he claimed Carol deserved to die with him. Carol got life in prison but was paroled after 17 years. She turned her life around, became a model inmate, and later worked in a hospital as an Annie. Thanks for listening to 10 Minute Murder, Brief and Bingeable True Crime.

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10:38 Again, thank you so much for listening.