Starkweather: The Untold Story of the Killing Spree that Changed America

Starkweather: The Untold Story of the Killing Spree that Changed America by Harry N. MacLean

On January 21, 1958, nineteen-year-old Charles Starkweather changed the course of crime in the United States when he murdered the parents and sister of his fourteen-year-old girlfriend and possible accomplice, Caril Ann Fugate, in a house on the edge of Lincoln, Nebraska. They then drove to the nearby town of Bennet, where a farmer was robbed and killed. When Starkweather's car broke down, the teenagers who stopped to help were murdered and jammed into a storm cellar. By the time the dust settled, ten innocent people were dead and the city of Lincoln was in a state of terror. Schools closed. Men with rifles perched on the roofs of their houses. The National Guard patrolled the street. Starkweather and Fugate's capture and arrest, and their resulting trials, received worldwide coverage.

The event would serve as the inspiration for the movie Natural Born Killers and Bruce Springsteen's iconic album Nebraska. Today, the story has dropped from the national consciousness, despite the prevalence of gun violence in the United States. With new material, new reporting, and new conclusions about the possible guild or innocence of Caril Ann Fugate, the tale is ripe for an updated and definitive retelling. In Starkweather, bestselling author Harry N. MacLean tells the story of this shocking event and its lasting impact, a crime spree that struck deep into the heart of the heartland.