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

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. If there is a
cultural version of PTSD, the town suffered from it. Starkweather
and Fugate’s capture and arrest, and the resulting trials about the
killing spree, received worldwide coverage. The event would serve
as the inspiration for the movie Natural Born Killers and
Springsteen’s iconic album Nebraska. Today, the story has dropped
far from the national consciousness. With new material, new
reporting, and new conclusions about the possible guilt or
innocence of 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.

Harry N. MacLean joins Ed Opperman to discuss this book and
more.

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