Caril Ann Fugate is the youngest female prosecuted for first-degree murder in the history of the United States. At the age of 14, she had murdered eleven people with her partner and juvenile spree killer, Charles Starkweather. Despite her claims of innocence, she was apparently involved in the murder of a number of Starkweather’s victims. While she claimed she was taken captive by him, there was sufficient evidence to suggest she did not attempt to flee. Starkweather said in his statement that she was the “most trigger-happy person” he had ever encountered. She was sentenced to life in jail but was eventually paroled. Following that, she kept a quiet profile, only speaking publicly about the killings during a radio appearance.
The Initial Murders
Caril Ann Fugate was introduced to 18-year-old Charles Raymond Starkweather by her older sister Barbara when she was 13 years old. After dropping out of school, he began working as a truck unloader at the Western Newspaper Union warehouse near Caril’s school. The two continued to meet after school each day, and he taught her how to drive. After Starkweather’s father’s 1949 Ford collided with another vehicle one day, Starkweather’s father expelled her from the family home.
Starkweather adopted a nihilistic outlook on life and committed his first murder on November 30, 1957, when he shot and killed service station employee Robert Colvert for refusing to sell him a plush animal on credit. He informed Caril, though, that he had merely harmed him. On January 21, 1958, Starkweather went to her house with the apparent intent of eloping with her. She was, however, not at home, and her mother Velda and stepfather Marion Bartlett warned him to keep a safe distance from her.
Furious, he shot and killed them, as well as strangling and stabbing their two-year-old daughter Betty Jean. Caril returned and assisted him in concealing the dead, despite the fact that she claimed she was being held hostage by him. They remained there for several days, until her grandma notified the authorities a few days later.
Spree of Cross-State Crime
Caril Ann Fugate and her boyfriend traveled to Bennet, Nebraska, where he murdered August Meyer, a family friend, and his dog. They abandoned the car and forced two local teenagers, Robert Jensen and Carol King, to drive back into an abandoned storm shelter. He shot Jensen in the head and then killed King after an unsuccessful attempt to impose himself on her. He later claimed, however, that Caril shot King.They then stole Jensen’s car and proceeded to the industrialist C. Lauer Ward’s home, where he murdered his wife Clara and maid Lillian Fencl, as well as snapping the family dog’s neck.
They waited for Ward to get home and shot him, then stole his 1956 Packard vehicle, along with a large amount of jewels, and fled Nebraska. They needed to get rid of Ward’s car, however, as the search for the murders escalated. They assassinated Merle Collison, a traveling salesman sleeping in his Buick, along the highway near Douglas, Wyoming. Starkweather asserted that Caril staged a coup de grace following the jamming of his shotgun. When they attempted to depart in his automobile, Starkweather discovered that the vehicle was equipped with a push-pedal emergency brake that he was unable to control.
They became involved in an altercation as a passing motorist attempted to assist him with starting the engine.As a deputy sheriff approached the scene, he was contacted by Caril, who said Starkweather was about to murder her. Starkweather attempted to flee in a speeding car but was injured when the windshield was cracked and flying glass pierced him deeply.
He surrendered, believing he was bleeding to death, and was eventually convicted of murder. Caril maintained his innocence, and while he initially stated that he abducted her, he eventually stated that she was an accomplice. He was hanged, while she was sentenced to life in prison at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women in York, Nebraska. She was later released on parole in 1976 after following a 17-year sentence.
Her Private Life
Caril Ann Fugate was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on July 30, 1943 to William Fugate and Velda M Bartlett. She had one older sister, Barbara. Later in life, her mother married Marion Bartlett and they had another daughter, Betty Jean.She changed her name and began working as a janitor at a Lansing hospital upon her parole release. She married Frederick Clair in 2007 and relocated to Stryker, Ohio. On August 5, 2013, her husband was killed in a car accident in which she was also critically injured.
Estimted Net Worth
Caril Ann Fugate is one of the richest Spree Killer & listed on most popular Spree Killer. According to our analysis, Wikipedia, Forbes & Business Insider, Caril Ann Fugate net worth is approximately $1-$5 Million.