Charles Schmid: Difference between revisions

| caption = Charles Schmid in 1965

| conviction = [[First -degree murder]] (2 countsx2)<br>[[Second degree murder]]

'''Charles Howard Schmid Jr.''' (July 8, 1942 – March 30, 1975), also known as the '''Pied Piper of Tucson''', was an American [[serial killer]] whose crimes were detailed by journalist Don Moser in an article featured in the March 4, 1966, issue of [[Life (magazine)|''Life'' magazine]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LUwEAAAAMBAJ|title=LIFE|first=Time|last=Inc|date=March 4, 1966|publisher=Time Inc|via=Google Books}}</ref> Schmid's criminal career later formed the basis for "[[Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?]]", a short story by [[Joyce Carol Oates]].<ref name="trutv">{{cite web | last =Ramsland | first = Katherine | title = Charles Schmid, the Pied Piper | work = truTV Crime Library |url=http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/serial_killers/predators/schmid/sand_1.html}}</ref>{{rp|9}} In 2008, [[The Library of America]] selected Moser's article for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of American [[true crime]] literature.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.loa.org/volume.jsp?RequestID=289&section=toc|title=True Crime An American Anthology|publisher=The Library of America/Literary Classics of the United States|date=1995–2007}}</ref>

Charles Schmid was anborn illegitimateto childa single mother, whohe was adopted by Charles and Katharine Schmid, owners and operators of Hillcrest Nursing Home in [[Tucson, Arizona]]. He had a difficult relationship with his adoptive father, whom his adoptive mother later divorced. When Schmid tried to meet his birth mother, she angrily told him never to come back.<ref name="shelton">{{cite book |title=Crossing The Yard|last=Shelton |first=Richard |authorlink=Richard Shelton (writer) |year=2007 |publisher=University of Arizona Press|isbn=978-0-8165-2594-2 |url= https://archive.org/details/crossingyard00rich|url-access=registration|quote=crossing the yard.}}</ref>{{rp|13}} When Schmid tried to meet his birth mother, she angrily told him never to come back.<ref name="shelton" />{{rp|13}}

Schmid was called the "[[Pied Piper of Hamelin|Pied Piper]]" because he was charismatic and had many friends in Tucson's teenaged community. For a time, the members of his teenage {{Linktext|coterie}} would keep the secrets of his murders.<ref name="time-secrets">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,834699,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080308015308/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,834699,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 8, 2008|title=Secrets in the Sand|date=1965-11-26|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|accessdate=2009-01-16}}</ref> His best friends were John Saunders, Richie Bruns, and Paul Graff, the latter of whom lived with him. He spent much of his time on Tucson's Speedway Boulevard, picking up girls and drinking with friends, although he tended to be a loner.

Schmid was a short man who wore cowboy boots stuffed with newspapers and flattened cans to make him appear taller; he explained to impressionable teenagers his resultant rolling gait was a result of a "crippling fight" with Mafia members. He used lip balm, pancake makeup and created an artificial mole on his cheek.<ref name="allen050711">{{cite news|url=http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue2/2005/07/11/69875-vicious-pied-piper-butchered-in-prison-in-75/|title=Lookin' back: Vicious 'Pied Piper' butchered in prison in '75|last=Allen|first=Paul L.|publisher=Tucson Citizen|date=2005-07-11|accessdate=29 April 2012}}</ref> HeSchmid also stretched his lower lip with a clothespin to make it resemble [[Elvis Presley]]'s.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://wc.arizona.edu/papers/96/48/04_7.html|title=Serial: It's not just for breakfast|last=Schumaier|first=Lisa|publisher=Arizona Daily Wildcat|date=2002-10-31}}</ref>

The mid-1960s, media focused their attention on the Schmid case and trial. ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' and ''[[Playboy]]'' magazines sent reporters to cover the proceedings.<ref name="az-attny" /> ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' did features on contemporary life in Tucson and the murders of the young women.<ref name="time-secrets" /><ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,899071,00.html?iid=chix-sphere|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026113300/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,899071,00.html?iid=chix-sphere|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 26, 2012|title=Growing Up in Tucson|date=1966-03-11|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|accessdate=2009-01-15}}</ref> [[F. Lee Bailey]], a celebrity attorney who was involved with the [[Boston Strangler]] and [[Sam Sheppard]] cases of the 1950s and 1960s, was brought in for consultation.<ref name="az-attny" />

In 1966, Schmid was found guilty of murder and [[capital punishment|sentenced to death]].<ref name="az-attny" /> When the state of Arizona temporarily abolished capital punishment in 1971, Schmid's sentence was [[clemency|commuted]] to fifty50 years in prison.<ref name="radford" /> After Schmid's trial and conviction, his adoptive mother and her second husband had owed her son's legal team more money than they possessed. As a result, they ended up living in near poverty in [[Coolidge, Arizona]].<ref name="shelton" />{{rp|21}}

Schmid attempted to escape from prison multiple times, finally succeeding on November 11, 1972, when he and another triple murderer, [[Raymond Hudgens,]] escaped from [[Arizona State Prison Complex – Florence|Arizona State Prison]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/13/archives/-pied-piper-of-tucson-kidnaps-4-then-frees-them-in-prison-break.html|title='Pied Piper of Tucson' Kidnaps 4, Then Frees Them in Prison Break|date=1972-11-13|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-03-20|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> They held four hostages on a ranch near [[Tempe, Arizona|Tempe]] for a time, ate at a [[Sonic Drive-In|Sonic]], then separated, and were finally recaptured and returned to prison.<ref>Sifakis, Carl. (1982). ''The Encyclopedia Of American Crime''. Facts Onon File, Inc. pp. 641–642. {{ISBN|0-87196-620-4}}.</ref>

In the early 1970s, Schmid became interested in poetry. He sent his work from prison to Richard Shelton, a professor at the [[University of Arizona]], Richard Shelton. "For all the wrong reasons, I critiqued his work and discovered that he was quite talented," Shelton later said.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uanews.org/node/16493|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828214203/http://uanews.org/node/16493|url-status=usurped|archive-date=August 28, 2008|title=Richard Shelton Reflects On 30 Years Of Volunteering In Arizona Prisons|last=Cruz|first=Johnny|date=October 19, 2007 |publisher=[[University of Arizona]]|pages=2|accessdate=2009-04-09}}</ref>

On March 1020, 1975, Schmid was stabbed 47 times by two fellow prisoners.<ref name="shelton" />{{rp|4773}} After losing an eye and a [[kidney]], he died from his injuries on March 30, 1975. His body was stolen from the morgue but recovered by police. Schmid's mother chose the prison cemetery for his burial, believing his tombstone would be defaced if he were buried in a public cemetery. He received a [[Catholic]] funeral at the prison, althoughbut hehis body was not in the casket during the service.<ref name="shelton" />{{rp|80}} The two prisoners who killed him were Jimmy Ferra and Dennis Eversole, both of whom pled guilty to second-degree murder for Schmid's death and received additional time in prison. Ferra was originally sent to prison for an unrelated murder while Eversole was serving time for multiple armed robberies.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://tucson.com/morguetales/tales-from-the-morgue-the-pied-piper-of-tucson-conclusion/article_5b1bf5ec-ef94-11df-8f4c-001cc4c03286.html|title=Tales from the Morgue: The Pied Piper of Tucson, conclusion|last=Eubanks|first=Johanna|work=Arizona Daily Star|accessdate=November 18, 2023}}</ref>

In 1966, [[Joyce Carol Oates]] published the short story "[[Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?]]", about a teenage girl being charmed and menaced by a predatory man; she was inspired in part by the Schmid case.<ref name="trutv" /> The story is dedicated to [[Bob Dylan]] because Oates was also inspired by his song "[[It's All Over Now, Baby Blue]]." The story was adapted into athe 1985 film ''[[Smooth Talk]]'', inand which Schmid'sthe character, Arnoldbased Friend,on Schmid is played by [[Treat Williams]].

In 1970 [[John Gilmore (writer)|John Gilmore]] published ''The Tucson Murders'', through Dial Press, New York, a hardcover nonfiction true crime detailing the life and crimes of Charles Schmid, the "notorious pied piper of Tucson". John Gilmore was sent at first by ''Playboy'' magazine to do a story on the trial, but after an introduction to Schmid's wife, he managed to meet Charles Schmid and get the exclusive rights to a book. He was in close contact with him and his family during the whole trial.

Actress [[Rose McGowan]]'s 2014 directorial debut, ''Dawn'', was inspired by the events surrounding the murder of Alleen Rowe. It stars [[Tara Lynne Barr]] in the role of Dawn Rowe, [[Hannah Marks]] as Mary French and [[Reiley McClendon]] as Schmid.