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.[1] Schmid's criminal career later formed the basis for "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", a short story by Joyce Carol Oates.[2]: 9 In 2008, The Library of America selected Moser's article for inclusion in its two-century retrospective of American true crime literature.[3]
Charles Schmid | |
|---|---|
 Charles Schmid | |
| Born | Charles Howard Schmid Jr. July 8, 1942 Tucson, Arizona, U.S. |
| Died | March 30, 1975 (aged 32) Florence, Arizona, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Stab wounds |
| Other names | The Pied Piper of Tucson Smitty |
| Conviction(s) | First degree murder (2 counts) Second degree murder |
| Criminal penalty | Death; commuted to life imprisonment |
| Details | |
| Victims | 3–4 |
Span of crimes | 1964–1965 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | Arizona |
Date apprehended | November 10, 1965 |
Early life
Charles Schmid was an illegitimate child who 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.[4]: 13 When Schmid tried to meet his birth mother, she angrily told him never to come back.[4]: 13
Schmid did poorly in school, but was described as good-looking, intelligent and well-mannered.[5] An accomplished athlete, he excelled at gymnastics and even led his high school to a state championship, but quit the team in his senior year.[6] Just before graduating, Schmid was suspended for stealing tools from the school's machine shop; he never returned to school.
Schmid began living in his own quarters on his parents' property and received an allowance of $300 a month.[7][unreliable source?] His parents left him to run on his own with a new car and a motorcycle.
Schmid was called the "Pied Piper" because he was charismatic and had many friends in Tucson's teenaged community. For a time, the members of his teenage coterie would keep the secrets of his murders.[8] 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.[9] Schmid also stretched his lower lip with a clothespin to make it resemble Elvis Presley's.[10]
Murders
Rowe
On the evening of May 31, 1964, Schmid—in the presence of two friends—blurted a statement: "I want to kill a girl tonight!"[11] The trio drove to the home of Alleen Rowe, a high school student living with her divorced mother, whom Schmid knew worked nights. His girlfriend, Mary French, then persuaded Rowe to go out with Saunders, but Schmid had intended all along to murder Rowe in order to know what it felt like to kill someone. Schmid and his friends took Rowe to the desert, where Schmid and Saunders killed her. Before murdering Rowe, Schmid raped the teenager; he instructed Saunders to likewise rape the teen, but Saunders was unable to sustain an erection. While the murder occurred, French was waiting in the car and listening to the radio. Schmid then kissed French, telling the girl, "Remember, I love you." The three then buried her.[11]
Fritz sisters
Several months after the murder of Alleen Rowe, Schmid encountered a 16-year-old local teen named Gretchen Fritz at a local swimming pool. Fritz was the daughter of a wealthy, prominent Tucson heart surgeon and community leader, and via local gossip, Schmid had learned the girl had recently been expelled from her private school due to her involvement in an attempted armed robbery. Unbeknownst to Schmid, tutors at Fritz's private school had classified her as a pathological liar whom they had recommended undergo psychiatric treatment.[12]
That evening, Schmid drove to Fritz's home, where he presented himself as a pots and pans salesman as a ruse to introduce himself to her. According to Schmid, Fritz scrutinized the cutlery in his hands before remarking, "They look like they've all been used." She then smiled and calmly offering to buy his wares, although when Schmid explained the cutlery in his possession were "just samples", Fritz shrieked, "I want them! All of them!" When he revealed the true reason for his visit, the teen calmed down. Shortly thereafter, the two began dating, although Fritz was markedly possessive, and frequently became hysterical if she observed Schmid in the company of other females or learned of parties he hosted to which she was not invited. According to Schmid, by 1965, Fritz would frequently phone him "five or six times a day", and he began making efforts to distance himself from her.[12]
Several months into their relationship, Schmid confided to Fritz that he had murdered Rowe; he later showed her the location of the grave in an effort to "show her what kind of guy I am" although Fritz—who had stolen a diary from Schmid in which he had detailed the murder of Rowe plus the alleged shooting death of a 16-year-old boy—had openly threatened to "ruin" Schmid if attempted to separate from her. When he resolved to permanently break up with Fritz, she again threatened to use the information against him. Schmid strangled Gretchen (then aged 17) and her 13-year-old sister, Wendy, on August 16, 1965.[7]
Schmid confided to Bruns that he murdered the sisters and showed him the bodies, buried haphazardly in the desert. Bruns became increasingly afraid that Schmid was going to murder his girlfriend. Ultimately, Bruns fled to Ohio because his girlfriend's parents were convinced that he was harassing her. Bruns stayed with his grandparents and told them everything he knew about the murders, and flew back to Tucson to help with the investigation.[2]
Trial
The mid-1960s, media focused their attention on the Schmid case and trial. Life and Playboy magazines sent reporters to cover the proceedings.[5] Time did features on contemporary life in Tucson and the murders of the young women.[8][13] 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.[5]
In 1966, Schmid was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death.[5] When the state of Arizona temporarily abolished capital punishment in 1971, Schmid's sentence was commuted to fifty years in prison.[7] 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.[4]: 21
After incarceration
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.[14] They held four hostages on a ranch near Tempe for a time, ate at a Sonic, then separated, and were finally recaptured and returned to prison.[15]
In the early 1970s, Schmid became interested in poetry. He sent his work from prison to 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.[16]
Death
On March 10, 1975, Schmid was stabbed 47 times by two fellow prisoners.[4]: 47 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, although his body was not in the casket during the service.[4]: 80
Books and media
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.[2] 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 a 1985 film Smooth Talk, in which Schmid's character, Arnold Friend, is played by Treat Williams.
In 1970 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.
The 1971 movie The Todd Killings is based on the Schmid case,[17] as was the 1994 film Dead Beat and the 2005 film The Lost, adapted from a novel by Jack Ketchum.
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.
The young adult thriller Half in Love with Death (Merit Press 2015) by Emily Ross was inspired by the Schmid case.
A Crime to Remember portrayed the case in the 2014 episode "The Pied Piper".
I, a Squealer: The Insider's Account of the "Pied Piper of Tucson" Murders by Richard Bruns is a first-hand account of the murders by Schmid's childhood friend whose information resulted in Schmid's arrest and conviction.[18]
See also
References
- ^ Inc, Time (March 4, 1966). "LIFE". Time Inc – via Google Books.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ a b c Ramsland, Katherine. "Charles Schmid, the Pied Piper". truTV Crime Library.
- ^ "True Crime An American Anthology". The Library of America/Literary Classics of the United States. 1995–2007.
- ^ a b c d e Shelton, Richard (2007). Crossing The Yard. University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-2594-2.
crossing the yard.
- ^ a b c d Schafer, William J. (September 2008). "Murder in the Desert" (PDF). Arizona Attorney. Retrieved January 15, 2009.
- ^ Gilmore, John (October 1995). Cold-Blooded: The Saga of Charles Schmid, the Notorious "Pied Piper of Tucson". Feral House. ISBN 9780922915316.
- ^ a b c Mullins, Jaclyn; Shayna Brown; Quentin Preston (2007). "Charles Howard Schmid, Jr" (PDF). Radford U. Psych 405.
- ^ a b "Secrets in the Sand". Time. November 26, 1965. Archived from the original on March 8, 2008. Retrieved January 16, 2009.
- ^ Allen, Paul L. (July 11, 2005). "Lookin' back: Vicious 'Pied Piper' butchered in prison in '75". Tucson Citizen. Retrieved April 29, 2012.
- ^ Schumaier, Lisa (October 31, 2002). "Serial: It's not just for breakfast". Arizona Daily Wildcat.
- ^ a b "Dean Corll". Murder in Mind (80). Marshall Cavendish. 1999. ISSN 1364-5803.
- ^ a b "Lost in the Desert". Master Detective. Marshall Cavendish. 2002. ISSN 0955-260X.
- ^ "Growing Up in Tucson". Time. March 11, 1966. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2009.
- ^ "'Pied Piper of Tucson' Kidnaps 4, Then Frees Them in Prison Break". The New York Times. November 13, 1972. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
- ^ Sifakis, Carl. (1982). The Encyclopedia Of American Crime. Facts On File, Inc. pp. 641–642. ISBN 0-87196-620-4.
- ^ Cruz, Johnny (October 19, 2007). "Richard Shelton Reflects On 30 Years Of Volunteering In Arizona Prisons". University of Arizona. p. 2. Archived from the original on August 28, 2008. Retrieved April 9, 2009.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "TCM Movie Data Base-Notes For The Todd Killings". Turner Classic Movies. 2010.
- ^ Eubank, Johanna. "Author tells his side of the 'Pied Piper of Tucson' murder". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved March 20, 2018.