Title: The murderous trail of Charles Starkweather
Description: "Charles Starkweather's journey was soon ended. The bitter sorrow that his brief reign of brutal fury brought has been assuaged by time, but not ended. Charles Starkweather was executed under sentence of the court. His body was given a reverential burial by his family. But, what of other potential killers? There will always be differences in the inherited sensitivities of children and no amount of effort can quite equalize opportunities. In a less complex social order, these differences ordinarily do not constitute serious threats to the social interests. In modern society, however, slight differences in sensitivity and environment may have profound consequences. They may make the difference between the useful citizen and the murderer. I spent about thirty hours interviewing Charles Starkweather in the Nebraska State Penitentiary before and after his trial. I have talked with members of his family, with former school teachers, counselors, and psychological examiners, who knew him; and with people, now grown, who were children with him in school. I have followed his school years from his first day in kindergarten until he quit school upon completion of the ninth grade, at sixteen years of age. I have talked with people who knew him at work after he left school, and with people where he bought his clothes. I was present in the courtroom throughout most of his trial. There I listened to the testimony and observed his behavior from a vantaged position in the press section. This book attempts to say what I think about the killer, Charles Starkweather. Except for two chapters: one on the Murderous Trail, and another on The Investigation, the book deals almost entirely with the strange nature of this young chain-killer"--Preface.
Subjects: Biography, Case studies, Murder, Murderers
Places: Nebraska
People: Charles Raymond Starkweather (1938-1959)