Speaker 1: It was Life and Time magazines that turned a local
story from Tucson, Arizona, into a national abomination. Reporters came
from all over to be sure, but on March fourth,
nineteen sixty six, Life printed an ominous photo of the
desert landscape where three girls had disappeared, and the story
of Charles Howard Schmidt Junior, or Smitty, became international news.
He had been arrested four months earlier, on November eleven,
just after marrying a fifteen year old girl whom he'd
met on a blind date. The article was published even
before the juries in two separate trials had decided his fate.
Dubbed the Pied Piper of Tucson for his ability to
get girls to fall for him, he stood five feet
four inches tall, but added three more inches by padding
his stack heeled cowboy boots with rags and tin cans.
He also dyed his reddish brown hair black, used pancake makeup,
whitened his lips, and applied a fake mole to his
left cheek, a beauty mark. Arrogant and narcissistic, he came
from a wealthy family, so he used the niceties he
could buy to impress young high school girls. He adopted
the droopy eyed look associated with Elvis, his idol, and
acquired a rock musician's mystique. His tiny house on his
parents property was the scene of many parties. Tucson society
was not merely shaken by the murders of three of
their young women, but by what the details of those
murders revealed about its adolescent population. Sex clubs, drinking parties, blackmail,
cover ups for murder, and even cane actions with the
crime underworld. Parents suddenly became more strict, more aware now
that their kids weren't safe, and maybe weren't even behaving properly.
When kids looked to someone like Charles Schmidt for answers,
there was something terribly wrong. Smitty hung around the high school,
luring girls into his cars. They hung out on Speedway,
a main drag, and they were easy prey for a predator,
even one who stumbled around in his ridiculous boots. He
became something of a folk hero to kids who didn't
quite fit in because he was older and he knew things.
He was strange, but helivened things up in a desert
town full of retired people where nothing much was happening.
Smitty made things interesting. Even so, it was difficult to
figure out just what it was that inspired kids to
follow his lead. Many girls went out with him, and
three never returned. There are a lot of places to
bury a body in the day desert. Born to an
unwed mother on July eighth, nineteen forty two, the baby
boy to be known as Charles Junior was adopted by
Charles and Katherine Schmidt, proprietors of a Hillcrest nursing home
in Tucson, Arizona. Charles spent his childhood around Hillcrest and
developed into something of a trickster. He was curious, bright, imaginative, courteous,
and indifferent to others expectations of him. He took a
lot of chances and lived dangerously without much interference from
his parents. Charles soon grew to hate his foster father
and they got into frequent arguments. At school, he raced
through assignments so he could be the first one done.
He had little regard for learning. His one fear was
to be left alone, so he did things to make
people notice him. In high school, he excelled in gymnastics,
but most of his grades were just above failing, he
seemed unable to focus his intelligence to achieve within the
educational structure. In nineteen sixty he led the school to
the state gymnastics championship and then gave up. In his
senior year, he claimed to have had hallucinogenic or psychic power,
seeing things in his mind before they occurred. For example,
he could see himself winning and that helped him to
achieve things in a shorter amount of time than his peers.
I'd shut my eyes and everything would seem logical, so
I'd do it. Just before graduating, Charles stole some tools
from the machine shop, so he was suspended. He could
have been readmitted, but he never bothered. I quit out
of boredom, he said. By the time he was sixteen,
he was living in his own quarters on his parents
property and received an allowance of three hundred dollars a month.
His foster parents left him to run on his own
with a new car and a motors He spent much
of his time on speedway, picking up girls and drinking
with buddies. Although he tended to be a loner, his
nickname was Smitty, and he had a way about him
that made kids feel that life could be exciting. Although
he was odd, the girls seemed to go for him,
and he never had much trouble getting a date. He
was using make up to darken his skin, and the
chapstick he applied was so thick it made his lips
appear white. One friend noticed that the tiny mole he
darkened on his cheek seemed to get larger and larger
over time. To finish the image, Smitty chewed on a toothpick,
working it around in his mouth as he spoke, and
sometimes he put a clothes pin on his lower lip,
presumably to give it a deeper droop. Smitty would just
tell the dubious parents of any girl in whom he
was interested that he dyed his hair and wore make
up because he was in a rock band. The part
of the gentleman quite convincingly, and they were often impressed
by his courteous manner. The oddest thing was his boots.
He'd had them special made according to his own design.
They were black and laced all the way up the
back with a tall cowboy heel, and pointed toes. He
would stuff them to make himself taller, although he didn't
mind exploiting his bantam height, to convince girls he'd once
been crippled that often made them pliable and easy. His
best friend was Paul Graff, who was sent to the
reformatory at Fort Grant Industrial School for a hold up
that resulted in a man's death. Paul eventually moved in
with Smitty. During that time, Smitty was involved with several girls,
one of whom was married, taking singing lessons and practicing
the guitar. Another Fort Grant graduate whose Smitty befriended was
Richie Brun's. He'd been arrested for breaking probation, and once
out on his own, spent his time drinking and indulging
in petty thefts, which landed him for another stint at
Fort Grant. Smitty met Richie through Paul, and the three
of them hung out together. When Smitty was twenty one,
he found out he was adopted, and his foster mother
gave him the name of his real mother when he
located her. According to his account, she told him I
didn't want you when you were born, or even before
you were born, and I don't want you now. Get out.
She then slammed the door in his face. This treatment
seemed to affect him, but he kept his feelings mostly
to himself, At least that's what he conveyed to Richie.
It was difficult to tell with a guy like Smitty,
since many of his stories were calculated to create an
impression rather than disclose the truth. He often had more
than one girlfriend at the same time and even proposed marriage,
which to several of them, simultaneously taking money from them
in return for the promise that he would take care
of them. He managed to get them into bed by
telling fantastic stories about how deprived he was, or that
he had some form of cancer and did not have
long to live. Often, all he had to do was
tell jokes to make them laugh and throw in a
few outrageous compliments. He even used salt to make his
eyes tear up so he could convince a girl that
he was overwhelmed by the privilege of being with her.
Girls were playthings to him, and the way they fell
for every line, it was no wonder he showed them
no respect. He once even told a girl that he
had murdered a young man who had killed his girlfriend
in a car accident, cut off his hands, and buried
him in the desert. Little did he know how this
tall story foreshadowed what he was about to do, and
there was some doubt later that he'd actually made it up.
He once claimed four murder, which indicated that this might
have been the first. What seemed to intrigue people most
about Smitty girls and boys alike was his freedom. He
did whatever he wanted, and his dare devil ways made
him seem larger than life, at least he thought so.
Most of what he did had exhibitionist qualities, designed to
make people notice him and possibly even to try to
stop him from putting himself in danger. But the activities
that most appealed to him, such as motorcycle racing and skydiving,
were those that pushed him right into death's face. I
truly wish I could have been a great surgeon, he
once said, or philosopher, or author or anything constructive. However,
he could never quite focus on anything but loud music
and animal passion with a hint of cruelty. To him,
those activities were just more sensible, or perhaps they were
just easier. In any event, with girls falling into line
and even fighting over him, why apply himself to anything else.
She was fifteen on that ominous night of May thirty
first nineteen sixty four. Alene was only a sophomore at
Pallas Verde, and she unfortunately befriended frumpy nineteen year old
Mary French, a friend and lover of Charles Schmidt. Alayne's mother,
freshly divorced, moved her children to Tucson the year before.
One of Alaine's favorite things to do was walk in
the desert gathering unusual stones. She liked the hot sun
because it made her feel alive. Her hope was to
become an oceanographer, and with her above average grades, she
had a shot. Blonde and blue eyed Alene attracted Schmid's attention.
One afternoon, he told Mary French to persuade Aleene to
go out with his friend John Saunders. Alene turned down
the invitation, but Schmidt was not to be refused. He
called Mary half a dozen times that day to get
her to talk Allen into the date. Each time Aline
said that she could not go. She had an exam
the next morning at school. Schmid arrived that evening at
Mary's house with Saunders at his side. Earlier, he'd been
talking about killing someone, specifically a girl. He just wanted
to find out what it would be like to snuff
out a life and to see if he could get
away with it, as he seemed to do with everything else.
He made up a list of potential candidates, and Aline
Rowe was one of them. His plan was to lure
her into a desolate place, hit her with a rock,
and bury her in the desert. Rather than try to
dissuade him, Mary simply complained that she tried and failed
to get Aleene to come. Schmid instructed her to then
find some one else. He was restless. He wanted to
kill someone now. That very night, she tried but found
no one, so she went to where Aleen was visiting
a friend and talked with her once again. Finally, Alene relented,
but said she would have to wait until her mother
went to work that night. When Mary reported her success,
John and Smitty got a shovel and put it into
the trunk of the car. They drove around until they
knew that Alaine's mother was gone, and Mary went over
to tap on her bedroom window. She came out barefoot
with curlers in her hair, wearing a bathing suit and
a yellow checked shift and carrying her shoes. Mary sat
with Smitty in front while Alene climbed in next to
John in the back. They drove out to the desert
out by Gulf Links Road, where Smitty liked to drink
and make out. They walked for a while into the
desert and then found a wash where they could sit
and talk. At some point, Smitty asked Mary to go
back to the car and get a radio. He went
with her, and soon they heard Alene's scream. Smitty told
Mary to get into the car while he ran back
down to the wash. John was struggling there with Aleen,
and Smitty told him to put his hand over her mouth.
Smitty bound her arms behind her back with a guitar
cord while Alene begged to be told why they were
doing this to her. Mary wants us to do this,
Smitty told her, she hates you. Alene continued to resist,
so Smitty led her further into the wash. He instructed
John to take her bathing suit off, but John had
trouble getting it over her arms since they were tied.
Smitty untied her, put her shift on the ground and
told her to lie on it. She obeyed, and Smitty
then told John to go ahead, but she was crying
so much that he couldn't kiss her. Smitty told John
to take a walk. Then Smitty called for him, and
he returned to find Aline. Putting her bathing suit back on.
She walked away further into the wash. The two young
men followed her. Smitty picked up a rock with a
pointed edge and handed it to John. He gave it back.
Unable to go through with the plan, Smitty insisted that
he returned to the car and get Mary, but Mary
refused to go anywhere, so John went back to find Smitty.
When he returned, he saw Aleene lying on her back
on the ground, her face and head covered in blood.
Smitty's hands were bloody as well, and blood covered the
front of his shirt. He wanted to know where Mary was,
and when John told him, he went to the car
and told her we killed her. He also added I
love you very much. Mary recalled later that he seemed
to be very excited. Then he got the shovel, told
Mary that John was the one who had struck Alene
with the rock, and got her to accompany him back
to the murder site. She saw Alene and could not
detect any signs that the girl was still alive. Smitty
gave John the shovel and used his hands to start
digging a grave. Mary joined in. Smitty then took Aleene's
hands and instructed Mary to lift her by the feet
while they lowered her into the shallow pit they had opened.
They dumped her dress into the grave, covered the body
with sand, and tossed sand over the hair curlers. Smitty
then took off his shirt and buried it in the sand,
along with the shovel. After they felt they secured the
scene and covered all the evidence, they went back to
the car to wipe it clean of prints. They invented
a story that Aline agreed to go out with John
that evening, but when they drove by to pick her up,
she was not home. Then they'd dropped Mary off and
went their way. The next day, Norma row Alene's mother,
made every effort to locate her, and finally contacted the police.
She worked as a night nurse, she said, and when
she left, Aleen was in her bed. The next morning
she was gone, without taking her purse or any clothing
except the bathing suit she was wearing and a yellow shift.
Norma told them about a sex club at the high
school that her daughter described to her, in which young
people were involved with drugs, perversions, and organized prostitution. The
officer in charge said that this was one of the
most far fetched tales he'd ever heard and did not
take it seriously. An investigation failed to disclose any sign
of such activities. Mary French was questioned along with Smitty
and John. Smitty took the other two out and made
them repeat the story they concocted to be sure that
no one gave them by some slip up. A week later,
Alene's father called Norma to tell her that he dreamed
that their daughter was murdered and left in the desert.
Norma felt there was truth in the dream, and she
dobbed the police, who insisted on better evidence before they
went looking in such a vast area. By March, when
nothing turned up, Norma Rowe went to Arizona's Attorney General
and the FBI. She also called in reporters and would
not give up despite official sentiment that Alene was just
another teenage runaway. Norma even consulted a psychic, but nothing
came of it, and the case of Alene Rowe was
soon buried by the police under other more pressing concerns.
John Saunders, who left Tucson to join the navy, was
replaced by Richie Brunns as Smitty's closest friend. Paul Graff
was gone as well, but would be back for a
short stay. Richie told Smitty everything began to imitate the
way he dressed, and felt they were like brothers. He
served two terms in the reformatory at Fort Grant, got
only as far as the tenth grade, and was generally
a misfit. All four girls he dated dropped him because
he was socially inept. He looked up to Smitty, and
Smitty allowed him in on his activities. He even told
Ritchie about Alaine Rowe, but Richie was used to Smitty's
stories and did not believe him. In July of nineteen
sixty four, Smitty noticed a sixteen year old girl at
a swimming pool near Speedway. She was blonde and thin,
the way he liked, and her name was Gretchen Fritz.
Other boys told Smitty she was trouble for anyone who
got involved with her, but that only interested him more.
The day he saw her, he followed her home and
saw that she lived in an upper class neighborhood in
what seemed to him a mansion. Her father was a physician,
a heart and chest specialist, and a board member of
the Union Bank. Gretchen was a misfit in this family
with odd ideas. She scorned boys, she told a friend,
and admired prostitutes for their ability to charge for what
boys expected for free. One teacher called her a psychopathic liar.
The head master at her private school recommended psychiatric treatment
before suspending her, and a friend noted that she seemed
psychotically jealous. She often cut classes to cruise the speedway
and was suspected in some minor crimes. Smitty met her
by going up to her house with a load of
pots and pans as if he were a traveling salesman.
After playing out his act, he confessed that it was
all a lie that he concocted in order to meet her.
She laughed, then cried, and then offered him a cocktail.
He was thoroughly confused, but also aroused. It was the
start of a fatal attraction as they got to know
each other. Gretchen told Smitty that she was pregnant. Her
family did not love her, and her brother in law
was involved in the mafia.