1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,200
Speaker 1: It was Life and Time magazines that turned a local

2
00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:08,359
story from Tucson, Arizona, into a national abomination. Reporters came

3
00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:11,199
from all over to be sure, but on March fourth,

4
00:00:11,279 --> 00:00:15,039
nineteen sixty six, Life printed an ominous photo of the

5
00:00:15,039 --> 00:00:18,879
desert landscape where three girls had disappeared, and the story

6
00:00:18,879 --> 00:00:41,759
of Charles Howard Schmidt Junior, or Smitty, became international news.

7
00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:46,520
He had been arrested four months earlier, on November eleven,

8
00:00:47,079 --> 00:00:49,920
just after marrying a fifteen year old girl whom he'd

9
00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:53,840
met on a blind date. The article was published even

10
00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:57,320
before the juries in two separate trials had decided his fate.

11
00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,280
Dubbed the Pied Piper of Tucson for his ability to

12
00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:04,280
get girls to fall for him, he stood five feet

13
00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:07,680
four inches tall, but added three more inches by padding

14
00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:11,200
his stack heeled cowboy boots with rags and tin cans.

15
00:01:12,719 --> 00:01:17,159
He also dyed his reddish brown hair black, used pancake makeup,

16
00:01:17,640 --> 00:01:20,640
whitened his lips, and applied a fake mole to his

17
00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:26,680
left cheek, a beauty mark. Arrogant and narcissistic, he came

18
00:01:26,719 --> 00:01:29,480
from a wealthy family, so he used the niceties he

19
00:01:29,519 --> 00:01:33,519
could buy to impress young high school girls. He adopted

20
00:01:33,519 --> 00:01:37,120
the droopy eyed look associated with Elvis, his idol, and

21
00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:41,000
acquired a rock musician's mystique. His tiny house on his

22
00:01:41,079 --> 00:01:46,000
parents property was the scene of many parties. Tucson society

23
00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:48,359
was not merely shaken by the murders of three of

24
00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:50,879
their young women, but by what the details of those

25
00:01:50,959 --> 00:01:57,239
murders revealed about its adolescent population. Sex clubs, drinking parties, blackmail,

26
00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:00,680
cover ups for murder, and even cane actions with the

27
00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:05,680
crime underworld. Parents suddenly became more strict, more aware now

28
00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:09,800
that their kids weren't safe, and maybe weren't even behaving properly.

29
00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,840
When kids looked to someone like Charles Schmidt for answers,

30
00:02:14,120 --> 00:02:18,800
there was something terribly wrong. Smitty hung around the high school,

31
00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:23,000
luring girls into his cars. They hung out on Speedway,

32
00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:26,319
a main drag, and they were easy prey for a predator,

33
00:02:26,759 --> 00:02:30,800
even one who stumbled around in his ridiculous boots. He

34
00:02:30,879 --> 00:02:33,280
became something of a folk hero to kids who didn't

35
00:02:33,319 --> 00:02:37,120
quite fit in because he was older and he knew things.

36
00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:40,759
He was strange, but helivened things up in a desert

37
00:02:40,759 --> 00:02:44,120
town full of retired people where nothing much was happening.

38
00:02:45,360 --> 00:02:49,439
Smitty made things interesting. Even so, it was difficult to

39
00:02:49,439 --> 00:02:51,919
figure out just what it was that inspired kids to

40
00:02:51,960 --> 00:02:55,479
follow his lead. Many girls went out with him, and

41
00:02:55,599 --> 00:02:59,080
three never returned. There are a lot of places to

42
00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:02,439
bury a body in the day desert. Born to an

43
00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:06,319
unwed mother on July eighth, nineteen forty two, the baby

44
00:03:06,360 --> 00:03:09,240
boy to be known as Charles Junior was adopted by

45
00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:13,479
Charles and Katherine Schmidt, proprietors of a Hillcrest nursing home

46
00:03:13,800 --> 00:03:19,039
in Tucson, Arizona. Charles spent his childhood around Hillcrest and

47
00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:24,919
developed into something of a trickster. He was curious, bright, imaginative, courteous,

48
00:03:25,199 --> 00:03:28,960
and indifferent to others expectations of him. He took a

49
00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,759
lot of chances and lived dangerously without much interference from

50
00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:36,599
his parents. Charles soon grew to hate his foster father

51
00:03:36,879 --> 00:03:41,240
and they got into frequent arguments. At school, he raced

52
00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:44,800
through assignments so he could be the first one done.

53
00:03:44,840 --> 00:03:48,159
He had little regard for learning. His one fear was

54
00:03:48,199 --> 00:03:50,759
to be left alone, so he did things to make

55
00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:55,360
people notice him. In high school, he excelled in gymnastics,

56
00:03:55,719 --> 00:03:59,560
but most of his grades were just above failing, he

57
00:03:59,599 --> 00:04:02,919
seemed unable to focus his intelligence to achieve within the

58
00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:07,520
educational structure. In nineteen sixty he led the school to

59
00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:11,159
the state gymnastics championship and then gave up. In his

60
00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:16,240
senior year, he claimed to have had hallucinogenic or psychic power,

61
00:04:16,560 --> 00:04:21,000
seeing things in his mind before they occurred. For example,

62
00:04:21,240 --> 00:04:23,879
he could see himself winning and that helped him to

63
00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:27,560
achieve things in a shorter amount of time than his peers.

64
00:04:28,199 --> 00:04:31,439
I'd shut my eyes and everything would seem logical, so

65
00:04:31,519 --> 00:04:36,560
I'd do it. Just before graduating, Charles stole some tools

66
00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,120
from the machine shop, so he was suspended. He could

67
00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:44,920
have been readmitted, but he never bothered. I quit out

68
00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:48,439
of boredom, he said. By the time he was sixteen,

69
00:04:48,759 --> 00:04:51,199
he was living in his own quarters on his parents

70
00:04:51,279 --> 00:04:54,959
property and received an allowance of three hundred dollars a month.

71
00:04:56,000 --> 00:04:58,319
His foster parents left him to run on his own

72
00:04:58,639 --> 00:05:01,680
with a new car and a motors He spent much

73
00:05:01,680 --> 00:05:04,759
of his time on speedway, picking up girls and drinking

74
00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,759
with buddies. Although he tended to be a loner, his

75
00:05:08,920 --> 00:05:12,079
nickname was Smitty, and he had a way about him

76
00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,639
that made kids feel that life could be exciting. Although

77
00:05:15,639 --> 00:05:18,000
he was odd, the girls seemed to go for him,

78
00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:21,360
and he never had much trouble getting a date. He

79
00:05:21,480 --> 00:05:24,399
was using make up to darken his skin, and the

80
00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,920
chapstick he applied was so thick it made his lips

81
00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:32,240
appear white. One friend noticed that the tiny mole he

82
00:05:32,319 --> 00:05:35,519
darkened on his cheek seemed to get larger and larger

83
00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:40,399
over time. To finish the image, Smitty chewed on a toothpick,

84
00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:43,759
working it around in his mouth as he spoke, and

85
00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:46,480
sometimes he put a clothes pin on his lower lip,

86
00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:50,759
presumably to give it a deeper droop. Smitty would just

87
00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,439
tell the dubious parents of any girl in whom he

88
00:05:53,519 --> 00:05:56,600
was interested that he dyed his hair and wore make

89
00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:00,600
up because he was in a rock band. The part

90
00:06:00,639 --> 00:06:04,160
of the gentleman quite convincingly, and they were often impressed

91
00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:08,040
by his courteous manner. The oddest thing was his boots.

92
00:06:08,519 --> 00:06:11,879
He'd had them special made according to his own design.

93
00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:14,959
They were black and laced all the way up the

94
00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:19,639
back with a tall cowboy heel, and pointed toes. He

95
00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:22,720
would stuff them to make himself taller, although he didn't

96
00:06:22,720 --> 00:06:25,920
mind exploiting his bantam height, to convince girls he'd once

97
00:06:26,000 --> 00:06:30,920
been crippled that often made them pliable and easy. His

98
00:06:31,040 --> 00:06:34,040
best friend was Paul Graff, who was sent to the

99
00:06:34,079 --> 00:06:38,240
reformatory at Fort Grant Industrial School for a hold up

100
00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:42,560
that resulted in a man's death. Paul eventually moved in

101
00:06:42,600 --> 00:06:47,360
with Smitty. During that time, Smitty was involved with several girls,

102
00:06:47,639 --> 00:06:51,399
one of whom was married, taking singing lessons and practicing

103
00:06:51,439 --> 00:06:56,759
the guitar. Another Fort Grant graduate whose Smitty befriended was

104
00:06:56,879 --> 00:07:00,959
Richie Brun's. He'd been arrested for breaking probation, and once

105
00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:04,079
out on his own, spent his time drinking and indulging

106
00:07:04,079 --> 00:07:07,680
in petty thefts, which landed him for another stint at

107
00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:12,199
Fort Grant. Smitty met Richie through Paul, and the three

108
00:07:12,240 --> 00:07:15,920
of them hung out together. When Smitty was twenty one,

109
00:07:15,959 --> 00:07:18,879
he found out he was adopted, and his foster mother

110
00:07:19,160 --> 00:07:22,600
gave him the name of his real mother when he

111
00:07:22,680 --> 00:07:26,560
located her. According to his account, she told him I

112
00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:29,319
didn't want you when you were born, or even before

113
00:07:29,360 --> 00:07:32,800
you were born, and I don't want you now. Get out.

114
00:07:33,839 --> 00:07:37,800
She then slammed the door in his face. This treatment

115
00:07:37,879 --> 00:07:40,879
seemed to affect him, but he kept his feelings mostly

116
00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:44,399
to himself, At least that's what he conveyed to Richie.

117
00:07:45,639 --> 00:07:48,120
It was difficult to tell with a guy like Smitty,

118
00:07:48,720 --> 00:07:51,480
since many of his stories were calculated to create an

119
00:07:51,480 --> 00:07:56,439
impression rather than disclose the truth. He often had more

120
00:07:56,480 --> 00:08:00,000
than one girlfriend at the same time and even proposed marriage,

121
00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:03,800
which to several of them, simultaneously taking money from them

122
00:08:03,959 --> 00:08:06,160
in return for the promise that he would take care

123
00:08:06,240 --> 00:08:09,480
of them. He managed to get them into bed by

124
00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:13,199
telling fantastic stories about how deprived he was, or that

125
00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:15,759
he had some form of cancer and did not have

126
00:08:15,839 --> 00:08:19,079
long to live. Often, all he had to do was

127
00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:21,639
tell jokes to make them laugh and throw in a

128
00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:25,639
few outrageous compliments. He even used salt to make his

129
00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:28,120
eyes tear up so he could convince a girl that

130
00:08:28,199 --> 00:08:30,800
he was overwhelmed by the privilege of being with her.

131
00:08:31,839 --> 00:08:34,679
Girls were playthings to him, and the way they fell

132
00:08:34,759 --> 00:08:37,559
for every line, it was no wonder he showed them

133
00:08:37,600 --> 00:08:41,120
no respect. He once even told a girl that he

134
00:08:41,159 --> 00:08:43,840
had murdered a young man who had killed his girlfriend

135
00:08:43,879 --> 00:08:47,480
in a car accident, cut off his hands, and buried

136
00:08:47,519 --> 00:08:50,600
him in the desert. Little did he know how this

137
00:08:50,799 --> 00:08:54,120
tall story foreshadowed what he was about to do, and

138
00:08:54,159 --> 00:08:57,080
there was some doubt later that he'd actually made it up.

139
00:08:58,559 --> 00:09:01,960
He once claimed four murder, which indicated that this might

140
00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:05,720
have been the first. What seemed to intrigue people most

141
00:09:05,759 --> 00:09:10,240
about Smitty girls and boys alike was his freedom. He

142
00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:13,519
did whatever he wanted, and his dare devil ways made

143
00:09:13,559 --> 00:09:17,080
him seem larger than life, at least he thought so.

144
00:09:18,679 --> 00:09:22,279
Most of what he did had exhibitionist qualities, designed to

145
00:09:22,279 --> 00:09:25,240
make people notice him and possibly even to try to

146
00:09:25,279 --> 00:09:28,720
stop him from putting himself in danger. But the activities

147
00:09:28,759 --> 00:09:32,679
that most appealed to him, such as motorcycle racing and skydiving,

148
00:09:33,039 --> 00:09:36,600
were those that pushed him right into death's face. I

149
00:09:36,679 --> 00:09:39,639
truly wish I could have been a great surgeon, he

150
00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:45,960
once said, or philosopher, or author or anything constructive. However,

151
00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:49,000
he could never quite focus on anything but loud music

152
00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:53,679
and animal passion with a hint of cruelty. To him,

153
00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:58,000
those activities were just more sensible, or perhaps they were

154
00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:01,759
just easier. In any event, with girls falling into line

155
00:10:01,759 --> 00:10:05,759
and even fighting over him, why apply himself to anything else.

156
00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:10,200
She was fifteen on that ominous night of May thirty

157
00:10:10,279 --> 00:10:14,840
first nineteen sixty four. Alene was only a sophomore at

158
00:10:14,840 --> 00:10:19,240
Pallas Verde, and she unfortunately befriended frumpy nineteen year old

159
00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:24,679
Mary French, a friend and lover of Charles Schmidt. Alayne's mother,

160
00:10:25,039 --> 00:10:28,960
freshly divorced, moved her children to Tucson the year before.

161
00:10:30,039 --> 00:10:32,480
One of Alaine's favorite things to do was walk in

162
00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:37,120
the desert gathering unusual stones. She liked the hot sun

163
00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:40,480
because it made her feel alive. Her hope was to

164
00:10:40,519 --> 00:10:44,720
become an oceanographer, and with her above average grades, she

165
00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:49,840
had a shot. Blonde and blue eyed Alene attracted Schmid's attention.

166
00:10:50,720 --> 00:10:54,320
One afternoon, he told Mary French to persuade Aleene to

167
00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:58,720
go out with his friend John Saunders. Alene turned down

168
00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:03,399
the invitation, but Schmidt was not to be refused. He

169
00:11:03,440 --> 00:11:06,399
called Mary half a dozen times that day to get

170
00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:09,960
her to talk Allen into the date. Each time Aline

171
00:11:10,039 --> 00:11:12,559
said that she could not go. She had an exam

172
00:11:12,639 --> 00:11:16,519
the next morning at school. Schmid arrived that evening at

173
00:11:16,519 --> 00:11:20,159
Mary's house with Saunders at his side. Earlier, he'd been

174
00:11:20,200 --> 00:11:24,960
talking about killing someone, specifically a girl. He just wanted

175
00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:27,039
to find out what it would be like to snuff

176
00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:29,039
out a life and to see if he could get

177
00:11:29,039 --> 00:11:32,000
away with it, as he seemed to do with everything else.

178
00:11:33,120 --> 00:11:36,200
He made up a list of potential candidates, and Aline

179
00:11:36,279 --> 00:11:39,000
Rowe was one of them. His plan was to lure

180
00:11:39,039 --> 00:11:41,639
her into a desolate place, hit her with a rock,

181
00:11:42,000 --> 00:11:45,440
and bury her in the desert. Rather than try to

182
00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:49,840
dissuade him, Mary simply complained that she tried and failed

183
00:11:49,840 --> 00:11:53,360
to get Aleene to come. Schmid instructed her to then

184
00:11:53,519 --> 00:11:57,440
find some one else. He was restless. He wanted to

185
00:11:57,519 --> 00:12:03,519
kill someone now. That very night, she tried but found

186
00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:06,519
no one, so she went to where Aleen was visiting

187
00:12:06,559 --> 00:12:11,759
a friend and talked with her once again. Finally, Alene relented,

188
00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:14,080
but said she would have to wait until her mother

189
00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:17,759
went to work that night. When Mary reported her success,

190
00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:20,759
John and Smitty got a shovel and put it into

191
00:12:20,799 --> 00:12:24,399
the trunk of the car. They drove around until they

192
00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:27,559
knew that Alaine's mother was gone, and Mary went over

193
00:12:27,639 --> 00:12:31,559
to tap on her bedroom window. She came out barefoot

194
00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:34,600
with curlers in her hair, wearing a bathing suit and

195
00:12:34,639 --> 00:12:38,799
a yellow checked shift and carrying her shoes. Mary sat

196
00:12:38,840 --> 00:12:41,759
with Smitty in front while Alene climbed in next to

197
00:12:41,840 --> 00:12:45,200
John in the back. They drove out to the desert

198
00:12:45,399 --> 00:12:48,759
out by Gulf Links Road, where Smitty liked to drink

199
00:12:48,879 --> 00:12:51,559
and make out. They walked for a while into the

200
00:12:51,559 --> 00:12:54,000
desert and then found a wash where they could sit

201
00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:58,840
and talk. At some point, Smitty asked Mary to go

202
00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:02,159
back to the car and get a radio. He went

203
00:13:02,240 --> 00:13:06,919
with her, and soon they heard Alene's scream. Smitty told

204
00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:09,519
Mary to get into the car while he ran back

205
00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:13,279
down to the wash. John was struggling there with Aleen,

206
00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:16,519
and Smitty told him to put his hand over her mouth.

207
00:13:17,679 --> 00:13:20,480
Smitty bound her arms behind her back with a guitar

208
00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:23,679
cord while Alene begged to be told why they were

209
00:13:23,679 --> 00:13:27,120
doing this to her. Mary wants us to do this,

210
00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:32,799
Smitty told her, she hates you. Alene continued to resist,

211
00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:37,399
so Smitty led her further into the wash. He instructed

212
00:13:37,480 --> 00:13:40,559
John to take her bathing suit off, but John had

213
00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:43,559
trouble getting it over her arms since they were tied.

214
00:13:44,679 --> 00:13:47,919
Smitty untied her, put her shift on the ground and

215
00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:51,399
told her to lie on it. She obeyed, and Smitty

216
00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:54,399
then told John to go ahead, but she was crying

217
00:13:54,480 --> 00:13:58,919
so much that he couldn't kiss her. Smitty told John

218
00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:02,279
to take a walk. Then Smitty called for him, and

219
00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:05,840
he returned to find Aline. Putting her bathing suit back on.

220
00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:10,519
She walked away further into the wash. The two young

221
00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:13,759
men followed her. Smitty picked up a rock with a

222
00:14:13,840 --> 00:14:18,159
pointed edge and handed it to John. He gave it back.

223
00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:22,919
Unable to go through with the plan, Smitty insisted that

224
00:14:22,960 --> 00:14:26,360
he returned to the car and get Mary, but Mary

225
00:14:26,440 --> 00:14:30,080
refused to go anywhere, so John went back to find Smitty.

226
00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:33,799
When he returned, he saw Aleene lying on her back

227
00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:37,600
on the ground, her face and head covered in blood.

228
00:14:39,080 --> 00:14:42,440
Smitty's hands were bloody as well, and blood covered the

229
00:14:42,480 --> 00:14:45,720
front of his shirt. He wanted to know where Mary was,

230
00:14:46,120 --> 00:14:49,000
and when John told him, he went to the car

231
00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:54,360
and told her we killed her. He also added I

232
00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:59,039
love you very much. Mary recalled later that he seemed

233
00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:03,000
to be very excited. Then he got the shovel, told

234
00:15:03,039 --> 00:15:05,480
Mary that John was the one who had struck Alene

235
00:15:05,519 --> 00:15:08,440
with the rock, and got her to accompany him back

236
00:15:08,440 --> 00:15:12,039
to the murder site. She saw Alene and could not

237
00:15:12,159 --> 00:15:15,840
detect any signs that the girl was still alive. Smitty

238
00:15:15,879 --> 00:15:18,799
gave John the shovel and used his hands to start

239
00:15:18,799 --> 00:15:24,120
digging a grave. Mary joined in. Smitty then took Aleene's

240
00:15:24,159 --> 00:15:27,200
hands and instructed Mary to lift her by the feet

241
00:15:27,639 --> 00:15:30,399
while they lowered her into the shallow pit they had opened.

242
00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:34,480
They dumped her dress into the grave, covered the body

243
00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:38,679
with sand, and tossed sand over the hair curlers. Smitty

244
00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:41,559
then took off his shirt and buried it in the sand,

245
00:15:41,879 --> 00:15:45,480
along with the shovel. After they felt they secured the

246
00:15:45,519 --> 00:15:48,240
scene and covered all the evidence, they went back to

247
00:15:48,279 --> 00:15:52,440
the car to wipe it clean of prints. They invented

248
00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:54,919
a story that Aline agreed to go out with John

249
00:15:54,960 --> 00:15:57,720
that evening, but when they drove by to pick her up,

250
00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:01,279
she was not home. Then they'd dropped Mary off and

251
00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:06,120
went their way. The next day, Norma row Alene's mother,

252
00:16:06,519 --> 00:16:10,919
made every effort to locate her, and finally contacted the police.

253
00:16:10,960 --> 00:16:13,759
She worked as a night nurse, she said, and when

254
00:16:13,799 --> 00:16:17,440
she left, Aleen was in her bed. The next morning

255
00:16:17,879 --> 00:16:21,440
she was gone, without taking her purse or any clothing

256
00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:24,759
except the bathing suit she was wearing and a yellow shift.

257
00:16:25,879 --> 00:16:28,720
Norma told them about a sex club at the high

258
00:16:28,759 --> 00:16:31,759
school that her daughter described to her, in which young

259
00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:37,519
people were involved with drugs, perversions, and organized prostitution. The

260
00:16:37,559 --> 00:16:39,679
officer in charge said that this was one of the

261
00:16:39,679 --> 00:16:42,600
most far fetched tales he'd ever heard and did not

262
00:16:42,679 --> 00:16:47,120
take it seriously. An investigation failed to disclose any sign

263
00:16:47,159 --> 00:16:52,360
of such activities. Mary French was questioned along with Smitty

264
00:16:52,480 --> 00:16:56,080
and John. Smitty took the other two out and made

265
00:16:56,080 --> 00:16:59,159
them repeat the story they concocted to be sure that

266
00:16:59,240 --> 00:17:02,720
no one gave them by some slip up. A week later,

267
00:17:03,159 --> 00:17:06,319
Alene's father called Norma to tell her that he dreamed

268
00:17:06,319 --> 00:17:09,119
that their daughter was murdered and left in the desert.

269
00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:12,559
Norma felt there was truth in the dream, and she

270
00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:16,039
dobbed the police, who insisted on better evidence before they

271
00:17:16,079 --> 00:17:19,839
went looking in such a vast area. By March, when

272
00:17:19,880 --> 00:17:23,839
nothing turned up, Norma Rowe went to Arizona's Attorney General

273
00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:27,799
and the FBI. She also called in reporters and would

274
00:17:27,839 --> 00:17:31,359
not give up despite official sentiment that Alene was just

275
00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:36,599
another teenage runaway. Norma even consulted a psychic, but nothing

276
00:17:36,680 --> 00:17:40,079
came of it, and the case of Alene Rowe was

277
00:17:40,160 --> 00:17:44,359
soon buried by the police under other more pressing concerns.

278
00:17:45,440 --> 00:17:48,640
John Saunders, who left Tucson to join the navy, was

279
00:17:48,680 --> 00:17:54,279
replaced by Richie Brunns as Smitty's closest friend. Paul Graff

280
00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:56,640
was gone as well, but would be back for a

281
00:17:56,680 --> 00:18:01,559
short stay. Richie told Smitty everything began to imitate the

282
00:18:01,559 --> 00:18:05,000
way he dressed, and felt they were like brothers. He

283
00:18:05,119 --> 00:18:08,519
served two terms in the reformatory at Fort Grant, got

284
00:18:08,559 --> 00:18:11,359
only as far as the tenth grade, and was generally

285
00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:16,079
a misfit. All four girls he dated dropped him because

286
00:18:16,079 --> 00:18:19,799
he was socially inept. He looked up to Smitty, and

287
00:18:19,839 --> 00:18:23,480
Smitty allowed him in on his activities. He even told

288
00:18:23,599 --> 00:18:27,319
Ritchie about Alaine Rowe, but Richie was used to Smitty's

289
00:18:27,319 --> 00:18:31,519
stories and did not believe him. In July of nineteen

290
00:18:31,599 --> 00:18:35,279
sixty four, Smitty noticed a sixteen year old girl at

291
00:18:35,279 --> 00:18:38,839
a swimming pool near Speedway. She was blonde and thin,

292
00:18:39,279 --> 00:18:42,079
the way he liked, and her name was Gretchen Fritz.

293
00:18:43,240 --> 00:18:45,880
Other boys told Smitty she was trouble for anyone who

294
00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:48,880
got involved with her, but that only interested him more.

295
00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:52,640
The day he saw her, he followed her home and

296
00:18:52,720 --> 00:18:55,640
saw that she lived in an upper class neighborhood in

297
00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:59,960
what seemed to him a mansion. Her father was a physician,

298
00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:03,319
a heart and chest specialist, and a board member of

299
00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:07,079
the Union Bank. Gretchen was a misfit in this family

300
00:19:07,559 --> 00:19:11,799
with odd ideas. She scorned boys, she told a friend,

301
00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:15,279
and admired prostitutes for their ability to charge for what

302
00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:20,319
boys expected for free. One teacher called her a psychopathic liar.

303
00:19:20,799 --> 00:19:24,160
The head master at her private school recommended psychiatric treatment

304
00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:27,440
before suspending her, and a friend noted that she seemed

305
00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:32,400
psychotically jealous. She often cut classes to cruise the speedway

306
00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:37,119
and was suspected in some minor crimes. Smitty met her

307
00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:39,039
by going up to her house with a load of

308
00:19:39,119 --> 00:19:42,359
pots and pans as if he were a traveling salesman.

309
00:19:43,319 --> 00:19:46,119
After playing out his act, he confessed that it was

310
00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:48,680
all a lie that he concocted in order to meet her.

311
00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:52,880
She laughed, then cried, and then offered him a cocktail.

312
00:19:53,799 --> 00:19:57,839
He was thoroughly confused, but also aroused. It was the

313
00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:02,200
start of a fatal attraction as they got to know

314
00:20:02,279 --> 00:20:06,680
each other. Gretchen told Smitty that she was pregnant. Her

315
00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:09,720
family did not love her, and her brother in law

316
00:20:10,079 --> 00:20:11,400
was involved in the mafia.