Charles Schmid

American serial killer (1942–1975)

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. Schmid's criminal career later formed the basis for "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? ", a short story by Joyce Carol Oates. In 2008, The Library of America selected Moser's article for inclusion in its two century retrospective of American true crime literature.

Charles Schmid was born to a single mother, he 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. 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. 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. Unreliable source: date=May 2012 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. 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. Schmid also stretched his lower lip with a clothespin to make it resemble Elvis Presley's.

On the evening of Sunday, May 31, 1964, Schmid—in the presence of his then girlfriend and an acquaintance—blurted a statement: "I want to kill a girl tonight!" The trio drove to the home of Alleen Rowe, a high school student living with her divorced mother, whom Schmid knew worked nights. It is believed Schmid selected Rowe to be his victim as the teen had refused to engage in casual sex with Schmid and other local youths. Schmid instructed his girlfriend, Mary French, to persuade Rowe to accompany her, Schmid, and John Saunders to the desert. The teenager agreed, although shortly after arriving at the desert, Schmid bound the teen's arms behind her back as Rowe pleaded, "Why are you doing this to me?" to which Schmid responded: "It's Mary French's idea. She hates you." Saunders then removed Rowe's bathing costume before Schmid informed him to "take a walk". 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 and then said "They look like they've all been used." She then smiled and calmly offered to buy his wares, but 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, but 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 frequently called him "five or six times a day", and he began making efforts to distance himself from her. 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. They held four hostages on a ranch near Tempe for a time, ate at a Sonic, then separated, and were recaptured and returned to prison. 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. "For all the wrong reasons, I critiqued his work and discovered that he was quite talented," Shelton later said.

On March 20, 1975, Schmid was stabbed 47 times by two fellow prisoners.

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. 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.