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Serial Killer Documentary - Charles 'Smitty' Schmid · The Evolution of Evil - True Crime Stories

0:00
Speaker 1: It was Life and Time magazines that turned a local
0:03
Speaker 1: story from Tucson, Arizona, into a national abomination. Reporters came
0:08
Speaker 1: from all over to be sure, but on March fourth,
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Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six, Life printed an ominous photo of the
0:15
Speaker 1: desert landscape where three girls had disappeared, and the story
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Speaker 1: of Charles Howard Schmidt Junior, or Smitty, became international news.
0:43
Speaker 1: He had been arrested four months earlier, on November eleven,
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Speaker 1: just after marrying a fifteen year old girl whom he'd
0:49
Speaker 1: met on a blind date. The article was published even
0:53
Speaker 1: before the juries in two separate trials had decided his fate.
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Speaker 1: Dubbed the Pied Piper of Tucson for his ability to
1:01
Speaker 1: get girls to fall for him, he stood five feet
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Speaker 1: four inches tall, but added three more inches by padding
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Speaker 1: his stack heeled cowboy boots with rags and tin cans.
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Speaker 1: He also dyed his reddish brown hair black, used pancake makeup,
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Speaker 1: whitened his lips, and applied a fake mole to his
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Speaker 1: left cheek, a beauty mark. Arrogant and narcissistic, he came
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Speaker 1: from a wealthy family, so he used the niceties he
1:29
Speaker 1: could buy to impress young high school girls. He adopted
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Speaker 1: the droopy eyed look associated with Elvis, his idol, and
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Speaker 1: acquired a rock musician's mystique. His tiny house on his
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Speaker 1: parents property was the scene of many parties. Tucson society
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Speaker 1: was not merely shaken by the murders of three of
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Speaker 1: their young women, but by what the details of those
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Speaker 1: murders revealed about its adolescent population. Sex clubs, drinking parties, blackmail,
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Speaker 1: cover ups for murder, and even cane actions with the
2:00
Speaker 1: crime underworld. Parents suddenly became more strict, more aware now
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Speaker 1: that their kids weren't safe, and maybe weren't even behaving properly.
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Speaker 1: When kids looked to someone like Charles Schmidt for answers,
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Speaker 1: there was something terribly wrong. Smitty hung around the high school,
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Speaker 1: luring girls into his cars. They hung out on Speedway,
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Speaker 1: a main drag, and they were easy prey for a predator,
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Speaker 1: even one who stumbled around in his ridiculous boots. He
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Speaker 1: became something of a folk hero to kids who didn't
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Speaker 1: quite fit in because he was older and he knew things.
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Speaker 1: He was strange, but helivened things up in a desert
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Speaker 1: town full of retired people where nothing much was happening.
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Speaker 1: Smitty made things interesting. Even so, it was difficult to
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Speaker 1: figure out just what it was that inspired kids to
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Speaker 1: follow his lead. Many girls went out with him, and
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Speaker 1: three never returned. There are a lot of places to
2:59
Speaker 1: bury a body in the day desert. Born to an
3:02
Speaker 1: unwed mother on July eighth, nineteen forty two, the baby
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Speaker 1: boy to be known as Charles Junior was adopted by
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Speaker 1: Charles and Katherine Schmidt, proprietors of a Hillcrest nursing home
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Speaker 1: in Tucson, Arizona. Charles spent his childhood around Hillcrest and
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Speaker 1: developed into something of a trickster. He was curious, bright, imaginative, courteous,
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Speaker 1: and indifferent to others expectations of him. He took a
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Speaker 1: lot of chances and lived dangerously without much interference from
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Speaker 1: his parents. Charles soon grew to hate his foster father
3:36
Speaker 1: and they got into frequent arguments. At school, he raced
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Speaker 1: through assignments so he could be the first one done.
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Speaker 1: He had little regard for learning. His one fear was
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Speaker 1: to be left alone, so he did things to make
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Speaker 1: people notice him. In high school, he excelled in gymnastics,
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Speaker 1: but most of his grades were just above failing, he
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Speaker 1: seemed unable to focus his intelligence to achieve within the
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Speaker 1: educational structure. In nineteen sixty he led the school to
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Speaker 1: the state gymnastics championship and then gave up. In his
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Speaker 1: senior year, he claimed to have had hallucinogenic or psychic power,
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Speaker 1: seeing things in his mind before they occurred. For example,
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Speaker 1: he could see himself winning and that helped him to
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Speaker 1: achieve things in a shorter amount of time than his peers.
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Speaker 1: I'd shut my eyes and everything would seem logical, so
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Speaker 1: I'd do it. Just before graduating, Charles stole some tools
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Speaker 1: from the machine shop, so he was suspended. He could
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Speaker 1: have been readmitted, but he never bothered. I quit out
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Speaker 1: of boredom, he said. By the time he was sixteen,
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Speaker 1: he was living in his own quarters on his parents
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Speaker 1: property and received an allowance of three hundred dollars a month.
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Speaker 1: His foster parents left him to run on his own
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Speaker 1: with a new car and a motors He spent much
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Speaker 1: of his time on speedway, picking up girls and drinking
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Speaker 1: with buddies. Although he tended to be a loner, his
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Speaker 1: nickname was Smitty, and he had a way about him
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Speaker 1: that made kids feel that life could be exciting. Although
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Speaker 1: he was odd, the girls seemed to go for him,
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Speaker 1: and he never had much trouble getting a date. He
5:21
Speaker 1: was using make up to darken his skin, and the
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Speaker 1: chapstick he applied was so thick it made his lips
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Speaker 1: appear white. One friend noticed that the tiny mole he
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Speaker 1: darkened on his cheek seemed to get larger and larger
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Speaker 1: over time. To finish the image, Smitty chewed on a toothpick,
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Speaker 1: working it around in his mouth as he spoke, and
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Speaker 1: sometimes he put a clothes pin on his lower lip,
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Speaker 1: presumably to give it a deeper droop. Smitty would just
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Speaker 1: tell the dubious parents of any girl in whom he
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Speaker 1: was interested that he dyed his hair and wore make
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Speaker 1: up because he was in a rock band. The part
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Speaker 1: of the gentleman quite convincingly, and they were often impressed
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Speaker 1: by his courteous manner. The oddest thing was his boots.
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Speaker 1: He'd had them special made according to his own design.
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Speaker 1: They were black and laced all the way up the
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Speaker 1: back with a tall cowboy heel, and pointed toes. He
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Speaker 1: would stuff them to make himself taller, although he didn't
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Speaker 1: mind exploiting his bantam height, to convince girls he'd once
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Speaker 1: been crippled that often made them pliable and easy. His
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Speaker 1: best friend was Paul Graff, who was sent to the
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Speaker 1: reformatory at Fort Grant Industrial School for a hold up
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Speaker 1: that resulted in a man's death. Paul eventually moved in
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Speaker 1: with Smitty. During that time, Smitty was involved with several girls,
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Speaker 1: one of whom was married, taking singing lessons and practicing
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Speaker 1: the guitar. Another Fort Grant graduate whose Smitty befriended was
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Speaker 1: Richie Brun's. He'd been arrested for breaking probation, and once
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Speaker 1: out on his own, spent his time drinking and indulging
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Speaker 1: in petty thefts, which landed him for another stint at
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Speaker 1: Fort Grant. Smitty met Richie through Paul, and the three
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Speaker 1: of them hung out together. When Smitty was twenty one,
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Speaker 1: he found out he was adopted, and his foster mother
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Speaker 1: gave him the name of his real mother when he
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Speaker 1: located her. According to his account, she told him I
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Speaker 1: didn't want you when you were born, or even before
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Speaker 1: you were born, and I don't want you now. Get out.
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Speaker 1: She then slammed the door in his face. This treatment
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Speaker 1: seemed to affect him, but he kept his feelings mostly
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Speaker 1: to himself, At least that's what he conveyed to Richie.
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Speaker 1: It was difficult to tell with a guy like Smitty,
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Speaker 1: since many of his stories were calculated to create an
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Speaker 1: impression rather than disclose the truth. He often had more
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Speaker 1: than one girlfriend at the same time and even proposed marriage,
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Speaker 1: which to several of them, simultaneously taking money from them
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Speaker 1: in return for the promise that he would take care
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Speaker 1: of them. He managed to get them into bed by
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Speaker 1: telling fantastic stories about how deprived he was, or that
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Speaker 1: he had some form of cancer and did not have
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Speaker 1: long to live. Often, all he had to do was
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Speaker 1: tell jokes to make them laugh and throw in a
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Speaker 1: few outrageous compliments. He even used salt to make his
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Speaker 1: eyes tear up so he could convince a girl that
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Speaker 1: he was overwhelmed by the privilege of being with her.
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Speaker 1: Girls were playthings to him, and the way they fell
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Speaker 1: for every line, it was no wonder he showed them
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Speaker 1: no respect. He once even told a girl that he
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Speaker 1: had murdered a young man who had killed his girlfriend
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Speaker 1: in a car accident, cut off his hands, and buried
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Speaker 1: him in the desert. Little did he know how this
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Speaker 1: tall story foreshadowed what he was about to do, and
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Speaker 1: there was some doubt later that he'd actually made it up.
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Speaker 1: He once claimed four murder, which indicated that this might
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Speaker 1: have been the first. What seemed to intrigue people most
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Speaker 1: about Smitty girls and boys alike was his freedom. He
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Speaker 1: did whatever he wanted, and his dare devil ways made
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Speaker 1: him seem larger than life, at least he thought so.
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Speaker 1: Most of what he did had exhibitionist qualities, designed to
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Speaker 1: make people notice him and possibly even to try to
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Speaker 1: stop him from putting himself in danger. But the activities
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Speaker 1: that most appealed to him, such as motorcycle racing and skydiving,
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Speaker 1: were those that pushed him right into death's face. I
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Speaker 1: truly wish I could have been a great surgeon, he
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Speaker 1: once said, or philosopher, or author or anything constructive. However,
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Speaker 1: he could never quite focus on anything but loud music
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Speaker 1: and animal passion with a hint of cruelty. To him,
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Speaker 1: those activities were just more sensible, or perhaps they were
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Speaker 1: just easier. In any event, with girls falling into line
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Speaker 1: and even fighting over him, why apply himself to anything else.
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Speaker 1: She was fifteen on that ominous night of May thirty
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Speaker 1: first nineteen sixty four. Alene was only a sophomore at
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Speaker 1: Pallas Verde, and she unfortunately befriended frumpy nineteen year old
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Speaker 1: Mary French, a friend and lover of Charles Schmidt. Alayne's mother,
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Speaker 1: freshly divorced, moved her children to Tucson the year before.
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Speaker 1: One of Alaine's favorite things to do was walk in
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Speaker 1: the desert gathering unusual stones. She liked the hot sun
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Speaker 1: because it made her feel alive. Her hope was to
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Speaker 1: become an oceanographer, and with her above average grades, she
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Speaker 1: had a shot. Blonde and blue eyed Alene attracted Schmid's attention.
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Speaker 1: One afternoon, he told Mary French to persuade Aleene to
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Speaker 1: go out with his friend John Saunders. Alene turned down
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Speaker 1: the invitation, but Schmidt was not to be refused. He
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Speaker 1: called Mary half a dozen times that day to get
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Speaker 1: her to talk Allen into the date. Each time Aline
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Speaker 1: said that she could not go. She had an exam
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Speaker 1: the next morning at school. Schmid arrived that evening at
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Speaker 1: Mary's house with Saunders at his side. Earlier, he'd been
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Speaker 1: talking about killing someone, specifically a girl. He just wanted
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Speaker 1: to find out what it would be like to snuff
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Speaker 1: out a life and to see if he could get
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Speaker 1: away with it, as he seemed to do with everything else.
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Speaker 1: He made up a list of potential candidates, and Aline
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Speaker 1: Rowe was one of them. His plan was to lure
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Speaker 1: her into a desolate place, hit her with a rock,
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Speaker 1: and bury her in the desert. Rather than try to
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Speaker 1: dissuade him, Mary simply complained that she tried and failed
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Speaker 1: to get Aleene to come. Schmid instructed her to then
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Speaker 1: find some one else. He was restless. He wanted to
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Speaker 1: kill someone now. That very night, she tried but found
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Speaker 1: no one, so she went to where Aleen was visiting
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Speaker 1: a friend and talked with her once again. Finally, Alene relented,
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Speaker 1: but said she would have to wait until her mother
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Speaker 1: went to work that night. When Mary reported her success,
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Speaker 1: John and Smitty got a shovel and put it into
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Speaker 1: the trunk of the car. They drove around until they
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Speaker 1: knew that Alaine's mother was gone, and Mary went over
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Speaker 1: to tap on her bedroom window. She came out barefoot
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Speaker 1: with curlers in her hair, wearing a bathing suit and
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Speaker 1: a yellow checked shift and carrying her shoes. Mary sat
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Speaker 1: with Smitty in front while Alene climbed in next to
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Speaker 1: John in the back. They drove out to the desert
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Speaker 1: out by Gulf Links Road, where Smitty liked to drink
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Speaker 1: and make out. They walked for a while into the
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Speaker 1: desert and then found a wash where they could sit
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Speaker 1: and talk. At some point, Smitty asked Mary to go
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Speaker 1: back to the car and get a radio. He went
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Speaker 1: with her, and soon they heard Alene's scream. Smitty told
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Speaker 1: Mary to get into the car while he ran back
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Speaker 1: down to the wash. John was struggling there with Aleen,
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Speaker 1: and Smitty told him to put his hand over her mouth.
13:17
Speaker 1: Smitty bound her arms behind her back with a guitar
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Speaker 1: cord while Alene begged to be told why they were
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Speaker 1: doing this to her. Mary wants us to do this,
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Speaker 1: Smitty told her, she hates you. Alene continued to resist,
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Speaker 1: so Smitty led her further into the wash. He instructed
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Speaker 1: John to take her bathing suit off, but John had
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Speaker 1: trouble getting it over her arms since they were tied.
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Speaker 1: Smitty untied her, put her shift on the ground and
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Speaker 1: told her to lie on it. She obeyed, and Smitty
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Speaker 1: then told John to go ahead, but she was crying
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Speaker 1: so much that he couldn't kiss her. Smitty told John
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Speaker 1: to take a walk. Then Smitty called for him, and
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Speaker 1: he returned to find Aline. Putting her bathing suit back on.
14:06
Speaker 1: She walked away further into the wash. The two young
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Speaker 1: men followed her. Smitty picked up a rock with a
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Speaker 1: pointed edge and handed it to John. He gave it back.
14:18
Speaker 1: Unable to go through with the plan, Smitty insisted that
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Speaker 1: he returned to the car and get Mary, but Mary
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Speaker 1: refused to go anywhere, so John went back to find Smitty.
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Speaker 1: When he returned, he saw Aleene lying on her back
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Speaker 1: on the ground, her face and head covered in blood.
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Speaker 1: Smitty's hands were bloody as well, and blood covered the
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Speaker 1: front of his shirt. He wanted to know where Mary was,
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Speaker 1: and when John told him, he went to the car
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Speaker 1: and told her we killed her. He also added I
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Speaker 1: love you very much. Mary recalled later that he seemed
14:59
Speaker 1: to be very excited. Then he got the shovel, told
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Speaker 1: Mary that John was the one who had struck Alene
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Speaker 1: with the rock, and got her to accompany him back
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Speaker 1: to the murder site. She saw Alene and could not
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Speaker 1: detect any signs that the girl was still alive. Smitty
15:15
Speaker 1: gave John the shovel and used his hands to start
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Speaker 1: digging a grave. Mary joined in. Smitty then took Aleene's
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Speaker 1: hands and instructed Mary to lift her by the feet
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Speaker 1: while they lowered her into the shallow pit they had opened.
15:31
Speaker 1: They dumped her dress into the grave, covered the body
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Speaker 1: with sand, and tossed sand over the hair curlers. Smitty
15:38
Speaker 1: then took off his shirt and buried it in the sand,
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Speaker 1: along with the shovel. After they felt they secured the
15:45
Speaker 1: scene and covered all the evidence, they went back to
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Speaker 1: the car to wipe it clean of prints. They invented
15:52
Speaker 1: a story that Aline agreed to go out with John
15:54
Speaker 1: that evening, but when they drove by to pick her up,
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Speaker 1: she was not home. Then they'd dropped Mary off and
16:01
Speaker 1: went their way. The next day, Norma row Alene's mother,
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Speaker 1: made every effort to locate her, and finally contacted the police.
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Speaker 1: She worked as a night nurse, she said, and when
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Speaker 1: she left, Aleen was in her bed. The next morning
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Speaker 1: she was gone, without taking her purse or any clothing
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Speaker 1: except the bathing suit she was wearing and a yellow shift.
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Speaker 1: Norma told them about a sex club at the high
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Speaker 1: school that her daughter described to her, in which young
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Speaker 1: people were involved with drugs, perversions, and organized prostitution. The
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Speaker 1: officer in charge said that this was one of the
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Speaker 1: most far fetched tales he'd ever heard and did not
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Speaker 1: take it seriously. An investigation failed to disclose any sign
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Speaker 1: of such activities. Mary French was questioned along with Smitty
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Speaker 1: and John. Smitty took the other two out and made
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Speaker 1: them repeat the story they concocted to be sure that
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Speaker 1: no one gave them by some slip up. A week later,
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Speaker 1: Alene's father called Norma to tell her that he dreamed
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Speaker 1: that their daughter was murdered and left in the desert.
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Speaker 1: Norma felt there was truth in the dream, and she
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Speaker 1: dobbed the police, who insisted on better evidence before they
17:16
Speaker 1: went looking in such a vast area. By March, when
17:19
Speaker 1: nothing turned up, Norma Rowe went to Arizona's Attorney General
17:23
Speaker 1: and the FBI. She also called in reporters and would
17:27
Speaker 1: not give up despite official sentiment that Alene was just
17:31
Speaker 1: another teenage runaway. Norma even consulted a psychic, but nothing
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Speaker 1: came of it, and the case of Alene Rowe was
17:40
Speaker 1: soon buried by the police under other more pressing concerns.
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Speaker 1: John Saunders, who left Tucson to join the navy, was
17:48
Speaker 1: replaced by Richie Brunns as Smitty's closest friend. Paul Graff
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Speaker 1: was gone as well, but would be back for a
17:56
Speaker 1: short stay. Richie told Smitty everything began to imitate the
18:01
Speaker 1: way he dressed, and felt they were like brothers. He
18:05
Speaker 1: served two terms in the reformatory at Fort Grant, got
18:08
Speaker 1: only as far as the tenth grade, and was generally
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Speaker 1: a misfit. All four girls he dated dropped him because
18:16
Speaker 1: he was socially inept. He looked up to Smitty, and
18:19
Speaker 1: Smitty allowed him in on his activities. He even told
18:23
Speaker 1: Ritchie about Alaine Rowe, but Richie was used to Smitty's
18:27
Speaker 1: stories and did not believe him. In July of nineteen
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Speaker 1: sixty four, Smitty noticed a sixteen year old girl at
18:35
Speaker 1: a swimming pool near Speedway. She was blonde and thin,
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Speaker 1: the way he liked, and her name was Gretchen Fritz.
18:43
Speaker 1: Other boys told Smitty she was trouble for anyone who
18:45
Speaker 1: got involved with her, but that only interested him more.
18:49
Speaker 1: The day he saw her, he followed her home and
18:52
Speaker 1: saw that she lived in an upper class neighborhood in
18:55
Speaker 1: what seemed to him a mansion. Her father was a physician,
19:00
Speaker 1: a heart and chest specialist, and a board member of
19:03
Speaker 1: the Union Bank. Gretchen was a misfit in this family
19:07
Speaker 1: with odd ideas. She scorned boys, she told a friend,
19:12
Speaker 1: and admired prostitutes for their ability to charge for what
19:15
Speaker 1: boys expected for free. One teacher called her a psychopathic liar.
19:20
Speaker 1: The head master at her private school recommended psychiatric treatment
19:24
Speaker 1: before suspending her, and a friend noted that she seemed
19:27
Speaker 1: psychotically jealous. She often cut classes to cruise the speedway
19:32
Speaker 1: and was suspected in some minor crimes. Smitty met her
19:37
Speaker 1: by going up to her house with a load of
19:39
Speaker 1: pots and pans as if he were a traveling salesman.
19:43
Speaker 1: After playing out his act, he confessed that it was
19:46
Speaker 1: all a lie that he concocted in order to meet her.
19:49
Speaker 1: She laughed, then cried, and then offered him a cocktail.
19:53
Speaker 1: He was thoroughly confused, but also aroused. It was the
19:57
Speaker 1: start of a fatal attraction as they got to know
20:02
Speaker 1: each other. Gretchen told Smitty that she was pregnant. Her
20:06
Speaker 1: family did not love her, and her brother in law
20:10
Speaker 1: was involved in the mafia.