23 year old Charles Schmid, known as ‘The Pied Piper of Tucson’ murdered three teenage girls, Alleen Rowe, and sisters Gretchen and Wendy Fritz in the deserts surrounding Tucson, Arizona in 1964-65.
Schmid gained loyalty and trust with a group of wayward teens, some of whom he dated. Mary French was his girlfriend at the time of murdering Alleen Rowe. It was Mary who convinced Alleen to go out with Schmid’s friend John Saunders the night of her death. Mary French was convicted of complicity in the murder of Alleen Rowe.
After the murders Schmid confessed his crimes to his friend Richard Bruns (age 19). Bruns worried that his girlfriend might be next, and informed the police of the horrors committed by Schmid.
LIFE magazine published ‘Tucson Murders’ story in 1965 capturing the many young friends of murderer. Photographs by Bill Ray.
(Photos: LIFE archives, via Teenage Film)
Schmid gained loyalty and trust with a group of wayward teens, some of whom he dated. Mary French was his girlfriend at the time of murdering Alleen Rowe. It was Mary who convinced Alleen to go out with Schmid’s friend John Saunders the night of her death. Mary French was convicted of complicity in the murder of Alleen Rowe.
After the murders Schmid confessed his crimes to his friend Richard Bruns (age 19). Bruns worried that his girlfriend might be next, and informed the police of the horrors committed by Schmid.
LIFE magazine published ‘Tucson Murders’ story in 1965 capturing the many young friends of murderer. Photographs by Bill Ray.
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| Friends of murderer Charless Schmid. |
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| Informer Richard Bruns, who told police officers where they could find the bodies of the Fritz girls, who where murdered by Charles Schmid. |
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| Informer Richard Bruns, who told police officers where they could find the bodies of the Fritz girls, who where murdered by Charles Schmid. |
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| Friend of murderer Charles Schmid and a member of a fast moving teenage crowd, Sharon Breeze. |
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| Murderer Charles H. Schmid Jr. (L) and his lawyer William Tinney Jr. (R), at the preliminary hearings before the trial. |
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| Murderer Charle H. Schmid Jr., at the preliminary hearings before the trial. |
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| Confessed accomplice in the murder of Alleen Rowe, John Saunders. |
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| An Arizona Sheriff's deputy in charge of searching for Alleen Rowe's body, making the burial site in the desert. |
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| Friends of murderer Charless Schmid, Debby Ellson watching her fatherless child. |
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| Friend of murderer Charles Schmid, Nanacy Veale, shooting pool at one of the Speedway hangouts. |
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| Friends of murderer Charless Schmid, Debby Ellson. |
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| Girlfriend of informer Richard Bruns, Kathy Morath. |
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| Teenage informer Richard Brun, 19, shining a lot on the spot to which the bodies of the two sisters Gretchen, 17, & Wendy, 13, had been dragged in the desert by their killer Charles Schmid, 23, but can now not be found. |
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| Friends of murderer Charless Schmid, Sharon Breeze (R) and Debby Ellson (L). |
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| A friend of murderer Charles Schmid and unwed mother, Debby Ellson, dancing at a teenage night club on the Tucson Speedway. |
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| The house of Charles Schmid, where he killed the Fritz girls. |
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| Friend of murderer Charles Schmid, Jabron Breeze (R), visiting with the mother of Debby Ellson. |
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| Friends of murderer Charles Schmid, Debby Ellson (R) and Jabron Breeze (L). |
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| Friends of murderer Charless Schmid, Sharon Breeze (L) and Debby Ellson (R). |
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| Informer Richard Bruns who led a police to the spot where the bodies of the Fritz sisters were buried by murderer Charles Schmid. |
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| Friends of murderer Charless Schmid, Sharon Breeze (R) and Debby Ellson (L) playing with Debby's fatherless child. |
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| Teenage girls looking for the body of Alleen Rowe, in connection with murderer Charles Schmid. |
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| Family of Sandra Hughes, a missing teenager who, her father thinks, may have been another victim of Charles Schmid. |
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| Friend of murderer Charles Schmid, Debby Breeze. |
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| Friends of murderer Charles Schmid and both unwed mothers, Debby Ellson (L) and Jabron Breeze (R). |
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| Friend of murderer Charles Schmid, with a pet snake. |
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| Friend of murderer Charles Schmid, Nancy Veale, shooting billiards. |
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| Friend of murderer Charles Schmid, Debby Ellson (R), who is an unwed mother with her mother, waiting at a funeral hall. |
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| A friend of murderer Charles Schmid, Debby Ellson, in her bathroom, who has an illegitimate child. |
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| Girlfriend of informer Richard Bruns, Kathy Morath. |
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| A frienf of murderer Charles Schmid, Sharon Breeze. |
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| A letter to informer Richard Burns, to his girl friend. |
(Photos: LIFE archives, via Teenage Film)
Nick Nolte in the h.i.s. jeans ad!!!! Now THAT alone should be illegal.
ReplyDeleteMeh. Everyone gets out of school owing $83,000.
ReplyDeleteYup, Nick Nolte... he was on the "Sun-In" bottle for a while (at the same time as Sharon Stone, I think)...
ReplyDeleteSome of them are weird, others are funny. Only in a PC world would most of these be offensive… And what's wrong with the first one with Johhny Walker Red? "She looks even better when she's walking toward you." Is she supposed to look worse?
ReplyDeleteI was so dazzled by the white pants I didn't even noticed that, lol.
ReplyDeleteI think the problem might be with the suggestion that the two publicly drinking guys are ogling her while she's walking away and, from the looks of them, are commenting publicly about her appearance. For all the world, they could be saying, "Oh my goodness, that dog is chasing his tail! How comical!" but the caption suggests otherwise.
ReplyDeleteThink about it this way: imagine that the woman off-camera that the two guys are chuckling about is your sister.
Why are these women not in the kitchen?
ReplyDeleteAh, that could be. God forbid men in an advertisement appear to have an active appreciation for the female figure.
ReplyDeleteNo, it wouldn't be okay. It would be an unforgivable display of bad manners, just like when it's a woman they are publicly humiliating. What is it about this that you don't understand?
ReplyDeleteOh, I understand it plenty. It's cool and trendy to be homo these days. And there is probably a big legion of gay dudes who would disagree with you that it would be an unforgivable display of bad manners, just because they don't care.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you say that? Don't you understand that bad behavior is bad behavior, no matter who is doing it? If it's a child breaking rules of polite behavior, we stop them, tell them what they did wrong and teach them the right way. When it's an adult, we have different ways of handling it. We can safely assume that they have been taught the correct way, but have chosen to flout the rules anyway. This leads to consequences like public shaming or other condemnation.
ReplyDeleteBut we've strayed away from the topic at hand. You are suggesting that it's acceptable, even laudable, for a man to make public comments about the appearance of a woman (or another man, if that's what he prefers) whom he finds attractive. It's not. You also seem to be trying to make some point about homosexuality and American society's growing acceptance of it blurring the lines of good behavior toward others. It's as if you believe that men never stood on a sidewalk and hissed, catcalled or whistled at women before gays came out of the closet and gays should be blamed for it happening now.
I haven't the faintest clue what you could possibly mean by, "cool and trendy to be homo these days." Are you suggesting that people who claim to be gay are lying about their sexual orientation in the name of some misbegotten idea of fashion? That they're not really gay, but want people to think so because it will gain them some kind of cachet or currency from society that's been denied to the poor, downtrodden heterosexuals?
Tell me, are you one of those people who cries about how tough it is for tall, healthy, middle-aged, well-to-do, straight, white males to catch a break in this cruel world?