The Killer Who Couldn't Keep His Mouth Shut

Charles Howard 'Smitty' Schmid, Jr.

On this day in 1964 Charles Howard 'Smitty' Schmid, Jr. lured 15-year-old Alleen Rowe into the desert outside of Tucson, AZ and murdered her with the assistance of John Saunders and Mary French. Schmid, 22, had been telling his friends that he had always wanted to kill someone and later bragged that he had. Before he was apprehended by police, he also murdered 17-year-old Gretchen Fritz and her younger sister Wendy. Schmid was known as the Pied Piper of Tucson because he had captivated a certain crowd of teenagers with his tales of mafia connections and sexual exploits. He was sentenced to death for his crimes but in 1972 the Supreme Court invalidated most death sentences. He was murdered by his fellow inmates in 1975.

Related Reading:

Pied Piper of Tucson: Twisted 1960s killings by Charles Howard Schmid, Jr.

Vicious ‘Pied Piper’ butchered in prison in ’75

Long-Lost Manuscript Contains First-Hand Account of the 'Pied Piper of Tucson' Murders of 1964 and 1965





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