Charles Schmid - Charismatic Killer

The inspiration for the deeply disturbed character Ray Pye in Jack Ketchum's novel The Lost, Charles Schmid Jr. was born on July 8, 1942, to an unwed mother. He was adopted by Charles and Katharine Schmid. By the time he was 23 years old, he brutally murdered three young girls.

As a child, Schmid, or Smitty as he was known to many, hated his adoptive father. The two argued frequently. He had difficulty focusing and had below average grades in school. At 16 years old, he dropped out of high school and lived in his own private apartment on his parents' property with little interference from them and an allowance of $300/month. He had a car and a motorcycle and spent a great deal of time driving along the local highways looking for girls.

Smitty had a strong fear of being alone, which caused him to act out and do things that would attract the attention of others. He dyed his hair often and always wore make up. He used eyeliner and mascara and created a false mole on his cheek using pancake makeup. He was never seen without his custom-made cowboy boots, which he secretly stuffed with rags and crushed beer cans to make himself appear taller. The stuffing in his shoes caused him to walk with a limp. When asked about his limp, he would lie and tell girls that he was crippled. The story as to how he became crippled always changed, but the sympathetic reactions of the women remained constant.

Despite his strange ways, Smitty was a charismatic young man. His daredevil attitude gained him the admiration of many of the local high school students. He was somewhat of a hero to them and most of his friends were high school kids who were a few years younger than him. He was very good looking and never had any trouble getting dates. Smitty dated many women simultaneously and even proposed marriage to several of them. He had a drawer filled with fake engagement rings that he occasionally gave to his "favorite" girls. His popularity with others earned him the nickname "The Pied Piper of Tucson."

At the age of 22, Smitty found himself wondering what it would feel like to "snuff someone out" and see if he could get away with it. He made a list of potential victims and decided on 15 year-old Alleen Rowe, a friend of his long time on-again off-again girlfriend, Mary French. On May 31, 1964, he made Mary attempt to get Alleen to go on an outing with him and his friend John Saunders. Alleen refused and Smitty became restless. He wanted to kill someone that night and he told Mary to find someone else for him to kill. She was eventually able to persuade Alleen to go out with them, not knowing that she would never return home.

Smitty and John packed a shovel in the trunk of Smitty's car and then went with Mary to pick up Alleen. The four drove out to the desert and talked for a while before Smitty sent Mary back to the car to get something. While she was gone, John and Smitty stripped and assaulted Alleen. Smitty then sent John to go find Mary while he bludgeoned Alleen to death with a pointed rock. The three gathered at the murder site and took turns digging a hole in the sand with the shovel from the trunk. Smitty dumped Alleen's body into the hole along with her clothes and his shirt, which was covered in her blood. They wiped down the car to get rid of fingerprints and agreed on a story that they would tell the police if they were questioned: they were supposed to pick up Alleen that night, but when they got to her house, she was not home. They waited a few minutes and then left and went about their evening without her.

When Alleen's mother, Norma, returned from her night job and her daughter was not home, she alerted the police. A few days later, Smitty, Mary and John were all questioned by the police and they all told them the story that they had made up. Authorities were convinced that Alleen had run away from home and they soon relinquished their investigation of her disappearance, despite Norma's insistence that they find her daughter.

A couple of months after Alleen's murder, John Saunders left town to join the Navy and Smitty began palling around with a young man named Richie Bruns. The two became so close that Smitty confessed to Richie about the murder, but because Smitty was known for telling tall tales, Richie did not take him seriously.

It was around this time that Smitty set his sights on Gretchen Fritz: a pretty 16 year-old with a penchant for trouble. The two began dating regularly. It was not long before things turned sour. Like Smitty, Gretchen had a temper and the two often fought about the other girl's that Smitty was seeing and Gretchen's dislike for Richie. Gretchen sealed her fate with Smitty when she showed up at one of his parties unexpectedly and made a scene after finding out about one of his "engagements" to another woman.

On August 16, 1965, Gretchen and her younger sister, Wendy, went to see a movie and never came home. When the police gave up the investigation because they were convinced that the girls had run away, their father hired a private detective. Detective William Helig rightly believed that Smitty had something to do with the disappearance of the two girls and questioned him and Richie frequently. In actuality, Richie had not known what had happened to the girls, until Smitty's confession.

Smitty confessed to Richie that he had strangled both Gretchen and Wendy, drove their bodies to a desolate area and dumped them. Richie was shaken up, but still not entirely sure if Smitty was telling the truth. When a group of vigilantes that referred to themselves as the Tucson Mafia became convinced that the girls were killed, Smitty decided that he should bury the bodies. He took the still skeptical Richie to the site where he had dumped the bodies. Richie reluctantly helped him bury the bodies, but was deeply disturbed and became terrified of Smitty.

When Smitty let on that he might kill a local girl that Richie had a crush on, Richie began patrolling her house at all hours of the night in an attempt to keep her safe. After a couple of months, Richie could no longer take the stress and needed to get away from Smitty. He went to live with his grandmother in Ohio and soon after he confessed to the police.

He was flown back to Arizona where he led authorities to the bodies of Gretchen and Wendy. Smitty was arrested on November 10, 1965. John Saunders and Mary French confessed to their part in the murder of Alleen and both were witnesses for the prosecution. John was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole and Mary received a light prison sentence for accessory to murder and concealing a felony. Smitty was sentenced to death. In 1971, Arizona temporarily abolished capital punishment. Smitty made three escape attempts, the last of which was successful. He was soon recaptured and returned to prison. In 1975, he was brutally stabbed and beaten by two other prisoners. He was hospitalized for multiple stab wounds to the face and chest and died in the hospital ten days later on March 30, 1975.

Charles Schmid's story is told in John Gilmore's book Cold Blooded: The Saga of Charles Schmid, the Notorious Pied Piper of Tucson. These true events were also the inspiration for Jack Ketchum's fictional masterpiece "The Lost."