The Twelfth Victim: The Innocence of Caril Fugate in the Starkweather Murder Rampage

by John Stevens Berry, Linda Battisti

The Caril Fugate story is to be released as a four-part SHOWTIME docuseries on February 17. The documentary is based on the Addicus Books title, The Twelfth Victim—The Innocence of Caril Fugate in the Charles Starkweather Murder Rampage. The series will premiere on Friday, February 17 at 8 p.m. ET/PT, with new episodes airing weekly on Fridays at 7 p.m. CST, 8 p.m. EST on SHOWTIME. All four episodes will also be released on demand and on streaming platforms for SHOWTIME subscribers on February 17. In 1958, nineteen-year-old Charles Starkweather gained notoriety as one of the nation's first spree killers. He murdered eleven people in Nebraska and one in Wyoming. After a week on the run, he was arrested, later convicted, and sentenced to die in the electric chair. Starkweather's girlfriend, Caril Fugate, fourteen, was with him throughout the murder spree. Was she his hostage or a participant? This question still stirs debate more than sixty years later. Fugate claims she was too terrified to attempt escape—Starkweather had told her he would have her family killed if she disobeyed him. Unbeknownst to her, he had already murdered them. A jury found Fugate guilty of first-degree murder.

294 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 15, 2022

Reviews

[Lyndsay Sutton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Manage your expectations

It’s disappointing when such compelling content doesn’t get the benefit of strong, authoritative writing. I suspect I would’ve learned just as much by reading the trial and interview transcripts and spared myself the authors’ blatant insistence of Caril’s innocence. Give me the facts and let me reach my own conclusions.

[Tina Mehl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well researched

I liked this book. Every bit was well researched. We heard from many different people about the innocence of Caril Fugate.