Charles Starkweather killing spree (loosely)
E649920
The Charles Starkweather killing spree was a notorious 1957–1958 series of murders across Nebraska and Wyoming committed by teenage spree killer Charles Starkweather, which became a grim symbol of juvenile delinquency and inspired numerous films, books, and songs.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Charles Starkweather killing spree (loosely) canonical | 1 |
| Starkweather | 1 |
| Starkweather–Fugate killing spree | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T7217435 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Charles Starkweather killing spree (loosely) Context triple: [Badlands, basedOn, Charles Starkweather killing spree (loosely)]
-
A.
Clutter family murders
The Clutter family murders were a notorious 1959 quadruple homicide in Holcomb, Kansas, that became widely known through Truman Capote’s true-crime book "In Cold Blood."
-
B.
The Marcus-Nelson Murders
The Marcus-Nelson Murders is a 1973 television crime drama film that served as the pilot for the Kojak series, loosely inspired by the real-life Wylie-Hoffert murder case.
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C.
Manson Family murders
The Manson Family murders were a series of brutal killings in Los Angeles in 1969 orchestrated by cult leader Charles Manson, which became one of the most infamous crimes in American history.
-
D.
Hudson family murders
The Hudson family murders refer to the 2008 killings of Jennifer Hudson’s mother, brother, and nephew in Chicago, a high-profile case that drew national attention due to the actress-singer’s fame and the crime’s brutality.
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E.
Murder of Laura Foster
The Murder of Laura Foster refers to the 1866 killing of a young woman in North Carolina, a notorious case that inspired the American folk ballad and legend of Tom Dooley.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Charles Starkweather killing spree (loosely) Target entity description: The Charles Starkweather killing spree was a notorious 1957–1958 series of murders across Nebraska and Wyoming committed by teenage spree killer Charles Starkweather, which became a grim symbol of juvenile delinquency and inspired numerous films, books, and songs.
-
A.
Clutter family murders
The Clutter family murders were a notorious 1959 quadruple homicide in Holcomb, Kansas, that became widely known through Truman Capote’s true-crime book "In Cold Blood."
-
B.
The Marcus-Nelson Murders
The Marcus-Nelson Murders is a 1973 television crime drama film that served as the pilot for the Kojak series, loosely inspired by the real-life Wylie-Hoffert murder case.
-
C.
Manson Family murders
The Manson Family murders were a series of brutal killings in Los Angeles in 1969 orchestrated by cult leader Charles Manson, which became one of the most infamous crimes in American history.
-
D.
Hudson family murders
The Hudson family murders refer to the 2008 killings of Jennifer Hudson’s mother, brother, and nephew in Chicago, a high-profile case that drew national attention due to the actress-singer’s fame and the crime’s brutality.
-
E.
Murder of Laura Foster
The Murder of Laura Foster refers to the 1866 killing of a young woman in North Carolina, a notorious case that inspired the American folk ballad and legend of Tom Dooley.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
crime in the United States
ⓘ
murder case ⓘ spree killing ⓘ |
| accomplice | Caril Ann Fugate ⓘ |
| accompliceAge | 14 ⓘ |
| country |
United States
ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| endTime | 1958 ⓘ |
| executionDateOfPerpetrator | 1959 ⓘ |
| executionMethodForPerpetrator | electric chair ⓘ |
| hasCause | juvenile delinquency (social context) ⓘ |
| hasEffect |
became a symbol of juvenile delinquency in 1950s America
ⓘ
influenced public debate on youth violence ⓘ |
| inspiredWork |
Bruce Springsteen song "Nebraska"
ⓘ
linked to:
Nebraska (song)
film "Badlands" ⓘ film "Natural Born Killers" ⓘ
linked to:
Natural Born Killers
numerous books ⓘ numerous songs ⓘ television documentaries ⓘ |
| legalOutcomeForPerpetrator | Charles Starkweather sentenced to death ⓘ |
| location |
Nebraska
ⓘ
Wyoming ⓘ |
| mediaCoverage | extensive national media attention in the United States ⓘ |
| motive |
desire for notoriety
ⓘ
rage ⓘ robbery ⓘ |
| notableFeature |
cross-state killing spree by a teenager
ⓘ
media portrayal as a modern-day outlaw couple ⓘ |
| numberOfVictims | 11 ⓘ |
| partOf |
history of crime in Nebraska
ⓘ
history of crime in Wyoming ⓘ |
| perpetrator | Charles Starkweather ⓘ |
| perpetratorAge | 19 ⓘ |
| significantPlace |
Douglas, Wyoming
ⓘ
Lincoln, Nebraska ⓘ |
| startTime | 1957 ⓘ |
| timePeriod | 1950s ⓘ |
| victim |
August Meyer
ⓘ
Betty Jean Bartlett ⓘ C. Lauer Ward ⓘ Carol King ⓘ Clara Ward ⓘ Lillian Fencl ⓘ Marion Bartlett ⓘ Merle Collison ⓘ Robert Colvert ⓘ Robert Jensen ⓘ Velda Bartlett ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Charles Starkweather killing spree (loosely) Description of subject: The Charles Starkweather killing spree was a notorious 1957–1958 series of murders across Nebraska and Wyoming committed by teenage spree killer Charles Starkweather, which became a grim symbol of juvenile delinquency and inspired numerous films, books, and songs.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Charles Starkweather killing spree (loosely)
linked to: Charles Starkweather killing spree (loosely)