The Todd Killings

Inspired by real-life 1965 murders orchestrated by Charles Howard Schmid, Jr. (1942-1975), the so-called "Pied Piper of Tucson," a charismatic young Southern Arizona homicidal maniac whose crimes (involving teen followers and victims) roughly paralleled those later perpetrated by teen guru/killer Charles Manson. Schmid was convicted of two counts of first degree murder and one count of second degree murder. On 20 March 1975 he was stabbed 47 times by two fellow inmates at the Arizona State Prison and died of his injuries on 30 March 1975.

As with most film depictions of murder by manual strangulation, it takes a lot longer to accomplish than is shown in this picture.

[prologue] The story you are about to see is a fictionalized dramatization of actual case histories. The names and certain characterizations and incidents have been changed to protect the innocent...and, in some cases, to protect the guilty.