Charles Schmid Jr. was not granted a plea change in the Rowe murder case and was sentenced to 50 years to life.
In June of 1967, Schmid finally agreed to locate Rowe's grave for authorities. From an article in the Arizona Daily Star, June 24, 1967:
Schmid Locates Victim's Grave
Remains Identified As Young Girl
By KINGSLEY WOOD
Charles H. Schmid Jr., 25, the convicted murderer of three young girls, yesterday led Sheriff Waldon V. Burr, an attorney, and a friend of the Schmid family to the desert grave of Alleen Rowe.
It took the grim, handcuffed Schmid about 45 minutes to find the skeleton of the once-pretty 15-year-old in a grave about a half-mile southeast of Golf Links and Harrison Rds. He was accompanied by attorney Dan Sakall and George Scott, a family friend.
Using a saguaro cactus a few hundred yards from a dirt road as his landmark, Schmid dug with his hands in two locations before he found the remains under about eight inches of dirt.
There, in a lonely spot surrounded by mesquite and palo verde trees, Schmid first uncovered a pelvis and knee bone, according to Burr.
When pathologist Edward Brucker arrived, the group dug farther and uncovered the skull, the orange and black bathing suit Miss Rowe reportedly was wearing the day she died, and the ring she was reported to have been wearing.
Walter Birkby, physical anthropologist at the University of Arizona, identified the skeleton as that of a young girl.
He said the girl was between the ages of 15 and 19, adding that he couldn't tell immediately if the skull was fractured.
Schmid told a reporter that it was his decision to lead Burr to the grave.
Sakall, a deputy county probation officer, said his presence on Schmid's behalf was requested.
Schmid was sentenced earlier this month to 50 years to life in prison for his role in the murder. He is already under death sentence for the Aug. 16, 1965, murders of Gretchen and Wendy Fritz, both teenagers. Both convictions have been appealed.
The sheriff's office said the Rowe family was notified after the skeleton was discovered, but a reliable source said Mrs. Rowe was in San Francisco and was unavailable for comment. County Attorney William J. Schafer III said dental X-rays of the girl's teeth will be compared with photographs taken at the grave.
The unshaven Schmid, dressed in flannel trousers, a white shirt and loafers, smoked constantly while Brucker and Birkby were examining the bones in the presence of about 20 spectators. The onlookers said they came to the area when they heard that a skeleton had been found.
The remains were identified as those of Alleen Rowe and tests revealed multiple skull fractures. A rock found near the body tested positive for blood, though it was not determined that the rock was the murder weapon.
Alleen Rowe was later buried in Colorado at her mother's request.
About a year and a half later, Mary French was released from prison, having completed her sentence. From the Star, Dec. 21, 1968:
Mary French's Sentence Ends
FLORENCE (AP) — An attractive brunette imprisoned as an accessory in the murder of a Tucson girl will be released from State Prison Dec. 26, a little more than three years after beginning her sentence.
Mary French, 22, was sentenced to four to five years on two counts of concealing and compounding murder and one of being an accessory in the March 1964 slaying of Alleen Rowe, 15. ...
Miss French, denied a parole last June, has said she would return to Belton, Tex., the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Laurence French. She said she wanted to enroll in college to study commercial art.
A. Alan Hanshaw, a Tucson member of the Arizona Board of Pardons and Paroles, explained yesterday that Miss French has served her maximum sentence of 5 years in about 3 years because of work and good behavior time. By working — as most prisoners at Florence do — she received one day "credit" for every day worked, plus a few days off for good behavior, Hanshaw said.
He emphasizes that Miss French has served her time and is being released, not paroled.
A bit heavier than when she first entered prison, Miss French will have served three years and one month.
The Morgue Lady thinks Schmid might have trouble appealing his sentence after he showed without a doubt that he knew where the body was buried. In any case, his convictions stood.
Next: Not exactly a model prisoner.
