Crime: Secrets in the Sand

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The Silent Set. When the Fritz sisters dropped out of sight, the police figured they were runaways also, even got reports they were in Mexico. Not until Bruns told his gruesome story did they suspect foul play. As for Schmid, since his arrest he has, for once, had nothing to say.

Almost as fantastic as the murders themselves was the disclosure that at least 30 teenagers, all friends of Schmid's, had apparently heard him brag about the crimes—and said nothing. Confided one 16-year-old coed at Tucson's Palo Verde high school: "A lot of people knew, but it was already too late. Telling would just have made it tough on everyone."