Whatever Happened To The Real Ernest Burkhart From Killers Of The Flower Moon?
By RICHARD MILNER
History - Science
Few people are so craven as to marry into a family to take that family’s money when the family gets murdered at the behest of a domineering uncle, but such was Ernest Burkhart.
Burkhart, portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in "Killers of the Flower Moon," was the nephew of William Hale — rancher, businessman, and so-called "King of Osage Hills."
Hale, portrayed by Robert DeNiro in "Killers," orchestrated murders of the Osage Native American tribe in 1920s Oklahoma to get their wealth, and he recruited Burkhart to help him.
Burkhart testified against Hale and confessed to his role in the murders. He received a life sentence in prison in 1926, but his compliance led him to being paroled in 1937.
While on parole, Burkhart robbed a bank, went back to prison, and was released in 1959. He then, bizarrely, received a full pardon from Oklahoma Governor Henry Bellmon in 1965.
Burkhart spent his final years in his brother Bryan’s trailer. He died in 1986 at the age of 94 in Pawnee, Oklahoma, and his cremated remains were scattered in the Oklahoma River.