How a ‘Little House’ star helped Jim Morrison flee police during a wild road trip

In 1969, Morrison, then 25, returned to California after the Dade County Sheriff’s Office issued a warrant for his arrest on charges of indecent exposure and public blasphemy following his controversial concert in Miami.

Stewart said he approached her in a panic. “He came up to me and said, ‘I have to get out of town,’” she recalls. On impulse, she agreed to join him and set in motion a journey that she would document on her Super 8 camera.

Stewart said the pair simply got into Morrison’s car and drove north along Highway 1, without many plans beyond putting distance between the singer and authorities.

“You have to remember that this was a very serious violation in Florida,” she added. ‘He was on trial. So he came to me and said, ‘I have to get out of town. Do you want to go?’

“I said, ‘Sure.’ We jumped in the car and he didn’t know where he wanted to go, so I sent him onto Highway 1, which follows the Pacific Ocean all the way to Washington and Oregon. We just drove, stopping at bars along the way and staying in motels.”

Those close to Stewart say her calm presence helped Morrison calm himself at a time when he feared a prison sentence.

A source said: “Jim was unraveling. He trusted Charlotte because she didn’t ask questions – she just helped him disappear for a few days.”

Another friend added: ‘He didn’t know who else to turn to. Charlotte became the only person he felt safe with, while everything around him exploded.”

Stewart said Morrison’s scruffy appearance meant most people they encountered had no idea they were in the presence of a rock star.

“They didn’t even know who he was because he had a full beard at the time and didn’t really take care of it,” she said.

‘He looked like a bum. But I introduced him to my friends, and they had no idea it was Jim Morrison.”

She also recalled taking him to Hearst Castle, where she was photographed eating a hot dog while Morrison kept a low profile nearby.

After four days on the road, the pair headed back to Los Angeles.

“We had to get back to Los Angeles,” she said. “He dropped me off at my store and we said goodbye. I never saw him again.’

Morrison later received a six-month prison sentence for the crimes in Miami, but died in Paris in 1971, aged 27, before serving any time.

“The fact that he trusted me at the worst time of his life, when he was in prison, is something I will always cherish,” Stewart said. “He knew he would have to fly back to Florida and face trial. And then he was gone.’

Stewart said she was devastated when news of rocker Morrison’s death finally reached her.

“I was devastated,” she said. “I left the room, sat on the stairs and just cried.”