The Manson family and their crimes raise many sociological questions?
With the varying stories and the many people involved, questions like why
were these murders committed? don't always yield clear answers. There are
a number of motives, some believable and others with little or no evidence
to back them up. Was there one true motive? Or were the murders the
result of a combination of events? Who knows? Everyone seems to have his
or her own theory.
Hinman:: There seems to be some confusion as to why Gary Hinman was
killed. One story goes; Manson was under the impression that Gary had
inherited a large some of money. He told Bobby Beausoleil, Mary Brunner, and
Susan Atkins to go over to Hinman's and get the money and Gary was
subsequently killed after he refused to give them anything.
The other story, which Beausoleil himself never brought up in either of his two
trials, was that Hinman had sold him some mescaline, which Bobby sold to
some bikers that hung around Spahn's Movie Ranch. A day later the bikers
returned claiming the mescaline was bogus and demanded a refund. So
Beausoleil went over to Hinman's to get his money back.
In an OUI magazine interview Bobby recalled, "I didn't go there with the
intention of killing Gary. If I was going to kill him, I wouldn't have taken the
girls. I was going there for one purpose only, which was to collect $1000 that I
had already turned over to him, that didn't belong to me."
When Hinman refused the group his money and car titles a three-day conflict
began. During which time Manson himself came over and took his sword to the
side of Gary's face, slicing up his ear.
On the third day, Susan remembered, "Mary and I were in the kitchen. Bobby
walked in and said quietly, "You two stay in here. I'm going to have to kill
him."
"I couldn't stop myself. I ran into the room. Gary was standing, holding his
stomach, and Bobby clutched a knife."
At one of his trials, Beausoleil stated that he hadn't killed Hinman, Manson
had. But in the OUI interview he said Manson wasn't even there. "You see the
Sheriff's Homicide Department wanted to get Manson involved in my case,
which was very difficult because Manson was not involved." Beausoleil
continued and said that Hinman was killed because "he told me that he was
going to the police (and tell them) that I had come and assaulted him to get
money from him. I had my back against the wall."
Copycat:: After Bobby Beausoleil was arrested for the murder of Gary
Hinman the family began to panic. Susan Atkins remembers, "Instantly the
atmosphere at Spahn's tightened even more. We figured it would be only hours
before the police came down on us. But, additionally, we all were affected by
Charlie's obsession with getting Bobby out of jail. Bobby had been driven by a
need to prove himself as tough as Charlie, and now Charlie was possessed with
the need to prove his loyalty to his 'brother.' To die for him if necessary."
"Out of all the confusion and the mass of words, the constant use of drugs,
came a vague sort of scheme to try to convince the police that Bobby could not
have done the Hinman killing. It was a plan for "copycat murders" that would
make the police believe they had the wrong man in jail."
To this day Charles Manson states this as the true motive and that it was the
others at the ranch that came up with the plan. However, this whole story is
suspect because it didn't surface until after the murder convictions. It was first
brought up in the penalty phase of the Tate/Labianca murder trial. A series of
family members testified that not only had the murders been committed to get
Bobby freed from jail. But that Linda Kasabian, the prosecution's star witness,
had come up with the plan. Many years later some of those who testified
admitted they had lied in an effort to exonerate Charlie.
Melcher:: Terry Melcher - the son of Doris Day - and his girlfriend Candice
Bergen lived at 10050 Cielo Drive before Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski.
Terry had met Manson at a party at Beach Boy Dennis Wilson's house in
Pacific Palisades. With time, Melcher's associate Greg Jakobson became
fascinated with Charlie's philosophy and life style and began urging Terry to
record him. Jakobson talked Melcher into coming down to Spahn's Movie
Ranch to hear Manson and the girls play. After hearing them play once Terry
returned to the ranch with a friend he thought might be interested in recording
Manson and company.
Jakobson recalled, "I think Terry showed some interest in the music, but there
was nothing positive. There was never any, 'Yes, I will record you' talk going
on. It was like that was the preliminaries and nothing ever came of it."
Manson felt other wise. Tex Watson recollected, "Terry, Charlie told us, had
made him some big promises and then never come through. Terry, Charlie said,
didn't care about anything but money. Gradually, it seemed clearer and clearer,
at least to us, that Terry Melcher was the one who had failed Charlie, who had
led him along and then betrayed him, who had kept his music from the world."
After dinner on August 8, 1969 Charlie took Tex aside. According to Watson
Manson told him, "What I want…I want you to go to that house where Melcher
used to live - [we knew that by now Terry had moved down to a beach house in
Malibu] - I want you to take a couple of the girls I'll send with you and go
down there…and totally destroy everyone in that house, as gruesome as you
can."
In Susan Atkins' December 1969 published confession she said, "The reason
Charlie picked the house was to instill fear into Terry Melcher because Terry
had given his word on a few things and never came through with them."
A similar theory has been applied to the Labianca murder. Phil Kaufman - who
Charlie befriended in Terminal Island prison before being released in 1967 had connections to the music industry and was trying to help Manson get a
break. Kaufman also used to hang out at the home of Harold True, who until
September of 1968 lived on Waverly Drive next to the Labianca house. None
of Kaufman's music industry connections panned out for Charlie and Phil
suggested that one possible reason why Manson picked the Labianca house was
to send him a message.
Drug Burn:: Almost immediately after the Tate murders were discovered
police began investigating the possibility of a drug burn. This was based upon
the small amount of drugs found on the property and some rumors that
Wojciech Frykowski was getting involved with the distribution of a new drug
known as MDA. Wild stories began snowballing in the tabloids and eventually
leaked into more mainstream media outlets. However, other than hearsay and
rumors there hasn't been any concrete evidence published over the years to
suggest that Frykowski was actually dealing drugs.
Though some family members were familiar with the property, no one has
suggested that they knew any of the victims.
In Susan's confession she recalled, "I had no idea who lived in the house when
we were driving up there, not when we got there, and not after it was all over. I
don't guess anyone else did either. Not Charlie, not Tex, no one. Not till the
next day when it came over TV."
This was confirmed by Watson, "[Manson] apparently didn't know who was
living in the house or how many people we might find, but whoever and
however many it was we were to kill them all…"
During the penalty phase of the trial Susan and the others tried hard to
exonerate Manson while at the same time blame it all on Linda Kasabain. In
Susan's testimony she stated that Linda "told me to get a knife and a change of
clothes…she said these people in Beverly Hills had burned her for $1,000 for
some new drug, MDA.." The story was clearly a fabrication, but one must
wonder why MDA came into it? Did she read about it in the newspaper or was
there more to the story?
Helter Skelter:: The Helter Skelter motive is definitely a bizarre story and
very hard to believe. While many reject it as a motive for the murders, no one
can deny that Helter Skelter was something that the family talked about, a lot.
There is loads of testimony from various family members that confirmed
Manson talked about it constantly.
Susan remembered, "Charlie obtained The Beatles' so-called White Album in
late 1968. It had a tremendous impact on our lives, especially Charlie's. One
night when many of us were playing records and listening to the album, Charlie
said, "They're speaking to me."
"Charlie was preaching constantly about the end of the world and the need to
flee into the country, specifically the desert."
Watson also recollected, "It was violent death, physical death that he meant
when he told us that death was beautiful, because it was the thing people feared
the most. Yet, he said, death was nothing but an illusion in the mind anyway, so
killing a human being was merely destroying a fantasy. He kept repeating that
the spirit, the soul, can never be killed; it is one and eternal - the illusion of
physical death merely opens the resistant spirit to realization of its essential
oneness with all that is."
Did Manson and the family really believe in Helter Skelter? And was it the
actual motive behind the murders? Who knows? Nonetheless, this was the
motive presented at the trial and this is the motive that the convictions were
based on. Read more about the Helter Skelter motive and the connections
Manson made between the Bible and the White Album here.
^ SUSAN DENISE ATKINS
AKA: Sadie Mae Glutz, Sexy Sadie, Donna Kay Powell, Sharon King
DOB: 5.7.48
Order of the Rainbow Color: Violet
Prisoner ID: W08304
Prison: California Institute for Women(at Frontera)
Susan Denise Atkins was born in California on May 5, 1948. Her mother was
afflicted with cancer and died when Susan was still in her teens. Constantly
fighting with her alcoholic father, Susan decided to hit the road; dropping out
of school and moving to San Francisco. She got a job as a telemarketer for a
company that sold magazine subscriptions, rented a room and soon found
herself poor, lonely, and depressed. She eventually quit her telemarketing job
and started waiting tables at a local coffee shop. It was there that she met a
couple of escaped convicts and decided to hit the road with them. The three
committed several armed robberies up the west coast, and were eventually
caught in Oregon. The men were sent to prison, and Susan got probation after
she served three months in jail. When she was released, she came back to San
Francisco and found work as a topless dancer. It was there she danced in a
show called the Witch's Sabbath organized by Church of Satan founder Anton
LaVey.
After quitting her job, Susan met Charles Manson. Her experiences with him
had a profound effect on her, and she decided to leave San Francisco to travel
with the family to Los Angeles. When the family got fake ID's, Manson gave
her the name Sadie Glutz. Tex Watson would later say, Susan was one of
Charlie's biggest cheerleaders. Sadie seemed to enjoy going on the "Creepy
Crawler" missions; dressed in black, family members would sneak into random
houses at night, while people were sleeping. Inside they would creep around,
rearrange things as well as steal.
Sadie's demands for attention often put her in conflicts with Manson. She was
reportedly kicked out of the family for a while, and was often blamed for
getting the family contracted with the clap. Susan was among the family
members who lived in Mendocino California for a short period of time. The
group was arrested after giving LSD to a group of local kids, and at their trial,
they were nicknamed the "Witch's of Mendocino". In October of 1968, Sadie
gave birth to a baby boy, which she named Zezozecee Zadfrack. After the birth
of Zadfrack, Atkins spent time recovering at theFountain Of The World, a
nearby religious retreat.
In 1969, Susan was present at both the Hinman and Tate murders. Susan, Mary
Brunner, and Bobby Beausoleil, took turns smothering Gary Hinman with a
pillow after Beausoleil had stabbed him twice. Weeks later, Atkins took part in
the Cielo Drive murders, she stabbed Wojciech Frykowski in the legs about 4
times, and helped Charles "Tex" Watson kill Sharon Tate. On the way out of
the house, she wrote "PIG" on the front door, in Tate's blood. When the family
was rounded up in Death Valley, Kitty Lutesinger implicated Susan in the
Hinman murder. While in jail, Susan bragged about the Tate murders to her
cellmates, who later told police, and 6 family members, including Atkins, were
indicted on the Tate-Labianca murders.
In December, Susan went before a Los Angeles Grand Jury and told all. In the
beginning, she was going to be the prosecution's star witness, hoping to avoid
the death penalty. But before the trial started, Susan took back everything she
told the Grand Jury and renewed her loyalty to Manson. After a nine-month
trial, Susan was convicted of seven counts of first degree murder and one count
conspiracy to commit murder. In March of 1971, she and her co-defendants
were sentenced to death.
Susan was sent off to the California Institute for Women, where both Leslie
Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel shunned her for snitching on the family.
Meanwhile, a doctor adopted Susan's son Zezozecee Zadfrack, whose name
was changed to Paul. In the mid 70's, family member Bruce Davis turned Susan
on to Jesus. Atkins claimed that Jesus came into her cell, and she became bornagain. In 1977, the year before her first parole hearing, Susan wrote an
autobiography with Bob Slosser called Child Of Satan, Child Of God. Since her
incarceration in 1971, Susan has only received four minor write-ups. In 1981,
she married a Texan named Donald Lee Laisure. She had corresponded with
Laisure for years, but he had lied to her the whole time. Laisure, who had
previously been married 35 times, claimed to be a millionaire, which he wasn't.
When Susan found out, three months after their marriage, she filed for
divorced. She married again in 1987, this time to a man named James W.
Whitehouse (a law student fifteen years her junior).
Throughout the years, Susan has kept herself busy with her own prison ministry
as well as completing an Associates degree through correspondence courses.
She was denied parole for the 10th time in December of 2000. Her next hearing
will be held in 2004.
^ ROBERT KENNETH BEAUSOLEIL
AKA: Cupid, Jasper, Cherub, Robert Lee Hardy, Jason Lee Daniels
DOB: 11.6.47
Prisoner ID: B28302 or 11100535
Prison: Oregan State Peniteniary
The first of five children (2 sisters & 2 brothers), Bobby Beausoleil was born in
Santa Barbara, California in 1947. Bobby displayed an interest in music at a
very young age, and eventually taught himself how to play the guitar. When
Beausoleil was 16, he had an affair with a cousin's wife; angered by the affair,
his cousin left. Young Bobby was forced to play the role of husband, working
for a trailer company to support his cousin's wife and child. After the death of a
grandmother Bobby moved to Los Angeles. There, he briefly played in a band
with Arthur Lee, called Grass Roots. Grass Roots would later achieve fame
under the name Love. Lee apparently named the group Love as a reference to
Beausoleil's nickname "Cupid". Bobby also became friends with Frank Zappa,
and can be heard as a backup singer on Zappa's first record, Freak Out.
However, the city of Angels proved to be too superficial for Bobby, so he
traveled north and fell in love with the Bay Area.
In San Francisco, Beausoleil began playing with a band called The Outfit, but
eventually dropped out and started his own band called Orkustra. The group
played gigs in the Bay area from 1966 to '67, and as the group was in the
process of breaking up, Bobby met filmmaker Kenneth Anger. Anger and
Beausoleil worked together on the filmLucifer Rising, in which, Bobby played
the part of Lucifer, and helped compose the score. At that time Beausoleil was
playing in a band called Magick Powerhouse of Oz, and living at Anger's
"Russian Embassy" house. In the fall of '67, Beausoleil and Anger had a falling
out, so Bobby decided to move back to Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles, Beausoleil once again found acting work and was featured in
soft porn titled Ramrodder. The movie was filmed at Spahn's Movie Ranch and
also starred family member Catherine Share. Bobby was living in the basement
of Gary Hinman's Topanga Canyon home when he first ran into Manson and
the Family at a house called the "Spiral Staircase". Bobby's musical talent
impressed Charlie and the girls, and Bobby started hanging around with them.
In the summer of 1969, Beausoleil sold $1000 worth of LSD to a group of
bikers that were hanging around Spahn's Ranch. Gary Hinman had made the
LSD, but according to the bikers it wasn't good and they wanted their money
back. So Beausoleil, with Family members Mary Brunner and Susan Atkins,
went to Hinman to get a refund. Hinman on the other hand felt that the LSD
was good and refused to give up any money. After a phone call to Spahn's
Ranch, Charles Manson and Bruce Davis came to the house. Immediately after
entering, Manson sliced off Hinman's left ear with a sword. Charlie and Bruce
left immediately. After two more days, Hinman was still refusing to give
Beausoleil any money. Bobby stabbed Gary twice in the chest as Susan Atkins
and Mary Brunner smothered Hinman's face with a pillow.
Beausoleil was arrested for the murder of Gary Hinman on Thursday, August 7,
1969. He had two trials, and was eventually convicted and sentenced to death.
His death sentence was commuted to Life when California briefly outlawed the
death penalty in 1972. In 1982, he married his current wife Barbara. Today he
is serving his sentence in Oregon State Penitentiary and still continues to make
music.
MARY THRESA BRUNNER
AKA: Mother Mary, Mary Manson, Marioche, Linda Dee Moser, Christine
Marie Euchts, Och
DOB: 12.17.43
Mary Brunner was born in Wisconsin in the early 40's. She went to
the University of Wisconsin and got a Bachelors degree in History. After
graduating, Brunner headed west, and took on a job at the ^ UC
Berkeley Library. In 1967, she met and took in Charles Manson. Brunner has
become known as the first member of what would become the Manson Family.
She left her job, hit the road with Charlie, and the Family was born.
On April 1, 1968, Mary gave birth to Valentine Michael Manson, aka "Pooh
Bear", the first baby of the Family. In July of 1969, Mary witnessed Bobby
Beausoleil stab Gary Hinman; she and Susan Atkins took turns smothering
Hinman's face as he lay dying. On the night of the Tate murders, Mary was in
jail with Sandra Good. Brunner and Good were arrested earlier that afternoon
for using a stolen credit card at a Sears department store. Danny DeCarlo later
implicated Brunner in the Hinman murder, however she turned states evidence
and was granted immunity.
On August 21, 1971, the LAPD responded to a silent alarm set-off at a Western
Surplus store in Hawthorne. They arrived in time to catch 6 family members,
including Mary, in the middle of an armed robbery. After a brief shootout, the
family members were detained. Along with Brunner, the LAPD arrested
Catherine Share, Charles Lovett, Lawrence Bailey, Kenneth Como, and Dennis
Rice. The group had stolen close to 150 guns, which they intended on using,
while hijacking a 747 jumbo jet, in which, they would kill one passenger every
hour until Manson and company were released from prison.
For the part in the Hawthorne shootout, Mary served six and a half years at
the ^ California Institute for Women, while Pooh Bear went to live with
Brunner's parents. Mary has since took on an assumed name, and is last
reported to be living in the Midwest.
BRUCE McGREGOR DAVIS
AKA: Bruce McMillan, George McGregor, Jack Paul
DOB: 10.5.42
Prisoner ID:B41079
Prison: California Men's Colony
Bruce Davis was born in Monroe, Louisiana on October 5, 1942. He grew up in
Mobil, Alabama, and was the youngest of 2 children. After high school Davis
attended college in Tennessee for about 2 years, then dropped out and moved
west where he became immersed in the hippy counter culture. In the west,
Davis made a living doing construction work, and in 1967, ran into Charles
Manson, Mary Brunner, Lynette Fromme, & Patricia Krenwinkel in Oregon.
Manson liked having another man around, plus Charlie and Bruce had a few
things in common. Like Manson, Davis was a good musician, had an interest in
Scientology, and was an ex-con.
From November of 1968 to April 1969, Bruce lived in London, England
working at the Scientology headquarters. Davis was kicked out of the
organization because of his drug use, he then returned to the states, where he
rejoined the family. In the family, Davis acted as a comptroller, handling all the
stolen credit cards and fake ID's.
In July of 1969, Bruce was present when Manson chopped off Gary Hinman's
left ear. In late August, Bruce assisted Manson, Tex Watson, and Steve Grogan,
in the murder of Spahn's Ranch hand Donald "Shorty" Shea. After which
Davis, along with the rest of the family, moved to the Barker Ranch in Death
Valley. Bruce was arrested and charged with grand theft auto in the Barker
Ranch raid held on October 12, 1969. He was eventually released due to
insufficient evidence.
On November 5, 1969, Davis was present when Christopher Jesus, aka "Zero",
allegedly killed himself playing Russian roulette. While the death was
suspicious, and police ruled it a suicide, Davis had admitted to them that he
picked up the gun after Zero had killed himself.
In April of 1970, Mary Brunner implicated Davis in the Hinman murder, and
he immediately went into hiding. On Manson's orders Davis turned himself in
on December 2, 1970. Afterwhich, Bruce went on trial for the murders of both
Hinman and Shea. He was convicted for both murders and sentenced to Life
imprisonment. Davis was briefly suspected of being the Zodiac killer (a
mysterious killer that terrorized California by committing several bizarre
homicides in the 60's and 70's), but was ruled out as a suspect by the FBI. In
prison Bruce became a born-again Christian, and through correspondence he
assisted Susan Atkins in finding Jesus. Bruce is currently incarcerated at
theCalifornia Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo, California.
DANIEL THOMAS DeCARLO
^ AKA: Donkey Dan, Daniel Romeo, Richard Allen Smith
DOB: 6.20.44
Danny DeCarlo was born in Toronto Canada, but was granted U.S. citizenship
after serving four years in the Coast Guard. After his service, DeCarlo went
into the firearms business with his father. Danny loved guns, so much so, that
he once said he loved them more than his old lady. Danny was also club
treasurer of the Straight Satans motorcycle gang. In 1966, he was convicted of
smuggling Marijuana across the U.S./Mexican border.
Through the Straight Satans, Danny met Charles Manson. Charlie wanted the
motorcycle gang to hang around Spahn's Ranch to protect the family. DeCarlo
enjoyed the girls, and the lifestyle at Spahn's, so he joined the family. However,
Danny was the only Straight Satan to become a full time fixture at Spahn's.
DeCarlo was given the duty of taking care of all the family's weapons. Danny
was arrested with the Family on the August 16th raid, a week after the TateLabianca murders. And after hearing about the Shea murder later that month,
Danny split the Family and moved to Venice.
On Thursday, November 13, 1969, DeCarlo was interviewed by the LAPD at
the Parker Center in downtown Los Angeles. Danny provided police with a lot
of incriminating information on the family. He also handed over the sword that
Manson had sliced off Gary Hinman's ear with. Six days later a handcuffed
Danny DeCarlo gave Vincent Bugliosi and the LAPD a tour of Spahn's Movie
Ranch.
From September 11th to the 17th of 1970, Danny testified against Manson and
the girls in the infamous Tate-Labianca murder trial. DeCarlo also gave
testimony in the trials of Tex Watson and Bobby Beausoleil. Danny didn't stay
around to collect his portion of the $25,000 reward; he skipped bail on a federal
gun charge and fled to Canada
^ LYNETTE ALICE FROMME
AKA: Squeaky, Red, Elizabeth Elaine Williamson
DOB: 10.22.48
Order of the Rainbow Color: Red
Prisoner ID: 06075-180
Prison: Federal Medical Center Carswell
Born in Santa Monica, California, Lynette Alice Fromme grew up in
Westchester, California where her father William worked as an aeronautical
engineer. Lyn was the first of 3 children, was a talented, well-liked child that
toured throughout the United States and Canada in a song and dance troop
called the Lariats. In Junior High School Lynette was active with many after
school activities. She was a member of the Athenian Honor Society as well as
the Girls Athletic Club. In her drama class Lyn befriended a young Phil
Hartman, who eventually gained fame on shows likeSaturday Night Live, The
Simpsons, & Newsradio. When her class gave out superlatives, Lynette was
voted "Personality Plus".
As Lyn grew older, the relationship between her and her father grew apart.
Neighbors remembered William Fromme as a tyrant-like figure, who seemed to
punish Lyn for little or nothing at all. In High School, Lynette became more
rebellious, using drugs and alcohol. She worked in a Canvas shop where
coworkers would see Lyn burn herself with lit cigarettes, and shoot staples into
her forearm with a staple gun. She briefly dated Bill Siddons, who went on to
be the road manager of The Doors. However, Siddons' mother felt that Lyn was
disturbed, and talked Bill into steering clear of her.
After High School, Lynette bounced around, living with different people. She
eventually moved back home and enrolled at El Camino Junior College. It
wasn't long before Lyn and her father were fighting again. The two got into a
fight over a definition of a word, and it was the last straw for Lynette; again,
she hit the road. It was at this time, that Lyn met Charles Manson on Venice
Beach. Impressed by Manson, she quickly decided to leave Los Angeles to
travel with Charlie and Mary Brunner.
Lynette had a special spot in the family; according to Paul Watkins, no one but
Charlie was allowed to sleep with Lyn. At Spahn's Ranch, Fromme spent most
of her time taking care of the 80 year-old blind owner, George Spahn. Lynette
would make squeak-like noises when George ran his hands up her legs, so he
dubbed her "Squeaky." Lynette was arrested with the family in both the Spahn
and Barker Ranch raids. During the Tate-Labianca murder trial Lyn was
frequently arrested. The charges ranged from contempt of court, loitering,
trespassing on county property, to attempted murder, for a LSD lanced
hamburger given to Barbara Hoyt in Hawaii.
After Manson was convicted, Squeaky moved to San Francisco to be closer
to San Quentin. She maintained contact with defense attorney Paul Fitzgerald,
and family members in and out of jail. However, prison officials were
uncomfortable about her and wouldn't permit her to see Charlie. When Lyn
wasn't petitioning to see Manson, she began writing a book about the family.
In September of 1972, Lynette was arrested in connection with the murders of
James and Reni Willet. Authorities soon found she wasn't involved with the
murders, however they were reluctant to let her go. Finally on January 2nd
1973, all charges against Lyn were dropped, and she was released the following
day. On her release Lynette was immediately arrested by LAPD. She had been
accused of robbing a 7-11 convenience store in October of 1972. At the trial
Lyn's accuser, a 17 year-old 7-11 employee, admitted that the robber didn't
have the "X" scar on her forehead. Once again the charges weren't dropped
until another woman was arrested and confessed to the crime. Freedom was
bittersweet for Lyn, the Family was falling apart. Mary, Gypsy, Katie, Leslie,
and Sadie all wanted nothing to do with Manson.
Later that year, Lynette moved to Sacramento with Sandra Good. The reason
for the move was once again to be closer to Manson; Charlie had been moved
from ^ San Quentin to Folsom Prison. While walking in a park Fromme
befriended a 64 year-old man named Harold "Manny" Boro. According to
Boro's daughter-in-law, the two were lovers.
In Sacramento, Lyn and Sandy became more preoccupied with saving the
environment. It was around this time that Charlie started to talk about the Order
of the Rainbow, his own religion in which Lyn and Sandy would be nuns of.
Each of the Manson girls was given a color; Lynette was dubbed "Red" and
was given the duty of saving the Redwoods. Their Lifestyles would be very
different compared to the Spahn's Ranch days. The girls weren't allowed to
smoke, have sex, or watch "movies with violence that sets thoughts to death
and confusion."
From their P Street apartment, Lyn and Sandy started the International People's
Court of Retribution; a fictitious terrorist group that would assassinate
executives and CEO's of companies that polluted the earth. The two sent out
hundreds of threatening letters that claimed that there were thousands of
members of the terrorist group just waiting to kill. While trying to get the local
news to report the damage being done to the Redwoods from logging, Lyn was
informed that the President of the United States was coming to town. On
September 5, 1975, Lynette headed down toCapital Park with a loaded Colt .45
automatic pistol (borrowed from Manny Boro) strapped to her leg. When
President Gerald Ford came walking down the path, Lynette pulled out her gun.
Immediately Secret Service Agents wrestled Lyn to the ground, and the
President escaped untouched.
At her trial, Lynette followed Charlie's example and chose to represent herself.
However, her presence in the courtroom was short lived. When Lyn lectured
about the Redwoods and her other environmental concerns, Judge Thomas
McBride instructed Lyn to stick to things relevant to her case. As Lyn
continued to talk about whales and pollution, McBride had her removed from
the courtroom. Squeaky was returned to her jail cell, where she spent most of
the trial, watching from closed circuit television. Later on in the case, and
nearly costing a mistrial, it was discovered that U.S. Attorney Dwayne Keyes
had failed to turn over some exculpatory evidence. In late November of 1975, a
jury convicted Lynette of Attempted Assassination of the President of the
United States of America. Upon sentencing, an angry Lynette threw an apple at
Dwayne Keyes' head, afterwhich Squeaky was sentenced to Life.
Squeaky was sent away to the Alderson Federal Corrections Institute in West
Virginia. She was eventually reconnected with fellow family member Sandy
Good, after she was transferred to a new prison in Pleasanton, California,
where Good was serving time for sending threatening letters. In March of 1979,
Lynette attacked a Croatian Nationalist named Julienne Busic, imprisoned from
her connection in a 1976 airline hijacking. Squeaky hit Busic in the head with
the claw end of a hammer, got 15 months added to her sentence, and was sent
back to Alderson. On December 23, 1987, Lyn got word that Charlie was dying
of cancer, and escaped from Alderson. She was picked up 2 days later having
traveled only a few miles. Squeaky then bounced around the prison system:
from Lexington, Kentucky, to Marianna, Florida, and finally to the Federal
Medical Center Carswell, near Fort Worth, Texas where she remains today.
Her scheduled release date is September 5, 2005.
^ SANDRA COLLINS GOOD
AKA: Sandy, Blue, Sandra Collins Pugh
DOB: 2.20.44
Order of the Rainbow Color: Blue
The youngest of three girls, Sandra Good was born on February 20, 1944. Her
father - a San Diego stockbroker - and her mother divorced when Sandy was
only 4 years old. She attended both the University of Oregon and San
Francisco State College. Good joined the family in April of 1968, and a month
later she found a new home for them at Spahn's Movie Ranch. Sandra was in
jail with Mary Brunner on the night of the Tate murders, but was back at the
ranch in time to get arrested on the August 16th raid. On September 16, 1969,
Sandra gave birth to her son Ivan. Almost a month later, she was arrested with
the family during the October 10th Barker Ranch raid. On December 1, 1969 a
man named Joel Pugh was found murdered in England. Many people believe
that Pugh was Good's husband, but she has always denied it. In October of
1971, Good was arrested while aiding family associate Kenneth Como in a
botched escape from the Hall of Justice.
After Manson's conviction, Good moved to Oregon with an ex-con and Aryan
Brotherhood member named Steve Bekins. In July of 1972, Sandra was
arrested for trying to hide Bekins after he had robbed a supermarket. After
Bekins was caught and sent back to prison, Sandy skipped town. She was
picked up in San Francisco in December, and was brought back to Oregon,
where the charges against her were eventually dropped. Good then moved to
Sacramento with Lynette Fromme, where the two women became nuns in
Manson's newfound religion, the Order of the Rainbow. Sandy led a drug free
life of abstinence and took on the new name of Blue. Both Blue and Red (Lyn)
became obsessed with the environment and started the International People's
Court of Retribution; a fictitious terrorist group that would assassinate
executives and CEO's of companies that polluted the earth. The two sent-out
hundreds of threatening letters that claimed there were thousands of terrorists in
the IPCR just waiting to kill. Good enrolled inSacramento State University, and
majored in Ethno botany; she was noted as a good student.
In December of 1975, Sandra was arrested along with Susan Murphy for
conspiracy to send threatening letters in the mail. She was later convicted on all
five counts, and served 10 years in prison. She began her sentence at Terminal
Island Prison, then moved to Pleasanton, California, and was finally moved
to Alderson in West Virginia, where she met up with Lynette again. She was
released in 1985, and for a period of time lived in Vermont. Little is known
about Good's son Ivan, however, it has been reported that he went to College
on a football scholarship. In the mid '90's, Good and a man named George
Stimpson started the website Access Manson (www.atwa.com, no longer
online) on which, they claimed to have the true source of Manson thought.
Throughout the years, Sandy has stood by Manson's side. Although she isn't
allowed to visit him herself, she continues to claim that Charlie had
After dropping out of high school, Steve Grogan roamed the communes of
California, eventually ending up at Spahn's Movie Ranch in the spring of 1967.
Grogan was a talented musician and had a criminal record; which included
small time crimes such as Disturbing the Peace, and Possession of Marijuana.
He joined the Manson family when they moved to Spahn's Ranch in the spring
of 1968.
During the days the family hung around with Beach Boy Dennis Wilson, Steve
crashed Wilson's uninsured Ferrari while racing through the roads outside of
Spahn's Ranch. While many at the Ranch viewed Clem Tufts (an alias used by
Grogan) as nearly retarded, others felt that he was just playing dumb.
In June of 1969, Steve was arrested for exposing his penis to a group of school
children. He was sentenced to a 90-day observation period at Camarillo State
Mental Hospital, but walked out and returned to Spahn's Ranch 2 days later.
Grogan was along for the ride on the night of the Labianca murders. After Tex,
Pat, and Leslie were dropped off at the Labianca home, Manson, Sadie, Linda,
& Grogan drove down to Venice Beach. The latter three were dropped off with
orders to kill an actor that once gave Linda Kasabian a ride. After Linda
brought the would-be killers to the wrong apartment, the three decided to abort
the mission and head back to Spahn's. Weeks later, Grogan helped Manson,
Bruce Davis, & Tex Watson kill ranch hand Donald "Shorty" Shea. It was
rumored that Shea was cut up into 9 pieces, and buried behind Spahn's Ranch.
Clem was arrested in the October 10, 1969 Barker Ranch raid. When police
realized the family's involvement in the Tate murders, Grogan became an early
suspect. In 1971, Steve went on trial for the Shea murder, was convicted, and
sentenced to death by the jury. However, on December 23, 1971, judge James
Kolts changed the sentence to Life imprisonment, stating "Grogan was too
stupid and too hopped up on drugs to deicide anything on his own."
In prison, Clem transformed from a drugged-out zombie to a mature,
remorseful young man. In 1977, Clem drew a map to help authorities finally
locate the body of Donald Shea. When Shea's remains were found, they were in
one piece. On November 18, 1985, Grogan was released from prison. To date,
he is the only Manson family member convicted of murder to be released from
prison.
CATHERINE IRENE GILLIES
AKA: Cappy, Capistrano, Cathy Myers, Patricia Anne Burke, Patti Sue Jardin
DOB: 8.1.50
A native of Southern California, Catherine Gillies was born on August 1, 1950.
She was reportedly a Buffalo Springfield groupie before she joined the family
sometime in 1968. As Charlie and the family looked for a new home, they
learned that Catherine's grandmother, Arlene Barker, owned a ranch in Death
Valley. In Charlie's eyes, Myers Ranch and the neighboring Barker Ranch,
seemed to be the perfect home. In November of 1968, Manson gave Mrs.
Barker a Beach Boys gold record, in exchange for permission for the family to
stay at the ranches. The family lived at Barker and Myers Ranch on-and-off
throughout 1968 and 1969. Manson wanted to own the Barker Ranch, but didn't
have the money. At one point, there was an attempt to kill Arlene Barker for
the ranch. As the story goes, a bunch of family members were on route to kill
Mrs. Barker, but the mission was aborted due to a flat tire.
Cathy, or Capistrano as George Spahn called her, was arrested in both the
Spahn and Barker Ranch raids. Venice Police also listed Gillies present when
family member "Zero" supposedly killed himself. At the Tate/Labianca murder
trial Catherine was a regular on the corner of Temple and Broadway. During
the sentencing phase, Gillies testified that the murders were copycat killings
committed in an attempt to get Bobby Beausoleil out of jail. She went on to say
Charlie had nothing to do with the murders, and stated that she wanted to go
with the killers on both nights, but was told that she wasn't needed. Cathy
testified that the murders didn't upset her, and she would willingly commit
murder to get a "brother" out of jail. After the family broke apart, Gillies
reportedly joined a motorcycle gang. She married, divorced, and currently lives
near Death Valley with her four children.
Picture:
John Philip Haught began living with the Manson family after he, and his
friend Kenneth Richard Brown, moved to California from Ohio. Haught went
by the aliases Christopher Jesus and Zero. He was arrested with the family in
the October 12, 1969 Barker Ranch raid. After getting out of jail, Zero moved
with other family members to a Venice Beach house, rented by a man named
Mark Ross.
On November 5, 1969, Haught allegedly killed himself playing Russian
roulette. When police arrived, family members Catherine Gillies, Bruce Davis,
Sue Bartell, and Little Patty were present. According to Little Patty (who's true
name was Madaline Joan Cottage), she and Zero were in bed, when he picked
up a .22 Caliber Iver & Johnsonrevolver. After Patty told Zero that there was
only one bullet in the gun, he spun the cylinder, placed the muzzle against his
head, and shot himself. The police ruled the death a suicide, however there are
certain facts indicting that Haught might have been murdered. Not only had the
revolver and the holster been wiped clean of fingerprints, but also the gun had
been fully loaded.
Later, an anonymous man told a ^ Los Angeles Times writer that he was present
when Zero died. According to the man, Zero didn't kill himself; one of the girls
shot him. However, the man disappeared before authorities could talk to him.
Barbara Hoyt was born in December of 1951. She began living with the family
at Spahn's Ranch in April of 1969. On the night of the Tate murders, Susan
Atkins instructed Hoyt to retrieve 3 sets of dark clothing from the family's
garment pile. Upon her return, Barbara was greeted by Manson, whom told her
that Atkins and crew had already left. The following day, Barbara became
suspicious when some family members watched television reports of the Tate
murders with delight. Hoyt was arrested with the family in the August 16th
Spahn's Ranch raid. A week later, she was awoken by the screams of Donald
"Shorty" Shea, as other family members were killing him behind Spahn's
Ranch.
In Death Valley, Barbara overheard Susan Atkins tell Ruth Ann Morehouse
that she had killed Sharon Tate. Afterwhich, Hoyt, along with a girl named
Sherry Cooper, fled the family. Manson eventually caught up with the pair, at a
diner in the town of Ballarat. After a short conversation, Manson gave the girls
enough money to get back to Los Angeles. It was rumored that Manson later
sent three family members to L.A., to retrieve or kill the two girls.
In the fall of 1970, Hoyt was unsure if she wanted to testify in the
Tate/Labianca murder trial. The family offered her an all expense paid trip to
Hawaii in return for not testifying. Barbara accepted the deal, and flew to
Hawaii with Ruth Ann Morehouse. On September 9th, Morehouse flew back to
Los Angeles after feeding Hoyt a hamburger laced with 10 tabs of acid. When
the drug kicked in Barbara freaked out, ran for several blocks, collapsed, and
was brought to the emergency room. Hoyt's mother flew to Hawaii the
following day and brought Barbara back to California. Barbara was now eager
to testify against the family. After providing loads of incriminating testimony at
the murder trials, Hoyt returned to high school, graduated, and then pursued a
nursing degree in college. She has since married and divorced, and currently
lives in Washington State with her daughter.
Linda Drouin was born on June 21, 1949 in Biddeford, Maine. Her parents
divorced and remarried when Linda was still young. At the age of 16, Drouin
dropped out of high school and got married, and soon after, divorced. Linda
married again, this time to a hippie named Robert Kasabian. The two traveled
the country, enjoying the hippie lifestyle from commune to commune. In
March of 1968, Linda and Bob had their first child, Tanya. However, problems
between the young couple led Linda and Tanya back to New Hampshire. In an
effort to reconcile their marriage, Bob talked Linda into coming out to
California. Bob was living in Topanga Canyon with a man named Charles
Melton. It was through Melton that Linda first met Manson family member
Catherine Share (Gypsy). When things didn't work out with Bob, Linda decided
to go with Gypsy back to Spahn's Ranch. After a day at the ranch, Linda
returned to Topanga Canyon, retrieved her belongings, stole $5,000 from
Melton, came back to Spahn's and joined the family.
On August 8, 1969, Linda was selected to drive the killers to the Tate residence
because she had the only valid driver's license. She witnessed Tex shoot and
kill Steven Parent as he was trying to exit the property. Linda was instructed to
go back to the front gate and stand guard, while the others went into the
residence. As Linda heard people screaming for their lives, she ran to the main
house. At the front door, she ran into a stabbed and beaten Wojciech
Frykowski. Horrified, Linda looked him in the eye and said "sorry", just before
he collapsed.
On the following day, Linda Kasabian once again drove a carload of killers
around Los Angeles, finally dropping off Tex, Katie, and Leslie at the Labianca
residence. Afterwhich, Manson dropped Linda, Sadie, and Clem off at a Venice
Beach apartment complex. The three were instructed to kill an actor that once
picked Kasabian up hitchhiking. Linda purposely brought Sadie and Clem to
the wrong door, and the mission was aborted.
On August 11, 1969, Manson instructed Linda to bring a message to the jailed
Sandy Good, Mary Brunner, and Bobby Beausoleil. Kasabian saw it as an
opportunity to flee the ranch (without Tanya). She droved straight to New
Mexico, where her husband was living with another woman. Linda explained
what had happened, and said that she couldn't have brought Tanya because it
would've looked too suspicious. Bob Kasabian wanted to go back to Spahn's
Ranch to get his daughter, but Linda was too afraid. After making a call to
Spahn's Ranch, Linda learned that Tanya had been placed in foster care after
the raid on August 16th. After talking to a social worker, Linda returned to Los
Angeles and eventually got her daughter back. From there, Linda and Tanya
flew back to New Mexico, only to hitchhike all the way to her father's home in
Florida, and finally back to her mother in New Hampshire.
On December 2, 1969, Linda was indicted for the Tate-Labianca murders. She
turned State's Evidence and received immunity in exchange for her testimony,
which was without a doubt, the most damaging to the family. In March of
1970, Kasabian gave birth to a baby boy, which she named Angel. Linda took
the witness stand in a series of trials and retrials. One defense attorney after the
next, tried unsuccessfully to punch holes through her testimony. And more than
any other witness, Linda Kasabian's testimony helped convict Charles "Tex"
Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Houten, and Charles
Manson.
After the trials, Linda escaped the public eye by going back to New Hampshire.
She was last reported to be living with Tanya in Washington State. A car
accident left Linda mildly disabled, and unable to work. In late 1996 Linda and
one of her daughters were arrested in a police raid which uncovered some drugs
and a gun. Linda's daughter, aka "Lady Dangerous" was arrested for possession
of a controlled substance (both rock and powder cocaine), and was sentenced to
a year in state prison. Linda, who was found, possessing methamphetamine,
avoided a jail sentence by attending drug-counseling classes.
^ PATRICIA DIANNE KRENWINKEL
AKA: Katie, Big Patty, Marnie Reeves, Mary Ann Scott, Cathran Patricia
Smith
DOB: 12.3.47
Prisoner ID: W08314
Prison: California Institute for Women(at Frontera)
Order Of The Rainbow color: Yellow
Patricia Dianne Krenwinkel was born on December 3, 1947 in Los Angeles,
California. Her parents divorced when she was 17 years old. At the time, Pat
stayed in California with her father - an insurance agent - while her mother
moved to Alabama. After High School, Pat moved to Alabama to live with her
mother and attend a Catholic college. She had taught Sunday school in the past,
and had thought about becoming a nun. After only one semester, Pat had
enough and dropped out. She moved back to California, where she moved in
with her half-sister Charlene, and got a job as a processing clerk. In September
of '67, she met Lynette Fromme, Mary Brunner, and Charles Manson on
Manhattan Beach. After making love with Charlie, Patricia decided to go with
him and the girls to San Francisco, leaving her car and final paycheck behind.
With the family, Patricia exhibited a quiet but intense personality. She helped
take care of the family's children, and was dedicated to Charlie. In the summer
of 1968, she and Ella Bailey were hitchhiking in L.A. when Beach Boy
drummer Dennis Wilson picked them up. Wilson invited them to stay at his
Sunset Boulevard mansion, while he went to a recording studio. When he came
back hours later, Charlie and the others were there, and so began the
relationship between Wilson and the family. Later that same year, Krenwinkel
was arrested for possession of Marijuana in Mendocino, after she and some
other family girls gave LSD to some local youths.
Patricia, who often went by the name Katie, was heavily involved with the
infamous Tate-Labianca murders. At the Tate house, she wrestled and chased
Abigail Folger, eventually pinning her down on the southwest side of the lawn,
close to the split rail fence. There she stabbed Folger repeatedly. According to
Patricia, Abigail pled for her to stop stabbing by saying, "I'm already dead."
The following night Patricia joined the others at the Labianca home. It was
there she helped Charles "Tex" Watson and Leslie Van Houten kill Rosemary
Labianca. Although most reports state that Pat was the one that carved the word
"WAR" in the stomach of Leno Labianca, Tex Watson claims he was the one
who actually did it. However, it is agreed that Pat wrote "Death to Pigs",
"Rise", and "Healter Skelter" in Leno's blood in various places inside the
Labianca home.
Patricia was arrested with the family in both the August 16, 1969 Spahn's
Ranch and October 10, 1969 Barker Ranch raids. After the latter, her father
Joseph Krenwinkel bailed her out of jail, and she went to go live with her
mother in Alabama.
Patricia was indicted on December 2, 1969, for seven counts of first degree
murder and one count conspiracy to commit murder. She was arrested and
extradited back to California where she would stand trial with Susan, Leslie,
and Charlie. After a nine-month trial at the Hall of Justice, she was convicted
of all counts and sentenced to death. She and the other women were sent to a
brand new Death Row facility built especially for them at the California
Institute for Women at Frontera (CIW). In 1972, the Supreme Court briefly
abolished the death penalty and all death sentences were commuted to life
imprisonment.
Today, Patricia is living within the general population at CIW. She has a
perfect prison record, not once has she received a write-up. Through
correspondence classes she received a B.A. in Human Services form La Verne.
She is active with many prison programs such as, Alcoholics
Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, and one where she helps other prisoners
learn how to read. Patricia writes both poetry and music, plays the guitar, and is
very athletic; playing on a Volleyball team as well as giving dance lessons.
Patricia Krenwinkel has been denied parole eleven times.
Dianne Lake was born in the early '50's. Her parents were prominent members
of Wavy Gravy's Hog Farmcommune. From an early age, Dianne was subject
to both group sex and hallucinogenic drugs. In 1967, just before her 14th
birthday, Dianne met the family at the "Spiral Staircase" house in Topanga
Canyon. With her parent's permission, Lake left to travel with the family.
Manson seemed to have it out for Snake (Dianne's alias in the family), often
beating her in front of others. When police raided Spahn's Ranch on August 16,
1969, Dianne, along with Tex Watson were hiding out at a ranch in Olancha. It
was there that Tex laughed at a newspaper headline about Sharon Tate's
murder. "I killed her. Charlie asked me to. It was fun," Watson told Snake. He
told her to keep quiet, and she did.
In October of 1969, Dianne was arrested with the family in the second Barker
Ranch raid. In December, Lake testified that she knew nothing about the
murders. She remained silent even after LAPD interrogated her for hours,
threatening her with the gas chamber. She finally broke her silence when she
was befriended by Jack Gardiner - an Inyo County officer - and his wife.
Afterwhich, she provided the District Attorney with loads of incriminating
evidence against the family.
In January of 1970, Dianne was admitted to Patton State Hospital, where she
was labeled "schizophrenic" due to an emotional trauma. She spent 6 months
there, and even began attending high school. She made good progress, and was
eventually declared competent to testify at the murder trials. After being
released from Patton State, Dianne was taken in by Jack Gardiner and his wife.
Dianne went on to graduate both high school and college. Today she is
reportedly happily married with 3 children.
^ KATHRYN LUTESINGER
AKA: Kitty, Catherine Lynn Drake, Katy
DOB: 8.14.52
Kathryn Lutesinger was brought into the family through her boyfriend Bobby
Beausoleil. At the time, she was pregnant with Beausoleil's child. Manson often
threatened her, because he felt she was trying to lure Beausoleil away from the
family. Tired of Manson's death threats, Kathryn fled Spahn's Ranch on July
30, 1969. She went directly to a nearby police station and reported her concerns
about Manson, and then returned home to her parent's horse ranch. While she
was away, Bobby Beausoleil was arrested for the murder of Gary Hinman.
Kathryn constantly called Spahn's Ranch looking for Beausoleil, but no one
would tell her what had happened to him. Finally, Manson told her over the
phone that Bobby had been arrested, however he didn't tell her what for.
Manson simply said it wasn't a big deal, and Bobby would be out in a couple of
days. On August 15th, Kitty (Kathryn's nickname) called Spahn's Ranch asking
for someone to come pick her up. She was apparently having problems getting
along with her parents. The next day, police raided Spahn's Ranch, and
Lutesinger was arrested with everyone else.
Later that summer, Lutesinger moved to Death Valley with the rest of the
family. At Myers Ranch, she finally got Sadie to tell her what Beausoleil was in
jail for. Sadie said it was murder, and laughed. On the night of October 9, 1969,
Kitty and Stephanie Schram fled Barker Ranch. They eventually flagged down
a passing police car, and asked for protection. Once again Lutesinger started
voicing her concerns about Manson, and implicated Susan Atkins in the
Hinman murders.
On February 11, 1970, Kitty gave birth to a baby girl, which she named Jene.
During the Tate-Labianca murder trial, Lutesinger floated in-and-out of the
family. She was arrested in November of '71, for aiding and abetting the escape
of family associate Kenneth Como, but charges were dropped due to lack of
evidence. Kathryn was married in 1973.
RUTH ANN MOREHOUSE
AKA: Ouisch, Ruth Ann Huebelhurst, Rachel Susan Morse
DOB: 1.6.51
Ruth Ann Morehouse was born in Toronto, Canada on January 6, 1951. She
first met Charles Manson in 1967, after her father, Dean Morehouse (a former
minister) picked Charlie up hitchhiking. Charlie had been traveling up and
down the pacific coast with Lynette Fromme and Mary Brunner. Dean
welcomed the three to his home and preached to them over dinner. He gave
Charlie a piano, which Manson traded towards a Volkswagen microbus.
Meanwhile, Charlie had his eyes on young Ruth Ann, and took her to
Medocino. Dean lost it! The angered minister vowed to kill Manson, however
Charlie calmed him down, introduced him to LSD, and stayed at his house for a
few weeks. While Dean thought Charlie was Christ like, Mrs. Morehouse didn't
appreciate her husbands new houseguests, and left to live with her sister.
Charlie visited the Morehouse home a few more times before he and the girls
decided to travel down to Southern California. Before leaving for Los Angeles,
Charlie told Ruth Ann she could come with if she was married. A few weeks
later, she married a bus driver, left him, and joined the family in L.A. She
began living with the family at various residences, including Spahn's Movie
Ranch. The ranch's owner, George Spahn, gave her the nickname Ouisch,
pronounced oo-WEESH. With the family, she went on garbage runs (various
members would dig through supermarket dumpsters looking for food),
panhandled, and helped take care of the children. Dean also spent time with
Charlie and the girls, and practically worshipped Manson. One of Charlie's
music industry connections, Gregg Jakobson, arranged for Dean to live at
10050 Cielo Drive, after Terry Melcher moved out and Sharon Tate moved in.
Various family members, including some involved with the murders, would go
up to the cul-de-sac and use the swimming pool.
A week after the Tate murders, Ruth Ann was arrested with the family in the
August 16, 1969 Spahn's Ranch raid. Months later at the Myers Ranch in Death
Valley, Susan Atkins told Ruth Ann about the murders of Abigail Folger and
Sharon Tate. At the time, it didn't bother Ouisch; she later told Barbara Hoyt
that she knew of 10 more murders other than Sharon Tate. Months later, she
was again arrested with the family in the October 10, 1969 Barker Ranch raid.
"Just before we got busted in the desert", Ruth Ann said, " there was twelve of
us apostles and Charlie."
After being released from jail, Ruth Ann briefly lived with her mother. She
reconnected with the family during the Tate/Labianca murder trial and became
a regular fixture on the corner of Broadway and Temple. While being
questioned by authorities, Ruth Ann remained loyal to the family, and
maintained that she knew nothing about the murders. In the fall of 1970, she
was involved in a plot to keep Barbara Hoyt from testifying against the family.
The two girls flew to Hawaii, on what was supposed to be Hoyt's all expense
paid trip, in exchange for not testifing at the trial. That all changed on
September 9, 1970, when Morehouse flew back to Los Angeles after feeding
Hoyt a hamburger laced with 10 tabs of acid. When the drug kicked in Barbara
freaked out, ran for several blocks, collapsed, and was brought to the
emergency room.
District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi went after the family members involved
with the Hawaiian Hamburger episode; trying to get them on a range of charges
from Conspiracy to Prevent and Dissuade a Witness, to Conspiracy to Commit
Murder. However, a judge dismissed the latter by the time a pregnant Ruth Ann
was arrested in December 0f 1970. After being released, she fled the state to go
live with her sister in Carson City, Nevada. A bench warrant was issued,
however the D.A.'s office thought it was too much trouble to extradite her and
basically forgot about it.
With the help of her sister and mother, Ruth Ann moved on with her life. She
was last reported to be living with her husband and three children somewhere
in the Midwest.
Catherine Share was born in Paris, France on December 10, 1942. Her
Hungarian father and German mother were both members of the French
underground and committed suicide during the war. Catherine was put into an
orphanage where she stayed until she was eight. She was adopted by an
American couple (a blind psychologist and his wife) and moved to California.
When Catherine was still in high school, her adopted mother was afflicted by
cancer and took her own life. Catherine stayed and took care of her adopted
father until he remarried. After graduating from Hollywood High School, she
went to college, stayed there for three years, got married, and shortly after,
divorced. Like her father, Catherine was a Violin virtuoso and had a beautiful
singing voice. She spent the next few years drifting around California,
occasionally scoring acting roles.
On the set of a soft porn entitled Ramrodder, Catherine met a young musician
named Bobby Beausoleil. She began living with him and his wife Gail,
traveling with the couple for about 8 months before deciding to go live with
Charlie and the family (whom she met through Bobby) at Spahn's Movie
Ranch. Gypsy, as she became known in the family, was the oldest female
member, and was very much in-love with Charlie. She recruited new members,
including girls like Linda Kasabian and Leslie Van Houten.
Gypsy was arrested in both the August 16, 1969 Spahn's Ranch and October
10, 1969 Barker Ranch raids. During police questioning, she didn't give any
information about the murders, and was eventually released. During the trials,
Gypsy joined the other girls in vigil on the corner of Temple and Broadway.
She visited Linda Kasabian and encouraged her to lie about her whereabouts on
the night of the Tate murders. She also helped convince Barbara Hoyt to go
with Ruth Ann Morehouse to Hawaii as opposed to testifying against the
family. On January 5, 1971, Gypsy gave birth to a baby boy, which she named
Phoenix.
During the penalty phase of the Tate/Labianca murder trial, Gypsy testified that
the murders were Linda Kasabian's idea, and that Linda, Sadie, and Leslie had
committed the Hinman murder. This all happened, according to her testimony,
because Linda was in love with Bobby Beausoleil, and she wanted to commit
copycat killings so the police would think Beausoleil was innocent.
On August 21, 1971, Catherine was involved in a shootout with the LAPD. It
started when Gypsy, Mary Brunner, Charles Lovett, Lawrence Bailey, Kenneth
Como, and Dennis Rice were robbing a Western Surplus store in Hawthorne.
The group had stolen close to 150 guns, when LAPD responded to a silent
alarm. Gypsy fired the first shot, and by the end of the shootout, had been
wounded three times. The family members involved were planning to hijack a
747 jumbo jet, in which, they would kill one passenger every hour until Charlie
and company were released from prison. Fortunately no one was seriously
wounded, but the stunt landed Gypsy in prison for 5 years.
She was sent to the California Institute for Women in Frontera, where the other
Manson girls were serving their sentences. While there, Gypsy and Mary
Brunner, together with a group of Aryan Brotherhood members, conspired to
break out of the prison using a pair of wire cutters, but were caught at the last
minute. Gypsy had fell in love with Kenneth Como (also imprisoned for the
Hawthorne shootout) but stopped talking to him after Manson told her not to.
Como was in love with Gypsy, and obviously angered with Manson, so he
assaulted Charlie in the prison yard. Soon after, Como convinced Gypsy to
forget about Charlie, and the two got married; Gypsy eventually divorced
Como in 1981.
In the late '70's, early 80's, Gypsy was indicted and convicted on a range of
Federal charges for her part in a credit card scam. She served a number of
years, and somewhere down the line became a born-again Christian. She
married a man named Patrick Shannahan, a prisoner turned informant. Because
of this, it has been rumored that she was put into the Witness Protection
Program. According to Vincent Bugliosi's 1994 Helter Skelter update, Gypsy
now lives a clean life and is writing a book about her wild past.
^ NANCY LAURA PITMAN
AKA: Brenda Sue McCann, Brindle, Cydette Perell
DOB: 1.1.51
Order of the Rainbow Color: Gold
Nancy Laura Pitman was born in Springfield, Illinois on January 1, 1951. Like
many in the Los Angeles area, her father was employed in the aerospace
industry, working as an aeronautical engineer designing guidance systems for
missiles. Growing up in Malibu, California, Nancy and her brothers were
surrounded by the rich and famous. She was first introduced to Charles Manson
and the family through her friend Deirdre Lansbury, daughter of the famous
actress Angela Lansbury. Deirdre hung out with the family from time to time,
and even had a note from her mother stating it was ok for her to travel with
them. Nancy on the other hand, wasn't getting along with her parents, and had
been kicked out of her house. The family welcomed her to stay with them and
she happily accepted.
In March of 1968, Nancy, who often went by the name Brenda McCann,
accompanied Manson and other family members to a party at the home of
Harold True (the house was located at 3267 Waverly Drive, right next door to
the Labianca house). A year later, on the night of the Tate murders, Nancy was
present when Charlie instructed Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda
Kasabian, to go do "what Tex said". After the four killers returned, it is
believed that Nancy and Charlie drove to the Tate house and inspected the
crime scene.
Nancy was arrested with the family in both the August 16, 1969 Spahn's Ranch
and October 10, 1969 Barker Ranch raids. During police questioning, she
stayed loyal to the family, and maintained that she knew nothing about the
murders. She returned to her parent's home after being released from jail, but
rejoined the family when the murder trials began. She was arrested in 1971 for
aiding in the escape of Manson family associate Kenneth Como, but charges
were dropped due to lack of evidence.
Following the Tate/Labianca murder trials, the family slowly began to break
up. Nancy lived with Sandy and Squeaky for short periods, but it wasn't long
before they too were going their own ways. Nancy ended up living with a
couple of convicts that escaped from a prison in Northern California. She fell in
love with one of them; a man named Michael Lee Monfort, AKA "Red Eye".
Together with three other couples (James "Spider" Craig & Priscilla "Tuffy"
Cooper, Billy Goucher & Maria "Crystal" Alonzo, and James & Reni Willett
with their infant daughter Heidi), Nancy and Red Eye moved into a cabin in
Guerneville. It was there that Red Eye, Spider, and Billy decided to kill their
roommate James Willett. They brought him to a wooded area on the outskirts
of town and told him to dig a hole. After Willett was done, Red Eye, Billy and
Spider took turns firing bullets into him. The group then buried Willett's body
in the hole he had just dug.
Because she continued to travel with the group, authorities believe that James'
wife Reni approved of her husbands murder. However, they would never get
the chance to talk with her. Monfort ended up shooting her in the eye, and
buried her in the basement of the group's Stockton, California home. It
happened, supposedly by accident, but many believe that Reni had found out
about her husbands murder and was going to snitch on the group.
Authorities eventually caught up with the group, and they all went to jail. For
the murder of Reni Willet, Nancy was convicted of being an accessory after the
fact. She and Monfort had a jailhouse marriage, and stayed together until 1990.
Today, she is completely disconnected from her past, and is reported to be
living in the Pacific Northwest with her four children.
Brooks Ramsey Poston was a self-described hayseed from Borger, Texas.
When he was eighteen, he dropped out of high school and left Texas to go
journey throughout California. He eventually arrived in Los Angeles where he
met a man named Dean Morehouse, a former minister that had just been turned
on to LSD. Morehouse went on and on about a fantastic man named Charles
Manson, and took Poston to meet him at Beach Boy Dennis Wilson's Sunset
Boulevard home. When the two arrived, Charlie walked up to Dean, kissed his
feet and told him that he could live forever if he was willing to die right then.
Brooks, who had just taken some LSD, was profoundly affected by the meeting
and felt that Charlie was Jesus Christ. He gave Charlie a credit card that
belonged to his mother and joined the family. Brooks ended up living with
Dean at Dennis Wilson's house for the rest of the summer; both lived there in
exchange for gardening work they did on the property.
Brooks was a great guitarist and good singer, but he took Charlie almost
literally. When Manson would go on with his "death of ego" raps, Poston
would walk away feeling like he should actually physically die. He was
notorious for his ability to go into a trance on command; according to Paul
Watkins, Brooks would become catatonic at times.
The family traveled around a lot; they spent some time in Death Valley in 1968
but by January 1969, most members were back in the Los Angeles area.
However, Brooks and a girl named Juanita Wildebush stayed in Death Valley
to look after the Barker Ranch. While staying there, the two met a middle-aged
miner named Paul Crockett. Brooks started telling him about Charlie, and
Crockett realized that they had been programmed to think as Manson did. With
time, Crockett convinced them that Charlie wasn't Jesus and that they should
stay away from him. This was repeated with a few other family members that
visited the ranch.
After the murders in the summer of 1969, the family moved back to Death
Valley. Manson had heard about Crockett, and was eager to meet the man who
was luring members away. Charlie and company did their best to scare
Crockett and the others, but the old miner stood his ground (not yet knowing
about the murders). However, with time they started fearing for their lives, and
went to the police. Brooks, Crockett, and Watkins gave the California Highway
Patrol loads of information about Charlie and the family. Brooks even admitted
that Charlie had once told him that he should go to Shoshone and kill the
Sheriff.
During the Tate/Labianca murder trial, Brooks testified for the prosecution;
helping to explain the Helter Skelter motive, as well as what life was like
within the family. After the trial, Brooks and Paul Watkins formed a musical
group called Desert Sun, and performed in Inyo County, California. Today,
Brooks is reported to be living in a cult in New Orleans, Louisiana.
^ LESLIE LOUISE VAN HOUTEN
AKA: Lulu, Leslie Marie Sankston, Leslie Sue, Leslie Owens, Louella
Maxwell Alexandria,
DOB: 8.23.49
Order of the Rainbow Color: Green
Prisoner ID: W13378
Prison: California Institute for Women in Frontera
Leslie Louise Van Houten was born on August 23, 1949 in Los Angeles,
California. She and her older brother grew up in a typical middle class
household. Leslie's father Paul was an automotive auctioneer, and her mother
Jane was a schoolteacher. After Leslie, there were two more additions; the Van
Houtens adopted a young boy and girl that had been orphaned in Korea. In
1963 Leslie's parents divorced, Paul moved out and the children stayed with
Jane. Meanwhile, Leslie began attending Monrovia High School, where she
was twice elected homecoming queen. Like many at the time, she discovered
hallucinogenic drugs, and her grades soon started to slip. She drifted away from
her extracurricular activities, and shortly after, got pregnant and had an
abortion.
After graduating high school in 1967, Leslie moved in with her father and
began attending a business college; studying to become a legal secretary. She
began gravitating towards spiritualism, and planned to live in a yogic spiritual
community. In the summer of 1968, Leslie was visiting friends in San
Francisco when she met Catherine Share, Bobby Beausoleil, and his wife Gail.
She began traveling with them, and in September they took her to meet Charles
Manson at Spahn's Movie Ranch. She returned to the ranch three weeks later,
this time she didn't leave.
Like others in the family, Leslie became dedicated to Charlie. According to
Van Houten, "I was absolutely intrigued and mesmerized by Manson and I
believed that he was someone very special and extraordinary". Leslie went
along with the others on the night of the Labianca murders because she wanted
to prove herself. She was very close with, and looked up to, Patricia
Krenwinkel. In Leslie's mind, if Pat was willing to murder, than so was she. At
the Labianca residence, Leslie helped Patricia Krenwinkel and Charles "Tex"
Watson kill Rosemary Labianca. Afterwhich, Leslie wiped the house down for
fingerprints, changed clothes, and eventually hitchhiked back to Spahn's
Ranch.
Leslie was arrested with the family in both the August 16, 1969 Spahn's Ranch
and October 10, 1969 Barker Ranch raids. During police questioning she
revealed that Susan Atkins was involved with the Hinman murder; that Linda
Kasabian, Susan Atkins, and Patricia were at the Tate residence on the night of
the murders; and that Linda was the one that didn't kill anyone.
Leslie's behavior at the Tate/Labianca murder trial ranged from strange to
uncooperative. She and the other girls sang on their way to court, and on
Charlie's orders, dismissed a series of public defenders. Because she wasn't
involved with the Tate murders, Leslie's lawyers tried unsuccessfully to
separate her from the other defendants. She was eventually convicted of 2
counts of first-degree murder and 1 count conspiracy to commit murder and
subsequently sentenced to death.
In 1972, Leslie's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment when
California briefly outlawed the death penalty. As the reality of what she had
done sunk in, Leslie began having problems with eating and developed severe
Anorexia. However, with time and help from meditation, she overcame her
eating disorder within a few years.
Because her attorney Ronald Hughes (whom many believed was murdered by
the Manson family) had disappeared in the middle of the first trial, Leslie was
granted a second one. The trial started in January of 1977 and ended with a
deadlocked jury in September. She had long since disassociated herself from
Manson and was quite a different person from the first trial. Between her
second and third trial she was out on bail for about six months, during which,
she lived with a friend and worked on her case. In March of 1978 Leslie's third
trial started, and this time she was convicted and sentenced to life
imprisonment.
Back in prison, Leslie had a jailhouse marriage with Bill Cywin, a former
prisoner that she had corresponded with. However, the marriage came to a
quick end when it was found out that he was planning to break her out of
prison. Through correspondence courses, Leslie received a B.A. in English
Literature from Antioch University. She has been active with both Alcoholics
Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. She briefly edited a prison newspaper
and has been active with programs that teach other prisoners how to read.
Out of all the Tate/Labianca killers, it is generally believed that Leslie has the
best chance of getting paroled. She has been denied parole numerous times but
continues to get encouragement (or maybe false hope) from the board of prison
terms. In 2002, she went before a San Bernardino judge to appeal her thirteenth
parole denial. She felt that the parole board was denying her because who she
was in 1969 as opposed to who she is now. Judge Bob Krug agreed: "Other
than the finding as to the gravity of the offense, there is a complete lack of any
evidence to support the decision of the board," Krug said. "The board failed to
make a finding that (Van Houten's) institutional behavior was a factor tending
to show her suitability for parole. To fail to do so is an arbitrary and capricious
consideration." Krug gave the parole board 60 days to come back with a reason
why she wasn't being paroled. Meanwhile, Leslie had her fourteenth parole
hearing and was denied for one year.
Leslie is currently living at the California Institute for Women in Frontera.
PAUL ALAN WATKINS
AKA: Little Paul
DOB: 1.25.50
DOD: 8.3.90
At the age of one, Paul Alan Watkins moved to Sidon, Lebanon, where his
father worked on a pipeline. After five years in Sidon the Watkins family
moved back across the Atlantic to Beaumont, Texas and finally Thousand
Oaks, California. Watkins was one of six children (3 sisters & 2 brothers), he
enjoyed going to church, was a talented musician, and was considered "gifted"
by his High School teachers.
Paul joined the Manson family in 1968 after running into them in Topanga
Canyon a number of times. According to Paul's own account, he was Manson's
second in command. Like many other family members, much of Watkins's time
was spent working at Spahn's Ranch. Manson had Paul enroll at a local high
school, to try a recruit new faces to the family, however Watkins only attended
a couple weeks.
In the summer of 1969, Watkins met a 46-year-old miner in Death Valley
named Paul Crocket. Crocket had been living with family members Brooks
Poston and Juanita Wildebush at the Barker Ranch. Brooks had told Crocket
about Manson and Helter Skelter, and the miner felt they had been programmed
to think the way Manson thought. Crocket then successfully led Brooks,
Wildebush, and Watkins away from Manson and the family.
In a bid to scare Watkins back into the family, many members bragged to Paul
about the murders they committed. At first, Watkins didn't believe the family
could be involved with such hideous acts. But after a few more confrontations,
Paul, Brooks, and Crocket decided to go to the police. Watkins became a key
witness in the Tate-Labianca murder trial, providing prosecutor Vincent
Bugliosi with the blueprints of the Helter Skelter motive, including Charlie's
connections between the Bible and the Beatles. During this time, Paul was
almost killed in a trailer fire that was widely speculated to have been set by
family members upset with Paul for snitching on Charlie.
After the Manson trial, Watkins continued playing music with his friend
Brooks Poston, as well as giving lectures on the effects of drugs and cults.
Later in life, he became the founder and President of the Death Valley Chamber
of Commerce, and the unofficial Major of Tecopa, California. Paul married
twice and had two daughters with his 2nd wife Martha. Paul Watkins died of
Leukemia in the summer of 1990.
^ CHARLES DENTON WATSON
AKA: Tex, Charles Montgomery, Mad Charlie
DOB: 12.2.45
Prisoner ID: B37999
Prison: Mule Creek Sate Prison
Fingerprints
Charles Denton Watson was born on December 2, 1945 in Dallas, Texas. He
was the youngest of three children and grew up in the small town of Copeville,
Texas. By his own accounts, he had a happy childhood; looking up to his
parents, who ran a gas station in town. The Watsons were church going people,
and as Charles got older he became more involved with church activities. In
high school he was an honor role student, and held some town sports records;
he played football, basketball, and track. During his Junior year Watson
became an Editor for the school newspaper,Hi Life.
Things started to change when Charles went away to North Texas State
University in September of 1964. His grades started to slip as he became more
interested in girls and booze. Through a roommate, Charles got a job as a
baggage boy for Braniff Airlines. One of the perks was free flights; once and
awhile he would take a girl to Hawaii for the weekend. It was around this
period when he began smoking Marijuana and experimenting with other drugs.
His Senior year, he decided to go to California to visit a frat brother. Impressed
with it, Charles came back to Texas only to tell his parents he was moving out
west.
In California, Watson signed up for classes at Cal State, and got a job as a wig
salesman in Beverly Hills. He lived in a few different places; first there was an
apartment in Silverlake, and then he moved to Laurel Canyon. He messed up
his knee in a car accident in the Canyon, which kept him out of the Army. After
dropping out of school, he moved to Malibu and opened a wig shop with his
roommate. The store was called Love Locs, and it turned out to be a disaster;
closing after only a few months. To pay the rent, Watson began dealing pot full
time.
Charles picked up Beach Boy Dennis Wilson hitchhiking, and Wilson invited
him back to his mansion. Watson visited the house several times and ended up
living there for the summer. Charles Manson and the family were regulars at
Wilson's mansion, and with time Watson decided to join, giving them all of his
possessions. According to Watson: "For years I'd struggled to accumulate all I
could: the right car, the right clothes, the right things that would somehow
complete what I thought was missing inside me. Now I gave all, everything I
had, to Charlie. Suddenly I felt very free."
At Spahn's Ranch, Charles Watson became Tex Watson (a nickname he got
from Spahn's Ranch owner George Spahn). He lived with family throughout
the fall of 1968, enjoying the girls and the drugs, but decided to leave in the end
of November. Tex moved into a Hollywood apartment with a girl named
Luella. The couple made a good living selling dope; Tex bought expensive
clothes and even began having his hair styled. Luella ended up getting
pregnant, and had to go down to Mexico to have an abortion.
In March of 1969, Tex decided to go back to the family. Things had changed
since he left, people were now buzzing about an upcoming revolution called
Helter Skelter. In April, he was arrested in Van Nuys for public intoxication.
He was high on Belladonna, slithering on his hands and knees through a crowd
of children saying "beep, beep, beep".
Sometime in the spring or summer of 1969, both Charles Manson and Tex went
out looking for people to murder. They ended up in a Casino parking lot
waiting for people to come out. Tex, with a knife in hand, came up on two
elderly women in their car. Just in the nick of time the women sped away;
Manson and Watson chased the two for about fifteen minutes before giving up.
Later that summer, Tex set up a fake drug deal to burn his ex-girlfriend Luella,
and a man named Bernard "Lottsapapa" Crowe out of $2,500 (around $12,300
today). The angered Crowe started threatening Luella, as well as the family, so
Manson ended up shooting him in the stomach (Manson thought Crowe died,
but he didn't. Crowe survived the attack but didn't report it to the police).
On the evening of August 8, 1969, Charles Manson told Tex to go to 10050
Cielo Drive and kill everyone there. So Tex, along with Susan Atkins, Patricia
Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian went to the house and did just that. Watson
led the group and had a hand in the murder of everyone there. The following
day, the group once again piled into the car; this time with Steve Grogan, Leslie
Van Houten, and Manson himself joined them. After driving for hours, Tex,
Leslie, and Pat were dropped out at the Labianca residence. Once again Tex
was the leader, delivering death blows to both Leno and Rosemary. According
to Watson, there would've been more murders, if it weren't for a phone call the
following day. Mrs. Watson was worried about her son because she hadn't
heard from him in six months. She called one of his friends telling him to go
find Tex. Watson then made up a story, and told Manson that the FBI had come
looking for him at his parent's house.
Watson and the rest of the family moved to Death Valley at the end of the
summer. Before going, Tex helped Charlie, Bruce and Clem kill ranch hand
Donald "Shorty" Shea. On October 2nd, Tex decided to flee the ranch and
headed back to Texas; where he got a respectable haircut and even began
dating a girl. On November 30th, he was arrested in Texas for the
Tate/Labianca murders. He and his lawyers fought the extradition back to
California for nine months (this is why he didn't go on trial with Charlie and the
three girls).
Back in California, Tex began regressing to a fetal state; he stopped talking and
eating, dropping 55 pounds. He was admitted to Atascadero State Hospital for a
90-day observation period to determine if he was able to stand trial. He stayed
there until February of 1970 when he was deemed able to stand trial.
Like the others, District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi prosecuted Tex for the
murders. On October 12, 1971, he was convicted of seven counts of first degree
murder and one count conspiracy to commit murder. A week later, the same
jury took only two and-a-half hours to determined that Tex was sane at the time
of the murders. Two days later, on October 21, Charles "Tex" Watson was
sentenced to the gas chamber.
Tex was sent to ^ San Quentin, where he stayed until September of 1972. He
was then moved to the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo after
California briefly outlawed the death penalty. Three years later, he found Jesus
and was born-again with help from the famous prison Chaplain Raymond
Hoekstra. Tex became a student Chaplain; led Bible studies, preached to a
small congregation and even baptized. A year before his first parole hearing,
Tex wrote an autobiography entitled Will You Die For Me? Shortly after, he
married a women named Kristin, and founded his own prison
ministry, Abounding Love Ministries. Watson also completed courses in data
processing and office machine repair. In 1987, a woman named Suzanne
Laberge began visiting him. Laberge, who was actually Suzanne Struthers
(Rosemary Labianca's daughter), attended Watson's 1990 parole hearing,
telling the parole board that because of Christ, Tex was a new man, no longer
dangerous and should be released. Sharon Tate's mother, Doris, and other
members of the Labianca family made it clear that Suzanne wasn't speaking for
the rest of them. In 1993, Tex was moved to Mule Creek State Prison in Ione,
California. Through conjugal visits, Charles has father three boys and one girl
with his wife Kristin. However, California no longer allows conjugal visits for
prisoners convicted of murder.
Charles "Tex" Watson has been denied parole 13 times. His next hearing will
be held in 2005.
^ CHARLES MILLES MANSON
AKA: Charles Willis Manson, Charles Maddox, the Wizard, Jesus Christ, JC,
the Gardener, the Devil
DOB: 11.12.34
Prisoner ID: B33920
Prison: California State Prison(at Corcoran)
fingerprints
rap sheet (Adobe Acrobat required)
Charles Maddox was born "No name" Maddox in Cincinnati, Ohio on
November 12, 1934. His mother was a 16-year-old runaway named Kathleen
Maddox, and his father, a man named Colonel Scott. Charlie took the surname
Manson from William Manson, a man his mother was briefly married to. In
1940, Kathleen was convicted of Strong Armed Robbery and sentenced to 5
years at Moundsville Sate Prison. Young Charlie bounced around from grand
parents to aunts and uncles, and those early years were full of mixed messages.
He went from living with strict religious grand parents, to an uncle that thought
he was a sissy and dressed him in girl's clothes for the first day of school.
Charlie also had more rebellious influences; he lived with an uncle, that one
day blew himself up in his moonshine still because the law was going to take
his land.
Charlie briefly lived with his mother after she was released from jail, but was
given up to the state after his mother's boyfriend said he'd didn't like having
Charlie around. Manson was sent to the Gibault Home for Boys in Terre Haute,
Indiana. After running away and getting arrested on a stolen bike, Charlie was
sent to Father Flanagan's Boys Town. He ran away after 4 days, stole a car, and
committed several armed robberies. When caught, he was sent to the Indiana
School for Boys in Plainfield, Indiana, where he claims he was repeatedly
raped. Once again Charlie escaped and stole a car, this time heading towards
California. He was arrested in Utah, and because he had taken a stolen car
across state lines, Charlie had violated the Dyer Act, a federal law. He spent the
next 3 years in 4 different facilities; the National Training School for Boys in
Washington, D.C., the Natural Bridge Honor Camp, the Federal
Reformatory at Petersburg, VA, and the Federal Reformatory at Chillicothe,
Ohio.
In January of 1955, Charlie married a 17-year-old girl named Rosalie Jean
Willis. The two headed to California in a stolen car, and once again Manson
had violated the Dyer Act; he was arrested in Los Angeles 3 months later.
Rosalie was pregnant, so a sympathetic judge gave Charlie probation, which he
soon broke. He was sentenced to 3 years atTerminal Island Prison. Shortly
after Charles Manson Jr. was born, Rosalie left town with a truck diver; Charlie
never saw Rosalie or his son again. Manson was released from Terminal
Island in September of 1958, and began pimping a few girls in Hollywood. In
May of 1959, Manson was arrested for attempting to cash a stolen $37.50
check. Once again he had broken a federal law, because the check was stolen
from a mailbox; he was given a ten-year suspended sentence. It was around that
time that Manson married a girl named Leona. On June 1, 1960, Charlie was
arrested in Laredo, TX for violating the Mann Act (crossing state lines for the
purposes of prostitution). Manson was ordered to serve the ten-year suspended
sentence he had received for cashing the stolen check.
Charlie was sent to McNeil Island Penitentiary in Washington State. While
serving his sentence, he learned how to play the guitar and became interested in
Scientology. Meanwhile, Leona served Charlie with divorce papers after she
gave birth to his second son, Charles Luther Manson. Charlie was transferred
to Terminal Island in June of '66, and was finally paroled on March 21, 1967.
He requested that they let him stay in jail, but the warden told Charlie he had to
leave. Charlie moved up state to the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco.
With his guitar and philosophies, Charlie finally found a place to fit in. It was
there that he met Mary Brunner, and the family was born.
Charlie and Mary traveled around California, and the family began to take
shape, as more and more people decided to travel with them. Charlie's interest
in a music career brought him and the girls to Los Angeles. Through a prison
friend, Manson had some contacts at Universal Studios; the family soon found
themselves bumping elbows with the rich and famous at posh parties in the
Hollywood hills. Charlie quoted the Bible so well that Universal hired him to
consult on a film about the second coming of Christ. The executives wanted
Christ to come back as a black man, but Charlie didn't see it possible. Whether
or not Manson's opinion had any influence on their decision, the executives
decided to forget about the project. Although the family took residences in
many different locations, the most infamous was Spahn's Movie Ranch in
Chatsworth. On April 1, 1968, Charlie became a father for the third time when
Mary Brunner gave birth to Valentine Michael Manson. Charlie had named him
after the main character in Robert Heinlien's bookStranger In A Strange Land.
While visiting a friend in San Francisco, Charlie met Dennis Wilson, the
drummer of The Beach Boys. Wilson became close with Manson, nicknaming
him " The Wizard". He let Charlie and the Family stay at his mansion, drive his
cars, and take his clothes. Dennis even spent thousands of dollars having the
family's teeth fixed. But more importantly to Charlie, Wilson wanted to sign
Manson to his record label. Through Wilson, Charlie met Terry Melcher, a
record producer and the son of Doris Day. For a period of time, Melcher was
interested in recording Manson's music, as well as making a movie about the
family. In the summer of 1969, family member Tex Watson stole $2,000 from a
black drug dealer named Bernard "lottasapapa" Crowe. Crowe threaten the
Family, so Manson met with him and shot him in the stomach. Around the
same time, news organizations reported the murder of a Black Panther, and
Charlie believed it was Crowe. This increased paranoia among the family, and
they started gathering more weapons, fearing retribution from the Panthers.
However, Crowe wasn't a Black Panther, and he wasn't dead; he survived the
attack but didn't pursue the matter with the police.
In late July of 1969, Mary Brunner, Susan Atkins, and Bobby Beausoleil went
to get money from a man named Gary Hinman. When Hinman refused to give
it to them, the three called Manson at Spahn's Ranch. Along with Bruce Davis,
Charlie immediately came over to Hinman's Topanga Canyon home. Upon
arriving, Charlie and Gary began a shouting match, and Manson took out a
sword and chopped off Hinman's left ear. Immediately afterward, Manson and
Davis left in one of Hinman's cars. Two days later, Beausoleil fatally stabbed
Hinman, supposedly under Manson's orders.
On the evening of August 8, 1969, Manson instructed Charles "Tex" Watson to
go to the house where Terry Melcher used to live, and kill everybody. Manson
then informed Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian to go
and do what Tex said. The four drove to 10050 Cielo Drive and killed Steven
Parent, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger, and Sharon Tate.
After the four killers came back to Spahn's Ranch, Charlie and an unknown
family member went to the Cielo Drive home to see what the others had done.
Manson reportedly moved Tate's body, but changed his mind and put it back
where it originally was. Charlie also left a pair of eyeglasses at the scene to try
and confuse the police. The following day, Manson accompanied Tex Watson,
Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, Steve Grogan, Leslie Van Houten, and
Linda Kasabian to 3301 Waverly Drive. Manson and Watson entered the home
of Leno and Rosemary Labianca. They informed the couple that they were just
being robbed, and wouldn't be hurt. Watson tied the couple up, while Manson
left the residence and sent in Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel with
orders to kill the Labiancas, and hitchhike back to Spahn's Ranch. Manson,
Susan Atkins, Steve Grogan, and Linda Kasabian spent the rest of the night
driving around looking for other people to murder.
Charlie and the Family were arrested on August 16, 1969 for suspicion of auto
theft, but were released because the search warrant was misdated. Charlie felt
that a ranch hand was snitching on him, so he, Bruce Davis, Tex Watson, and
Steve Grogan murdered ranch hand Donald "Shorty" Shea, and buried him
behind Spahn's Ranch. The Family then moved to the Barker Ranch near Death
Valley, and it was there, that the Family was finally apprehended in October of
1969.
During the trial, Manson tried to represent himself, but because of the
complexity of the case, he wasn't allowed. Manson has always claimed that he
was innocent of ordering the murders; however, the jury felt otherwise. Manson
was convicted of 7 counts of First Degree Murder, 1 count of Conspiracy to
Commit Murder and subsequently sentenced to death in the gas chamber.
Manson was also convicted of 2 more counts of First Degree Murder for the
murders of Gary Hinman and Donald "Shorty" Shea, in which he received a
sentence of life imprisonment.
Manson was sent to San Quentin to await his death sentence. However,
California briefly outlawed the death penalty in 1972, and Charlie's sentence
was commuted to life imprisonment, making him eligible for parole in 1978.
Charlie has bounced around the California prison system throughout the years;
from San Quentin, to Folsom State Prison, to the California Medical Facility at
Vacaville, back to Folsom, back to San Quentin, back to Vacaville, back to San
Quentin, on to the California State Prison at Corcoran, to Pelican Bay State
Prison and finally back to Corcoran. Manson spends 23 hours a day in his cell,
he is always hand cuffed while being moved throughout the prison, and doesn't
get to interact with any other inmates. Manson has been attacked 2 times in jail;
once by a member of the Aryan Brotherhood, and once by a Hare Krishna. The
latter doused Charlie with paint thinner, and set him on fire over an argument
the two were having over religion. Manson received 2nd and 3rd degree burns,
mostly to his face and scalp. Charles Manson has been repeatedly denied
parole; his next hearing will be held in the spring of 2007. He is now 68.