Charles Manson
PVHS Forensic Science
Charles Milles Manson
Born November 12, 1934
 American criminal who led a cultic
commune in California in the mid to
late 1960s in California
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The Manson Family
Found guilty of conspiracy to commit
murder
Helter Skelter
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This term he took from the Beatles’ song
with that same name and used as a term
to describe his “apocalyptic race war”
His connection with rock music linked him
with pop culture as he became the epitome
of insanity
Before the conviction he mooched around
with celebrities such as Dennis Wilson of
the Beach Boys and wrote songs for Artists
such as Guns N’ Roses and Marilyn Manson
Early Life
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Born to unwed 16 year old Kathleen
Maddox in Cincinnati, OH as “no name
Maddox”
For a period during his childhood, his
mother was married to William Manson and
was named then
His mother sold him to a childless bar maid
for a pitcher of beer
After an attempt to place him in foster
home, the court placed him into Gibault
School for Boys in Indiana…he fled there
back to his mother who rejected him
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By burgling a grocery store, Manson stole
cash and enabled him to rent a room
He was eventually caught in the act of
stealing a bicycle and was returned to a
juvenile center in Indiana
He escaped there four days later with
another inmate
The pair committed two armed robberies
on their way to the other boy’s uncle
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Caught during the second of two
more grocery store robberies, Manson
was sent at the age of 13, to Indiana
School for Boys
Here he claimed to have been brutally
sexually assaulted and physically abused
 After near daily escape attempts, he
finally escaped in 1951 with two other
boys
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Escaping to Utah, having robbed gas
stations along the way, The three
were caught on the way to California
in stolen cars
 For this federal crime of taking a
stolen car across state borders, the
three were sent to The National
Training School for Boys in
Washington D.C.
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There, despite four
years of schooling,
Manson tested an
average IQ of 109
(He was later
tested at 121), but
was still illiterate
His caseworker
concluded that he
was aggressively
antisocial
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Less than one month before a parole
hearing, Manson “took a razor blade and
held it against another boy’s throat while
he sodomized him”
He was transferred to Federal Reformatory
in Petersburg, VA
In September of 1952, after being
classified as “dangerous”, he was
transferred again to Federal Reformatory in
Chillicothe, OH where he became a “model
citizen” and was granted parole in May of
1954
After temporarily honoring parole
conditions to live with his aunt and
uncle in West Virginia, he moved in
with his mother in the same state
 In January 1955, he married Rosalie
Jean Willis, a hospital nutritionist who
he found “a genuine, marital
happiness” with
 He supported her with smalltime jobs
and auto theft
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In October, three months after his
pregnant wife arrived in LA in a stolen car,
Manson was charged again with interstate
transfer of a stolen vehicle
After psychiatric evaluation, he was given 5
years probation
His failure to appear in the LA hearing on
an identical charge filed in Florida resulted
in his March 1956 arrest in Indianapolis
His probation was revoked and he was
sentenced to 3 years in Terminal Island in
San Pedro CA
Manson’s son, Charles Manson, Jr,
was born while Manson was in prison
 In 1957, Manson’s mother informed
him that Rosalie was living with
another man
 Caught trying to escape in another
stolen car, less than two weeks before
a parole hearing, his parole was
denied and he was given 5 more
years of probation
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Manson received five years probation
after his parole hearing in September
of 1958 the same year he filed for
divorce from Rosalie
 By November, he was pimping a 16year old girl and was receiving
financial support from a girl with
wealthy parents
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Manson plead guilty in 1959 of a charge of
forging a US Treasury check, he received a
10 month suspended sentence and
probation after a young woman tearfully
told the court that she would marry
Manson if he were freed
After Manson took that woman and
another from CA to NM for prostitution
purposes, he was held and questioned for
violation of the Mann Act
Mann Act
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The United States White-Slave Traffic
Act of 1910 (ch. 395, 36 Stat. 825;
codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. § 2421–
2424) prohibited white slavery. It also
banned the interstate transport of females
for “immoral purposes.” Its primary stated
intent was to address prostitution,
immorality, and human trafficking. The act
is better known as the Mann Act, after
James Robert Mann, an American
lawmaker.
Source: wikipedia.com
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He disappeared, which violated his parole
and a bench warrant was issued, an April
1960 indictment on violation of the Mann
Act was placed on Manson
He was arrested in Laredo, TX when one of
his “girls” was picked up on prostitution
charges
He was ordered to serve the remainder of
his 10 year sentence for his check fraud
charges
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In July 1961, he was transferred from the
Los Angeles County Jail to the United
States Penitentiary at McNeil Island
In his annual parole hearing in September
1961, he was noted as having “a
tremendous drive to call attention to
himself”
In 1963, Leona, one of his girls, was
granted a divorce in the pursuit of which
she alleged her and Manson had a child,
Charles Luther
In June 1966, in preparation for early
release, he was sent back to Terminal
Island
 By March 21, 1967, his release date,
he had spent more than half of his 32
years of life in prison
 Telling police that prison was “my
home” he was not granted permission
to stay
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On his release day, and with the help of a
prison acquaintance, he moved into an
apartment in Berkeley, CA
After moving in with Mary Brunner, a 23
year old University of Wisconsin-Madison
grad student, who was an assistant
librarian at UC Berkeley he began to bring
home several women per day
Brunner eventually adapted after 18
women became their roommates
Manson began to establish himself in
the “hippie” movement of 1967
 He began to follow the Church of
Scientology
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He persuaded a large group of females
and a few males that he was a called
leader in Scientology
Before the end of that summer.
Manson had convinced 8 or 9
enthusiasts to join him on a cross
country road trip
 An alternative account does not
mention the 18 roommates, but does
account for the road trip
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Manson’s strange behavior began in spring
of 1968
Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys picked up
a couple of the “Manson Girls”
Following a night recording session, Wilson
returned home to see Manson standing in
his driveway
Manson insisted that he meant Wilson no
harm, but fell to the ground and kissed
Wilson’s feet
Inside the house, Wilson discovered
12 strange women
 Over the next few months, the
number of women doubled
 The new “Family Members” cost
Wilson $100,000
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This included a medical bill for their
treatment of Gonorrhea
 $21,000 for accidental destruction of an
uninsured car
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Wilson returned to the studio to
record some of Manson’s music and
introduced him to some very
important people for this case:
Gregg Jakobson – a music producer
 Terry Melcher – a musician
 Sharon Tate – an actress
 Roman Polanski – a director
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By August 1968, Wilson had his
management clear all of the “family” from
his house
Manson has established a base for the
“family” at Spahn’s Move Ranch
Manson paid the rent for the place by using
his girls to sexually appease the blind
owner of the ranch
The family was soon joined by Charles
Watson, a man who met Manson at
Wilson’s house
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Manson’s family moved on to a new location at
Meyer’s ranch
For some time, Manson had been predicting the
rise in racial tensions of the late 1960s
He had emphasized that Martin Luther King Jr
would be assassinated
On a bitterly cold New Year’s Eve, Manson
convinced that not only he had predicted the
racism, but the Beatles White Album also
predicted the racism in code
He maintained that the album was written for the
family and that they were an elect group
instructed to preserve themselves from impending
disaster
In January 1969, the group moved
into a canary yellow house in Canoga
Park, CA…not far from Spahn Ranch
 Manson called the house the yellow
submarine, yet another Beatles
reference
 There, family members prepared for
“Helter Skelter”, Manson’s predicted
apocalypse
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By February, Manson’s vision was
complete
 Racial Tensions escalated and his
predictions came true
 Rumors flied that Terry Melcher was
to come to the Yellow Submarine to
hear the music Manson had written
about his visions
 He Never Arrived
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March 23, 1969
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Manson broke and entered 10050 Cielo Drive,
the home of Terry Melcher
Melcher had moved into a new residence, so
the home was occupied by Sharon Tate and
Roman Polanski
Manson questioned a Tate photographer and
insisted that he enter the guest house
This informed prosecutors that Manson had
visited the house since the exit of Melcher
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The Polanksi guest
recognized Manson
from Wilson’s home
He complimented
Manson’s music
Crowe and Hinman Murders
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May 18, 1969
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Melcher visited Spahn Ranch to hear Manson
and the family perform
By June, Manson had began to tell the family to
show blacks Helter Skelter
When Manson asked Watson to raise $ for the
assault, he defrauded a black drug dealer,
Bernard “Lotsapoppa” Crowe
Crowe responded with a threat to wipe out all
of the Spahn Ranch
Manson Responded with the shooting of Crowe
on July 1, 1969 in his Hollywood apartment
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July 25, 1969
Manson sent three family members to
the home of Gary Hinman
 Hinman was suspected of inheriting
some money
 Manson wanted all of the money, but
Hinman refused to turn it over to the
family members
 Manson slashed his ear and family
member, Bobby Beausoleil stabbed
Hinman to death
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Beausoleil was arrested on August 6,
1969 after being caught driving
Hinman’s car
 August 8
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Manson instructed Watson to take three
family members to the old Melcher home
and…
 “totally
destroy everyone in [it], as
gruesome as you can”
 He told the girls that they were to do just as
Watson instructed
Tate Slaughter
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Victims
18 year old innocent driver – Steven
Parent
 Wojciech Frykowski
 Sharon Tate – 8 months pregnant
 Jay Sebring – father to Tate’s baby
 Abigail Folger – heiress to the Folger’s
Coffee franchise
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Polanski was in London shooting a film
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One night later
Manson and 6 family members ended up
at 3301 Waverly Dr, the home of Leno
LaBianca, a grocery store executive, and
his wife Rosemary
 With a bayonet, Manson killed Leno on
his couch
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 Watson
carved “WAR” on Leno’s exposed
abdomen
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Rosemary was stabbed by all three girls
involved
Sharon Tate Pictures
LaBianca Pictures
Investigation
LAPD found bloody writing on the wall
of the Hinman Home
 They even mentioned that Beausoleil
was a member of a group of hippies
led by a guy named “Charlie”
 The investigation team for the Tate
murders thought that the murder was
simply a drug case and ignored
LAPD’s warning
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William Garretson, the resident of the Tate
guest house, was held briefly as a suspect
He was released on August 11, 1969 after
passing a polygraph test
On August 12, 1969 LAPD informed the
press that there was NO connection
between the LaBianca and Tate murders
August 16th, Manson and 25 family
members were arrested on auto theft
charges, but due to a misdated warrant
they were released a few days later
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Weapons were seized during the arrest
By the end of August, the Tate team
made a connection between bloody
writing at the LaBianca house and the
Beatles
 In mid-October, the LaBianca team
learned of the Hinman case
 This led them to Meyers Ranch and
another arrest of Manson and several
family members on yet another suto
theft charge
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One of Manson’s 18 roommates from UC
Berkeley informed police of the connection
between the murders
On December 1, 1969 – Watson, and two
other family members were arrested for
the Tate case
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Another family member located in Mobile, AL
surrendered to police in Concord, NH on
December 2
The arrest was sparked by the reception of the
.22 caliber gun used by Watson on Parent,
Sebring, and Frykowski
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A local ABC
television crew
discovered the
bloody clothes from
the Tate case, but
the knives are still
missing
The Trial
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June 15, 1970
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Kasabian, a family member, was granted
immunity to release information related to the
crimes
Manson’s request to act as his own attorney
was denied by the court just days before the
trial began
On Friday, July 24th, testimony began
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Manson appeared in court with an X carved into his
forehead
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He claimed that he was “considered inadequate and
incompetent to speak or defend self – and had ‘X’d self
from world”
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Over the weekend, family members carved
the same X symbols into their foreheads
Manson admitted to one mistake in his
effort to cause “Helter Skelter”
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He failed to deposit Rosemary LaBianca’s wallet
into the streets of a black neighborhood to
frame an LA gang
The wallet was instead left in the bathroom of a
gas station in a black neighborhood…to “show
blackie how to do it”
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Family members haunted the halls of the
courthouse throughout the murder
To prevent this from continuing, prosecution
subpoenaed them as prospective witnesses
They then moved outside carrying visible hunting
knives and X’s on their foreheads
On October 5th, the judge refused allow
suspension of cross-examination of a witness to
which Manson responded with a physical assault
of the Judge
The Judge returned to court for the remainder of
the trial with a revolver under his robe
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On November 19, the prosecution
rested…and to the shock of the court, the
defense rested as well without ever calling
a witness
Manson was allowed to speak to the judge
but without the presence of the jury to
prevent violation of CA Supreme Court
decision on People v. Aranda
Manson told the judge
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“the music is telling the youth to rise up against
the establishment…Why blame it on me? I don’t
write the music…”
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January 25, 1971
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Guilty verdict was presented to Manson,
Krenwinkel and Atkins
Van Houten was convicted of two counts of
murder and one count of conspiracy
Midways through the penalty phase, Manson
shaved his head and trimmed his beard to a
fork saying “I am the devil, the devil always has
a bald head”
Once the jury began to consider the death
penalty, the female family members all shaved
their head as well
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On March 29, 1971
– Jury returned
with the death
sentence on all 4
defendants on all
counts
April 19 – Judge
sentenced all
defendants to
death by injection
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In February 1972, Supreme Court of
California revoked the death penalty and
all parties charges were dropped to life in
prison
Manson was also found to be guilty of the
murders of Gary Hinman and Donald Shea
and received life sentences for both
murders
Manson’s mother made a statement
following these sentences
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“my son had known no neglect, he had even
been pampered by all the women who
surrounded him…”
September 5, 1975 – the family
exploded back into the spotlight with
an assassination attempt on President
Gerald Ford
 Squeaky Fromme, the assassin, was
sentenced 15 years to life, the first
person sentenced under US Code
Title 18 Chapter 84 which made it
federal offense to attempt an
assassination of the US President
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Grogan, a family member responsible for
the death of Shorty Shea, was the only
member to date to be paroled
In the 1980s, Manson gave three notable
TV interviews about the murders, where he
came clean on all accounts
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Most notably, March 7, 1986: Charlie Rose for
CBS Nightwatch – won an Emmy Award for best
interview
Also, Geraldo Rivera interviewed him in 1988
for a special on Satanism
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In 1994, Catherine Share, a family member told
the press that her testimony was completely
fabricated as per the instruction on Manson to
save him from the Gas Chamber
January 1996, Manson follower George Stimson
founded a Manson website proclaiming Manson’s
innocence
September 2007, MSNBC aired the full 1997
interview with Manson from San Quentin State
Prison
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The original interview only aired for 7 minutes due to the
unruly an unapologetic behavior of Manson
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This new release was the full interview…completely
uncensored
March 15, 2008 – AP reported that
human remains had been found at
Barker Ranch, one of the family
homes
 On May 21, the investigation ended
with no human remains located
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