la magazine - manson, an oral history

8/13/2019 LA Magazine - Manson, An Oral History

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Manson: An Oral History

Forty years ago Charles Manson, apsychopath passing himself off asa hippie guru, sent members ofhis "Family" on one of thebloodiest killing sprees in L.A.

history. Those involved in themurders and their aftermathspeak out


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Rugged and eerily beautiful, the property at

the High Western end of the San Fernandovalley, where the killers launched theirbloody attacks, now stands empty andunmarked. The old Spahn movie ranchburned down in the !"#s, and the landremains undeveloped. $one, too, is the%enedict &anyon house where the first nightof slaughter occurred. Those who look for##'# &ielo (rive)and many do)look invain. *t was demolished in the !!#s, and the+editerranean villa that replaced it bears a

different address. The hillside residence at# Waverly (rive in -os Feli, where themadness continued on the second night, isintact, but it also has a new street number. /sfor %arker Ranch, the desert hideaway towhich the murderers fled, it burned this

spring.

Still, the events that transpired at these placeshave left an indelible scar on -os /ngeles0s


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psyche. The murders, so biarre, so arbitrary,could have happened only here. For 1# years

the city has been haunted by the names of thevictims, usually run together as Tate2-a%ianca. *t is important, though, toremember them as individuals. 3n the firstnight4 actress Sharon Tate, 56, who hadstarred in Valley of the Dollsand was married

to director Roman 7olanski8 hairstylist 9aySebring, '8 :oytek Frykowski, 5, an oldfriend of 7olanski0s from 7oland8 and /bigailFolger, 5', Frykowski0s sweetheart andheiress to the coffee fortune. Steven 7arent,an ;2year2old delivery boy, simplyhappened to be there. 3n the second night4-eno -a%ianca, 11, president of $ateway+arkets, a small grocery store chain, and hiswife, Rosemary, ;, who ran the clothingshop %outi


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but +anson is an enduring symbol ofunfathomable evil. He transformed seemingly

peaceful hippies)sons and daughters of themiddle class)into heartless killers. Then heset them loose in -os /ngeles0s mostprivileged neighborhoods.

=ven after all this time, mention of +ansonfrightens many who lived through the monthsof terror. /ttempts to solicit informationconclude, as often as not, with slammed2down phones. The senseless and intimatenature of the violation)men and womenbutchered in their own homes)is still too

upsetting. >et those who would talk ?andmany ultimately did@ give voice to one of themost horrific events in -os /ngeles history.The +anson case matters not only because ofthe magnitude of the crime but because itrevealed the violent, predatory side of the

!6#s. When Winifred &hapman, who kepthouse at &ielo, discovered the bodies Austafter ; a.m. on /ugust !, !6!, any hope thatthe counterculture would be immune was


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shattered. The !6#s ended by degrees, but itwas here that the ending began.

. TAT!

MCA!L Mc#A$$,Los Angeles PoliceDepartment homicide detective. Seventy-three years old, he is retired.* arrived at theTate property at 41' or 4'# on the afternoon

of /ugust !. There was a large gate thatprotected the driveway. There was a carparked in the middle of the driveway, andthere was a body in the car. That was Steven7arent. He was slumped over to the side onthe front seat. He0d been shot. /s *approached the house * noticed that the wordB7*$C was written in what appeared to beblood on the front door. Then * went inside.Sharon Tate and 9ay Sebring were lying onthe living room floor, both with multiple stab

wounds. / rope was tied around Sharon0sneck and draped over a rafter. The other endof the same rope was affiDed to 9ay Sebring0sneck. They were probably about four feet


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apart. Sharon was in a bikini2style nightie.She was eight2and2a2half months pregnant,

and * could tell she had been stabbed '2plustimes. Sebring had been stabbed and beatenover the head. There was blood everywhere. *went through the house and down a longhallway leading out to the back door wherethe pool was, and * went out into the lawn

and found /bigail Folger. She was in anightgown, and she0d been stabbed numeroustimes. Her gown was soaked in blood. Then alittle bit farther on was :oytek Frykowski.He had numerous head wounds, like he0dbeen hit with some kind of obAect. He alsohad many stab wounds and had been shotseveral times. He was fully clothed, and hewas covered in blood. *n the space of tenminutes * saw all five bodies. *0d workedhomicide for five years and seen a lot of

violence. This was the worst.%A$$& #AL$%',Los Angeles PoliceDepartment homicide detective. He is 88 andretired.When * arrived, there was a perimeter


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all the way around to keep the media out.They had their own camp and so much

e


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(LLAM #A))!T*'$,caretaker atielo Drive. At !", he is a #ig-rig tr$ck

driver.They were more or less convincedthat they had the person who committed themurders4 me. They took me across the lawn,and * saw three bodies)/bigail and herboyfriend and then Steve 7arent. *t wasn0tpleasant. Steve was an ac


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Mc#A$$The deputy coroner took chargeof the bodies. He took their liver

temperatures to try to determine the time ofdeath. He put the remains in plastic bags. /s *recall, we removed Sharon and Sebring0sbodies first. Then we went to /bigail and:oytek. Steven 7arent was the last bodyremoved.

#AL$%'/s everyone left, * was told tostay and guard the interior. * stayedovernight. * couldn0t find a good area to leanagainst or lie down on or relaD againstbecause of all the blood. * tried to find a spot

at the front door, but it was too bloody. * triedto find a place inside, but when you openedthe door, there was so much blood on thewall. * finally found a place in back and fellasleep.

Mc#A$$The neDt day, which was Sunday,we started the autopsies. The -./. &ountycoroner0s office was in the basement of theold Hall of 9ustice. *t was like a dungeon)an


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awful place to be, like Frankenstein0s lab. %utwhen you have a homicide, you always go to

your autopsies. So * was there as TomIoguchi did Sharon0s autopsy, then herbaby0s. * had a temporary partner, 9ess%uckles. /s * was observing the autopsies, hegot a call from the -os /ngeles &ountySheriff0s (epartment. They had a case in

+alibu in which $ary Hinman, a musician,had been murdered. / guy named %obby%eausoleil had been picked up for the crime.There were similarities between their caseand the Tate killings. *t was a vicious murder,and the words B73-*T*&/- 7*$$>C hadbeen written on the wall in blood. Thesheriff0s detectives told %uckles about this,but %uckles didn0t see any connection. When* asked him what that was all about, he said,B*t was nothing.C That was a screwup, a

maAor screwup. -et me tell you, we wouldhave solved the case in a month if *0d knownabout this.


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. LA+A$CA

#AL$%'The second night after the Tate

fiasco, * was at the homicide division of7arker &enter downtown typing reports. * gota phone call. *t was a reporter from the policebeat, and he said, B(anny, listen to this.>ou0re gonna get a call right now. They gotanother one of those bloody ones Aust like theone you0re working on. /nd there0s a knifestuck in the throat of the victim.C * hung up,and the phone immediately rings. *t was theinspector. So * drove to -os Feli. When *walked in, -eno -a%ianca0s body was lying

on the floor in front of the couch on the leftside, and it was sitting in a huge pool ofblood. The couch was full of blood. Theybled him dry. * noticed that his head wascovered with a pillow slip all the way downover his chest, and *0m thinking about theknife that0s supposed to be stuck in his throat.* couldn0t see it. Somebody on the premises)an ambulance crewman or another


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policeman)had seen something and leakedit.

Rosemary -a%ianca0s body was in thebedroom. She had fallen over the far side ofthe bed. There was a pillowcase over herhead, too, and around her neck was anelectric cord connected to a bed lamp that hadtoppled over)not, in my opinion, by astruggle but by +rs. -a%ianca pulling herselfinto a cavity between the wall and the bed.That0s where she died. She was on the floor,partially disrobed, and she had a lot ofpuncture wounds)turned out there were 1#2

odd wounds. She bled inwardly. She drownedin her own blood.

3n one wall in the living room, written inblood, it said B(eath to 7igs.C 3n anotherwall, also written in blood, was the word

BR*S=.C Scraped into -eno0s stomach with afork)a bifurcated fork)was the wordBW/R.C The fork was stuck in his stomach.The word had been written while he was still


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alive, because he0d bled through the letters.*n the kitchen, the words BH=/-T=R

SJ=-T=RC)with heltermisspelled)werewritten in blood on the refrigerator.

When the coroner took the pillow slip off-eno0s head, there was that knife plungedinto his throat that the reporter had told meabout.

%he press kne& far more than the police&anted it to, #$t it didn't kno& everything.(o one e)cept the investigators and thekillers &as a&are that *Healter Skelter+ had#een &ritten on the Laianca refrigerator.

That night * was interviewed by a televisionreporter. He pointedly asked me, B(o youthink this case is connected to the other oneKCHe meant Tate. * told him, B* think it0s moreof a copycat case.C * introduced that

eDpression, and *0ve lived with it forever. *twas a helluva mistake on my part, because itwasn0t until much later that things wouldbegin to fall into place.


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. T!))')

n A$g$st the police released /illiam0arretson, &ho had passed a lie detectortest. 0arretson hadn't heard anything, saysla&yer arry %arlo&, &ho represented him.*%he killers had no idea he &as in the g$est

ho$se.+ /ith seven people dead and the lones$spect cleared, fear cons$med Los Angeles.A everly Hills sporting goods store sold 122firearms in t&o days. %he price of g$ard dogsrose from 3!22 to 3,!22.

(A))!$ +!ATT&,actor and director.He helped f$nd a 31!,222 re&ard for thearrest and conviction of the %ate killers. Heis 41.This hit the movie community verydeeply. 3n a #2point scale it disturbed me ataround a 5". 9ay Sebring, Sharon, /bigail,

and :oytek were friends of mine. *t wassomething that happened, and no one knewwhy. =verybody was trying to come up witha reason. The collective response to these


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killings was what you might eDpect if a smallnuclear device had gone off.

MA)T$ )A$*''FF,prod$cer. Sharon%ate and 5oman Polanski fell in love on theset ofThe Fearless :ampire Jillers 6"74,&hich &as prod$ced #y 5ansohoff, directed#y Polanski, and starred %ate. He is 81.*twas hideous. *t was a terrifying eDperiencefor everyone who lived here.

Mc#A$$7eople in Hollywood werepetrified. They didn0t know what was goingon. =verybody we talked to on the street wasAust afraid. They0d ask, B/re you making

progressKC

(e&s coverage &as fren9ied, m$ch of itriddled &ith inn$endo and inacc$racies. (oone st$m#led &orse thanTime. n A$g$st11 it reported: *%heories of se), dr$g and

&itchcraft c$lts spread ;$ickly in Holly&ood,fed #y the fact that Sharon and Polanskicirc$lated in one of the film &orld's moreoff#eat cro&ds.< Polanski, &ho &as in


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London at the time of the m$rders, is notedfor his maca#re movies.+ %he maga9ine also

claimed: *Sharon's #ody &as fo$nd n$deorty-three years old, he is anactor.The media were reaching and

speculating. There were some really salaciousthings written about my uncle, Sharon, and:oytek. The press was practically butchering


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police, and my captain. 3n Tuesday we allgot together and determined we had to

eliminate each of these theories.We went to Washington, (.&., interviewingpeople, and then all the way across+assachusetts. We flew to Iew >ork. Wewere eliminating suspects. Finally we toldmy boss that we needed to go to 9amaica. The7an /m pilot spent a lot of time there. So weflew to Jingston, where we eliminated thepilot. We were back at s


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a miner and heavy-e;$ipment operator.*came back from serving in the infantry in

:ietnam and in !6; went to work at SpahnRanch for L5.'# a week. * loved the place. *thad the most beautiful trails. *t had horses,ponies, and a goat. There were red foDes, red2tailed hawks, and peregrine falcons. +arvin$aye, -ou Rawls, and 9erry $arcia came to

ride there. /nd there were beautiful girls. ForL.'# an hour you could climb mountaintrails and look out over the San Fernando:alley. * was +r. Spahn0s right2hand man. *cleaned 6 stalls a day and handled thehorses. *t was a Aoy. Then &harles +ansonand his people came and trashed the place.

+LL #L!A*'$,Los Angeleso$ntydep$ty sheriff assigned to pro#e a$to thefts.He is 44 and retired.&harles +anson andsome of his group Aust showed up at the

Spahn Ranch and started living in the moviesets. +ost of the buildings were false fronts,but they made them into rooms. * thoughtthey were Aust a bunch of hippies, but we


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started getting reports that members of theStraight Satans, a motorcycle gang from

:enice, were going to the ranch on weekendsand partying. The word was that they weretrading drugs for seD with the women there.Some of the women were runaway Auvenileswho provided +anson with cash and creditcards stolen from their homes. We also had

reports that members of the group wereshooting a machine gun. The +anson peoplewere also stealing and building dune buggiesand driving them onto adAoining properties,creating a nuisance. / couple of nights beforethe raid, we hiked into the ranch and found astolen, brand2new !6! Ford and a stolen:olkswagen. That was the main basis for oursearch warrant)to recover these vehicles andtry to identify who stole them.

* really didn0t pay much attention to +anson.We0d already taken most of the adults out,and everyone was saying, BWhere0s&harlieKC He was hiding under one of the


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buildings. The deputies had to go in andforcibly remove him. * arrested them one

week after the Tate murders, but none ofthem said anything. =verybody Aust sat there.

eca$se 0leason co$ldn't determine &hichmem#er of anson's gro$p stole thevehicles, the district attorney did not filecharges. /ithin t&o &eeks anson and mostof his follo&ers had departed for a hideo$t inDeath Valley.

%arker Ranch was Aust another place out inthe desert. *t had been nice at one time. *t0sstone and stucco, and there0s a fence around

it. *t sits up on a hill, and you can look downinto (eath :alley. %ut by !6!, it wasabandoned and pretty run2down. /grandmother of one of the girls in +anson0sgroup owned the adAoining property, +yers

Ranch. The girl told +anson, BThere0s thisplace where we might be able to stay.C That0swhy +anson settled there.


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. CA-T)!%

/AM!* -)*!LL,alifornia High&ay

Patrol officer. n "7", he &as assigned toDeath Valley. Seventy-three years old, he isretired.+anson and his BFamilyC pioneered aroad into the (eath :alley Iational+onument. They were driving up in there,and the Iational 7ark Service didn0t wantthat. The park service took an earthmovingmachine to the western edge of the valley toremove +anson0s tracks. They left it up thereto block the road. That pissed &harlie off. Heand his group set fire to the machine.

%he park service discovered the #$rnedearthmover in early Septem#er. n the 1"th,P$rsell, accompanied #y 5anger DickPo&ell, visited arker 5anch.

We drove down $oler Wash. /bout halfway

we met an old army truck coming uphill. Thedriver was a miner named 7aul &rockett. Thepassenger was a teenager named %rooks7oston. They indicated that some odd things


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were going on. They said the leader of thisgroup staying at the ranch would put on a

robe and preach. They said there were a largenumber of females there and that they hadorgies and used drugs. They said the grouphad a fleet of dune buggies and that duringthe night they traveled the valleys up there asif they were re2creating the days of Rommel

and the /frika Jorps.

So we backtracked. * went to the right, (ickto the left. He ran into a group of females.Some were nude. * saw what looked to be acamp. When * in


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n cto#er 2 a$thorities raided the arkerand yers ranches, taking ten &omen and

three men into c$stody. Among thosearrested &ere S$san Atkins 6aka Sadie ae0l$t9, Patricia Eren&inkel 6aka Eatie,Leslie Van Ho$ten 6aka Leslie Sankston,Lynette >romme 6aka S;$eaky, atherineShare 6aka 0ypsy, Sandra 0ood 6aka

Sandy, and Steve 0rogan 6aka lem.fficers discovered more d$ne #$ggies andevidence tying the gro$p to the #$rning of thepark service earthmover.

We piled all the stuff in a wash so we

wouldn0t forget to pick it up on the way out)which is eDactly what we did. 3n 3ctober5 7owell and * and another ranger went backto get it. 3n the way in, we saw a &hevrolettruck loaded with ''2gallon drums ofgasoline. We figured more people were there,

so we called for backup. * sat on a knolloverlooking %arker Ranch while the rangerswent to the other side. *t was beginning to getdusk, so * decided we0d better make a move. *


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went to the back door and shoved it open.There was a group of people. * announced

who * was and ordered them to put theirhands on their heads. * ordered them out.Then * entered the house. *t was totally dark.3n the table was a candle in a glass mug.

With the mug in one hand and my Smith MWesson .'" +agnum in the other, * wentinto a tiny bathroom. Io one was there. %utas * lowered my candle to a little cabinetbeneath the sink, * saw long hair hanging outof the door. /ll of a sudden fingers beganwiggling and the door began to open and this

figure emerged. * said, B*f you make one falsemove, *0ll blow your head off.C So this figureslowly uncoils himself and in a very friendlyvoice says, BHi.C * asked who he was, and heidentified himself as &harles +anson. He wasas polite as he could be. 3ver the years *0ve

had a lot of people, including a Audge, ask,BWhy didn0t you Aust shoot himKC %ut *always answer, BHow can you shoot a guywhose first word to you is NHi0KC


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We rode down $oler Wash in a pickup. Thegirls we arrested began whispering and

giggling. &harlie Aust stared at the backs oftheir heads the way a parent does with unrulykids. The girls felt it. They turned around andall of a sudden were silent.

&harlie told us that his group was out therelooking for a place to hide because there wasan impending race war. He told us that theblacks were going to win. He told us thatbecause we were number one, cops, andnumber two, white, we should stop rightthere, let them loose, and flee for our lives.

That, of course, didn0t happen.

. **A$ AT0$*

P$rsell and the officers took the prisoners tondependence, the seat of nyo o$nty. %hegro$p &as charged &ith a$to theft,possession of stolen property, and arson. tsringleader &as #ooked as *anson, harles. aka @es$s hrist, 0od.+ D$ring the


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second &eek of cto#er, t&o frightened 4-year-olds emerged from the #r$sh several

miles from arker 5anch. Eitty L$tesingerand Stephanie Schram told nyo o$ntyofficers that they &ere fleeing the >amily.L$tesinger &as the girlfriend of o##yea$soleil, &ho &as #eing held in connection&ith the m$rder of m$sician 0ary Hinman,

the crime @ess $ckles had dismissed the dayof the %ate a$topsies. n learning she &as inc$stody, Los Angeles o$nty sheriff'sdep$ties drove to ndependence to intervie&her. She told them that ea$soleil &as amem#er of harles anson's >amily andhad killed Hinman in a disp$te over money.According to L$tesinger, S$san AtkinsFoneof the girls arrested at arker 5anchFhadparticipated in the m$rder. /hen thedep$ties intervie&ed Atkins, she confirmed

most of &hat L$tesinger had said. Atkins &as#ooked on s$spicion of m$rder andtransferred to the Sy#il rand nstit$te for/omen in Los Angeles.


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she went to the bedroom in the rear and that9ay Sebring was sitting on the bed talking to

Sharon Tate. She said she got them to comeout. They thought it was a robbery. She saidthey put a rope around their necks and threwit over a beam. That got my attention. *0dbeen to that house several years before)*knew there were beams in the living room.

She told me that :oytek Frykowski ran outon the lawn screaming, BHelp, helpOC Hereshe put her hands on her hips and said, B>ouknow, nobody came, and * killed him.C Shesaid Sharon Tate was crying and begging,B7lease don0t kill me. * Aust want to have mybaby.C She said, B* looked her straight in theeye and said, N%itch, * don0t care.0 Then *killed her.C She said they were going to pullout the victims0 eyeballs and smash them, butthey ran out of time. She said, BWe had to

love them to kill them.C She said theyreleased these people into the universe. Shealso told me how wonderful the feeling iswhen you stab someone and stick the knife


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in. This was thrilling to her. There was not ashred of sympathy on her part for the victims.

/fter about an hour, * said * had to take ashower. * couldn0t stand it. -ater, as * waswalking down the aisle, * saw RonnieHoward, another inmate. * grabbed her andsaid, BThis diy little bitch Aust told me shekilled Sharon Tate. What am * going to doKC

/ week or so afterward, * was transferred tothe &alifornia *nstitute for Women. * had aterrible dream. * saw Sharon Tate and 9aySebring covered in blood telling me, B>ouknow what you have to do.C * went and sat

outside in the yard and waited for acounselor. * said, B* have to talk to you. *have information regarding who killedSharon Tate.C / detective came to take mystatement.

Atkins also confessed to 5onnie Ho&ard, aconvicted prostit$te, adding details. She saidshe had dipped a to&el into Sharon %ate's#lood to &rite *P0+ on the door and that


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anson >amily mem#ers had committed theLaianca m$rdersFa connection the LAPD

still had not made. She said >amily mem#ersharles *%e)+ /atson, Patricia Eren&inkel,Leslie Van Ho$ten, and Linda Easa#ian hadparticipated in the m$rders. She offeredevidence kno&n only to the killers and thepolice: *Healter Skelter+ had #een &ritten

on the Laianca refrigerator. n (ovem#er4 Ho&ard spoke to the a$thorities.

Mc#A$$:irginia $raham and RonnieHoward broke the case. We got a call fromSybil %rand, and they said that Susan /tkins

had been talking to these two inmates./nother detective and * went there, and therewas no


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. T! -)'*!CT'$

$C!$T +#L'*,dep$ty districtattorney. He is 4C and the a$thor of several#ooks, incl$dingHelter Skelter6co&ritten&ith $rt 0entry, the definitive acco$nt ofthe case.* was walking out of court when

/aron Stovit, who was head of the trialdivision, grabbed me by the arm and broughtme into the office of +iller -eavy, who wasabove /aron. Two -/7( detectives werethere, and * hear the name BTate.C They usedto call it the Tate2-a%ianca case before

+anson showed up and upstaged the victims.* said to /aron, B/re we handling thisKC Hesaid, B>eah.C

n Decem#er Los Angeles police chiefd&ard . Davis called a ne&s conference

to anno$nce that the %ate and Laiancam$rders had #een solved. %hree of thealleged killersFanson, Atkins, and VanHo$tenF&ere already in c$stody in nyo


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o$nty. %e) /atson &as in c$stody in %e)asand Patricia Eren&inkel in Ala#ama. Linda

Easa#ian had disappeared.+#L'*3ne of the problems was gettingthe physical evidence straight. %ack inSeptember, a ten2year2old kid, Steven Weiss,found the revolver that had been used in theTate killings. The murderers had tossed it outthe window on %everly $len as they weredriving away. The boy0s family had turned itin to the :an Iuys division of the -/7(.The police already had the murder weapon,but they didn0t know they had it. They were

looking all over the country for it, even in&anada.

Mc#A$$We sent out bulletins, pictures,brochures. Somehow :an Iuys didn0t get thenews. This was a screwup.

+#L'* There were two separateinvestigations)Tate and -a%ianca)andthey were going off on their own. Theyweren0t sharing information.


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#AL$%'+y boss, -ieutenant 7aul-e7age, who ran the -a%ianca team, trusted

the people he worked with, and they trustedhim. %ob Helder, who ran the Tate team, wasfeisty. This may not sound like much, butduring meetings he0d throw his feet up on thecaptain0s desk. -e7age and Helder bumpedheads off the bat. When information came in,

they didn0t share unless the captain calledthem in and said, B>ou guys have to talk.C:ince very


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based on admissible evidence. *f * believe theperson is guilty, * know that * can find the

evidence)not manufacture it, find it. *f *think a person is guilty, something comesover me. When * started looking at the policereports and saw the kind of person +ansonwas, * realied it was only a matter of timebefore *0d come up with enough evidence.

1. CA)L!* MA$*'$

n "7", harles anson &as IC years old.He'd arrived in alifornia from hio in "!!

at the &heel of a stolen erc$ry &ith hispregnant &ife at his side. ver the ne)t 1years he &as convicted of everything fromtransporting stolen vehicles across state linesto forging government checks. He &as in ando$t of the federal prison at %erminal sland.A modestly talented m$sician, he adored theeatles and aspired to #ecome a recordingstar. He &as also a Scientologist and &o$ldclaim that he had achieved the religion's


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highest level. He had spent half his life#ehind #ars.

+#L'*+anson0s name at birth was BIoIame +addoD.C He didn0t know his father.+addoD was his mother0s maiden name.+anson was the surname of one of the menhis mother spent time with. He felt hismother didn0t love him. He felt he0d beendealt a bad hand. He was only five foot two)he was hostile about that. He took to crimeearly. %y , he0d committed an armedrobbery. /t ", he committed a homoseDualrape. He committed a lot of federal crimes,

which carry long Aail terms.To +anson there was no such thing as goodand bad, no such thing as right and wrong.=veryone was acting out their own karma.>ou0re doing what you0re supposed to do. He

admired Hitler. He said, BHitler is a tuned2inguy who leveled the karma of the 9ews.C+anson is someone without regrets orcompunctions.


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-ooking at his records, * found only threeinstances in which +anson had been

eDamined by a psychiatrist and then onlysuperficially. *f he0d been properly eDamined,may#e)and * italicie the word)this rageseething in him would have been detected,and he0d never have been set free. He didn0twant to be set free. 7rison was where he felt

at home. * called the authorities at Terminal*sland, the last place he was incarcerated, andthey told me, B+anson wanted to stay behindbars.C He felt prison was his home, the onlyone he0d ever had. He liked it. %ut in +archof !6", they let him go. *f he0d onlyremained in prison, as many as ' peoplemight not be in their graves. * say ' becausethat0s the number the +anson Family tossesaround. They didn0t Aust commit the Tate and-a%ianca murders. They say, BWe offed '

people.CFrom Terminal *sland, +anson went up toSan Francisco. The Haight2/shbury districtwas paradise for him. *t was free seD, love,


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drugs, and food, and kids began congregatingaround him. There was something about him.

He was bright and had the rap of a streethustler. The kids liked his music. He sangabout ending the war in :ietnam. %ecause hewas older, kids thought they could learnsomething from him. %efore you know it, agroup of them were following him around.

They formed the Family, got a school bus,and started traveling up and down the West&oast. He began to gain control of these kids.

1. T! FAML&

%he >amily had many hangers-on, #$t thecore gro$p &as no larger than I2. %heys;$atted all over Los Angeles, s$rviving onfood scro$nged from grocery storeD$mpsters. D$ring the s$mmer of "78, the

gro$p lived in the Pacific Palisades home ofeach oy Dennis /ilson, &reakingtho$sands of dollars in damages. 6/ilsonhad picked $p t&o female >amily mem#ers


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hitchhiking one afternoon. %he ne)t thing hekne&, anson had moved in. Spahn 5anch,

ho&ever, #ecame the >amily's #ase.+#L'*+anson was the king of SpahnRanch, the maharaAa.

-)*!LL+anson clearly held himselfabove the others. They dressed in rags. *t

looked like they0d robbed a $oodwill store.%ut +anson dressed in a buckskin shirt withfringe down the sleeves and buckskin pantswith fringe down the legs. The girls had sewnthe outfit for him.

+#L'**n the hierarchy of the Family,the men were on top and the women had onlytwo purposes4 to procreate and to serve themen. *f &harlie could have done it, he0d havekept women out. %ut he needed them)toattract more men.

*T!!$ . )'+!)T*,Los Angeles#$rea$ chief ofThe Iew >ork Times. He is77 and a professor at 0eorge /ashingtonJniversity.* met the +anson women when *


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about)and stomped off. We lived in &anoga7ark, and * started walking toward Spahn

Ranch. * was picked up by two of the girls)one was (eirdre Shaw, /ngela -ansbury0sdaughter. * met &harlie that first night. Theyhad dinner, and everybody sat on the floor.We passed around casseroles and salads.>ou0d take three or four bites and pass them

on. =verybody ate with the same utensils outof the same bowls. /fter the meal, the groupshared a couple of Aoints. Then &harlie gotout his guitar. He sang songs like B&ease to=DistC4

7retty girl, pretty, pretty girl, cease to eDist.9ust come and say you love me.

$ive up your worldP

*0m your kind. *0m your kind.

He sang that song on my first night. * felt like* was loved and accepted the way * was. *twas unconditional. * needed that. * wasmisunderstood. * was ".


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CAT!)$! *A)!,mem#er of the>amily. Si)ty-si) years old, she is a &riter.*

first met &harlie in the summer of !6;. Hedrove up to the house where * was stayingwith %obby %eausoleil. He was in a beaten2down &hevy. He wore a cowboy hat and hada beard. He wanted us to go swimming withhim. %obby got on his chopper, and * got into

the &hevy with the cowboy. Sitting in thefront seat with him was a redhead, whoturned out to be S


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topless. The %eatles0 B+agical +ysteryTourC was blaring in the background.

* went into a bathroom to change, and thisperson walks up to me and he0s no longer acowboy. He has freshly washed chestnut hair,a tan, and is wearing an open silk kimono andharem pants. He looked like a rock star, andhe introduced himself like we0d never met4BHello, *0m &harlie +anson.C * went toSpahn Ranch that night. 3n a stage in thewestern saloon a member of the group waslying on his stomach, crying and thanking&harlie for setting him free. &harlie now

wore a cream2colored robe, and his hair wasdown. He looked like &hrist. He was saying,BThat0s all right, brother. >ou can give it allto me. 9ust let it go and be free.C &harlie0sface was shining. * thought he was the wisestand kindest man *0d ever met. He made me

his woman right away. That0s how ithappened with all the new girls.


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+#L'*He used conventionaltechni


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+#L'**solation was important. SpahnRanch may have been only 5' miles from

downtown, but in terms of lifestyle it waslight2years away. There were no newspapers,no calendars, and no clocks. /nd there was+anson, sitting atop a rock with his guitar,preaching and philosophiing. Io one spokewithout his permission.

'&THe was $od. He was the devil.=veryone aspired to be like him or be withhim. He offered an eDplanation of why theworld is as it is. His sources were

Scientology and a few others. He said wewould have to die to ourselves and give up allknowledge. =veryone considered &harlie apure soul. He0d only managed to go through afew years of school, so he wasn0tprogrammed with society0s rules and laws.

He was like a person who0d been raised bywolves. He wanted us to discard ourupbringings, our knowledge, and our hang2ups and live in Iow.


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*A)!He would show us how our parentshadn0t raised us right and had abused us, had

tried to shut down the light we had within,the brightness we had within. He talked abouthow the mind works. He discussed thesubliminal messages that society transmitted.Then he would give us his own subliminalmessages. We knew he was doing it, and we

let him. That0s how good he was. He was avisionary, a newscaster, a prophet, and alover.

'&T We ate when &harlie wanted to eat,sang and got together when he wanted to sing

and get together. He told you what chores todo, what Aobs to do.

*A)!* was like everyone else)enslavedto the point * couldn0t put two sentencestogether. The thing you have to remember

about &harlie is that he was a con. Jids don0tknow about cons. They don0t know aboutpeople who0ve been in prison. 7eople inprison live by their wits. 3therwise they


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don0t survive. &harlie came out of prisonwith that skill. He knew what you were

thinking before you did. He found himselfwith all these hippies, and it was easy for himto manipulate them. Real easy.

+#L'*+y belief is that all the peoplewho killed for +anson had hostility coursingthrough their veins. The other Familymembers were e


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1. !LT!) *0!LT!)

'&TWhen * Aoined the Family, the first

thing they asked me was if * had heard the%eatles0 /hite Al#$mand knew about HelterSkelter. Susan /tkins)Sadie)was the onewho told me about it. She told me HelterSkelter was coming. She said the blacks weregoing to rise against the whites, but theFamily would escape it. They were buildingdune buggies with fur seats and gun mounts.They were making clothes out of hides. *twas like they were all pioneers. * thought,BWowO This is fun. *t0s like camping.C

*A)!&harlie talked about Helter Skelterevery night. He said the way it would start isthat the blacks, who0d already burned Watts,would start burning white neighborhoods.Then the whites, with the police behind them,

would start killing blacks, and that wouldspark total chaos. %lackie)that0s what hecalled them)would do this. Whitey woulddo that. /nd we0d learn to live off the land.


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We0d live in the desert and come in on dunebuggies and rescue the orphaned white

babies. We0d be the saviors.+#L'*%he /hite Al#$mcame out inlate Iovember !6;. *n +anson0s mind, thesong BHelter SkelterC)no matter that it camefrom the name of a %ritish amusement parkride)was the signal for the last destructivewar on the face of the earth. He thought the%eatles were sending him messages.B7iggiesC talks about wealthy husbands andwives eating out with forks and knives. *tsays that they need a Bdamn good whacking.C

He thought another song, BRevolution !,Cwas the %eatles0 attempt to invoke the %ible0sRevelation !, which says that during/rmageddon the earth will be invaded bylocusts. The %eatles once spelled their namethe %eetles. Revelations says the locusts will

have iron breastplates)to +anson thosewere the %eatles0 electric guitars. *t says thelocusts will have the faces of men but the hairof women, like the %eatles.


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FL&$$&harlie decided he would have toteach blacks how to start the revolution. He

said, BThe black man is nothing but a monkeydressed up in a white man0s suit.C

*A)!* think &harlie really believed hisown hype. That0s why the killings happened.That0s why they wrote B7*$C on the door atthe Tate house and BH=/-T=R SJ=-T=RCat the -a%iancas0. /ll the messages wereintended to ignite Helter Skelter. * totallybelieved &harlie. * believed that the citieswere going to burn. * believed my only safetywas to stay with the Family. * believed

&harlie knew best.'&T3nce the blacks killed the whites,they wouldn0t know how to run things. Theywouldn0t know how to be Audges orpoliticians. The only white people left would

be the Family. We0d be hiding in (eath:alley in what &harlie called Bthe bottomlesspit.C We0d emerge, and &harlie would takeover.


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*A)!The Family had been preparing forthis. &harlie would take the kids on what he

called Bcreepy crawls.C They0d break intohouses and move around the furniture. Therewere a lot of creepy crawls before the Tatemurders. He0d say, B$et your black clotheson, get in the car, and do a creepy crawl.CTeD, Susan /tkins, -eslie :an Houten, &lem,

S


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moved to +alibu, and +anson got booted offthe premises.

Mc#A$$ +anson thought +elcher wasgoing to sign him. +elcher said, B>ou0retalented. *0m gonna make your record.C %uthe didn0t do anything. +anson was madabout that. *t0s no accident he sent his groupto &ielo.

+#L'*3n the afternoon of /ugust ;,+anson told the girls, BIow is the time forHelter Skelter.C That evening, he told TeDWatson, B$o to the former home of Terry+elcher and kill everyone on the premises.C

+anson didn0t know eDactly who lived there,but he indicated to TeD they wereBentertainment types.C &harlie then got thegirls together and told them to do everythingTeD told them. *t was Susan /tkins, 7atricia

Jrenwinkel, and -inda Jasabian. /s theywere pulling away +anson told the girls,B-eave a sign. >ou girls know what to write)something witchy.C


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'&TWe were all in the back of Spahn

Ranch having dinner. &harlie called TeD intoanother room, and * saw them talking. Then *got a call on the ranch0s field phone fromSadie, who was up at the front of the ranch.She wanted me to bring three sets of darkclothes. * got the clothes from a big pile we

kept and brought them to the front, but they0dalready left.

+#L'*They drove directly to the Tateresidence. TeD climbed the telephone pole infront and cut the wire to make sure no one

could call out. They could have gotten in byclimbing the gate, but they didn0t becausethey thought it might be electrified. *nsteadthey went up a dirt embankment off to theside. /lmost as soon as they were in, theysaw headlights. *t was Steven 7arent comingdown the driveway. He0d been visitingWilliam $arretson. TeD walked up to the carand shot him four times.


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Watson slit the screen of a front window ofthe house and entered. He went to the door

and opened it, letting Susan /tkins and7atricia Jrenwinkel in. :oytek Frykowskiwas on the couch. He0d been sleeping. Hewoke up and said, BWho are youKC Watsonsaid, B* am the devil, and *0m here to do thedevil0s business.C They tied Frykowski0s

hands, then went to the bedrooms. /bigailFolger was reading a book on the bed in herroom. Sharon Tate was lying down in theneDt room. 9ay Sebring was on the edge ofthe bed. They were talking. They roundedthem all up in the living room. They0dbrought a rope and put it around Sebring0sneck, Sharon0s neck, and /bigail Folger0sneck and threw it over a beam in the ceiling.3ne of the victims said, BWhat are you goingto do with usKC /nd TeD said, B>ou0re all

going to die.C /t that point the screaming andstabbing began. Somehow /bigail got loose.She ran outside. 7atricia Jrenwinkel chasedher and stabbed her.


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Frykowski got loose. He was fighting. Hewent outside, and Watson chased him. >ou

talk about brutality)Frykowski suffered 'stab wounds. He was hit over the head with ablunt instrument times. He was shot 1times. *t was a sea of blood. *t0s all sohorrendous, it0s hard to even keep in yourmind. While the killers were there, they

inflicted #5 stab wounds on the victims andshot three of them. Sharon Tate was stabbed6 times. Sadie told me Sharon begged forher life so she could have her baby. She saidshe told Sharon, B%itch, you0re gonna die. *don0t have any mercy on you.C She said thatbefore she wrote B7*$C in Sharon0s blood,she tasted it.

'&TThe neDt afternoon * was in a trailerwatchingHo#o Eelly, a kids0 show, on T:.Sadie came in and demanded * turn the

channel to the news. She told me to call TeDand 7atricia Jrenwinkel. The first thing onthe news was the story that Sharon Tate hadbeen murdered. * remember thinking * was


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glad not to be a part of a world where thosethings happened. The others reacted

differently. 3ne of them said, BThe Soul surepicked a good one.C They called &harlie thatsometimes)the Soul. Then they startedlaughing. * felt inferior, like * hadn0t evolvedas far as they had. * hadn0t eDpanded mymind like they had. * didn0t think it was

funny.

1. (A!)L& %)!

+#L'*The second night was a littledifferent. +anson decided to go along, and hebrought -eslie :an Houten and Steve$rogan. -inda Jasabian, Susan /tkins, and7atricia Jrenwinkel also went. They beganby looking for victims at random. *f you werewhite and appeared financially well2off, you


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them to go in there and kill the victims likethe previous night.

The -a%ianca murders were, if possible,more gruesome than those of the previousnight. TeD killed -eno. He stabbed him 5times with a knife and 1 times with a fork.The two girls killed Rosemary. They stabbedher 1 times. Rosemary had to listen to -enobeing stabbed to death. She asked the girls,BWhat are you doing to my husbandKC Theycarved the word BW/RC into -eno0sstomach. The knife they left protruding fromhis throat and the fork from his stomach were

probably references to the line about forksand knives in the %eatles0 song B7iggies.C7atricia Jrenwinkel did the writing on thewalls. Then what did they doK They raidedthe refrigerator. They ate some watermelonand left the rinds. /fter that, they took a

shower.

&harlie had gotten ahold of Rosemary0swallet. He and Steve $rogan and -inda


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Jasabian took off. They got on the ' freewayto 7acoima, which used to be the black

community in the San Fernando :alley.+anson said, BWe0ll drop the wallet at a gasstation, and some black man will pick it up,use the credit cards)and that will connecthim to the murders.C He thought this wouldhelp to ignite the race war. %ut they went one

off2ramp too far and eDited at Sylmar.+anson sent -inda into a gas station restroom. She placed the wallet in the toilet tank.Io one found it for a couple of months.

1. %$# 'T

*A)!We never had newspapers at SpahnRanch, but &harlie got anL.A. %imeswithheadlines about the Tate2-a%ianca killings.He held it up and said, B*t0s started.C He said

we had to get out of town, because it wasnow dangerous. We were up day and nightputting food into barrels and getting our lastclothes together, the leather outfits we0d been


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working on. We had three dune buggies withroll bars and machine gun mounts. *t was

apocalyptic. Io one spoke of any alternative./ithin days anson ordered anotherm$rder. %his time the victim &as a ranchhand named Donald *Shorty+ Shea. Likeother hands loyal to 0eorge Spahn, he&anted anson off the ranch.

+#L'*Shorty was white, and he had ablack wife. +anson did not like that. He saidit was BmiDing.C

'&T* was in a trailer on high ground, and

below that was a creek bed. &harlie, TeD,%ruce (avis Eanother Family member, andSteve $rogan chased Shorty down there. *twas around ten at night. * heard a scream andgot up. The moon was bright, and * could seethe imprint of leaves on the window screen. *

thought, B+aybe * imagined that.C * lay backdown, and the screams started again, and theykept happening and happening andhappening. *t was Shorty. * recognied his


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voice. * was scared. * crouched in a ball onthe floor. The neDt day * heard &harlie talking

about it. He said, BShorty died with a littlehelp from us. He was hard to kill, but webrought him to Iow.C

&harlie then took all of us girls who wereunderage to the desert. The neDt morning *woke up, and we were at the base of $olerWash. TeD and &harlie were talking about thebottomless pit. * thought they were cray,because *0d assumed the bottomless pit wassomething figurative. %ut &harlie hadbrought along all these topographical maps.

He was going to find it. *t was a nine2milewalk up to %arker Ranch. We carried babiesand e


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people. *t was dangerous. *t was like walkingin a soap bubble)you0re hoping it doesn0t

burst.+#L'**t was a much more tensesituation in the desert. +anson knew peoplewould be looking for him. He posted guardson the roof of %arker Ranch, and he also hadsentinels at some distance away so they couldalert him as anyone was approaching. Theyhad all kinds of ammunition and weaponry upthere.

'&T*n early September * was taking a napin the bedroom at +yers Ranch, a half mile

away. We walked back and forth. * woke upand heard Sadie talking to Ruth /nn+oorehouse. * didn0t pay attention until *heard the name BTate.C Then * startedlistening. She said that Sharon Tate was the

last to die, that she had to watch the othersdie first. She said that Sharon had called forher mother. She said that /bigail had called


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for $od, and she said TeD ran over and guttedher.

* walked back to %arker Ranch and saw TeDin the kitchen. The only thing * could thinkabout was what he did to /bigail Folger. Hesaid, B%arbara, your face is all the colors ofthe desert.C * thought that if he or anyone elsefigured out what * knew * wasn0t going to bealive anymore. * tried to forget what * knew. *got temporary amnesia. %ut from that pointon * started working on trying to get out ofthe desert.

*n early 3ctober two of us walked to %allarat,

population four. *t took us ' to 6 hours./nd then we got a ride down to -os /ngeles./t first * stayed with my grandmother, then *moved back in with my mom. * slept all dayand stayed up all night. * kept my mother0s

biggest kitchen knife with me. * was guardingthe house. * went from one window toanother. When * told my mother what * knew,she didn0t want to believe it. Then in


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(ecember the news came on that &harles+anson had been charged. Right after that *

got my first death threat. +y mother said *had to call the police, and * did.

1. -)!-A)$# F') T)AL

+#L'** went to Spahn Ranch with agroup of detectives. (anny (e&arlo, a

member of the Straight Satans motorcyclegang, was our guide. 3ld man $eorge Spahnwas sitting in this dilapidated shack where helived. He was wearing sunglasses and aStetson, and he had a &hihuahua in his lap.He was listening to Sonny 9ames on the radiowhile one of the hippie girls prepared lunchfor him. We kept (anny in handcuffs so noneof the Family still there would suspect he wascooperating. He took us to where &harlie andthe others did their target practice shooting.

We found casings from a .552caliberrevolver. (anny later told us he0d seen therevolver)located by Steven Weiss back inSeptember)in +anson0s hand. When -/7(


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test fired it, the casings matched those wefound at the ranch. Which meant whatK The

weapon that had been used to shoot threeTate victims) Frykowski, Sebring, and7arent)was at one time at Spahn Ranch.

* also went out to %arker Ranch. *t waseDtremely rough country. * was looking forboots. There were bloody boot prints at theTate residence. * didn0t find them, but * didfind lots of magaines with articles aboutHitler. /nd the detectives found the wirecutters that, it would turn out, had been usedto cut the telephone line at the Tate residence.

*t was also while * was in *nyo &ounty that *first saw +anson. He was in Aail in*ndependence. * watched three or foursheriff0s deputies walk him into thecourthouse. * was shocked by how little hewas. He was scruffy, with long, scraggly hair,

and kind of hunchbacked. * thought, BHedoesn0t look imposing.C %ut *0d alreadylearned enough about him to know that it


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would be a great error on my part tounderestimate him.

Mc#A$$* have nothing but respect for%ugliosi as a lawyer, but his attitude pissedme off. He didn0t solve the case. We solvedthe case. We brought the case to the districtattorney0s office in a pretty good package. Hefound more evidence, but that0s what he0ssupposed to do.

#AL$%':ince %ugliosi was intense. %oy,was he intense. *f * interviewed somebodyand didn0t get something he wanted, he re2

interviewed them. %ut * didn0t mind. He wasstrictly for conviction, and conviction meantproving these people guilty. He0s the guywho made the case.

+#L'** made a deal with Richard

&aba2llero, Susan /tkins0s lawyer, that ifSusan cooperated * wouldn0t seek the deathpenalty against her. *f she stoppedcooperating, * couldn0t use what she0d told


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me. * hadn0t wanted to do this. /s far as * wasconcerned, she was one of the main killers.

%ut the (./. overruled me. There was a lot ofpressure. There was such a desire to break thecase. So we came up with this agreement.

%he deal &ith Atkins soon fell apart. >irstcame a spate of p$#licity that threatened topoll$te the G$ry pool, $ndermining her val$eas a &itness. %he most damaging articleappeared in the-os /ngeles Times. Jnderthe headline *S$san Atkins' Story of 1 (ightsof $rder,+ the state's star &itness provideda comprehensive first-person acco$nt of the

killings. Second came anson's transferfrom nyo o$nty to Los Angeles.

Mc#A$$+anson and Susan /tkins startedcommunicating, and she completely changed.She became very belligerent. She didn0t want

anything more to do with us. She decided shewouldn0t testify.

+#L'*Sadie went back to her god,&harlie.


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As Atkins ret$rned to the >amily, LindaEasa#ian, &ho had fled to (e& e)ico,

came o$t of hiding.#A)& FL!*CMA$,Easa#ian's la&yer.(o& 4!, he practices in (orthern alifornia.-inda had seen them committing mayhem atthe Tate house. She had driven the killers tothe -a%ianca residence, but she hadn0t doneanything. Still, she was technically guilty offirst2degree murder. * told her that a deal wasthe only way out. She initially didn0t want todo that. These were her soul mates, no matterwhat they0d done. %ut * told her, B>ou0re

broke, you0re pregnant, and you were there.>ou must become a prosecution witness.C

3ne day /aron Stovit, the head of the trialdivision, called me. He said, B* want to talk toyou.C * said, B*0m going to get my hair cut at

the barbershop at the %everly Wilshire hotel.&ome on over.C So he drives out, and hemakes me an offer. / very strangeconfluence of events had occurred. They


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needed -inda Jasabian, and she neededthem. They gave her total immunity.

+#L'*We took -inda to &ielo (rive. *wanted her to point out to me where certainthings had occurred. When we approachedthe gate, a couple of snarling dogs appeared.The owner had bought watchdogs. -indastarted sobbing and saying over and over,BWhy couldn0t they have been here thatnightK Why couldn0t they have been here thatnightKC

1. T! T)ALThe 7eople v. &harles +anson, Susan /tkins,7atricia Jrenwinkel, and -eslie :an Houten#egan @$ly 1C, "42, on the eighth floor ofthe Hall of @$stice, &ith @$dge harles lder

presiding. %he trial &o$ld prod$ce 18,I!Cpages of transcript and cost more than 3million. /atson, not yet e)tradited from%e)as, &o$ld #e tried separately.


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+#L'*-inda knew on the night of themurders that she0d be the one who0d have to

tell the world what happened. She thoughtthey were Aust going off on another creepycrawl mission. She was an ideal witness.She0d been present both nights, but shehadn0t participated. She said +anson gavethe orders to kill everyone at Tate. She

described watching TeD Watson stab :oytekFrykowski. She said +anson directed them tothe -a%ianca house. /s she talked aboutwhat happened, you0d see these eDpressionsof terrible pain on her face. She was cut outof different cloth than the other Familymembers. The others were bloodthirstyrobots. She was on the stand for " days. Thedefense assaulted her verbally. *t was mostly+anson0s lawyer, *rving Janarek.

FL!*CMA$&harlie +anson made a

huge mistake. He picked the worst lawyer hecould have gotten)*rving Janarek. He wasfamous around town as an obstructionist. *f*0d been cross2eDamining -inda Jasabian, *0d


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/atson and the others had hosed the gore offtheir hands after the %ate killings, and

indirect evidence tying Eren&inkel to the&riting at the Laianca home.

+#L'*3ne day +anson got ahold of asharp pencil, and from a standing positionAumped over the defense table toward theAudge, shouting, B*n the name of &hristianAustice, someone should cut your head off.C *twas an amaing feat. * don0t know how hedid it. >ou Aust don0t see things like that incourt. The deputies immediately tackled himand dragged him off. From there on out 9udge

3lder wore a handgun under his robe.'&TFor months before * testified, * wasgetting death threats. Sometimes * knew whowas calling)it was S


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their side. They asked me to go to Hawaii. So* went. * was at the Honolulu airport with

Ruth /nn +oorehouse, and we got ahamburger. /fter * ate it, she said, B9ustimagine if there were ten tabs of acid in that.C* then went into the city. /ll of a sudden *was feeling really weird, very high, and *realied there were ten tabs of acid in the

hamburger. * got to a bathroom and mademyself throw up. * don0t know how * did it,but * got to the steps of the Salvation /rmybuilding. * sprawled out. / man asked me,B/re you all rightKC * said no. * told him tocall +r. %ugliosi. They took me to a hospitaland gave me :alium by *: to bring medown. The :alium went up my arm and intomy brain and ripped it out. That0s when * lostconsciousness.

=ven though they tried to kill me, * had to

testify. *0d seen Sharon Tate0s mother on T:talking about her grief. That0s what swayedme. * felt so sad for her. What it finally camedown to for me was this4 (id * want to be


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and a guy named &harlie +elton)sleepingon my doorstep. %ob and &harlie were really

Aust warm bodies. They were Aust eating myfood and smoking my dope. %ut they livedwith me for several months. * wantedsomeone there if S


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because they all knew the +anson Familywas still on the streets)could have balked.

When the Aury came in, * watched +anson.His hands were trembling. He0d convincedthe Family members that death was beautiful.%ut that was all %S.

FL!*CMA$Was there enough proof toconvict +ansonK -egally, * think it0s pretty


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circumstantial evidence. The first piece washis total, complete domination. The other one

is that only he had a motive for thesemurders4 Helter Skelter. * told the Aury thatwhen those words were found printed inblood at the -a%ianca murder scene, it wastantamount to finding +anson0s fingerprints.

%he penalty phase of the trial lasted nearlyt&o months. n arch 1", "4, the G$ryfo$nd that anson, Eren&inkel, Atkins, andVan Ho$ten sho$ld #e sentenced to death.Virginia 0raham, 5onnie Ho&ard, andSteven /eiss, the yo$ngster &ho fo$nd the

g$n, split the 31!,222 re&ard p$t $p #y/arren eatty and others.

+#L'** told the Aury, B*f you0re notwilling to come back with a verdict of deathin this case, we should abolish the death

penalty in the state of &alifornia. Why have iton the booksK How many people do you haveto kill to get the death penaltyKC


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1. AFT!)MAT

n cto#er "4, %e) /atson &as convicted

in a separate trial. Like the others, he &assentenced to death. /ithin little more thant&o years after the %ate-Laianca m$rders,all five killers had #een #ro$ght to G$stice.o##y ea$soleil, and later anson, &ereconvicted of the Hinman m$rder. n addition,anson, Davis, and 0rogan &ere convictedof the Shea m$rder /atson &as notprosec$ted in that case.

+#L'** was driving with the radio onwhen * heard that the Supreme &ourt had set

aside the death penalty. * immediatelyrecalled a conversation * had with +ansonafter the verdict. He said, B>ou know, %ugliosi, all you0ve done is send me back towhere * came from.C * said, B%ut &harlie, you

haven0t been to the green room.C The greenroom is where they drop the cyanide tablet.So * thought back to that conversation, and *thought, BIow he will never be in the green


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room. Iow he will be where he wants to be.CSure, he0d rather be back on the outside with

a harem of women, driving dune buggies upand down the desert. %ut he doesn0t mind lifebehind bars. He0s biseDual. So when * heardthe news, * said to myself, B&harlie0s beatenthe rap.C

'&T+anson should have been eDecuted.They all should have been eDecuted. *t0s notthat * want to see them die. *t0s hard to thinkabout. %ut it0s harder to think about whatthey did to their victims.

Like many lifers, anson, no& 4C, and the

others are eligi#le for parole. 6S;$eaky>romme, &ho &as convicted of the attemptedassassination of President 0erald >ord in"4!, is also eligi#le.

%iMA)AWhat strikes me about parole

hearings is that they0re always a trek back tohell. =very year, sometimes two or threetimes a year, we go. * don0t know how manyhearings we0ve been to for -eslie :an


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Houten. We0ve also been to hearings forSusan /tkins and 7atricia Jrenwinkel. =ach

time * have to watch my mother endure anaccount of how her brother died. (ebra Tate,Sharon0s sister, comes. The -a%iancas come.* feel that the crimes themselves should beenough to keep them in prison for life.

We0re talking about premeditated massmurder.

'&T* hear these murderers complainabout the sie of their cells. %ut the sie oftheir cells is a lot bigger than the sie of thecoffins their victims are in. They say they

have to live with what they0ve done for therest of their lives. Well, at least they get tolive with it. Their victims don0t get to live atall.

FL!*CMA$*t0s a shock that -eslie :an

Houten has been kept in Aail. Had she done anisolated event of this nature 1# years ago,she0d have long since been released on


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parole. %ut because she was in the +ansonFamily, she0s still in the pokey.

'&T* think +anson is possessed. * thinkhe has believed his stuff so long, he0sincapable of waking up. /nd * don0t thinkhe0ll ever own up to what he0s done.

*A)!*f you let &harles +anson out, he0d

try to kill more people. =ven in a physicallydiminished state, he0d try to manipulatesomeone into killing for him.

+#L'*3ne of the reasons people areobsessed with the +anson case is that eDcept

for Susan /tkins, who had a tough childhood,the killers were all average /merican kidsfrom good backgrounds. +y $od, TeDWatson was a football, basketball, and trackstar. He had an / average in high school.-eslie :an Houten was a homecoming


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turn over your mind to an authoritarianfigure, the potential for madness eDists. When

you lose your will, you can0t turn back.There is also another reason. 7eople forgetthat before the Tate2-a%ianca killings,hippies had a clear image. They wanted toend the :ietnam War. They wanted topromote love. That these types of peoplewere involved in a murder case that stretchedthe limits of brutality was a shock to thecountry.

*n prosecuting this case * saw the face ofunbelievable evil. That these people could not

Aust stab their victims but enAoy it, that theycould ignore their screams and keep stabbingas the victims were begging for their lives)*0d not seen that before. The


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decided not to do anything. >ou know, *0man agnostic.

la magazine - manson, an oral history

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