CHARLES MANSON

By Karen Moen, Dylan Becker

Overview Charles Manson is a convicted serial killer. Manson

founded a hippie cult in the 60s known as the “the family” whom he manipulated into killing others on his behalf.

On November 12, 1934, he was born in Cincinnati Ohio to 16 year old Kathleen Maddox

Kathleen Maddox was an alcoholic and spent periods of time in jail. Since his mother couldn't take care of him, Charles spent his childhood at various relatives and spent time in special reform schools and boys' homes.

At age nine, Charles Manson had already started stealing. All through his childhood and early adult years, he had

been going in and out of different schools, homes, and jails.

Overview Continued After being married twice and having two children,

Manson has spent more than half of his 32 years of life in prisons and other correctional institutions.

Manson asks authorities to let him remain in prison, arguing that it has become his home. The request is denied.

He founded the hippie cult in 60s, and manipulated "the Family" into killing several people on his behalf.

They are caught when Susan Atkins told a cellmate about the events, who later tells the authorities.

They have all be sentenced to life in prison, and all have been denied parole several times.

History In 1934, Charles Manson was born

November 12 in Cincinnati, Ohio to 16 year old Kathleen Maddox. It is unclear whether Manson ever met his biological father. In 1939, his mother received 5 years imprisonment for robbery. Charles went to stay with his aunt and uncle. When his mother was released, Charles described it as being the only joy of his childhood. His mother than took care of him in run-down motel rooms.

1947-1954 Kathleen unsuccessfully tries to place Charles in a foster home,

but there was no space is available. As a result, the court places Charles in Gibault School for Boys in Indiana where he resides for 10 months until fleeing to his mother, who refuses to take care of him.

The following year Manson commits a number of burglaries and is sent to juvenile detention centre where he spends 1 day before escaping. He begins stealing and robbing grocery stores and is sent to the Indiana School for Boys, where is claims that he was physically and emotionally brutalized. After escaping from there, he continues stealing cars and commits petty crimes. He spends time at National Training School for Boys in Washington, National Bridge Honour Camp. He is the then sent to the Federal Reformatory in Petersburg for putting a razor blade to another boys throat and sodomizing him .A couple years later, Manson’s positive behaviour earns him parole and he is awarded the Meritorious Service Award. He temporarily abides by the parole requirements which include living with his aunt and uncle in, but, Manson violates parole and moves to be with his mother

1955-1958 At age 21, Manson marries 18 year old Rosalie Willis and

supports her through auto theft and petty crime. In the same year Manson was caught again and received 5 years probation. The following year he failed to appear at a hearing in regards to another charge and as a result he is arrested and his probation is revoked. During this time his wife gave birth to his first son, Charles M. Manson Jr.

In 1957, Rosalie stops visiting Charles as he later find out that she is living with another man. Less than a month later and 2 weeks before his parole hearing, Manson makes a failed escape attempt. Manson is than denied parole and Rosalie files for divorce.

The following year, he becomes a pimp of a 16 year old girl and is gaining additional financial support from another girl with wealthy parents.

1959-1963 Manson is arrested in Los Angeles and pleads guilty to attempting to

cash a forged U.S. Treasury check in the amount of $37.50. He receives a 10-year suspended sentence and probation following the testimony of a young woman who tells the court she has fallen in love with Manson and will marry him if he is freed. The woman, Leona, a prostitute, marries Manson before the end of the year. He takes Leona and another woman to New Mexico with intent to use them for prostitution and is questioned by police for violation of the Mann Act. Manson is freed without charged. A warrant is issued for Manson’s arrest when he violated his parole and he is indicted for violation of the Mann Act. Manson returns to Los Angeles after he is arrested in Texas. Manson is ordered to serve his 10-year sentence for attempting to cash a U.S. Treasury check since he violated his parole. After spending a year trying unsuccessfully to appeal his revoked probation, Manson is transferred from the Los Angeles County Jail to the United States Penitentiary at McNeil Island due to the federal offense of trying to cash a forged Treasury check. The Mann Act charge has been officially dropped.

In 1963, Leona divorced Manson, and during that time, Leona had given birth to his second son.

1967 Manson is released on March 21. By this point, he has spent more than

half of his 32 years of life in prisons and other correctional institutions. Manson asks authorities to let him remain in prison, arguing that it has become his home. The request is denied.

Manson receives permission to move to San Francisco, where he obtains an apartment in Berkeley. He quickly meets 23-year-old Mary Brunner, a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and moves in with her in San Francisco. Before long, he has convinced her to allow other women to live in the apartment – totaling as many as 18 women in the home at one time. Manson makes a living by playing steel guitar – a skill he learned in prison – and panhandling.

Manson ingratiates himself into hippie society in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, where he quickly recruits a group of devoted young followers, especially women. According to one account, in the summer of 1967 Manson and a group of eight or nine women take a school bus and travel north to Washington State, and then south through Los Angeles, Mexico and other areas of the southwest, finally returning to Los Angeles where they take up residence in various places including Topanga Canyon, Malibu and Venice.

1967 Manson ingratiates himself into hippie

society in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, where he quickly recruits a group of devoted young followers, especially women. According to one account, in the summer of 1967 Manson and a group of eight or nine women take a school bus and travel north to Washington State, and then south through Los Angeles, Mexico and other areas of the southwest, finally returning to Los Angeles where they take up residence in various places including Topanga Canyon, Malibu and Venice.

Crimes Committed by Manson and “The Family”

1948 Manson robs a grocery store. He is caught and sent to a juvenile detention center. He escapes and commits two armed robberies. He is quickly apprehended again, and spends the next three years at Indiana School for Boys in Plainfield.

1951 Manson escapes from the School for

Boys steals a car and is caught in Utah and sent to the National Training School for Boys in Washington, D. C.

1952 Manson sodomizes a boy while holding a

razor to his throat. He is then transferred to a more secure prison in Virginia.

1964-1966 While in prison Manson falls in love with

The Beatles, and spends most of his time learning guitar and aspiring to be a songwriter.

1968 Manson finishes his sentence and is

released The Beatles release their album The

White, which would turn out to be a major influence in Manson’s thoughts

July 31, 1969 Gary Hinman is stabbed to death and on

the wall near the body, in Hinman's blood "political piggy" is printed on the wall.

August 8, 1969 Manson tells Family members, "Now is

the time for Helter Skelter." Manson also tells Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins, Tex Watson, and Linda Kasabian to get knives and changes of clothes. As he sends them from the ranch on their mission, he tells them "to leave a sign something witchy." Watson drives to the Tate residence.

August 9, 1969 Actress Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Voytek

Frykowski, Abigail Folger, and Steven Parent are found dead at the Tate residence.

August 10, 1969 Family members stab to death Leno and

Rosemary LaBianca. The words "Death to Pigs" and "Healter Skelter" is found printed around the house.

How Manson and The Family Members are Caught

On August 9, 1969 the Polanski’s housekeeper Wilfred Chapman arrives for work in the morning to find the Tate Murders. The next day detectives of the Hinman case inform the LAPD detectives in charge of the Tate case of the bloody writing at the Hinman house. Detectives thinking that the Tate murders are a consequence of a drug transaction ignored this and other similarities between the two cases. Steven Parent is shot in the Tate driveway, and found to be an acquaintance of William Garretson who lived in the guesthouse at the time. Parent was shot while leaving from a visit with Garretson. Garretson was held as a Tate suspect, Garretson told police that he had not seen or heard anything on the night of the murder. Garretson was released on August 11, 1969 after completing a polygraph exam, even though the exam indicated that he has seen some of the murder. Garretson would later admit to this indication.

August 10, 1969 At about 10:30pm 15-year-old Frank

Struthers son of Rosemary and Leno’s stepson from a prior marriage, returns home and is disturbed by the exterior of the home. He then called his sister over who brought her boyfriend and the two entered the house to find Leno’s body. Investigators would later find Rosemary’s body.

August 12,1969 The LAPD ruled out connection between

the Tate and LaBianca homicides.

August 16, 1969 The sheriff’s office got a warrant and

raided the Spahn Ranch and arrested Manson and 25 others on suspicion of a major auto theft ring. Manson and the others were later released because the warrant was misdated.

Mid October 1969 Detectives of the Tate and LaBianca cases were

still working separately, but the LaBianca detectives checked to find out about any similar crimes and found that in the Hinman case, detectives spoke with Beausoleil’s girlfriend Kitty Lutesinger whom was arrested a few days earlier with some members of the Manson Family at desert ranches members found out that authorities had been searching Death Valley. Lutesinger told the detectives of the LaBianca case that Manson had been in contact with a motor cycle gang that Manson wanted to use as body guards while the Family had been at the Spahn Ranch

Mid October 1969 Members of the motorcycle gang gave information

that suggested a link between the Manson family and the murders, information later confirmed by Susan Atkins. Susan was arrested at Barker for the Hinman murder and booked after telling cellmates Ronnie Howard and Virginia Graham of events that she had been involved in. With the information from Howard and Graham the LAPD put out warrants for the arrest of three of the Family members Watson, Kasabian and Krenwinkel for the involvement in the Tate case. Howard and Graham did not mention anything about Manson. The three were soon in custody and before long fingerprints linked Krenwinkel and Watson to the murders at Cielo drive

September 1, 1969 10 year old Steven Weiss who lived near

the Tate residence found the .22 caliber revolver in a bush that was used to kill Parent, Sebring and Frykowski. Knives used in the murders could not be found except for one that was by Susan Atkins found behind a cushion in the Tate living room, which must have fallen out during the attack.

June 15, 1970 Manson, Kasabian, Atkins and Krenwinkel

were charged with seven counts of murder and one count of conspiracy. Van Houten was charged with two counts of murder and one of conspiracy because she was only at the Labianca murders

Prosecutors said that “Helter Skelter” was the main motive of the crimes and that the references at the crimes written in blood pig, rise, helter skelter were related to Manson’s thought's that “Blacks” were going to try and kill off “Whites.” Manson got Kasabian to place a purse found at the LaBiancas house in a black area in hopes that a black person would find it and have investigators think that it was some sort of an organized group that committed the murders.

During the trials Manson and members of the family carved X’s onto there foreheads, and loitered near the entrance of the court room, some members also carried sheathed hunting knives which was legal because they were in plain view. Prosecutors subpoenaed the famiy members keeping them out of the courtroom while other members were testifying. The X’s made every member identifiable.

November 16, 1970 prosecutors rested their case, and three

days later the defense surprisingly rested as well, without calling any witness’s, Krenwinkel, Van Houten and Atikins quickly demanded their rights to testify. The lawyers of the three testified that Manson had no part in the planning or execution of the murders, prosecutors viewed their statements as something Manson told them to say this in hope that he could save himself.

The next day Manson made a statement that “The music is telling the youth to rise up against the establishment” and “why blame it on me? I didn’t write the music” Manson told the court that he did not remember ever telling anyone to “Get a knife and a change of clothes and go do what Tex says.” Attorney Older said that it was the defendants were acting on each other and putting on a show, he then banned the four from the court room so they could not work off of what the others were saying.

January 25, 1971 The judge’s verdict to the 4 excluding

Manson was guilty on all 27 separate counts against them. Krenwinkel and Van Houten testified that the murders were a copy of the Hinman murder, and Atkins then took credit for them. They said this to take any suspicion away from Beausoleil who was jailed for a resembling crime. Linda Kasabian who was apparently in love with Beausoleil apparently put this plan together.

March 29, 1971 The jury finds the four defendants guilty

on all counts against them. April 1971 the four were sentenced to the

death penalty which was later changed to the life in prison when California abolished the Death penalty

After the Labianca and Tate convictions Charles Manson was found guilty in a trial of committing the murders of a stunt man who worked at the Spahn ranch while the family was living there, Manson murdered Donald Shea for either suspicion on him knowing about the murders or for marrying a black woman. Family members Bruce Davis and Steve Grogan were also found guilty of the murders. Manson in the same trial was also convicted of the Hinman murders.