Manson Family Murders

On the nights of August 9 and 10, 1969, members of the Manson Family — a cult led by Charles Manson — committed two sets of murders in Los Angeles that shocked the country and came to symbolize the dark end of the 1960s counterculture era. The murders were orchestrated by Manson, who believed they would trigger a race war he called "Helter Skelter," named after the Beatles song. CNN

On August 9, 1969, Manson Family members Charles "Tex" Watson, Susan Atkins, and Patricia Krenwinkel drove to 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles — a home Manson knew from a previous music industry connection. They killed five people: actress Sharon Tate (eight months pregnant), coffee heiress Abigail Folger, writer Wojciech Frykowski, hair stylist Jay Sebring, and student Steven Parent. The killers wrote "PIG" in Tate's blood on the front door.

The following night, Manson himself drove Family members to 3301 Waverly Drive in Los Feliz, where he tied up Leno and Rosemary LaBianca while Watson and Krenwinkel murdered them. Manson himself did not participate in the killings. Words including "DEATH TO PIGS," "RISE," and "HEALTER SKELTER" were written in blood at the scene. The Guardian

Charles Manson was born on November 12, 1934, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He spent much of his youth in reform schools and prisons. After his release in 1967, he moved to the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, where he gathered a devoted group of mostly young women followers who became the Manson Family. He taught an apocalyptic philosophy blending elements of Scientology, the Process Church of the Final Judgment, and his own interpretations of the Bible.

Manson and members of the Family were arrested in October 1969 during an unrelated raid on the Spahn Ranch. Evidence linking them to the Tate-LaBianca murders was assembled over the following months. NPR

The trial of Manson, Watson, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten (who participated in the LaBianca murders) began June 15, 1970, in Los Angeles Superior Court. It became one of the longest and most expensive criminal proceedings in California history at the time.

Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi constructed the case around the "Helter Skelter" motive — that Manson wanted to start a race war by committing murders and framing Black militants. The prosecution relied heavily on Linda Kasabian, a Family member who had been present during the murders but did not participate; she received immunity in exchange for testimony. BBC

The trial was characterized by bizarre conduct from Manson and his co-defendants, who carved X's into their foreheads and chanted in unison. Manson attempted to act as his own attorney but was denied. Susan Atkins, who had initially cooperated with investigators, recanted and aligned with Manson.

On January 25, 1971, after nine months of testimony and 21 days of jury deliberation, all four defendants were convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. They were sentenced to death. In 1972, the California Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional, automatically converting their sentences to life imprisonment. Watson, tried separately, was also convicted and sentenced to death, later converted to life. AP News

Manson was denied parole 12 times. He died at Kern County Hospital on November 19, 2017, at age 83, from cardiac arrest related to colon cancer. Washington Post