Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson Hardcover (70 page)

Charlie was also being braced by the law:
Bugliosi, pp. 275–76.

They talked about the
White Album:
Ibid., p. 276.

Beausoleil called Spahn Ranch:
Sanders, pp. 192–93.

Someone remembered seeing a movie:
Bravin, p. 99. Patricia Krenwinkel says that, although she wasn’t part of any copycat murders speculation, comments of others that she heard afterward indicate that such murders were discussed.

Housekeeper Winifred Chapman arrived:
Bugliosi, pp. 50–53. All of my references to August 8 activities at Cielo and by Sharon Tate, Voytek Frykowski, Abigail Folger, Jay Sebring, and William Garretson are based on an LAPD timeline included on these pages of
Helter Skelter.

Charlie and Schram arrived back at Spahn:
Sanders, p. 194.

Charlie’s instinct was to run:
Bravin, p. 99.

One suggestion was launching an assault:
Atkins unpublished memoir, p. 26.

Charlie ordered Squeaky to give Mary Brunner:
Ibid., pp. 99–100.

there were conflicting recollections:
Susan Atkins recalled that Sandy and Mary were sent “to buy escape supplies, including rope” in anticipation of the Family trying to break Bobby Beausoleil out of the L.A. County jail (Atkins unpublished memoir, pp. 25–26); Nuel Emmons wrote that Charlie told him they were sent to fetch food for a special Family supper that night (Emmons, pp. 196–98).

Each was being held on $600 bail:
Watson,
Will You Die for Me?
, p. 135.

Chapter Thirteen: Tate

Charlie Manson has always insisted that he didn’t order the Family to murder anyone; he just allowed them to do what they wanted. Tex Watson is equally adamant that Charlie told him to go to Cielo and murder everyone there. Based on all we now know of Manson’s manipulative techniques, they are both in some sense telling the truth, though each is clearly trying to place the blame on the other.

My description of the five murders at Cielo during the early hours of August 9, 1969, is drawn from five sources: Tex Watson’s
Will You Die For Me?
, pp. 135–44; Susan Atkins’s
Child of Satan, Child of God
, pp. 124–35; Atkins’s unpublished memoir; Linda Kasabian’s pretrial interview with Vincent Bugliosi as recounted in
Helter Skelter
, pp. 258–63; and my two extended interviews with Patricia Krenwinkel at the California Institution for Women in Corona on April 21–22, 2012. There are some contradictions, mostly over small issues that different people remember in substantially the same way with a few small differences. I’ll address these in the chapter notes and explain why I’m inclined to accept one version over another.

Krenwinkel dismisses Kasabian’s description of her horrified reaction to the Cielo slayings, insisting that Kasabian was a fully supportive participant although she did not kill anyone. Krenwinkel says she is certain that Kasabian never asked anyone to stop.

My account of the initial murder site investigation comes from two sources—Bugliosi in
Helter Skelter
, pp. 3–24, and Steve Oney’s excellent article “Manson: An Oral History,” which appeared July 1, 2009, in
Los Angeles Magazine.
Bugliosi worked directly from the police reports, and Oney interviewed Sgt. Michael Mc-Gann and Officer Danny Galindo.

Charlie Manson imbued two core beliefs:
Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel interviews.

Falling back on Dale Carnegie:
Phil Kaufman and Gregg Jakobson interviews. Both Kaufman and Jakobson offered numerous examples of Charlie persuading Family members that what he wanted them to do was originally their idea or ideas.

caring for Altobelli’s dogs:
We know there were at least three dogs, and Tate also owned a dog and several cats. William Garretson was vague in his testimony about the dogs, though we know that at least the Weimaraner was in the guesthouse with him when investigators arrived at the murder scene. Susan Atkins made reference to one of the dogs being in the house during
the murders, but none of the subsequent police reports mentioned any sign of an animal being actively present—there were lots of bloody footprints, but no bloody paw prints. In any case, the dogs did not play a critical role in what happened at Cielo that night.

the three women didn’t know yet:
Patricia Krenwinkel is adamant that Tex Watson did not mention killing anyone until the four intruders were over the fence at Cielo.

Tex slashed at him with the knife:
In
Helter Skelter
, Bugliosi writes that he doesn’t know the order in which Tex used the .22 Buntline and his knife. Tex recalls that he fired “and at some point used the knife.” From her hiding place in the bushes, Pat thought Tex “tried stabbing first and then shot.”

Pat was shaking:
Patricia Krenwinkel interview. From the outset of the investigation, police and prosecutors could not understand why William Garretson was not murdered. Now we know. It seems impossible that Garretson didn’t hear anything that night—besides gunshots there were screams from the victims, and Tex and Pat chased Frykowski and Folger out onto the lawn, killing them there. I tried and failed to locate Garretson during the research for this book. But in a 1999 interview with the E! network, Garretson stated that he heard noises he thought were firecrackers popping when Watson shot Steve Parent, that he heard screams, that he saw a girl chase another girl outside the main house and then heard someone saying, “Stop, I’m already dead.” He didn’t know what was going on, he said, but he was too scared to look out the window.

Susan held Tate while Tex stabbed her:
Initially, Susan Atkins bragged that she stabbed Sharon Tate to death, but she changed her story to holding the pregnant woman while Tex slaughtered her, and Susan stuck to this version for the rest of her life. In his memoir, Tex says he killed Tate. This version agrees with Krenwinkel’s recollection of the August 9 events: First Tex helped finish off Abigail Folger, and then he went inside to murder Tate: “The murders were mostly done by Tex because none of the rest of us were really ready for that.”

Charlie got into the Ford:
Manson told Nuel Emmons that he went to the murder site with an unidentified Family member. Krenwinkel remembers Manson meeting them with Nancy Pitman at the entrance to Spahn Ranch, but doesn’t know whether Pitman went with Manson when he drove to Cielo. That Manson did some murder scene rearranging seems beyond doubt; he put a towel over Jay Sebring’s head, which led to suggestions in the media that hoods were placed over the heads of all the victims, a description that
encouraged further speculation about the killings being part of some Satanist ritual. Charlie also placed a pair of eyeglasses close to Sharon’s and Jay’s bodies, a particularly blatant red herring since he wouldn’t allow Family members to wear glasses.

In
Will You Die for Me
?, Tex Watson wrote that the large American flag was already on the sofa when the murders took place. Bugliosi notes in
Helter Skelter
that on the morning after the killings, Winifred Chapman told police that the flag had been in the house prior to the murders, though she did not specify where. Krenwinkel is certain that while Tate, Frykowski, Sebring, and Folger were slaughtered, the flag was not on the couch, and that she was startled to read news stories alluding to it being there. I believe Krenwinkel. Frykowski was sleeping on the couch when the intruders entered the house, and no one recalls him getting tangled with a flag during the early moments of the crime when he rolled around on the couch being kicked by Tex. Tex had inhaled an extra dose of Meth before setting out from Spahn, so his powers of observation may certainly have been skewed.

Chapter Fourteen: LaBianca and Shea

My sources for the description of the LaBianca murders and other events that night include interviews with Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten (noted throughout); Linda Kasabian’s testimony in
Helter Skelter
, pp. 266–73; statements by Kasabian and Vincent Bugliosi on the History Channel’s
Manson
documentary; Tex Watson’s
Will You Die for Me?
, pp. 145–51; Susan Atkins’s
Child of Satan, Child of God
, pp. 134–36, and her unpublished memoir; and ancillary interviews with Phil Kaufman and David Dotson. The account in this chapter of the murder of Shorty Shea is much less detailed because all the information is secondary. Manson, Bruce Davis, and Steve Grogan (Clem) were convicted of Shea’s slaying on circumstantial evidence, since his body was not found until many years later when Clem led the authorities to the ranch hand’s grave.

Then they piled into the Ford:
Some books have Manson splitting driving with Linda Kasabian; in her interview with me, Krenwinkel said only Kasabian drove, at least as far as the LaBiancas’.

The only conversation was one-sided:
Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel interviews.

The LaBiancas had worked hard:
Bugliosi, pp. 43–44.

The LaBiancas weren’t able to drop Suzanne off:
Ibid., p. 24.

Susan and Leslie fell into fitful dozes:
Leslie Van Houten interview.

they’d partied on this street:
Patricia Krenwinkel interview. Krenwinkel believes that Manson targeted “the house next door to Harold True’s” before they set out from Spahn that night. Her theory is that Manson wanted True to supply drugs to the Family, and that Manson hoped to implicate him in the LaBiancas’ murder and subsequently blackmail him.

But it didn’t seem that way to Charlie:
Phil Kaufman interview.

Then he snapped to Tex:
Leslie Van Houten interview. There’s some disagreement among Manson chroniclers whether Tex Watson was with Manson when Manson initially tied up Leno LaBianca with leather thongs. But in his memoir Tex writes that he was inside the house with Manson at that time, and that Leslie Van Houten and Pat Krenwinkel came inside after that.

Pat was afraid:
Patricia Krenwinkel interview.

so they treated him to breakfast:
Faith, p. 47.

He stalked around the ranch:
Atkins unpublished memoir, p. 28.

That meant he wasn’t available:
Oney, “Manson,”
Los Angeles Magazine
.

Buckles’s response to the county detectives accurately reflected:
David Dotson interview.

The FBI even suggested that the Bureau of Customs investigate:
FBI File 62-113047-2, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

a polygraph administered on Sunday afternoon:
Bugliosi, p. 36–37.

an L.A. friend of Tex Watson contacted Tex:
Watson,
Will You Die for Me?
, pp. 14–22.

He called Gregg Jakobson and asked:
Gregg Jakobson interview.

Around 8:30
P.M.
on Sunday:
Sanders, pp. 246–48.

Danny Galindo was still at the LAPD’s:
Oney, “Manson,”
Los Angeles Magazine
.

They often operated:
David Dotson interview.

Fear was widespread in Los Angeles:
William W. Collier, Lorraine Chamberlain, and A. J. Langguth interviews. Collier and Langguth both stressed that “celebrity” panic was restricted to the highest-end neighborhoods.

He couldn’t understand why:
Emmons, p. 212.

But it was Charlie who had missed the obvious:
Mary F. Corey, A. J. Langguth, Lorraine Chamberlain, and William W. Collier interviews.

Yet Charlie still used the press coverage:
Oney, “Manson,”
Los Angeles Magazine
.

For months, Los Angeles County lawmen:
Ibid.

Charlie sent Linda Kasabian:
Atkins unpublished memoir, p. 29.

Charlie was far less concerned:
Sanders, p. 260.

Tex was ambivalent:
Watson,
Will You Die for Me?
, pp. 22–23.

Tex was questioned by the same deputy:
Ibid., p. 23.

Sharon Tate posthumously became:
Bugliosi, p. 48.

Al Springer didn’t resemble:
Watson,
Will You Die for Me?
, pp. 89–92.

Linda Kasabian couldn’t stand it anymore:
Manson
, History Channel; Sanders, p. 260; Bugliosi, pp. 271, 286–88.

Spahn Ranch became the antithesis:
Gaines, p. 216; Bugliosi, p. 93; Sanders, p. 263; Watson,
Will You Die for Me?
, p. 22.

At daybreak on Saturday:
Oney, “Manson,”
Los Angeles Magazine.

The combination of the Straight Satans’ invasion:
Patricia Krenwinkel interview.

Danny DeCarlo was the first:
Bugliosi, p. 101.

he soon settled on an obvious candidate:
Atkins unpublished memoir, p. 30; Livsey, p. 52.

On a night late in August:
Oney, “Manson,”
Los Angeles Magazine
; Livsey, pp. 52–53; Sanders, pp. 271–72. The specific date has never been determined.

At first she thought she must have imagined it:
Los Angeles Magazine.

At the end of August:
Bugliosi, pp. 64–65.

these totaled almost 250:
Patterson,
Grand Expectations
, pp. 716–17.