The Manson Murders (2023) FULL TRUE CRIME DOCUMENTARY w/ SUBS | HD

The 1960s were a period when long held values and norms of behaviour seemed to break down, particularly among the young.

Hippies advocated nonviolence and love, a popular phrase being “Make love, not war,” for which they were sometimes called “flower children.” They promoted openness and tolerance as alternatives to the restrictions and regimentation they saw in middle-class society.

The movement seemed to be taking the minds of the new generation by storm… 

That was until one group of hippies, The Manson Family, led by Charles Manson, committed a set of crimes that terrified the world and brought the flower power movement to a halt.

Charles Milles Manson was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four locations in July and August 1969, including the brutal murder of 8 month pregnant, actress and model Sharon Tate, wife of Roman Polanski.

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– You know, if I wanted to kill somebody, I’d take this book and beat you to death with it, and I wouldn’t feel a thing. It’d be just like walking to the drugstore. – Sharon Tate. – Sharon Tate. – [Reporter] Sharon Tate is dead, heavily pregnant.

She and four of her friends were brutally murdered by the so-called Charles Manson family. – We have a weird homicide. – [Reporter] In a scene described by one investigator as reminiscent of a weird religious rite, five persons, including actress Sharon Tate, were found dead at the home of Ms. Tate and her husband,

Screen director Roman Polanski. – The wandering band of members of a so-called religious cult with a leader they call Jesus has had three of its followers arrested in the investigation of the murder of Sharon Tate and six others. – [Reporter] Ms. Tate, who starred in “Valley of the Dolls”,

Was eight months pregnant, and was found in a bikini-type nightgown with a rope around her neck attached to the body of a man. – [Reporter] They called themselves the family. They came and went, and the number varied from 20 to 30. Police said they were a pseudo religious cult.

– What do you wanna call me a murderer for? I’ve never killed anyone. I don’t need to kill anyone. I think it, I have it here. – [Reciter] In a cold cloud cloud room echoing melody, yesterday I laid my head to find the devil in my dreams. I was calling out for someone and shaking in my sleep. Oh, I was shaking in my sleep. – [Narrator] Charles Miles Manson was born on November 12th, 1934 to 16=year=old Kathleen Maddox,

And a 24-year-old transient laborer known as Colonel Scott. For the first few weeks of his life, her baby was known as no-name Maddox, until his mother finally settled on Charlie. His father left upon hearing the news that Kathleen was pregnant, meaning Charlie never knew his father,

And that Kathleen would have to raise her child alone. Being young, immature, and a drunk with no natural maternal instinct, Kathleen would often leave her baby alone to fend for himself, whilst she went off on one of her benders. As a teenager, she developed a taste for alcohol

And a propensity for sex, and earned money to fuel her habits by selling her body. As an adult, Charlie related that his mother was once in a restaurant with him when a waitress offered to buy the baby from her. Kathleen’s asking price was simply a pitcher of beer, and having consumed it,

She walked out and left Charlie to the woman. According to Charlie, it took his uncle four days to track him down and return him home. Charlie’s mother wasn’t a very stable figure during much of his childhood. When Charlie was six years old, his mother and uncle decided to rob a gas station. They were both caught, convicted, and sent for five years to Moundsville State Prison. Consequently, Charles was put into the care of his strictly religious grandparents,

But after a few months, he went to live with his aunt and uncle in West Virginia. The environment was very different to anything Charlie had known before. His aunt, unlike her sister, was regimented, disciplined, and extremely religious. – [Reciter] So I hitched to a wagon,

And I jumped a moving train, with hitch chokers and black whiskey running through my veins, boys. Sweet memory of a loved one was coursing through my veins. – [Narrator] Her husband Bill was even more fervent in his faith than his wife. A strict disciplinarian, he considered Charlie

To be a sissy, and on the first day of school, he sent him to school in a dress, in order to teach him how to fight. Charlie soon adapted to this very different kind of life, and actually grew to enjoy his new regimented routine.

The two years between six and eight were to prove to be the most stable of his young life. But then his mother was released from prison, and immediately took him back. Kathleen was more unstable than ever. She preferred a life of promiscuity and alcohol abuse to maternal domesticity.

Continuously in trouble with the law and with no money for bed and board, they constantly moved around the Midwest. The transient life that he was forced to live shaped the type of boy that Charlie would become. Age nine, Charlie dropped out of school. He kept to himself, living his life through his imagination.

He was constantly watching, taking things in, and dreaming of a future free of his incompetent mother. He also learned how to become a very accomplished thief. At age nine, Charlie was caught stealing and sent to reform school. Three years later, he was caught again.

This time he was sent off to the Gibault School for Boys in Terre Haute, Indiana. Before he was taken away, Kathleen promised to visit him often, however she never did. Just 10 months into his incarceration, Charlie escaped. He robbed a grocery store to get some money,

And when that ran out, he stole other things, including a bicycle. He was caught in the act of making off with the bike, and soon found himself back in confinement. – I don’t know pain, I don’t know pain. I have no depth of pain, I have no depth of suffering.

I don’t know ridicule, I don’t know all the bad things. I haven’t been punished by you all my life since I was 10 years old. I’ve been in every reform school you got across the country, and used to lay down and have to get my ass whipped

Till I couldn’t walk, tell me about some pain – And that’s our fault. – No, no. – That’s all those people’s fault? – No, no fault, make strong, good pain. Understand pain, not bad. Pain’s not bad, it’s good, it teaches you things.

It teaches you things, like when you put your hand in fire? Ow, you know not to do that again, yeah. Yeah, I understand that. – [Narrator] At around the age of 15, Charlie was given a psychiatric assessment. He was found to be aggressive, anti-social and illiterate. A case worker reported that the boy

Was severely emotionally traumatized, and in serious need of psychiatric treatment. Surprisingly, it was also noted that he had a higher than normal aptitude for music. On October 24th, 1951, Charlie was transferred to the Natural Bridge Honor Camp in Petersburg, Virginia. Three months later, just weeks before his parole hearing, he sodomized another inmate

While holding a razor blade to his neck. He was reclassified as extremely dangerous, and transferred to a tougher high-security facility, the federal reformatory at Petersburg, Virginia. After seven months at the federal reformatory, Charlie had racked up eight major violations. He was classified as defiantly homosexual, dangerous,

And safe only under supervision, with assaultive tendencies. Towards the end of 1952, he was sent to a higher-security facility. There, to the surprise of everybody, he transformed into a model prisoner. He took lessons in reading and maths, and began working in the vehicle maintenance department. It seemed as though Charlie was finally

Trying to clean up his act. On January 1st, 1954, he was given a meritorious service award for his scholastic achievements. His application to his studies and his apparent change of attitude led to Charlie being paroled on May 8th, 1954. He was put into the care of his aunt and uncle,

But within a month, the now 19-year-old was back living with his mother, herself recently released from prison. Six months after his release, Charlie married a waitress by the name of Rosalie Jean Willis. Shortly thereafter, a son, Charles Manson, Jr., was born. Charlie worked at a series of low income jobs, augmenting his pay by stealing cars and other minor crimes. By 1958, he had extended his criminal earning potential

By becoming a pimp. In June, 1960, he fled to Laredo, Texas, with a California warrant out for his arrest, when one of his girls was arrested there for prostitution. He was picked up and returned to Los Angeles to face a 10-year sentence for cashing a forged treasury check.

At the age of 26, Charlie was sent to the US Penitentiary at McNeil Island, Washington. Once again, Charlie was behind bars. While serving his sentence, he learned to play the guitar, and became interested in Scientology. During his time at McNeil Island, he also became obsessed with the Beatles. Charlie had an inflated appreciation

Of his own musical talent, claiming that he would, with the right backing and training, be even bigger than the Beatles. He became friends with an inmate by the name of Alvin Karpis. This former Public Enemy Number One was also a former member of the infamous Ma Barker gang.

He taught Charlie how to play the steel guitar, which further fueled his musical obsession. And in 1966, Charlie’s prison record noted that he spent most of his free time writing songs, accumulating 80 or 90 of them in a single year. Karpis later commented on the Charlie that he knew at that time.

He recalled that Manson was a master manipulator of other people. Prison authorities also noted that he had a tremendous drive to call attention to himself. In June, 1966, Charlie was once again sent to Terminal Island, this time in preparation for early release. When the day arrived on March 21st, 1967,

He had spent more than half of his 32 years behind bars. He requested that the authorities let him stay in jail, but he was told that he had to leave. – Do you miss women? – Certainly, my goodness. Yeah, damn right, yeah. (laughing) – [Interviewer] What do you think of women?

– Oh, I like ’em. Yeah they’re nice, if they’re put together well and everything, and they’re soft and spongy, yeah, they’re nice. As long as they keep their mouth shut and do what they’re supposed to do. – [Interviewer] Why do you say that? – Because that’s what a woman’s supposed to do.

– [Interviewer] Keep her mouth shut and do what she’s supposed to do? – Sure. – [Narrator] Welcome to the ’60s, the decade of war, rebellion, drugs. – You take a cap of mescaline, or psilocybin, or LSD. – [Narrator] Sex, peace, love, and rock and roll. ♪ Maybe you should get on aboard ♪ ♪ Maybe you should get on aboard ♪

♪ Baby I’m stuck on this chord ♪ ♪ I’m plucking you, you, you, you ♪ ♪ Oh, oh ♪ – [Narrator] Charlie wandered into the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco with $35 in his pocket, and no plans except for a desire to make it big in the music business.

– The guy is on a fantasy trip. – [Narrator] He moved into an apartment in Berkeley, and made money by panhandling. Before Long, he had gotten to know a 23-year-old assistant librarian at UC Berkeley named Mary Brunner, who he quickly won over and moved into her apartment. Brunner came under Charlie’s spell,

And he convinced her to widen out the home. Within a few months, there were 18 young women living with them. Charlie gradually introduced Mary and the other girls to drugs, and before long, Mary had quit her job and become a devoted follower of Manson. The Family was beginning to take shape.

With his female entourage and his guitar, Charlie merged perfectly into the hippie culture that was then in full bloom in San Francisco. He refined his role as a spiritual master, guru and prophet, using mind control techniques to get girls to do whatever he wanted. Most of the girls that he gathered around him

Came from troubled backgrounds, and suffered from insecurities that left them directly open to Charlie’s manipulation. As well as breaking down their inhibitions with mind control techniques, he used LSD and amphetamines to control his ever-expanding harem. After about nine months living in and around San Francisco, Charlie began to despair of the place.

It had, as he asserted, become too overrun with African Americans, and crime was rampant. Of course, the Family was doing their bit to add to those criminal statistics. They stole credit cards and used counterfeit money to get what they needed. They also stole a big yellow bus and painted at black.

Charlie and his followers took to traveling by bus down the California coastline as far as Mexico and Texas, partying and committing more crimes. After 18 months of extended travel, they finally settled in Topanga Canyon near Los Angeles in a two-story house. It was here that Charlie began gathering

Some male members to join the Family. The first was a teenager named Bobby Beausoleil, who turned up one night for a party, and then stayed on as Charlie’s right-hand man. Bobby had previously been staying with his music teacher, Gary Hinman, not far from the Manson home. Bobby then recruited an 18-year-old

Named Leslie Van Houten to the family in June, 1968. Around that time, Charlie and some of the girls traveled to Los Angeles, where he met up with a record executive at Universal Studios. Former jail friend Phil Kaufman had arranged the meeting. This was Charlie’s entry into the rich jet-set crowd,

And he turned on all the charm to ensure he made a good impression, and that he did. Charlie had the gift of the gab, and soon the Family were rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous at posh parties in the Hollywood Hills. In the late spring of 1968, Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson was driving away from Malibu Beach when he happened to pick up two hitchhikers.

The girls were part of the Manson family, and they quickly agreed to go back to his Beverly Hills home. The three made love that afternoon, and then Wilson left for his recording session, promising to return later to take up where they left off. When Wilson returned home in the early hours

Of the following morning, he was surprised to see that a full-scale party was underway. He was greeted in the driveway by a short man with a scraggly beard who approached him, dropped to his knees, and began kissing his feet. The girls who Dennis had met earlier came running out

Declaring, “This is the guy we were telling you about. This is Charlie.” Inside his home, Wilson found 12 more women, most of them topless, lying around and smoking pot. Manson told him that the girls were all there for Wilson’s pleasure. Wilson was impressed with the sway that Charlie had over the women.

He welcomed the Family with open arms, and his home became the regular venue for Charlie-orchestrated orgies. Wilson called Manson the Wizard, and began inviting influential showbiz friends to come and meet him. Dennis also allowed Charlie to use anything he wanted, his Ferrari or Rolls Royce, and all the food,

Drink and drugs he or his groupies wanted. But funding the family wasn’t cheap. Eventually Wilson’s manager became fed up with the influence and expense that Manson was having on his client, and Charlie and the girls were ordered out of the mansion. Rumors were also spread of the children

Of the rich and famous being given drugs and having sex under Charlie’s direction. Suddenly, the door to the Hollywood elite lifestyle was slammed shut, (door clanging) and with it, Charlie’s plans for a music career were also shut down. This caused a familiar buildup of jealousy, anger, and rage

That would inevitably find expression in violence. – So I said, “Now you do what I say.” And he said, “No.” I said, “You do exactly what I say.” And he said, “No.” “I’m telling you, I’m not asking you, I’m telling you. You do exactly what I say.”

And that’s about the extent of it. All this occult, all that hocus pocus stuff that you guys are playing, I don’t know nothing about all that. – You know nothing about something called Helter Skelter. Tell me Charles, I don’t know. – It’s a fairy, it’s worse than a fairytale.

– [Interviewer] It’s a fairytale. – [Narrator] Manson managed to convince the owner of a former Western movie set, the Spahn Ranch in Chatswood, not far from Topanga Canyon, to allow the Family to live on the abandoned property. The Family moved to the ranch, getting by stealing and scavenging. The tales Charlie would tell to coerce his followers

Gradually became more and more bizarre, involving religion, Scientology, and a lot of imagination. Charlie took to quoting the Bible to Family members, as they gathered ground of bonfire during the evenings. He also interpreted Beatles songs, explaining that the lyrics were directed toward them. He was obsessed with one song in particular, “Helter Skelter”.

He told his followers that the song envisioned an apocalypse brought on by a race war of Blacks killing whites. The Blacks would win, he said, but would then turn to Manson to rule the new world. But for Charlie, the revolution was taking too long. He wanted it to happen immediately, and so he began preparing Family members for a series of actions that would precipitate the Black uprising. The first step would be to release an album of music that would contain subtle messages that would foment the Black revolution.

♪ My world is a sad world ♪ ♪ Often wondered if there’s blame ♪ ♪ Such a fool in a mad, mad world ♪ ♪ With no pictures in my frame ♪ – [Narrator] On May 8th, 1969, Terry Melcher, a producer who Charlie had met through Dennis Wilson,

Arrived at Spahn Ranch to listen to Charlie and the girls sing. ♪ People say I’m no good ♪ ♪ But they never, never do they say ♪ ♪ Why their world is so mixed up ♪ ♪ Or how it got that way ♪ – [Narrator] After hearing the Family’s music,

Melcher made numerous promises, but similarly to Charlie’s mother, he never followed through on them. On the 25th of July, 1969, Charlie ordered Bobby Beausoleil and two women to the home of Gary Hinman, the music teacher who Bobby lived with before moving in with the Family.

Manson had heard that Hinman had recently inherited $20,000, and he wanted it, but it wasn’t going to be so easy. Hinman refused to hand over the money after numerous threats, so eventually Charlie was called, arriving shortly after. After screaming at him, Charlie pulled out a sword and began cutting off his ear.

He then left, giving instructions to get the money or kill Hinman. After three days, Bobby stabbed his former teacher to death. But before leaving, he and the girls wrote the words, “Political piggy” on the wall, along with a panther paw in red, to lay the blame on the Black Panther movement.

Bobby Beausoleil was arrested for murder on August 6th, 1969, after being caught driving around in Hinman’s car. Manson was now ready to get his revenge on Terry Melcher, the record producer who had let him down. On the evening of the 8th of August, he directed followers Tex Watson, Linda Kasabian,

Susan Atkins, and Patricia Krenwinkel to the house where he believed Melcher was living, with instructions to totally destroy everyone in it, making it as gruesome as possible. After some investigation, the Family figured out that the house was located at 1050 Cielo Drive, but they hadn’t investigated it thoroughly enough.

Something was wrong, Melcher didn’t live there anymore. ♪ Mm ♪ – [Narrator] It was now occupied by a famous director, Roman Polanski, and his beautiful eight-month-pregnant wife, Sharon Tate. – Next on Hollywood backstage, we go to London, England for a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the motion picture “Vampire Killers”,

Which first introduced Sharon Tate to international film-goers. ♪ Mm ♪ – [Narrator] Sharon Tate was an American actress and model, with a budding career ahead of her ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ – [Narrator] That night, Polanski was away in Europe on a film project. His wife was entertaining guests at the property,

Hairdresser Jay Sebring, screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski and coffee empire heiress, Abigail Folger. – [Hugh] How does an actress as beautiful as you are, how do you feel about doing nude scenes in a film? – Well I, I feel that if it’s a real scene and it’s an honest scene,

And if it’s something where you’re stripped naked that you would be doing naturally, you know, making love, which is natural, taking a bath, you know? That’s lovely, you know, it’s- – If it has an authentic- – Yeah if it has- – [Hugh] A reason, legitimate reason, for being-

– A reason for it, it’s beautiful. But if it’s contrived, you know then, then it becomes vulgar. – [Narrator] Arriving at the property around midnight on the 9th of August, 1969, Watson climbed a telephone pole near the gate and cut the phone line.

The car was then backed to the bottom of a hill that led to the house, and the murder team walked up to find the victims. Watson thought the gate might be electrified, so he and the girls climbed a brushy embankment to get onto the grounds. (thunder crashing) Just then, car headlights came on

From farther up the property. Ordering the women to lie down in the bushes, Watson approached the vehicle and leveled his .22-caliber rifle at the driver, 18-year-old Steven Parent, who begged him not to hurt him, claiming that he wouldn’t say anything. Watson first slashed him with a knife,

And then shot him four times in the chest. Watson then ordered Linda Kasabian to keep watch down by the gate. He and the other two women made their way into the house. The occupants were quickly gathered together in the lounge. When asked Frykowski who they were, Watson replied, “I’m the devil, and I’m here to do the devil’s work.”

Watson then began to tie the heavily-pregnant Sharon Tate and Jay severing together by their necks, with rope he’d brought and slung over a beam. When Sebring protested over the rough handling of Sharon, Watson shot him and then stabbed him seven times. Folger was taken momentarily back to her bedroom for her purse, and she gave the murderer $70. Watson then stabbed Sebring seven times. Meanwhile, Frykowski began struggling with Susan Atkins, who repeatedly stabbed him in the legs and torso. Still, Frykowski managed to get to the front door. Seeing this, Watson rushed after him,

Meeting up with him on the porch and smashing his head with a gun butt before shooting him twice. (soft somber music) Frykowski suffered 51 stab wounds, and also had been struck 13 times in the head with the butt of Watson’s gun, which bent the barrel

And broke off one side of the gun grip, which was recovered at the scene. Abigail Folger had managed to escape out onto the yard. Krenwinkel pursued her and caught her on the front lawn, where she stabbed her and tackled her to the ground. Watson then helped kill her. Her assailants stabbed her a total of 28 times. Now the only remaining victim was Sharon Tate.

As she lay on the lounge room floor with a rope around her neck, she begged to be able to live long enough to have her child, but her pleas were ignored, and either Watson or Atkins stabbed her repeatedly, including in the abdomen, until both she and her unborn baby were dead.

Remembering Manson’s instructions to leave a sign on the walls, Atkins wrote the word pig with Tate’s blood. The very next day, the Family struck again. Displeased with the previous night’s messy events at the Tate residence, Manson insisted on accompanying the next Helter Skelter mission, which he scheduled for August 10. The four Family members who had participated in the Tate murders were again summoned by Manson, along with another Family member, Leslie Van Houten.

Manson ordered Kasabian to cruise the neighborhoods of Los Angeles in search of potential victims, before settling on the home of the LaBiancas. In the early morning hours of August 10th, 1969, Manson Family members entered the LaBianca house. Manson and Watson awoke a sleeping Leno LaBianca,

On the couch in his living room, at gunpoint. Leno was assured by Manson and Watson that he would not be hurt, and that they only intended to rob him. Leno was then asked if there was anyone else in the house. He told Manson and Watson that his wife, Rosemary, was in the bedroom.

Manson went to the bedroom and awoke Rosemary. He allowed her to put a dress on over her nightgown, before leading her into the living room, where Watson had Leno tied up. Manson and Watson reassured the couple that they wouldn’t be hurt, and were just being robbed.

After collecting all the cash in the house, Manson ordered Watson to take Rosemary back to her bedroom, where Watson placed a pillowcase over her head, wound a lamp cord around her head, and gagged her with the lamp cord. He told her to stay quiet and remain in the room.

Watson returned to the living room, and Manson then left the house. Within a few minutes, Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel entered the residence, and were instructed by Watson to go to the bedroom. Watson then began stabbing Leno repeatedly, only stopping briefly when Leno screamed, “Stop stabbing me.” Rosemary, hearing her husband screaming,

Began screaming and flailing around the room, still blinded by the pillowcase on her head. Krenwinkel and Van Houten called Watson for help. Watson left the badly-bleeding Leno in the living room, and entered the bedroom to find Rosemary swinging the lamp, still attached to the cord used to gag her.

Tex lunged forward and stabbed her until she fell to the floor. By the time the stabbing ended, Watson, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten had stabbed Rosemary 41 times. Leno was still alive when Watson came back to the living room, and the stabbing resumed. After Watson finished stabbing Leno, one of the Family members carved the word war into Leno’s stomach. Krenwinkel then stabbed him a number of times, and left a carving fork protruding from his stomach,

And a steak knife from his throat. The girls then wrote messages in Leno’s blood. Death to pigs and rise were written on the living room wall, and Helter Skelter was written on the refrigerator door. – You talking about dying? Now it gets me nervous. – Why? – Did you have any thoughts about something? Was you wanting to go anywhere? – [Interviewer] Were you happy when you found out you weren’t gonna go to the gas chamber, Charles? – I knew I wasn’t gonna go to the gas chamber,

’cause I hadn’t done anything wrong. – [Interviewer] You scared to die? – Sometimes I feel I’m scared to live. Living is what scares me, dying is easy. – We have a weird homicide. – [Reporter] In a scene described by one investigator as reminiscent of a weird religious rite,

Five persons, including actress Sharon Tate, were found dead at the home of Ms. Tate and her husband, screen director Roman Polanski. – A wandering band of members of a so-called religious cult, with a leader they call Jesus, has had three of its followers arrested in the investigation of the murder

Of Sharon Tate and six others. – [Reporter] Ms. Tate, who starred in “Valley of the Dolls”, was eight months pregnant, and was found in a bikini-type nightgown with a rope around her neck, attached to the body of a man. – Two bodies inside, two bodies outside. – [Reporter] Among the other victims

Were Hollywood hairstylist Jay Sebring, and coffee heiress Abigail Folger. Authorities would allow no one in an unofficial capacity inside the posh $200,000 home, in the hills overlooking Los Angeles. When police arrived, they found the telephones and electricity lines cut. The bodies had been dead about 12 hours.

They were discovered this morning by a maid, who ran screaming to neighbors. One officer summed up the murders when he said, “In all my years, I have never seen anything like this before.” – [Narrator] Of course, the murders caused a huge panic in Hollywood. Members of the filmmaking elite had been gruesomely killed

For no apparent reason. – All of you know how beautiful she was, and how very often I read and heard statements that she was one of most beautiful, if not the most beautiful woman of the world, but only few of you know how good she was. – [Narrator] The pressure was now on

To solve the heinous crimes. Initially, the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were not linked to the Tate murders. The difference in lifestyles, circle of friends, and lack of any apparent connection were important factors in the decision to split up the investigation. In late August, 1969, several members of the Family

Were arrested for suspicion of auto theft. The charges were dropped, and Family members were released. However, Susan Atkins remained behind bars for questioning about her role in the murder of music teacher Gary Hinman. While in jail, Atkins began boasting to fellow inmates about her involvement in the still-unsolved Tate murders.

Eventually two of the inmates, Virginia Graham and Veronica Ronnie Howard, informed prison officials of her claims. – [Reporter] Police apparently got their break in the Tate case when this girl, Susan Atkins, a member of Manson’s Family, was arrested in another Los Angeles murder and talked to a cellmate about the Tate killings.

– According to the police, and they have in fact shown me some evidence, which indicates that they have a reason to believe that she may have been involved in both those other episodes, at least to some extent. I can say this much though, she has at no time

Ever actually herself physically killed any person. – [Interviewer] Are you saying she may have been present though? – The police evidence as revealed to me would indicate that she was. – [Narrator] In December, 1969, Atkins provided testimony before a Grand Jury about the Tate-LaBianca murders, in exchange for immunity from the death penalty.

About the same time, police interviewed a member of the Straight Satans motorcycle gang, who is a Manson acquaintance. He told them that Manson had recently been bragging about knocking off five people. The first piece of physical evidence was a fingerprint of Patricia Krenwinkel that was found on Sharon Tate’s bedroom door.

When other pieces of physical evidence were recovered, the police were ready to send the case to court. Manson, who was already in jail for receiving stolen property, was indicated on sexual charges. Family members Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten were arrested and indicated for their part in the murders.

Linda Kasabian, who was present both nights but did not participate in murdering the victims, turned state’s evidence in exchange for immunity. On June 15th, 1970, Charles Manson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Houten and Susan Atkins went on trial for the murders of the LaBiancas, along with the victims at the Tate residence.

Throughout the trial, the defendants were repeatedly banned from the courtroom for their outbursts and refusal to abide by the judge’s orders. Manson and his co-defendants were found guilty on January 25th, 1971. After two months of testimony, the jury agreed with the prosecution’s argument for the death penalty.

– I think so, I think Mr. Manson feels that he is a product of our society. He left home a rather early age and became a part of the, I guess they call it the flotsam and jetsam of our society. He floated around, and here and there

He started getting in trouble with the law. He feels that basically it’s society’s fault that he became enmeshed with the law. – Well, I don’t think any human being in America deserves to die at the hands of the state. As I mentioned to the Court, I think that the death penalty

Is a relic of savagery. It provides no socially useful function. We don’t profit anything by sending these people to their death. The function of punishment in California and elsewhere ought to be protection of society and rehabilitation. Certainly if they get life in prison, and I suggest that if they got life in prison,

It would mean life in prison, society would be protected. And certainly they’re not going to get rehabilitated up on death row. – [Narrator] On March 29th, 1971, Manson, Krenwinkel and Van Houten were sentenced to death. – [Don] They called themselves the Family.

They came and went, and the number varied from 20 to 30. Police said they were a pseudo religious cult. People who worked on the ranch said they were heavy users of drugs. – They were constantly taking dope and stealing cars and just, they’d just sit around all day and sleep,

And that’s about it. And they went around collecting garbage and had that for dinner, and went to the store once in a while, and that was about it. They just slept and got loaded. – What did they do for money, and what did they eat?

– Well, they eat just as regular as anybody else. And of the whereabouts of the money came from, mostly came from the girls, because the boys didn’t work. The girls did most of the money getting. – Were you at any time a member of this group?

– Well, I can say that I was as far as being here. – [Reporter] The Family left the caves they’d been living in on the Spahn movie Ranch in the early fall, after the Tate murders. Later police raided the ranch and found stolen cars. The Family set up another camp in the desert,

Near Death Valley. Five members are now in jail on other charges in the desert town of Independence. The Family’s leader, Charles Manson, is jailed here. It is expected that he will be charged in the Tate murders. People who lived with Manson on the ranch and in the desert

Denied that they were a violent group. – Well, it was fun. That’s what the whole thing is, that we were, all we were doing out there was playing, you know. – [Interviewer] Well, what kind of guy was Charlie? – He’s a good person, a very good person. He’s got a lot of peace.

– [Narrator] In 1972, the California Supreme Court declared the state’s death penalty law unconstitutional. No Manson case defendants were ever executed. Their sentences were among those commuted to life imprisonment when the state of California temporarily outlawed the death penalty on February 18th, 1972, in the case of California V. Anderson.

– Each case has to be evaluated and examined separately. But gentlemen, in view of the incredible brutality of these savage, nightmarish murders, the death penalty unquestionably was the proper verdict in this case. – [Narrator] Charles Manson died on November 19th, 2017 of cardiac arrest, having spent nearly 50 years behind bars

For his orchestration of the crimes that shook the world in 1969. He was 83 years of age. – [Interviewer] Was he out there all the time? – I don’t even know. You know, he’d take off over the mountains, glad to be here, you know, he’d just wander around. – [Interviewer] Was anybody stealing anything out there? – Yeah well, (scoffing) what’s there to steal? We don’t wanna bother nobody.

You know, all we wanted to do is be away from the city. – You’ve got it stuck in your brain that I murdered somebody. What do you wanna call me a murderer for? I’ve never killed anyone, I don’t need to kill anyone. I think it, I have it here. You know, if I wanted to kill somebody,

I’d take this book and beat you to death with it, and I wouldn’t feel a thing. It’d be just like walking to the drugstore. “Do you feel blame? Are you mad? Do you feel like (speaking gibberish)?”