The Mammoth Book of Celebrity Murders (46 page)

Back at the ranch Manson took in the details of the night’s orgy of killing, annoyingly noting that the team had not cleansed the house of fingerprints and more importantly, Atkins had
lost her knife. He decided that with what little time was left he would drive over to the house with another “family” member and tidy things up a bit. On arrival Manson took in the
bloody scene but was not shocked at the devastation his murderous crew had caused. They first wiped Parent’s car over to rid it of fingerprints and then returned to the house to do the same
there. They used the towels that had been used to hold Frykowski, throwing them over Sebring’s face before leaving.

At 8 a.m., still on 9 August, Winifred Chapman, housekeeper to Sharon Tate, reached the main gate and noticed what appeared to be a fallen telephone wire draped across the heavy gates. Walking
towards the house she saw Steven Parent’s car parked up on the main drive, but did not have any reason to approach it, other than the fact that the car was not known to her. Heading round to
the back door she found the key in its usual hiding place and let herself in; picking up the phone she confirmed that it was indeed a downed telephone line she had seen at the gates. The house was
not unusually quiet for the time of day as the occupants did not rise too early, especially if they had enjoyed a good evening the night before. Heading through to the main room, Chapman became
aware of flashes of red everywhere but it was not until she looked through the open door onto the grass that she began to scream – she could now see the outline of a body on the lawn, the
blood in stark contrast to the otherwise green and very neatly manicured lawns. Chapman, now hysterical, ran across to the Knotts’ house, passing the unfamiliar car on the drive and this time
seeing that there was what appeared to be another dead body in it. When it became apparent that the Knotts were out she finally managed to raise the alarm at the next house, presumably not
approaching the caretaker’s house because the phone line would have been down for him too.

Jerry DeRosa was the first of the LAPD officers to arrive at the Polanski household and it was he who looked into Steven Parent’s car and found him shot full of holes. Shortly after this
DeRosa was joined by officers William Whisehunt and Robert Burbridge, who, with guns drawn, searched the other cars on the drive and the garage area. As they approached the house the officers could
now clearly see two bodies lying on the lawn, a man and a woman, both of whom had clearly suffered massive injuries. As the enormity of the crime dawned on them they became more cautious –
the killer or killers might still be in the house. With guns ready they approached the front door, noticing the broken window screen as they were about to enter. They also saw the word
“Pig” scrawled in blood on the lower half of the door and as they edged past it they caught sight of a pistol grip on the floor. With three bodies already discovered they could not have
prepared themselves for the horrific scene they were about to walk into – they all stood stunned at the sheer volume of blood and were shocked to the core by the heavily pregnant female who
had clearly been the victim of a frenzied knife attack. Then from the back of the house the officers heard a man’s voice – warning that they were police, they instructed him to stay put
and promptly arrested William Garretson, the caretaker.

As an army of police moved in to secure the crime scene and begin the mammoth task of sifting through the debris, the media lost little time in announcing the massacre to the rest of the world.
As an up-and-coming movie star and the wife of Roman Polanski, the killing of Sharon Tate was big news. As was the death of Abigail Folger, society personality. The press gathered around the
property and sought out anyone who knew any of the victims, eagerly planning to fill many column inches with every fact, allegation, theory and historical detail that they could get their hands on.
The press were in overdrive – it had been an agent of Polanski, the Mafia, a drug-related revenge attack or someone wanting to extract revenge on Polanski himself; maybe Polanski had been the
intended target but had fortunately been out of the country filming. At one time or another all of the angles were reported as fact and supported by whatever gossip and whispers were available. The
truth is the police themselves were not sure of the motive, although they were able to quickly rule out burglary as a likely option. Meanwhile between the LAPD and the LA Sheriff’s Office no
one connected the Hinman case to the Tate murders, as both departments carried out what appeared to be entirely independent enquiries,

Back at the Spahn ranch Manson read of the events in the newspapers and revelled in the sheer shock that the murders had caused. What was apparent, however, was that “Helter Skelter”
had not been triggered, a fact not lost on Manson or indeed a number of “family” members. As with LA, although America and the world were reeling from the news, there was no ensuing
race war, not even a skirmish. Manson decided that the gang needed to press home the message and planned another attack, only this time he would lead the murder squad himself. On 10 August, just
one night after the Tate slayings, Manson, accompanied by Watson, Atkins, Krenwinkle, Leslie Van Houten and Clem Grogan, drove to the Silver Lakes area of Los Angeles. Silver Lakes sported
expensive homes and would be the choice of area for any successful middle-class family. The criteria for the attack was purely that the targets should represent white respectability. It was
therefore purely bad luck for the inhabitants of 3308 Waverley Drive that Manson randomly selected their address as the next focal point of his senseless brutality. The property belonged to Leno
LaBianca, a grocery store owner, and his wife Rosemary LaBianca, the owner of a smart clothing boutique.

On the night in question the “family” arrived in two cars and once again pulled into the shadows; four of the occupants climbed out, leaving Van Houten and Grogan behind. Manson,
lead the gang towards the house but indicated that they should wait while he quickly broke in, armed with a sword and a gun. Once in the house he quietly headed for the couple’s bedroom. When
Mr LaBianca awoke he found Manson pointing the gun directly into his face; 38-year-old Mrs LaBianca was now also awake and heard Manson explain that his purpose was robbery – if they
co-operated no one would get hurt. Having tied the couple up Manson then took Mr LaBianca’s wallet and went back out to the car, sending Watson, Krenwinkle and Van Houten into the house.
There was no doubt what the group had to do – the occupants would be killed and the scene should be shocking, with the clues pointing to a crime committed by a black gang. For some reason
best known to Manson, he told the others that they should finish the job on the LaBiancas whilst he broke in to the neighbouring house and murdered the residents there. He did no such thing,
however, but simply made his way back to the Spahn ranch and waited for the others to report in. Wasting little time once they were in the house, Watson pulled Mr LaBianca into the front room and
stabbed him four times with a large kitchen knife, which on the final thrust was left sticking out of his throat. Then, with a pillow over LaBianca’s face, he took his own knife and stabbed
him a further eight times in the abdomen. Once again, as the frenzy took hold, Krenwinkle joined in – grabbing Mrs LaBianca they stabbed her a massive 41 times, encouraging Van Houten to join
in as they chanted an evil mantra. Van Houten eventually stabbed Mrs LaBianca in the buttocks 16 times but by then she would have already been dead. Watson then carved the word “War” on
Mrs LaBianca’s stomach, while Krenwinkle, who had picked up a carving fork from the kitchen, stabbed both bodies repeatedly, leaving the instrument sticking up out of Mr LaBianca’s
abdomen. As with the Tate murder, they now took a lamp flex and tied it around the victims’ necks, covering their faces with pillow cases. With the place covered in blood they once more ran
their fingers through it and began daubing the walls with political slogans – “Death to pigs”, “Rise” and finally the phrase, “Helter Skelter”, misspelled,
was scrawled across the refrigerator door. Then, in the depths of all this madness and depravity the trio showered together before making themselves something to eat in the kitchen, finally leaving
just before dawn. With the killing over, that left the task of ensuring that the “Helter Skelter” plan was further advanced. They drove to a service station where one of the girls took
Mr LaBianca’s wallet and placed it on the top of a water tank, high up on the wall, in the ladies’ rest room. The plan was simple, but flawed – they assumed the wallet would be
found by a black person who would then attempt to use the contents. This would make the LaBianca murders a crime of blacks on whites in their own home – and this in turn would create the
social unrest needed to set off “Helter Skelter”.

If being murdered is not bad enough, had events moved the time lines back a little the LaBiancas might never have been home in the first place. On the night of their murder they had been driving
back from a short break. Mr LaBianca was towing his prized boat with his wife beside him and her daughter by a previous marriage, 21-year-old Susan Struthers, in the back. Dropping Susan off at her
apartment they had not got back to Waverley Drive until after 2 a.m., when it is assumed they went straight to bed, only to be disturbed a short time afterwards by Manson.

At 8.30 a.m. the following day Frank Struthers, Mrs LaBianca’s son, arrived with his camping equipment and was immediately struck by a couple of things that didn’t look right. The
speedboat was still in the drive, whereas Mr LaBianca would normally have garaged it – although they did return late – and secondly, all of the window shades were down, something he had
never known them do. He got no response from knocking on the door and instead decided to call the house from a local telephone kiosk. When he got no response this time he called his sister who
confirmed that as far as she knew they were heading home after they dropped her off. Susan asked Frank to hold on by the phone box while she and her boyfriend drove over. A sense of fear swept over
the threesome as they entered the unlocked door into the kitchen. Asking Susan to wait while they checked the house, they walked headlong into a scene of total carnage; unable to take in the scene
they ran back out of the house pulling Susan along with them. They could not bring themselves to say what they had seen, but Susan was able to put the pieces together when Frank phoned the police
and asked them to rush over – his parents had been murdered.

For the second day running the police entered a house of horrors, the same chaotic bloodbath and again, cords tied round the victims’ necks and bloody slogans on the walls. The
similarities between the Tate murders and these were unmistakable – so far as the LAPD were concerned the crimes were committed by the same people. However the lack of collaboration with the
Sheriff’s Office meant that the similarities with these more recent murders and the Hinman case had not been established. Had the LAPD known that the Hinman murder had also been the scene of
bloodied writing then they might have been able to get to Manson through Beausoliel, who was keeping silent while on remand. Meanwhile with the revelation of the second murders the police now had
to release Garretson, the Polanski caretaker who had been held for questioning while the LaBianca murders were being committed.

The press once more had a field day – a wild bunch of killers were targeting the famous, rich and business orientated of Los Angeles; no one was safe. The sales of intruder alarms rocketed
and security companies were inundated with business. Meanwhile the Hollywood elite left town in their droves, some simply moving into hotels, prepared to sit it out until the killers had been
brought in.

When Sergeant Whiteley of the Sheriff’s Office heard of the Tate murders he could see the similarities with the Hinman killing, and knowing that Beausoleil was in custody, it
couldn’t have been him. They had always believed that Beausoleil had not acted alone, but even under interrogation and with the possibility of some degree of leniency, he continued to deny
that he had been helped. The one fact that Whiteley had got in his possession was that prior to his arrest, Beausoleil had lived out at the Spahn ranch with a gang of weird hippies. Whiteley phoned
this information through to Jesse Buckles who was working on the Tate case for the LAPD, but he immediately dismissed the possible connection in the belief that they already had their man, a factor
which seriously delayed progress with the investigation and which could have resulted in more murders. Worse still, when they were forced to release Garretson they failed to reconnect with the
information provided by Whiteley.

As the police departments continued their isolationist strategies, the media ran full pelt with a range of theories and stories which held LA in siege. Among the facts which peppered the
newspaper articles were the usual journalistic sensations served up to an already overactive public imagination.

Meanwhile in the aftermath of both the Tate and LaBianca murders, there was little sign of the race wars and social unrest as predicted by Manson. And with this the “family” slowly
began to disband as they could feel the long arm of the law stretching out to them; many left town and others simply moved on to the next ranch to be further away from the violent epicentre of
Manson’s gang.

Polanski himself had returned from Europe and had walked straight into a police questioning room – they could not discount the fact that he may have arranged the murders and being abroad
at the time would provide a perfect alibi. Outraged that anyone would think this, let alone print stories that he could have killed his unborn son and wife, he made a tearful statement to the press
in his own defence and proposed a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the killers. Polanski wasn’t alone in coming under suspicion for at various times other members of
his and Tate’s families were dragged into the equation, including Tate’s father, Colonel Paul Tate, who subsequently started his own investigation, travelling around the hippie communes
hoping to unearth information that would lead him to the killers.