The Mammoth Book of Celebrity Murders (47 page)

Without the link to the Hinman case the LAPD continued to pursue the drugs connection – it was well known that Sebring had been involved in narcotics and it was natural therefore to assume
that the murders were retribution meted out by some drug baron. However, this speculation also ran into difficulty with the LaBianca murders as they were a respected business couple and nothing in
their backgrounds connected them in any way to the drugs scene. Once again a dead end. Then on 1 September a young boy found the gun which had been used in the Tate murders, discarded under a bush.
The boy’s father turned the gun over to the LAPD who once again failed to carry out a proper investigation.

Meanwhile the Sheriff’s Office were keenly pursuing a strategy of their own. In the knowledge that Beausoleil had lived at the Spahn ranch, they dispatched officers to check for stolen
cars and credit cards with a warrant to really give the place a good going-over. If nothing else came out of the search it would signal the department’s interest in the “family”
group and spook them a little. With a little cooperation from the Inyo County Sheriff’s Department the neighbouring Barker ranch was also raided, resulting in the arrest of 24 gang members,
including Manson. The Barker ranch was so extensive that the search took three days and on the last one, hidden in a ditch on the outskirts of the property, the police found the pregnant girlfriend
of Beausoleil, who came out terrified and begging for police protection. The net was slowly closing in on Manson, as many of those arrested at the Barker ranch gave the Spahn ranch as their
official address. The Inyo officers now called Whiteley and Guenther in as officially this was their jurisdiction. Under questioning the girl stated that she had overheard Manson telling Beausoleil
and Atkins to go and rob Hinman. Meanwhile Atkins, who had fled the Spahn ranch, had been arrested on charges of prostitution and had admitted being at the Hinman house at the time of his murder.
Booked on suspicion of Hinman’s murder she was held awaiting trial in the Sybil Brand Institute, an LA detention centre for women, and placed in a cell with two other detainees, Ronnie Howard
and her friend Virginia Graham.

The LAPD, having come to a dead end, decided to check out any other murders which had shared the same modus operandi and had gone full circle back to Hinman. They too had now established the
potential link to the Manson gang and were following up lines of enquiry of their own, even though there was no proof of any connection between the Hinman murder and those of Tate/LaBianca, save
for the feeling that those living at the Spahn ranch new more than they were letting on.

As part of their sweeping enquiry the LAPD called in a couple of bikers from the Straight Satan Biker gang who had also stayed at the ranch for a while. Danny DeCarlo and Al Springer were able
to provide more information supporting the involvement of Manson. They confirmed that amongst the Spahn ranch group, it was common knowledge that Manson had arranged for the “family” to
carry out the hit. They also mentioned that the gang had killed one of their own members, a man named Donald “Shorty” Shea, after he threatened to tell George Spahn what was really
going on at the property. That resulted in Shorty having his head chopped off and the rest of him cut into little pieces so that he could not be identified. As the interviews progressed with
interesting, though circumstantial results, they finally hit upon a key piece of information when DeCarlo, asked if anything had been written on the refrigerator, stated that Manson had said,
“They wrote something on the fucking refrigerator in blood . . . something about pigs or niggers or something like that.”

With the noose now around Manson’s neck it was Atkins who began to pull it tighter. She had started to brag to her cell mates, Virginia Graham and Ronnie Howard, about the crimes she and
the “family” had committed under the leadership of their guru Manson. Graham and Howard were intrigued with Atkins, who seemed a little crazy as if she was still on drugs, dancing
around the cell, often looking and acting perfectly happy. Atkins explained that she was in for the first-degree murder of Hinman, but added that the police thought she had been more of an
accomplice, holding Hinman down, whereas in reality it had been she who had stabbed him to death. The two girls were taken aback by this confession – even these days it is still rare for
murder of this type to be carried out by a female.

Urged on by the obvious shock effect of her story, Atkins began to reveal details of the other murders she had been involved with. Both Graham and Howard were familiar with the bloodbaths that
had occurred at the Tate household and also at the LaBianca residence, and if they were not mistaken Atkins seemed to be intimating that she had been involved in at least one of these. Over the
course of a number of days, Atkins spoke of Manson being Jesus, that they were all going to survive and rule after the race war, this time referring directly to the Tate murders. Addressing Howard
directly she said, “You know who did it, don’t you, well, you’re looking at her.” Howard was shocked and asked why they had committed the murders. Atkins calmly explained
that the “family” wanted to commit a crime of such proportions that it would shock the world, and said that they had picked the house because of its remote location, not caring who
would be there when they arrived. She then described the gang as consisting of three women and one man, describing how they cut the telephone wires to prevent a call to the police, and also that
they had shot a young man four times who was leaving the property as they were arriving. With more shocking, graphic detail Atkins described how they rounded up the occupants, putting nooses around
their necks to prevent them escaping, and finally after one had tried to run, how the killing had begun with shooting and stabbing. The most shocking and sickening element of the story was
Atkins’ description of how Tate was the last to die, that she had begged for her life and that of her unborn child, but more horrifying, how Atkins had looked her in the eye as she plunged
the knife into her. The two girls were unsure of what to make of Atkins’ claims – she was after all a very bizarre young lady who could have gleaned most of the details from the papers
and be merely repeating them to shock or impress them. But Atkins went on to describe how the “family” had gone out the next night and had murdered the LaBiancas.

Intrigued to say the least Graham and Howard decided they would set up a way of testing Atkins to see if she was for real. Howard by chance had been to the house on Cielo Drive when it had been
up for sale and had driven past, purely window-shopping, and therefore knew what it looked like. When she asked Atkins if the house was still decorated in white and gold – which it
hadn’t been – Atkins replied, “No.” The girls were now starting to believe that the girl they shared their cell with was in fact a multiple, coldblooded killer. Once Atkins
had started talking she found it easy to continue, especially about what the “family” were planning to do with other celebrities on their list: Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard
Burton, Steve McQueen and Tom Jones. She said she was going to carve the words Helter Skelter on Taylor’s face and then gouge her eyes out, putting them in a bottle with Burton’s penis
and mailing the package to Eddie Fisher, Taylor’s ex-love. Sinatra was to be skinned alive whilst listening to his own music, while Tom Jones was to have his throat slit, but not until Atkins
had forced him to have sex. With Howard and Graham more scared than horrified they passed on their knowledge to the prison authorities who in turn called in the LAPD.

With the cell room confession now on record, Atkins finally admitted her part in the murders, and in December 1969, she described to a grand jury the full details of the horror that took place
at 10050 Cielo Drive. Crucially, Atkins delivered a more important and undeniable piece of evidence, when she told the jury that the wallet belonging to Mr LaBianca had been left in the rest room
at the service station, and for what purpose. When the police searched the rest room and found the wallet perched on the top of the water tank, they now had positive proof that Atkins had detailed
inside knowledge of the killings, knowledge that would now be impossible to deny should she succumb to Manson’s influences once the charges came to court. Atkins’ celebrity hit list was
also released to the papers and another wave of fear spread through the glitzy homes of the Hollywood elite. The media were now aware of Manson and his “family” and began to dig into
the backgrounds of all of those who had been arrested in connection with the murders – the story simply ran and ran. By the time the trials began there wasn’t a person left in America
who had not been spoon-fed the papers’ various versions of events.

As the “family” had broken up other key members were tracked down and brought in. Watson had fled back to Texas and was now fighting extradition back to California, while many of the
others had been arrested after the initial raids on the Spahn and Barker ranches.

On 18 November 1969, 35-year-old Deputy District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi was assigned to the Tate–LaBianca case, his colleague, Aaron Stovitz, being appointed as co-prosecutor. Their
jobs were incredibly difficult. The LAPD now knew which of the gang members were at the various murders; they had a gun which had belonged to Manson, although not registered in his name; they had
numerous confessions to say that Manson was the gang leader and had instructed the killings to be carried out; Atkins had delivered the LaBianca wallet to them; they had knives and fingerprints;
but none of this placed Manson at the scene of the murders and none of it showed that he had actually committed murder himself. Manson was quite comfortable with his position, knowing he had not
committed murder, and yet the press had already labelled him a cult figure, leading a band of murderous, drugged-up hippies. He complained at the bad publicity, that he was being judged by the
papers before he had fought his case in the courts. The public were already baying for blood – the killing of the heavily pregnant Sharon Tate, beautiful and married to a successful Hollywood
film director, had driven the American public almost to the point of hysteria. Bugliosi had to consider how to provide two important elements in the prosecution case, firstly motive – why did
he want these people dead? He did not know them and he had not robbed them for personal gain. And secondly, how to prove that Manson was able to exert such an amount of influence over his
“family” members that they would kill in his name.

The first task was to win indictments against all of those involved; this would in effect allow charges to be brought against each of them, including Manson, and then the debate would take place
in a courtroom. With the evidence available and the confession by Atkins, who was not offered immunity, the grand jury were quick to hand down their verdict: Manson, Krenwinkle, Atkins, Watson and
Kasabian were all charged with seven counts of first-degree murder, while Van Houten was charged with two counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. Although immunity was not
offered to Atkins she was encouraged to give evidence for the prosecution in exchange for her own life. The state of California still had the death penalty as an option at this time and the
prosecution, keen to pin Manson, offered not to pursue her if she continued to act on their behalf.

The complexity of the case was further compounded by the pressures exerted by the various interested parties. Manson had already managed to get the first appointed trial judge, William Keene,
replaced because he believed him to be biased. The press ran story after story and the jurors had to be protected from them in order that a fair trial could be delivered – if this was indeed
possible given the negative press that the defendants had already attracted before the trial had even begun. Nevertheless, the trial did begin in mid-June 1970; Judge Charles Older, the second
trial judge to be assigned to the case, presided and declared that the jurors should remain under lock and key when not in court. The need to keep the media from them was paramount, as any flaw in
this arrangement would have the defence screaming for a null-and-void trial – possibly their best hope, all things considered. At one point this was almost achieved when towards the end of
the trial, Richard Nixon, the newly appointed President, made a comment indicating Manson’s guilt, going against the concept that defendants are innocent until proven guilty. Again the press
ran the scoop at full tilt until Judge Older announced that given the jurors were in a pretty much confined environment, without television, radio or newspaper, there had been no material breach of
the rules, and so the trial was allowed to continue.

Bugliosi described Manson as a “vagrant wanderer” who had sought to gain power over those around him by posing as a hippie, whilst all the while being obsessed with violent death.
Bugliosi was as intent on implicating Manson, the evil behind the murders, as he was with ensuring that those who committed the crimes were seen as willing accomplices – he wanted them all
inside for a long time. On Manson’s first visit to the courtroom he appeared sporting a newly carved “X” in the space between his eyebrows, giving him an even more menacing
look.

Initially Manson had requested the opportunity to defend himself but the court had ruled against this. The chance for Manson to grandstand himself, talk round in circles and generally disregard
the facts was not something the California justice system could accommodate. Given Manson’s ability to manipulate people, it would be a tough job for any prosecution witness to be
cross-examined by him. In the end the court imposed a lawyer upon him.

Central to Manson’s defence was his need to exert maximum influence over those still left in the “family”. If any of them were to give evidence against him it would certainly
be the final nail in his own coffin. By now Atkins, who had initially given statements incriminating Manson, had repudiated her testimony and was telling a completely different story, one that left
everyone on the hook except Manson himself. Manson needed to ensure that those who took the stand had been got at by his agents, which he achieved by sending messages via those members of the
“family” who had not been arrested, and who could visit him and the others. It worked for a while – Barbara Hoyt who was to give evidence for the prosecution was initially
threatened and then enticed to Honolulu by one of Manson’s girls; there she was given a large dose of LSD, but managed to get medical help before the drug could cause her harm.