>> things like the police had never seen before. >> shannon tate begged, please don't kill me, please don't kill me. >> average kids from average american homes turned out to be the killers. >> he would doze them with lsd. >> what are you's sane people? >> charles manson stole lives. >> grief like you could not imagine. >> so innocence. >> he looks beautiful, happy and it draws a lot of people. >> and left the city living in fear. >> gun stores sell out. guard dogs are selling for $5,000. >> you may think you know the manchin story, but not like this. >> he's a very evil, sophisticated con man. he knows exactly what he is doing. >> it was all a play. isn't it? >> hello and welcome to dateline! he was a charismatic ex con who dreamed of becoming a rock star. then he found a ragtag group of hippies in search of direction and purpose to follow him. in the end, their toxic union would result in a frenzy of brutality. how is charles manson able to insert his influence to engineer a murderous rampage that would make him one of the most notorious figures in criminal history? here is keith morrison with mason. >> april 14th, 2016. a clear blustery day in the high desert outside los angeles. inside the walls of the california institution for women, the greyhaired 66 -year-old appears before a parole board. and she has done many times before. but this time, something remarkable. >> a parole board panel is recommending the release of former charles manson follower leslie van houten. >> leslie van houten, a name on a list forever linked with one of the most famous crimes and criminals of the 21st century. charles manson! >> you don't understand me! that's your trouble! it's not my fault because you don't understand me! i don't understand you either! >> the story of charles manson and his family, and all the horror they rot, is buried in archives. memorialized in media. long obsolete. yet, somehow, it feels present. that hot summer night that caught the world utterly unprepared. when los angeles became, suddenly, a very scary place. it was august 9th, 1969. around 8 am. officer jerry was a young cop on the lapd working the day shift. >> the first call i got was the call to goes to cielo drive. it came out as a drunk in a car. >> officer cruised up to the big canyon. and found the dead streak called c l o drive. the neighbor flagged him down. and suddenly, the drunk in a car call became something else. >> he had told me that the maid came running back out, yelling, blood and bodies! him, all along, noticed his car in the driveway. he could see right away things were not right. >> the telephone wires that had been cut had been hanging over the gate. you go through the gate, and there is a car parked in the driveway. >> in the car he found, not a drunk, but a body! >> he had been shot. and i walked around the front of the location, and there were two more bodies on the lawn. >> then backup arrived, and they went into the house. and found a scene, horrible in a way that would go down in history. there was a young woman. >> there are multiple stab rwounds on her. and then, there was a thick rope that was wrapped around her neck. >> and something else. the young woman was pregnant, eight months pregnant! she'd been stabbed repeatedly. next to her, a man with a bloody towel over his head. he had been shot at close range, also stabbed. it was a bloodbath. >> had you ever seen such a thing before? >> no. it was horrendous. >> derosa could see down the hall out the back door, inside saw a guest house near the swimming pool. he and a second officer went to check it out. and inside, they found a young man. alive. >> i thought, this guy knows something. >> 19 year old williams garrison says he was the caretaker. he told derosa he knows nothing, had seen nothing, and heard nothing. >> with all the screaming, and the gunshots, and the fighting. >> how could he not hear it? >> you would think so. i handcuffed him, and walked him to the property. >> they walk us the bodies on the front lawn. >> did he seem shocked? >> not at all. >> garrison was the first, and most likely suspect. derosa took him to the station house to book him. >> then the detectives arrived, then the corroners, and of course the press. >> are you rolling? >> rolling. >> at 8:30 this morning, -- an employee came to work at 10050 cielo, and we found several bodies in the house. >> the lapd did not share, right away, the awful details. or that the phone wires had been cut so no one could call for help. or that an american flag had been draped over the couch, or that someone had written in blood on the front door one word, pig. >> do you have any kind of apbs out? any suspects at all? >> no. the only person we have as mr. garrison. we are questioning. >> the lapd was not saying much, did not know much. >> was the body mutilated? >> this i'd rather not discuss. >> who would know? that fear that would spread so fast. choke what was left of innocence. infect us to. but that night, the main thing no one knew was, what was started on cielo drive was not over. >> coming up. there was still another big shock to come. the identities of the victims. >> my boyfriend called my mother and he had heard five people were dead. and it was rumored to be the house of sharon tate. >> when dateline continues. robitussin. so, she can have those one on ones again. hey jim! can we talk about casual fridays? oh sure. what's up? get fast, powerful cough relief with robitussin, and find your voice. ♪robitussin♪ i have moderate to severe crohn's disease. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are looking up, i've got symptom relief. ♪ ♪ control of my crohn's means everything to me. ♪ ♪ control is everything to me. ♪ feel significant symptom relief at 4 weeks with skyrizi, including less abdominal pain and fewer bowel movements. skyrizi is the first il-23 inhibitor that can deliver remission and visibly improve damage of the intestinal lining. and the majority of people experienced long-lasting remission at one year. serious allergic reactions and an increased risk of infections or a lower ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms, had a vaccine or plan to. liver problems may occur in crohn's disease. ♪ now's the time to ask your gastroenterologist how you can take control of your crohn's with skyrizi. ♪ ♪ control is everything to me. ♪ ♪ learn how abbvie could help you save. teeth sensitivity is so common. it immediately feels like somebody's poking directly on the nerve. i recommend sensodyne. sensodyne toothpaste goes inside the tooth and calms the nerve down. and my patients say you know doc, it really works. my a1c was up here; now, it's down with rybelsus®. his a1c? 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>> she was out of her mind, crazy, grief like you couldn't imagine. >> but it was no mistake. the murders already gruesome. now -- >> this was at the home of roman polanski and his wife sharon tate who one of the victims. >> with sharon tate, 25 year old coffee harris abigail folger, she had been working with poor kids, it was her body they saw on the front yard. beside her was her boyfriend -- 32, a sometime actor and old friend of roman's. inside the house, next to sharon the man with a towel over his head was 35-year-old jay sebring. >> famous hair dresser to the stars, who had been sharon tate's boyfriend. >> jeff wrote the book mansion. they remained friends. shanty had invited to bring over that evening. >> after -- is jay sebring's nephew, one of these that irony is this that jay was not supposed to be there that night. he was supposed to be in las vegas. for whatever reason, he decided to stay. >> the body in the car took longer to identify, turned out to be a 19 year old steve who was visiting the property's caretaker. steve went into the car just at the wrong, moment never got out of the driveway. >> l. a. struggled to understand, why would anyone kill all these people, and why in such a sadistic manner? the lapd searched for clues in the surrounding -- among the neighbors, as of course do the ever growing army of reporters. >> the lights weren't on. usually the gate light as on, at least -- >> why would you take note of? that >> it's always there. >> strange, despite all the carnage, no real crew clues. though, there was this one thing -- >> it was revealed that a small amount of narcotics was found in the sebring. some pot and hash were found in the house too. so now police begin to wonder could the murders have something to do with the lifestyles of sharon and her fabulous friends lived? in mourning, and shock, director roman polanski found himself in front of a camera, defending his dead wife. >> sharon not only didn't use drugs, she didn't touch alcohol, she didn't smoke cigarettes. >> all sharon was thinking about was her baby, and their baby who died with her. >> a lot of blood all over the place, baby clothes. >> but then another room hit the press, that the killings were somehow connected to polanski is a horror movie rosemary's baby. this time, a representative spoke for polanski. >> sharon and all other three friends were rational people with no interest in mysticism or anything occult. >> the news liked to try to pin on sharon and her friends that drugs, sex, rock and roll, devil worshipping. >> horrific, yes. all those ugly theories. >> there was this kind of got up subtext that these people brought this on themselves. these people were engaging in drugs, or some sort of orgies. tragically, for the victims, they were played off as a form of morality tale. >> drugs, orgies, there is no stopping the gossip. but if anyone believed it, and what happened next made no sense at all. >> coming up, >> everybody in los angeles is petrefied. where they're going to strike next? 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great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. lwelcome back.ay. welcome back! the unsolved murders of the pregnant actress the unsolved murders of the pregnant actress sharon tate, and her friends, sent the rumor mill turning. because roman polanski has directed the film, rosemary's baby. was that the site and a connection? or were the murders drug related. now a second attack was about to send the media into overdrive. with shockwaves traveling through the hollywood hills and beyond. once again, here's keith morrison with manson. >> nearly 24 hours after this truly horrific crime. with a leg in deep shock, the police were baffled. >> anything at this point would be merely speculation. >> and then, it happened again! >> the bodies of a man and his wife were found in their home, both been stabbed to death. repeat stab wounds. >> did you know the people in this home? >> god, i've known these people for 30 years! >> what's their name? >> -- >> rosemary and--. rosemary's children found them. the scene every bit as awful as the one 10 miles away on cielo drive. his hands tied with a leather code. in his face covered with a pillow case rosemary had a lamp chord around her neck. venal had been stabbed 26 times. rosemary, 41. overkill would be an understatement. and again, just as it was that sharon tate's house. the murder scene seemed, almost, art directed. to illicit fear. >> a fork was jammed into lena 's abdomen and left sticking there. >> painted in blood on one wall, was the word rise. on another, death to pigs. and on the refrigerator, helter-skelter. like the song from the beatles white album. >> on her body, the word roar had been called in the chest. >> these were brutal killings. >> elena has written about the case for people magazine. >> in the middle of the night, showing up with knives. stabbing people multiple times. even when they were dead, things that the police had never seen before. >> the killer seem to have no conscience. >> they killed a husband and wife, took a shower in their home, calmly ate some food and left. >> over two successive nights, seven people and an unborn baby had been ruthlessly slaughtered. l. a. brace itself for the next wave, especially after that initial suspect, william was cleared and released. >> there is some crazed killers roaming los angeles. and there is an immediate citywide panic. >> even though it was a hot august, everyone close their windows, and lock their doors. >> gun store sell out. >> car dogs who are going for over $200 apiece, are now selling for $5,000. everybody in los angeles is petrefied. where are they gonna strike next? >> hollywood was even scared. and from my understanding roman polanski started getting paranoid. thinking it was someone among his peers. >> warren beatty it was like a small nuclear device had gone off in hollywood. and people were really scared. and they need to make sense, and make sure that they were not involved in this. >> people all over the town knew it in their gut. the murders had to be related. >> i felt that there was an immediate connection. so did everyone in my family. >> why did you think it was a connection? >> because of the writing on the wall. that was the main thing. >> officer gerry derosa who was working the crime scene thought so too. >> i heard about some of the conditions that were at the location at the -- house. i thought to myself, i wonder if this is connected in some way? writing the blood on the wall, the stabbings. >> in your mind, went there pretty well right away? >> yeah. >> but it did not seem that way to the brass of the lapd. the department assigned a team of detectives to assign the tate murders. they assigned another team -- to. the two teams worked at the same squad room. the problem was, they did not work together. >> they didn't like each other, they did not get along very well. and they did not exchange information for months. so each of those murders was pursued separately. >> they acknowledge the crime scenes looked similar, but the -- were middle class folks who owned grocery stores. they didn't hang out with movie stars. unlikely, they said, that the same person committed both crimes. >> -- the same technique as the bel-air killer to throw police off the track. >> the media was quick to sort of say, hey, these two crimes look similar. and the police were quick to say, no, it is a copycat. because what would one have to do with the other? it did not make sense on the surface. >> oh, the labianca cops looked into it as usual. was it a workplace dispute? a crime turned violent? even as they looked for murderous drug dealers, both teams struck out. both cases stayed open. and the terror lingered, that late summer of'69 for weeks. like the smog over downtown l. a.. >> that was their time you thought this would never be solved? early on? >> yes. it seemed to have gone on forever.