You may think you know the manson story but not like this. Hes a very evil sophisticated con man that knows exactly what hes doing. Its all play, isnt it . Keith morrison takes you inside the murders of manson. April 14th, 2016. A clear blustery day in the high desert outside los angeles. Inside the walls of the California Institution for women, a grayhaired 66yearold inmate appears before the parole board, as 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 the list forever linked with one of the most famous crimes and criminals of the 20th century, Charles Manson. Not my fault because you dont understand me. I dont understand you either the story of Charles Manson, his family and all the horror they wrought is buried in archives, memorialized in media long obsolete, and 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 00 a. M. Officer jerry derosa was a young cop with the lapd working the day shift. The first call i got was to go out to ciela drive coming out as a drunk in a car. Street. A neighbor flagged him down. 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. Derosa, all alone, nosed his squad car up a gated driveway. He could see right away things werent right. The telephone wires that had been cut were hanging over the gate. We go throug theres a car parked in the driveway. In the car he found not a drunk but a body. He had been shot. 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 were multiple stab around her neck. Something else, the young woman was pregnant, eight months pregnant and stabbed repeatedly. Next to her, a man with a bloody towel over his head. He had been shot at close range and also stabbed. It was a bloodbath. Had you ever seen such a thing before . No. It was horrendous. Out the back door, saw a guesthouse near a swimming pool. He and a second officer went to check it out. Inside, they found a young man alive. I thought, this guy knows something. 19yearold William Garretson said he was the caretaker. He told derosa, he knew nothing, had seen nothing and heard nothing. With all the screaming and you would think so. I handcuffed him and walked him through the property. They walked past the bodies on the front lawn. He didnt seem shocked by it . No, not at all. He was the first and most likely suspect. Derosa took him to the station house to book him. Then the detectives arrived and the coroners and, of course, the press. Rolling . At 8 30 this morning. 10050 cielo and found several bodies in the house. The lapd didnt 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 no. The only person we have at this time is mr. Garretson, whom we are questioning. The lapd didnt know much or say much. Were the bodies badly mutilated . This, i would rather not discuss. Who would know that fear would spread so fast, choke what was left of innocence and choke us. The main thing is what no one knew was what started on cielo drive wasnt 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. With a round brush head ep it away. 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It was media frenzy 1969 style, recorded on 16 millimeter film. We have a weird homicide with two bodies inside and two bodies outside. Word of mouth had skewed the awful truth, by the time 16yearold debra tate heard it. My boyfriend called my mother people were dead and it was rumored to be the house of sharon tate. Sharon tate, debras big sister. Claude, please stop it ive hated this. Go find yourself another girl. Sharon tates biggest film, valley of the dolls, was two years behind her. Now 26, she was known less for her acting than her beauty and style and her husband. Director Roman Polanski had recently shot to fame with rosemarys baby, in which a woman discovers she may be carrying the child of the devil. In real life, sharon tate and Roman Polanski were expecting, too. She was so excited, like a new mom to be, creating the nice home nest for the family, to welcome the new life. Learn what happened to her sister, pressed her panic stricken mother. Mother, what . What . Tell me what. She must have she was out of her mind crazy, grief like you could not imagine. But it was no mistake. The murders already gruesome, now took on the trappings of celebrity. This was at the home of movie director, Roman Polanski, and it was his wife, sharon tate, who was one of the victims. With sharon tate, 25yearold coffee heiress, abigail folger, she had been working with poor kids and it was her body officers saw on the front yard. Beside her was her boyfriend, 32, a sometime actor and old friend of romans. Inside the house, next to sharon, the man with the towel over his head was 35yearold jay sebring. Famous hair dresser to the boyfriend. Jeff guin wrote the 2013 book, manson. They remained friends. Sharon tate invited sebring over that evening. Jay sebrings nephew. One of the sad ironies was jay was not supposed to be there that night. He was supposed to be in las vegas and for whatever reason he decided to stay. The body in the car took longer to identify, turned out to be 19yearold steve parent who was visi t caretaker. Parent went out to his car at just the wrong moment and never got out of the driveway. L. A. Struggled to understand why would any kill all these people and why in such a sadistic manner . The lapd searched for clues in the surrounding brush, among the neighbors, as of course, the ever growing army of reporters. Usually the gate light is on at least. Why would you take note of that . Its always been on. Strange, despite all the carnage, no real clues, though there was this one thing. It was revealed that a small amount of narcotics was found in the foreign sports car of sebring. Some pot and hash were found in the house, too. Now, press began to wonder could the murders have something to do with the lifestyles sharon and her fabulous friends lived in mourning, in shock, director Roman Polanski found himself in front of a camera defending his dead wife. Sharon not only didnt use drugs, she didnt touch alcohol, she didnt smoke cigarettes. All sharon was thinking about was her baby, he added, their baby who died with her. Baby clothes. Then another rumor hit the press, that the killings were somehow connected to polanskis horror movie, rosemarys baby. This time a representative spoke for polanski. Sharon and all other Three Friends were rational people with no interest in mysticism or any cult. The news liked to try to pin on sharon and her friends, you know, the drug, sex, rockn roll devil worshipping. Horrific, yes, all those ugly theories. There was this kind of gossip subtext that these people brought this on themselves. These were people engage ing drugs or some sort of orgy. Tragically, for the victims especially, that they were played off as a form of morality tale. Drugs, orgies . There was no stopping the if anyone believed it, what happened next made no sense at all. Coming up. Everybody in los angeles is petrified. Where are they going to strike next . Then, someone does. I felt there was an immediate connection. Nearly 24 hours after this truly horrific crime with l. A. In deep shock, the police were baffled. Anything id tell you at this point would be mere speculation. And then it happened again. The bodies of a man and his wife, found in their home, both stab wounds. Did you know the people in this home . God, ive known these people for 30 years. Whats their name . Labianca. Rosemary and leno, her husband. They found them tied, rosemary had large cord around her neck. 41. Overkill would be an understatement. And again, just as it was at sharon tates house, the murder scene seemed almost art directed, to elicit fear. A fork was jammed into leno la biancas abdomen and was sticking there. Paint on one wall was death to pigs. And the refrigerator, helterskelter, like the song from the beatles album. On his body the words war had been carved in the chest. These are brutal killings. Elaine has written about the case for people magazine. In the middle of the night, showing up with knives, stabbing police had never seen before. The killers seemed 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. Braced itself after the next wave especially after the initial suspect, William Garretson was released. Theres a crazed killer i los angeles and an immediate citywide panic. Even though it was a hot august, angelinans closed their doors and windows. Guns sell out and guard dogs going for 200 apiece are now selling for 5,000. Everybody in los angeles is petrified, where are they going to strike next. Hollywood was even scared. Its my understanding roman among his peers. Warren beatty said it was like a Small Nuclear device had gone off in hollywood. People were really scared and they needed to make sense and try to make sure they were somehow insulated and not involved in this. People all over town knew it in their guts, the murders had to be related. I felt there was an immediate connection. So did everybody in my family. Why did you think there was a connection . Because of the writing on the that was the main thing. Officer jerry derosa, who was working the tape crime scene, thought so, too. I had heard about some conditions at the location at the labianca house. I thought to myself, i wonder if this is connected in some way, writing the blood on the wall and the stabbing. Your mind went there pretty well right away . Yeah. But it did not seem that way the department assigned a team of detectives to investigate the tate murders and another team of detectives to labianca. The two teams worked out of the same squad room. The problem was they didnt work together. They didnt like each other, they didnt get along very well and they didnt Exchange Information for months. So each of those murders was pursued separately. Detectives acknowledged the crime scenes looked similar but the la folks who owned Grocery Stores and didnt hang out with movie stars and coffee heiresses. But they think it was the same crime. Police believe they may have used the same technique as to throw officers off the track. The media said, hey, these two crimes look similar. The other . It didnt make sense on the surface. The labianca cops looked at the usual . A workplace dispute, love triangle and a violent turn even as the tate cops looked for drug dealers. And both cases stayed open and it lingered in late 69 for weeks like the smog in l. A. This would never be solved early on . Yeah. It seemed to have gone on forever. Never find out. Never find out. Thats its own kind of hell. All the while, the cops failed to realize the killers were hiding in plain sight. All it would take was a chance encounter between two unlikely characters and an l. A. Jail to crack the case wide open. She proceeded on to tell me how sharon tate begged her, please dont kill me, please dont kill me. A dark obsession with the beetles. They really did listen to the white album over and over. Be n, jack knocked over a candlestick onto the shag carpeting. And his pants ignited into flames, causing him to stop, drop and roll. With renters insurance. Because all his belongings went up in flames. Jack got full replacement and now has new pants he ordered from banana republic. Visit geico. Com once upon a time in the depths of your own cupboard lived ecofriendly products waiting to be discovered. Some had audacious claims on their labels of green and all looked alike until new tide purclean. That labels not green, its purely just chic. Then why is she using it week after week . They realized then, its not the label that flatters, but the power inside is what truly matters. New tide purclean, 65 biobased, looking for balance in your digestive system . Try align probiotic. For a nonstop, sweet treat goodness, hold on to your tiara kind of day. Now in kids chewables. Today you can do everything in just one click, even keep your toilet clean and fresh. Introducing lysol click gel. Click it in to enjoy clean freshness with every flush. Autumn of 69, it was still hot in l. A. But the Police Investigation of the grizzly Tate Labianca murders was ice cold. Not a lead, a clue or suspect in sight. Then in october, a woman widely known on the Hollywood Party circuit found herself in the jail. She knew people, once even dated this wasnt her first fling with the law. I was there for a violation of probation. Thats where virginia was when she met a young woman who was not like the other inmates. She was very pretty, very friendly, always happy, singing, doing cartwheels in fact, up and down the aisle. The womans name was susan atkins. Virginia was intrigued. I casually asked her one day what she was there for. This is when she said, murder. Susan told virginia she had been accused of killing a guy out of the suburbs months earlier. But then she went on bragging that the cops didnt know a fraction of what she had really done. She said, you know those murders in benedict canyon. Of course, everyone knew about that. She said, you know who did it, dont you . I looked at her and said, no, i dont. Just that casually, susan atkins confessed to the crime the whole nation was talking about, enthusiastically, described the killings in all their bloodcurdling detail. Sharon tate begged her, please dont kill me, please dont kill me, and she said she looked at her eyetoeye and said, bitch, i dont care if youre going to have a baby or not, im going to kill you. Then atkins told her she was part of a group and they killed lots more people, celebrities, like frank sinatra. The very fact there were going to be other murders of other people i could never ever be able to live with that. Virginia got through to the police and told the whole story. So now lapd detectives zeroed in on susan atkins and learned she belonged to a commune called the leader was a short scruffy guy habitual criminal called manson. Charles manson. The cops, to their surprise, discovered manson and several of his followers were already in custody. Not for murder, but for car theft. Manson was a lifelong criminal who never could go more than a day or two of his free life without breaking some law. And the people with him young, mostly women, were barely more than half his age. Theyre easily influenced. They came from broken homes or they were bullied at school, they didnt fit in. And he was able to tap into all of that. . . Police began to interview these women. One was 18yearold barbara hoyt, who spoke about life inside the family and what attracted her to Charles Manson. He was very loving. He was very much a father figure. How did it make you feel when he was nice to you like that . Made me feel special. Felt like we were all fingers on one hand, like we were the digits and charlie was the hand. Police spoke with other manson women, too. And learned that in the fall of 67, manson moved to los out to find someone, anyone who could make him a rock star. They encountered dennis wilson, of the beach boys who took manson to the beach boys studio, where he recorded this. . Restless as the wind . . It never went anywhere. Manson didnt measure up as a he and his family about 20 of them settled in the rugged foothills of l. A. A place called spahn ranch, a movie place for old westerns. One of the best places about the ranch was they would stay there and do chores. When they werent working they went dumpster diving for food and panhandle for money and sometimes stole cars. There was a lot of drugs and plenty of sex, all directed by manson. He told people who to sleep with, what to eat, where to, you know, do their bodily fuon detectives that charlie preached to his flock constantly. He would quote from the book of revelation. Which he knew pretty well. Not pretty well, were talking wordforword. Then detectives found out about charlies other source of inspiration. They really did listen to the white album over and over. The beatles double album murders. One song in particular captivated charlie. . . Helterskelter. Helterskelter lyrics the beatles said were inspired by an Amusement Park ride, harmless fun. But the people who heard them tell the cops, for him, helterskelter meant something apocalyptic. What in the world did a beetles song have to do with the brutal angeles . It all made perfect sense to Charlie Manson. Coming up, mansons unshakable hold on his family. He dances, he sings, he looks beautiful, he looks happy, and this draws a lot of people. And the possible motive behind the murders. Charlie would be king of the world. Thats crazy talk. From the first moment you met ontinues. It was lo