Helter Skelter
Page 74
Spahn Ranch was never rebuilt after it was burned to the ground by brush fires that swept the area from Newhall to the sea in September of 1970. The German company that bought the land from George Spahn never developed it into the dude ranch resort for German tourists they had planned. Today, there are no signs that the murderous Manson Family was ever there. All of the ramshackle structures on the ranch are gone and the property, which was eventually sold to the state of California, is deserted, weed-choked land.
The Tate residence went through several owners after Rudi Altobelli, the landlord at the time of the murders. The current owner tore the house down in January of 1994 because he didn’t like “the history of the place,” and is in the process of constructing an enormous $10 million home that will tower over all other homes in the area. The LaBianca home was owned for years by a Filipino couple, the wife reportedly being a friend of Imelda Marcos. They sold it recently to their daughter and son-in-law.
As for the Manson trial participants today, Irving Kanarek, Manson’s lawyer, was ordered to be inactive by the California State Bar on January 29, 1990. He resigned from the bar on October 26, 1990, “with charges pending.” I do not know the basis for the charges (being a privileged matter) nor Kanarek’s present whereabouts.
Paul Fitzgerald, Patricia Krenwinkel’s lawyer, practices law in Beverly Hills and is a prominent member of the criminal defense bar in the Los Angeles area. Fitzgerald, a fine trial lawyer who continues to win more than his share of cases, manages to do so without sacrificing grace and civility in the courtroom, a place inherently inhospitable to both qualities.
Daye Shinn, Susan Atkins’ lawyer, was disbarred by the California State Bar on October 16, 1992, for misappropriating a client’s money.
Maxwell Keith, the urbane lawyer who replaced Ronald Hughes as Leslie Van Houten’s lawyer, is still in the private practice of law in Los Angeles, and this year was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Criminal Courts Bar Association.
The cause of Ronald Hughes’ death in the Sespe Hot Springs area of Ventura County remains a mystery to this day. In 1976, a former member of Manson’s Family, understandably wanting to remain anonymous, called me. Without furnishing any additional or supporting information, he stated categorically that Hughes had been murdered by the Manson Family. Lieutenant Greg Husband of the Ventura County Sheriff’s office reports that since it was never determined whether Hughes’ death was the result of an accident, homicide, or suicide, the Hughes case file is still open, though no investigators are presently assigned to the case. It should be remembered that there is no statute of limitations for the crime of murder.
I write almost full-time, trying cases on a very selective basis. My two most recent non-fiction books, both published in 1991, are And the Sea Will Tell and Drugs in America: The Case for Victory. I’m presently writing a book on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. My read on the case? Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy and acted alone.
Curt Gentry, the co-author of this book, went on to write J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets. Published in 1991, it is the definitive biography of Hoover, and in my opinion and that of many others, a literary tour de force.
My co-prosecutor, Aaron Stovitz, has always wanted (and, I feel, is still eminently qualified) to be a judge. In October of 1991, Aaron, who was retired from the DA’s office, became a part-time Los Angeles Municipal Court commissioner in San Fernando, a city in the northeast section of Los Angeles County. His sense of humor intact, Aaron says he is “the Judge Wapner of the San Fernando Valley,” and orders anyone who comes to his Small Claims court unprepared “to watch two reruns of People’s Court.”
Judge Charles Older is in retirement, having left the bench in 1987.
In a three-volume work by Jay Robert Nash called Bloodletters and Badmen, a who’s who of virtually every well-known criminal in American history, Jesse James is on the cover of Volume I, Al Capone on Volume II, and Manson on Volume III. In the elite pantheon of heinous criminals, Manson has made his mark, and he appears to relish this fame, as steeped in infamy as it is.
In the twenty-five years that have elapsed since the atrocities which Charles Manson ordered and masterminded occurred, mass murder, as never before, has almost become a staple in our society. Disgruntled or demented killers flip out, go into a former place of employment, fast-food establishment, law firm, etc., and murder five to ten people or more. Such carnage no longer shocks a desensitized public when reported on the evening news. But fortunately, as of this date, the singularity of Manson’s evil and the particular brand of demonic murders he authored have not again been inflicted upon our nation. We can only hope that the ensuing years will be the same.
V.B.
June 1994
Books by Curt Gentry
Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders. Co-author, Vincent Bugliosi
Second in Command. Co-author, Edward R. Murphy, Jr., executive officer U.S.S. Pueblo
Operation Overflight. Co-author, U-2 spy pilot Francis Gary Powers
The Last Days of the Late Great State of California
The Killer Mountains: A Search for the Legendary Lost Dutchman Mine
A Kind of Loving. Co-author, Toni Lee Scott
Frame-Up: The Incredible Case of Tom Mooney and Warren Billings
The Vulnerable Americans
John M. Browning, American Gunmaker. Co-author, J. Browning
The Madams of San Francisco
Jade: Stone of Heaven. Co-author, Richard Gump
The Dolphin Guide to San Francisco and the
Bay Area—Present and Past
Copyright
W. W. NORTON & COMPANY
NEW YORK • LONDON
The excerpts from the Beatles’ songs “Baby, You’re a Rich Man,” “Blackbird,” “Cry Baby Cry,” “Helter Skelter,” “I Will,” “Honey Pie,” “Revolution,” and “Sexy Sadie,” words and music by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, are copyright © 1968 Sony/ATV Tunes LLC. (Renewed) All rights administered by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, 8 Music Square West, Nashville, TN37203. All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. “The context surrounding these lyrics is strictly conjecture.”
Copyright © 1974 by Curt Gentry and Vincent Bugliosi
Afterword © 1994 by Vincent Bugliosi
All rights reserved.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Bugliosi, Vincent.
Helter skelter: the true story of the Manson murders / Vincent Bugliosi, with Curt Gentry.—/with a new afterword by Vincent Bugliosi.
p. cm.
Simultaneously published in Canada.
1. Murder—California—Case studies. 2. Manson, Charles, 1934–.
I. Gentry, Curt, 1931–. II. Title.
HV6533.C2B83 1994
364.'523'0979493—dc20
94-20957
ISBN: 978-0-393-07236-5
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
www.wwnorton.com
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd.
Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London W1T 3QT
FOOTNOTES
1
The confusion extends to the arrival times of the units. Officer DeRosa would later testify he arrived about 9:05 A.M., which was before he supposedly received the Code 2. Officer Whisenhunt, who came next, set the time of his arrival at between 9:15 and 9:25, while officer Burbridge, who arrived after both men, testified he was there at 8:40.
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2
Why he failed to identify the youth, whom he did know, is unknown. A good guess would be that Garretson was in shock. Also, adding to his confusion, it was about this time that, in looking toward the gate, he saw Winifred Chapman, whom he presumed dead, alive and talking to a police officer.
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3
Since Granado, who arrived after DeRosa, Whisenhunt, and Burbridge, also saw them near the entryway,
it would appear that the original officers weren’t responsible.
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4
Apparently overlooked by LAPD, this was discovered by Roman Polanski when he visited the residence on August 17.
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5
One writer would later claim that the police found a vast collection of pornography in the residence, including numerous films and still shots of famous Hollywood stars engaged in various sexual acts. Aside from the above, and several unexposed rolls of videotape, the only photographs found anywhere on the property were a set of wedding pictures and a large number of publicity shots of Sharon Tate.
The same writer also claimed that a number of black hoods were found in the loft. Apparently he created them out of the same material as his photos, for nothing even resembling a hood was found.
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6
LAPD learned of him from Sharon’s parents. They also learned, from one of Sebring’s ex–girl friends, that he had had an argument with the hair stylist a few nights before the murder, in one of the Hollywood discothèques. After checking the man’s alibi, they cleared him of any possible involvement in the murders. The argument itself was minor: he had interrupted Sebring while he was trying to pick up a girl.
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7
In 1972 a Los Angeles Superior Court judge broke with precedent and permitted the results of a polygraph test to be received into evidence in a marijuana case.
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8
It was possible when Parent asked the time he also set the radio clock.
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9
Since no one tried the door before using the key, it is unknown whether it was locked.
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10
Some of the details were garbled. It was reported, from example, that the pillowcases were white hoods; that the phrase DEATH TO PIGS had been printed in blood on the refrigerator door, when it actually appeared on the wall in the living room. But enough information had leaked out for the detectives again to have trouble finding polygraph keys.
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11
Everything in this book is based on fact. In a few instances the names of persons only tangentially involved have been changed for legal reasons, the cross symbol (+) indicating the substitution of a pseudonym for the true name. The persons were and are real, however, and the incidents depicted are entirely factual.
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12
This would be actress Joanna Pettet’s second close brush with violent death. She had also been a friend of Janice Wylie, who, together with her roommate Emily Hoffert, had been murdered in New York City in the summer of 1963, in what became known as the “career girls murder case.”
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13
LAPD eventually located the girl and determined that she had not accompanied Sebring to the Tate residence that night.
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14
When Officer Whisenhunt searched the guest house following Garretson’s arrest, he noticed the volume control on the set was between 4 and 5.
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15
Police shorthand for “also known as”; “t/n” means “true name.”
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16
She was referring to Mary Brunner, first member of the Family, who had had a child by Manson. At this time the police were unaware of her involvement in the Hinman homicide.
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17
The Atkins-Graham-Howard conversations have been taken from LAPD’s taped interviews with Virginia Graham and Ronnie Howard; my interviews with both; their trial testimony; and my interview with Susan Atkins. There are, of course, minor variations in wording. Major discrepancies will be noted.
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18
Virginia Graham had seen the owner of the house, Rudi Altobelli, interviewed on TV, and although she couldn’t remember his name, she knew it wasn’t Terry Melcher. This was one reason why, initially, she was inclined to disbelieve Susan Atkins’ story. Susan, however, insisted Melcher was the owner, apparently believing he was.
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19
Since neither the deputy nor her lieutenant was available for interviews, therefore making it impossible to present their version of these incidents, pseudonyms have been used for both.
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20
Manson told DeCarlo that because he, Manson, was less amply endowed, he needed DeCarlo to keep the girls from running away. This sounds like a Manson con, though DeCarlo maintains it was true.
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21
Since the Hinman residence in Malibu and Spahn’s Movie Ranch in Chatsworth were in the same dialing area, this was not a toll call; therefore the telephone company kept no record of it.
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22
Beausoleil, Brunner, and Atkins went to Hinman’s residence on Friday, July 25, 1969. Manson slashed Hinman’s ear sometime late that night. Hinman was not killed, however, until Sunday, July 27, and it was not until the following Thursday, July 31, that his body was discovered by LASO, following a report from a friend who had been trying to reach Hinman for several days.
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23
Ironically, on July 28, two LASO deputies—Olmstead and Grap—visited Spahn Ranch on another matter. While there they saw the Fiat, ran a spot check on the license, and learned that it belonged to Gary Hinman. Grap knew Hinman; he also knew he was a friend of the people at Spahn Ranch, and therefore didn’t feel there was anything suspicious about the station wagon’s being there. At this time, although Hinman was dead, his body had not yet been discovered.
After the discovery of the body on July 31, LASO put out a “want” on Hinman’s vehicles. Grap didn’t learn of it, or Hinman’s death, until much later. If he had known, of course, he could have directed the investigation to Spahn Ranch and the Manson Family months before Kitty Lutesinger implicated Atkins and the others.
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24
The exact date of Shea’s death still remains unknown. It is believed to have occurred on either the night of Monday, August 25, or Tuesday, August 26, 1969.
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25
As will become all too apparent, in this instance “solved” was a misstatement if ever there was one.
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26
Although Aaron was my superior in the office, we had been assigned the case as co-prosecutors, each of us having an equal say in its handling. Though major, nationally prominent criminal cases of even less magnitude and complexity than the Tate-LaBianca murders frequently have three and sometimes four prosecutors working on the case full time, for some reason only Aaron and I were assigned to the case. Though neither Aaron nor I could have foreseen that months later he would be yanked off the case, leaving me to go it alone, I did realize from the start that owing to his other duties as head of the Trials Division, at least his pretrial participation would be limited.
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27
In 1971, California Governor Ronald Reagan arranged to have Judge McMurray taken out of retirement to try the Angela Davis case. The defense challenged him for cause.
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28
Exact dates, details, quotes from the investigating officers, etc. I would obtain the following day when going over reports of the various law-enforcement agencies.