by Jeff Guinn
• • •
Charlie made a show of considering several potential victims—a priest at a church, a driver whose car briefly pulled alongside the Ford—and Linda did her best to follow his erratic directions. In the backseat, Susan and Leslie fell into fitful dozes. Then after more than an hour, Charlie’s instructions to Linda suddenly became specific. At his direction she drove into the residential area of Los Feliz, turning here and there until the Ford was slowly cruising up Waverly Drive. Tex, Susan, and Pat knew exactly where they were—they’d partied on this street at Harold True’s house before Harold had moved away some months earlier.
• • •
Rosemary LaBianca was ready to go to sleep. She went into her bedroom and changed into her nightgown. Leno got into pajamas, but then went back out into the living room to read the sports section before turning in. He and Rosemary could sleep as late as they liked in the morning.
Charlie ordered Linda to park along the curb just below the house on Waverly where Harold True had lived. He told everyone to wait in the car, and then he got out and walked up the long driveway of the house next to Harold’s old one. He believed that the best chance for the cops and media to jump to the wrong conclusions was to kill rich, important people. By L.A. standards, Los Feliz residents didn’t fit that profile. They might be upper-middle-class, but well down the social and economic ladder from residents in Bel Air and Beverly Hills. But it didn’t seem that way to Charlie, who grew up in places where anyone with a two-story house and a car was considered wealthy. To him there wasn’t that much difference between Cielo Drive and Waverly Drive. Whoever lived in the house next to Harold’s would do just fine.
Back in the Ford, the six Family members squirmed restlessly as they waited for Charlie to return. They wondered why he’d had them stop here—surely he didn’t want them to kill Harold, and, besides, Harold didn’t live on this street anymore. He’d walked toward the house next to Harold’s and he was gone for a while, so this had to be it. What exactly was Charlie doing in there?
Then Charlie walked back down the driveway, not seeming in any hurry. He told Tex to come with him, and the two men headed back to the house. Charlie led Tex to a window and motioned for him to peek inside. Tex saw a man apparently asleep on the couch with a newspaper over his face. Charlie took the pistol and Tex the bayonet. The back door was unlocked, and they went inside. Charlie poked Leno LaBianca with the barrel of the gun, and Leno woke up and spluttered, “Who are you? What do you want?” In the same soothing voice that he used to reassure Family members on bad acid trips, Charlie murmured that nobody was going to hurt anybody else, so just relax. He assured Leno that this was just a robbery. Then, holding him at gunpoint, he ordered Leno to roll over onto his stomach on the couch. All communication was in whispers. The intruders still didn’t know who else might be in the house.
Before he left Spahn Ranch that night, Charlie had looped a few leather thongs around his neck. Now he tugged one free and told Tex to tie Leno’s hands with it. Tex complied. Leno complained that the thong was too tight, but Charlie ignored him and asked if anyone else was in the house. Leno said that his wife was in the bedroom. Charlie told Tex to guard the prisoner and went to fetch her. He and Rosemary emerged a few moments later; she seemed terrified but cooperative. Tex noticed that she wore a blue dress pulled clumsily over a pink nightgown. She was a modest woman, even when held at gunpoint. Rosemary was ordered to sit on the couch beside her husband; Leno complained again about discomfort from the leather thong and Rosemary asked if he could be allowed to get into a more comfortable position. Leno’s discomfort meant nothing to Charlie. He asked if the couple had any cash. Leno mentioned Rosemary’s wallet in their bedroom, and Tex was sent to fetch it. As soon as Charlie had the wallet, he went to get Pat and Leslie from the car. Once they were inside, Charlie instructed them to move Rosemary LaBianca back into the bedroom. Then he snapped to Tex, “Make sure everybody does something,” and left. Charlie climbed back in the Ford, gesturing for Linda to move over while he got behind the wheel. Clem and Susan remained in the backseat. Charlie drove the night’s second Family murder squad away.
• • •
In the LaBiancas’ living room, Tex pulled a pillowcase from the bedroom over Leno’s head and knotted a lamp cord around his head and mouth to gag him. Then he did the same to Rosemary in the bedroom, warning her not to make a sound because he’d be listening. Pat rummaged through the kitchen, pulling knives from drawers. Tex still clutched the bayonet. He thought that although Leslie seemed reluctant to participate in what was going to happen next, Pat was not only willing but eager. Tex was wrong. Pat was afraid—not for the LaBiancas, she remembers, but for herself. She had no desire to murder anyone else, but she believed that if she hesitated Tex would tell Charlie, and then Charlie would beat her, maybe even kill her, to demonstrate to the rest of the Family the consequences of not following orders. As Pat selected a knife and returned to the bedroom where Rosemary LaBianca was bound and gagged, with her free hand she gripped the door frame for a moment and, she said decades later, silently begged God “to make it stop. But that didn’t happen and I have never believed in God since. He doesn’t answer prayers.” Mindful of her own well-being at the expense of the LaBiancas, Pat was ready to proceed.
Leno sensed what was coming. He began to struggle and scream. Tex was surprised that he could make so much noise with the lamp cord gag. Pat and Leslie went into the bedroom with Rosemary, and Tex rammed the bayonet into Leno’s throat. He kept stabbing, and for a few moments Leno gurgled, “I’m dead, I’m dead,” until he lay still and Tex decided that he really was.
The assault and Leno’s last words were clearly audible in the bedroom. Rosemary screamed, “What are you doing to my husband?” and swayed where she stood, trying to get free. The pillowcase and lamp cord were still around her neck; the cord used to gag Rosemary was also attached to another heavy lamp, and as she struggled this lamp crashed to the floor and she dragged it behind her. Pat made repeated efforts to stab her, connecting with some, and Tex came in with the bayonet to finish Rosemary off as Leslie retreated into the hall. When Rosemary was down for good, the lamp and cord trailing behind her, Pat went into the living room and then came back for Tex, telling him that Leno was still alive. Tex stabbed him some more, and then either Tex or Pat carved “WAR” on his exposed abdomen. Pat jammed a long-tined carving fork into Leno’s belly and thrust a small kitchen knife into his throat underneath the pillowcase. Charlie wanted a spectacular crime scene and she would give him one.
With Leno’s corpse sufficiently mutilated, Tex and Pat turned their attention to Rosemary. Leslie still hadn’t participated beyond helping Pat hold Rosemary in the bedroom while Tex stabbed Leno, so now Tex ordered her to desecrate their second victim’s corpse. Rosemary lay dead on her stomach. They yanked up her dress and nightgown and Leslie repeatedly stabbed her in the buttocks and legs. Tex didn’t feel she showed much enthusiasm, but at least she was doing something as Charlie had instructed.
Then all three turned their attention to the murder scene itself. There was a bag of coins—nickels and dimes and quarters Leno apparently planned to go through for possible rarities for his collection—so they grabbed it. Charlie wanted all the money he could get. Leslie took a towel and wiped fingerprints from places they believed they might have touched. They wrote “Rise” and “Death to Pigs” in blood, on the walls. Pat added “Healter Skelter” to the refrigerator door, misspelling “Helter.” Sometime while they worked they raided the refrigerator for snacks—watermelon and chocolate milk. They left the watermelon rinds in the sink.
• • •
As soon as he’d driven the Ford clear of Waverly Drive, Charlie handed Rosemary LaBianca’s wallet to Linda in the front seat. He told her to take out any money and wipe everything else for fingerprints. There were only some coins; Linda was struck by the photo of a dark-haired woman on the driver’s license. Charlie told her that he was going to drive into a co
lored neighborhood. When he told her to, she should toss the wallet out the car window. Then some black person would find it, use the credit cards, and be linked to the Waverly Drive murders. Linda waited for the order, but instead Charlie pulled into a Standard gas station in Sylmar; there was a Denny’s restaurant nearby. He told Linda to put the wallet in the women’s bathroom at the gas station; some black woman would surely find it there. Linda dropped the wallet into the toilet tank. While she performed that chore, Charlie left Clem and Susan in the car and strolled into Denny’s, where he ordered four milkshakes to go.
With Rosemary’s wallet disposed of in a way that might further incriminate blacks in her murder, Charlie seemed to relax a little. He let Linda drive again, giving casual directions that she followed until they found themselves at the beach. Here Charlie finally allowed Susan and Clem to get out of the car, and all four walked for a bit along the sand, with Charlie mostly focusing on Linda, not talking about murder or Helter Skelter at all, just making friendly conversation. She told him that she’d recently learned she was pregnant. Charlie was delighted by the news. He even held Linda’s hand as they strolled. At one point a patrol car drove up; two officers got out and asked what they were doing. Charlie explained he and his friends were just taking a walk, which satisfied the cops. Charlie, Linda, Susan, and Clem returned to the Ford, and Charlie told Linda to drive to Venice. He asked if she, Susan, or Clem knew anyone who lived there, and when they replied that they didn’t, Charlie quizzed Linda: Didn’t she and Sandy Good meet some guy when they were panhandling in Venice not too long ago? Then Linda remembered Saladin Nader, who’d taken her and Sandy back to his apartment for a while. Yes, she told Charlie, and now that she thought about it she recalled that he was some kind of actor. Charlie wanted to know if she could find where this actor lived, and Linda did. When they were outside the Venice apartment building, Charlie asked if Linda thought the actor would let her, Susan, and Clem in. When she said she thought he would, Charlie handed her a knife and told her she was to slit the man’s throat. Linda replied that she couldn’t: “I’m not you, Charlie.” It was the kind of response that could have resulted in a beating, but the night was passing and Charlie wanted more murder before dawn. He asked Linda to show him and the others which apartment was the actor’s. They went inside and upstairs; Linda deliberately directed Charlie toward the wrong door.
At the LaBiancas’, Charlie had prepared the way for the killers. This time he simply led Linda, Susan, and Clem back outside, where he gave them their instructions. Linda would knock on the door. When the actor let them inside, Linda would cut his throat and Clem would shoot him—Charlie handed Clem the handgun that he’d brought along that night. Charlie didn’t acknowledge Linda’s earlier refusal to kill the actor. He expected that now she would do as she was told. Charlie said that while they were committing the murder, he’d drive the Ford back to Spahn. When Linda, Clem, and Susan were done, they should hitchhike back to the ranch. Once again, Charlie would be able to claim that he personally didn’t kill anybody—it was the Family members carrying out their own scheme of copycat murders.
As Charlie drove away, Linda, Susan, and Clem went back inside the apartment building and up the stairs. Linda went to a door other than the actor’s and knocked. When a sleepy stranger cracked the door open and groggily asked what she wanted, Linda said “Excuse me,” and indicated to Susan and Clem that she didn’t know where the actor lived after all. It would be daylight soon, and there was no time to get back in touch with Charlie and learn if he wanted them to stay away from Spahn until they killed somebody else. So they buried the gun on the beach and hitchhiked home. When they got there, Tex, Pat, and Leslie had already arrived. They’d been lucky enough after walking away from Waverly Drive to be picked up by a guy who had visited Spahn a couple of times and had a crush on Leslie. He was a real gentleman who insisted on driving them all the way there, so they treated him to breakfast on the way, paying for the meal with some coins from the sack they’d taken from the LaBiancas’. Charlie was somewhere on the ranch but they didn’t look for him. Nobody compared notes about what they had done. It had been a long, exhausting night and everyone just wanted to sleep.
• • •
On Sunday morning, Los Angeles newspapers blazoned headlines about the Cielo murders across their front pages. Now the story included “ritualistic slayings.” The Los Angeles Times mentioned Garretson’s arrest, that “Pig” was written on the front door in blood, but also informed readers that Tate was wearing “bikini panties and a brassiere” when she was killed and that “there had been rumors in Hollywood recently” that her marriage to Polanski was in trouble. Police made it clear that “no motive could be immediately determined.”
Charlie awoke at Spahn in a fearsome mood. He stalked around the ranch, collaring the various killers and demanding reassurance that they’d wiped away all their fingerprints and discarded their bloody clothing. Had they left anything that might link the murders to him and the Family? They assured him that they’d taken care of everything.
The media packed L.A.’s Hall of Justice on Sunday morning. The Tate murder autopsies began at 9 A.M. and the LAPD had promised a press conference when they were concluded. County coroner Thomas Noguchi, who’d conducted a field examination of the five bodies at the Cielo murder site, supervised. It was a long, laborious process because the corpses were so mutilated. Sharon Tate had sixteen stab wounds, five of which could have been fatal. Jay Sebring had been shot once and stabbed seven times. Abigail Folger’s stab wounds totaled twenty-eight. Voytek Frykowski, the victim who fought back hardest, was shot twice, stabbed fifty-one times, and struck over the head with a blunt object thirteen times. Steve Parent had one defensive slash wound and was shot four times. Some bullets were recovered from the bodies, all .22 caliber and fired from the same gun. Each wound on each victim had to be painstakingly measured for length and depth, then recorded. That extended the autopsies into mid-afternoon.
As a senior homicide detective assigned to the Tate case, Michael McGann attended the autopsies. He hadn’t expected they would last so long, keeping him away from his desk and any active investigation. That meant he wasn’t available Sunday morning when two detectives from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, Paul Whiteley and Charles Guenther, called and asked to speak to whoever was in charge of the Tate case. They were referred to Sgt. Jess Buckles, McGann’s temporary partner. Whiteley and Guenther told Buckles that they were investigating a murder that had eerie parallels to the slayings at Cielo. Their victim, a man named Gary Hinman, had also been viciously stabbed to death in his home, and the killer or killers had written “POLITICAL PIGGY” on a wall in his blood. They had a suspect in custody named Bobby Beausoleil; he was a really weird guy who lived on an old movie ranch outside L.A. in a group led by somebody named Charlie. Charlie had a lot of his people convinced that he was Jesus Christ. The county cops wanted to meet and explore whether the Hinman and Tate murders were connected. Buckles said that there was no sense wasting everyone’s time. The LAPD was already certain that the Tate slayings were drug-related, so thanks for calling and good luck on their case. Later McGann learned about the call and asked Buckles what Whiteley and Guenther had wanted. Buckles said, “It was nothing,” and McGann let it go at that. With that decision, Jess Buckles simultaneously thwarted Charlie’s hopes for the Tate killings to be linked to Hinman and set back the LAPD’s efforts to solve the Tate murders.
Buckles’s response to the county detectives accurately reflected the LAPD’s working theory. The marijuana found at Cielo didn’t seem significant. Virtually everybody in L.A. entertainment circles smoked a little weed. But Frykowski had for some time been suspected by authorities of dealing in harder drugs. The FBI even suggested that the Bureau of Customs investigate a shipment of household goods sent by sea from England to the U.S. for consignment to Frykowski and Polanski, since, according to the FBI, “press reports indicate shipment of narcotics is involved with this [T
ate] case.” Nothing came of that investigation, but on Sunday, August 10, Los Angeles police felt reasonably certain that they would eventually uncover evidence linking some drug dealer to the Tate murders. That theory was reinforced when a polygraph administered on Sunday afternoon eliminated Garretson as a suspect. Investigators still didn’t believe that the nineteen-year-old hadn’t heard anything as five murders were committed within a hundred feet of the Cielo guest cottage—he probably cowered in fear as the victims were being butchered. But they now were certain that Garretson hadn’t killed them, so one of the first things that LAPD spokesmen had to tell the media was that their initial prime suspect had been cleared and released.
