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Impact x Nightline - Season 4 - Episode 05: The Dark Shot: Counterfeit Weight Loss Drugs
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00:19They were the demons of an entire generation.
00:22I'm a convict. I'm an outlaw. I'm a rebel. I'm not a Sunday school teacher.
00:27An unhinged cult leader, Charles Manson, and his giggering disciples, killers, who turned a beautiful summer night in Los Angeles
00:35into a bloodbath.
00:36Movie star Sharon Tate and four other persons were murdered in her home in Bel Air.
00:42Terrific. Inhumant. Savage.
00:45Stabbing an eight-and-a-half-month pregnant woman while she pleads for her life and the life of her
00:52child, it's the worst of humanity.
00:55Pools of blood covered this home.
00:59Her dress was so drenched in blood that they thought it was actually a red or pink dress.
01:05In reality, it had been a white dress.
01:07Fifty-six years later, the faces of evil are now facing freedom.
01:12One convicted Manson family member on the precipice of release.
01:15I began to stab her. I remember her saying, I'm already dead.
01:19Sit your ass in jail. Your second chance was the chance to live. That's more than any of your victims
01:28had.
01:29How could the people who could do such horrific things ever be set free? And are they still dangerous?
01:36This wasn't just someone bursting into a house and killing someone or shooting them.
01:40These were people hell-bent on going after basically strangers to them.
01:44And these perpetrators, they're poster children for evil.
01:49How was this man able to turn those young women into remorseless killing machines?
02:14The Manson family murders have been the stuff of American nightmares for decades now.
02:19And 56 years later, it is still the source of fascination for young people and the next generation, partly fueled
02:27by movies and by social media.
02:30And so right now we are driving to the very outskirts of Los Angeles to a place where Charles Manson
02:35plotted the murder scheme and where he gathered his followers.
02:45Blaise Lovejoy is familiar with this little stretch of land, the old Spahn Ranch, where they used to shoot old
02:52Western movies and where the Manson family once lived.
02:56What's also really cool about where we are, it's not L.A. It does not feel like it's urban. It
03:01feels like you are in the middle of nowhere.
03:03Blaise brings tourists out here to revisit a piece of dark history as part of the graveline tours of the
03:11Manson family murders.
03:13So right here is where the entrance used to be.
03:16This flat spot of earth right here is where Spahn Shack used to stand.
03:22Where did the Manson family live? Sort of in the valley here?
03:24So they were hanging out all over there and they were just squatting basically.
03:30And this is where they planned and plotted those murders.
03:33Yeah, yeah, it's where Charlie gave them the order to go out and kill people.
03:38The Manson family's time here was immortalized on the silver screen, most recently in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time
03:46in Hollywood,
03:47when Brad Pitt's character makes a fictional visit to the ranch, meeting members of the group.
03:55Manson's a brand name for evil. Manson is like the American Hitler that way, you know.
03:59Manson is a mass killer.
04:03While Charles Manson's story has been reshaped and retold, what he and the Manson family did was nothing short of
04:12evil.
04:13It was like the Menendez and O.J. Simpson case all wrapped into one. It was huge.
04:19Amazingly, in 2025, the Manson story is still making headlines.
04:24Charles Manson.
04:25Charles Manson joined the Manson cult when she was just 19.
04:28This fall, one of the women behind those brutal killings could be set free.
04:33After more than 50 years in prison, Patricia Krenwinkel has been recommended for parole.
04:39Patricia Krenwinkel is the longest-serving female in California prison.
04:46I don't think that the interest and the fascination with this case is going to fade until every one of
04:52the killers is dead.
04:53No matter what I do, I cannot change one minute of my life.
05:00There is nothing more I can do outside of being dead to pay for this, and I know that's what
05:05you wish.
05:07But I cannot take my own life.
05:14I'm sorry.
05:16Back in the 1990s, Diane Sawyer interviewed members of the Manson family, including Charles Manson himself.
05:22And that interview was filled with his infamous statements and those explosive outbursts.
05:29I never told anybody to do anything other than what they wanted to do.
05:33And if they wanted to do murder, that was okay with you?
05:36It's none of my business, woman.
05:37But Diane also interviewed two of his former followers, Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel.
05:43Both of them convicted murderers who discussed in stone-cold detail what they did, the murders they committed,
05:50and what it was like to be part of the Manson family.
05:54I stabbed Mrs. LaBianca in the lower back about 16 times.
05:59Every day I wake up and know that I'm a destroyer of the most precious thing, which is life.
06:08About two years ago, Leslie Van Houten gets paroled.
06:12And I think that came as a shock to everyone.
06:16So now you have Miss Krenwinkel.
06:18When you're thinking about whether or not Patricia Krenwinkel will be released on parole,
06:23you have to look at the actual action.
06:25It is horrific.
06:25She stabbed someone in the throat with a fork, chased Abigail Folger, and then stabbed her over a dozen times.
06:37The painting of the words in blood like helter-skelter.
06:41Patricia Krenwinkel eventually admitted to carving war into Lino LaBianca's abdomen,
06:47putting a carving fork in his throat and leaving it there.
06:52Pretty horrible stuff.
06:54She's cold.
06:56She's calculated.
06:58She's very easily influenced.
07:00Debra Tate says she has attended every single parole hearing for every Manson killer.
07:06It's how she honors the memory of her sister, actress Sharon Tate.
07:10It's important to me that she is remembered for the right reasons and not the wrong reasons.
07:16Her death does not define the woman.
07:19I broke no laws, not God's law, nor man's law.
07:23She even showed up to face off with Manson himself.
07:26He didn't rock me.
07:28I rocked him.
07:29He said, who is that in there?
07:32And the jailer that was taking his leg shackles off said,
07:37I believe that's Sharon's sister.
07:39And he said, put my leg shackles back on and take me back to my cell.
07:44I'm not going out there.
07:46Krenwinkel's bid for freedom may not be so far-fetched.
07:50Leslie Van Houten has now been released from prison.
07:53In 2023, major controversy erupted when one of the notorious Manson killers was granted parole.
07:59Leslie Van Houten.
08:01Could Patricia Krenwinkel be next?
08:03Keith Watley is her attorney.
08:05For members of the Tate family and other families, can you see that for her victims' families that parole doesn't
08:12feel like justice to them?
08:13No, it's not.
08:15The parole consideration process is not a place for survivors to find healing.
08:22It never has been.
08:23It was never designed to be.
08:25It actually presents a barrier to their healing.
08:28If we're going to let her out, we have to effectively trust her, that she has learned these lessons and
08:33won't commit these crimes again.
08:35Nathan Hockman is the current district attorney of L.A. County.
08:38He recently opposed the parole for Eric and Lyle Menendez and likewise thinks Patricia Krenwinkel should remain behind bars.
08:46Back in the 1969 murders, Ms. Van Houten was involved in one of the murders, the LaBianca murders, whereas Ms.
08:54Krenwinkel was involved with both the Tate and the LaBianca murders.
08:58And what she did was, Ms. Krenwinkel was absolutely brutal.
09:02She actually stabbed Rosemary LaBianca so hard, it broke the knife on her collarbone.
09:10Krenwinkel was just one of dozens of young women and men who became part of the infamous Manson family.
09:16He could pick out the vulnerable ones, the ones who were looking kind of a father figure, which he presented
09:23himself as a protector.
09:25The family came together during the late 60s, a period of free love, sex, drugs, and hippies.
09:32Yes, Manson had established himself as a guru, gathering followers to live in a commune environment.
09:39It wasn't so strange in 1967 to drive a bus, to give up all your clothes, you know, and going
09:48around and talk peace.
09:49A lot of times where you might have had someone say, don't you think what you're doing is odd?
09:54Instead, we were always in places where people were saying, wow, can I join you?
09:58One day at a time. We played a lot of music. We did a lot of things, but we lived
10:03today. We lived in the day, in the now.
10:06They thought of him as a rebel, as a musical composer, as a rock musician.
10:12They lived together. They ate together. They had sex together. This was the very definition of a cult.
10:23On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the worst cult leader, Charlie Manson was an 11.
10:34Everything pivoted on his persona, his personality.
10:39You know, it didn't happen overnight. He spent a lot of time taking middle-class girls and remolding them.
10:48I was an empty shell of a person that was filled up with Manson rhetoric.
10:55Van Houten and Krenwickle both came from middle-class families in the L.A. area and both met Manson in
11:02the late 60s and both fell quickly under his spell.
11:06I seemed to want more living out of life than what was expected of young girls at that time.
11:15Drugs, sex, you know, breaking away from the norm.
11:20When I think of the influence that Charles Manson had over the women, he had total control over them.
11:26They lost their capacity for independent thought under the influence of Charles Manson.
11:31And they believed that Manson was Jesus Christ reincarnated. They all believed that.
11:37Look, most cult leaders are surprisingly disappointing when it comes to their physical appearance.
11:48And Manson was a perfect example of that. He's a small, unimpressive kind of loser.
11:56I was cutting off my past. And in my own brain, it was like, I can't go back.
12:01You could absolutely not talk about your past at all. He was the focal point.
12:07Van Houten said after her parents divorced and her father left, she was looking for someone to fill the void.
12:14He was like Christ. And he had the answers for as twisted as it all got.
12:20You know, I really think that I felt that I had met someone that, by being around him, would have
12:29a positive change.
12:32Manson met Patricia Krenwinkel when she was staying with a sister who had problems.
12:37Manson said to Pat, you should come away with me. You're so ugly and I'm ugly.
12:42We're the only two people who will tell each other we're beautiful.
12:45That night, we slept together. And when we made love, all I remember is just crying and crying to this
12:55man.
12:55Because he said, oh, you're beautiful. I couldn't believe that. I just started crying.
12:59Manson claimed his appeal to women was primal.
13:02And what they really liked about me, you want to really hear it?
13:04Yeah.
13:05I f***ed real good.
13:06Like many cult leaders, sex for Charles Manson was more about control than it was physical gratification.
13:14When he had sex with the women in the group and men in the group, it was to ensure his
13:21dominance.
13:22There was at times basically group sex.
13:27But it was always very planned because it was a means of control.
13:32When he'd have different men that he was trying to initiate into the family, try to bring them in, he
13:38would offer them whatever women he had.
13:40Isn't that what women's for?
13:42Women receive men and reflect men.
13:45Man hold dominion up over woman.
13:47It's been that way since we grunted and we came out of caves.
13:52If a man wanted you, you went with him.
13:55You couldn't resist.
13:57I mean, he was an excellent pimp.
13:59Sometimes he would reenact the crucifixion when we were on LSD and it was very realistic.
14:07Manson was obsessed with Hollywood, specifically musicians, and he used women to meet them.
14:14But leading up to the murders, he thought of himself as a kind of mini rock star and was even
14:23frustrated that the Beach Boys used one of his songs and didn't give him credit.
14:29And that both got him angry, but also made him feel like his music was that good.
14:38Along the way, Dennis Wilson introduces Manson to Terry Melcher.
14:45Terry Melcher, who is a powerful A&R guy in Los Angeles at the time.
14:51He is the son of Doris Day, one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.
14:56If Charles Manson can convince Terry Melcher that he's got something worth recording, Terry Melcher can get him a record
15:03deal.
15:04It's a total failure.
15:06Manson gets angry that the deal doesn't work out.
15:09Because he did wrong.
15:11He lied.
15:13When you make a contract, what does a contract mean to you?
15:18When you make a contract, you keep your word or you lose your life.
15:21He remembers that Melcher once lived in a house on Cielo Drive in the Hollywood Hills.
15:27The dream of being a rock star is not going to happen.
15:32For Manson, the house on Cielo Drive comes to represent all he wants to achieve and hasn't been able to.
15:39What no one could have known was that Manson would choose that home where Sharon Tate now lived
15:44to stage what would become one of the most gruesome murder scenes the country had ever seen.
15:53The Benedict Canyon area has long been home to some of Hollywood's elite.
15:57And it was that way in 1969 when director Roman Polanski and his wife, actress Sharon Tate,
16:03rented the house right on Cielo Drive.
16:06It was a beautiful place on three acres.
16:08It was wooded, lush.
16:10There was a house, a guest house, a pool.
16:13But the stain of the murders lingered for so long that 25 years later,
16:18when someone new bought the place, they raised everything down to the grass
16:22so that the only thing left from that summer of 1969 is the view.
16:31They do say that the canyon is haunted.
16:34You mentioned because of the contours of the canyon, that when they actually, the family members went in there
16:38and started slaughtering Sharon Tate and the four others, people could hear screams,
16:43but they weren't sure if it was coyotes or humans or where it was coming from.
16:48And it just kind of, there was an echo on the canyon, which made it impossible to pinpoint.
16:55Back in the 60s, the house at the end of Cielo Drive was just a little piece of heaven perched
17:00above Los Angeles.
17:01And it was a really beautiful French provincial style like farmhouse that they lived in
17:07and with a wishing well and a pool on this plateau with these beautiful views, isolated at the top of
17:14the hill.
17:15Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski moved there in early 1969, and by August, she was more than eight months pregnant.
17:22And Polanski was out of the country, working on a film.
17:26She was the kindest, sweetest, most humble, most giving human being that I have ever met.
17:35And that's putting aside her physical beauty.
17:38Sharon Tate was, by all accounts, one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood.
17:42And I think her name kind of begins to become a semi-household name.
17:47But you haven't seen a Sharon Tate movie, I'm going to guess.
17:50You might have seen Margot Robbie playing Sharon Tate in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
17:56What if I'm in the movie?
17:59What do you mean?
18:01I mean, I'm in the movie. I'm Sharon Tate.
18:05The studio film ways that kind of had her under contract, I think they felt like they had a diamond
18:10in the rough.
18:10Tate was an up-and-coming talent, having done a couple of TV shows like Mr. Ed and the Beverly
18:16Hillbillies.
18:18Howdy.
18:18Well, howdy to you. You're Jethro, aren't you?
18:21Yes, ma'am.
18:22In the documentary, All Eyes on Sharon Tate, made while she was filming the feature film Eye of the Devil,
18:29Tate addressed the feeling of being a new name.
18:32I don't like that word, starlet, at all, because there's no such thing, actually.
18:37I feel that before you even make an appearance, it's very necessary to learn your craft.
18:43When she decided that her craft was going to be movies or modeling, she took all that very seriously,
18:51as if she didn't have the blessing of the extremely good looks.
18:56I can't see myself doing Shakespeare or anything like that. I would love light comedy.
19:03It was around this time that she met Polanski and was eventually cast in the role that would make her
19:08famous,
19:09Valley of the Dolls.
19:11Mother, I know I don't have any talent, and I know all I have is a body, and I am
19:17doing my best exercises.
19:19Valley of the Dolls is Sharon Tate's coming out party.
19:22Sharon Tate, star of the film Valley of the Dolls, that is film director Roman Polanski.
19:27So when she gets married and they call it the wedding of the doll,
19:30that's a reference to the fact that she became famous for being in this movie.
19:35By 1969, the 26-year-old is expecting her first baby, a son they were going to call Paul.
19:41The world is good.
19:42I was shocked because her belly was so big, I couldn't get my hands around her.
19:49There was a lot of belly, a lot of baby in front.
19:54With Polanski out of town and Tate so close to her due date,
19:59the actress had invited over some friends to stay with her,
20:02including her ex-boyfriend and hairstylist to the stars,
20:05Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, and Folger's boyfriend, Wojciech Frankowski.
20:11Also there that night, 18-year-old Stephen Parent, who was just there visiting the caretaker.
20:17Stephen Parent is the unluckiest man in the history of Los Angeles.
20:23And his death will set off the most famous murder in the history of Los Angeles.
20:35He asked us constantly, each one of us, will you die for me?
20:40Will you be my finger on a hand?
20:42Will you, you know, will you be me?
20:44He began to feel very paranoid, a rage and a hatred for society.
20:50Out at Spawn Ranch on the night of August 8th,
20:53Manson went and picked up three of the women and one man,
20:56Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins, and Linda Kasabian, along with Tex Wanson.
21:02Charlie came and woke me up, and he said,
21:05get up, I want you to go somewhere.
21:08And so I did, and he said, do everything the Tex says.
21:14And we were off.
21:17Manson's instructions to Tex Watsons are these.
21:21You know where the house is up on Seattle.
21:23Go kill everybody there.
21:25I told him, go do what Tex said.
21:27I never told anybody to do anything other than what they wanted to do.
21:31Oh, Charlie's just absolutely lying.
21:34There wasn't one thing done that was even allowed to be done
21:38without his expressed permission.
21:41He told Susan Atkins to leave a sign, something witchy.
21:46Susan Atkins was just a 21-year-old then,
21:48and she was often described as Manson's watchdog.
21:51She would become known for her brutality.
21:55Linda Kasabian was assigned as the lookout and getaway driver.
21:59The four Manson followers arrived at the house just after midnight.
22:02Wanson had to climb over the fence,
22:04where he cut the main phone line to the house.
22:07The three killers, Krenwinkel, Atkins, and Watson,
22:10then walked up the driveway.
22:12The first person they encounter, 18-year-old Stephen Parent.
22:16Stephen Parent said, please don't kill me.
22:19Please don't kill me.
22:20I'm on my way out.
22:21I won't tell anybody.
22:23Just let me live.
22:25And Watson shot him four times at point-blank range.
22:28Watson talked about that night in an interview.
22:31I was so high on speed that I understood what I was doing,
22:41but it just didn't make any difference anymore.
22:45The killers move to the next house.
22:47Crime scene photos show how they cut out a screen window,
22:50Watson then opening the front door to let in Krenwinkel and Atkins.
22:55Krenwinkel was asleep on the couch.
22:58Krenwinkel found Folger in her bedroom reading.
23:01Watson found Tate and Sebring in her room talking.
23:04Wojciech said, who are you?
23:06What's going on?
23:07And he said, I'm the devil, and I'm here to do the devil's business.
23:11Everyone else at that point, obviously,
23:12was getting really frightened and scared.
23:15From the moment that Tex had said to all of us,
23:19I'm going to kill everyone in that house,
23:20I knew this is pure madness.
23:23What began to happen is a scuffle started taking place
23:27between Tex and J. Sebring.
23:30J. Sebring was very protective of Sharon and said,
23:35no, you know, she's eight and a half months pregnant.
23:37She can't sit on the floor.
23:39And Watson then stabbed him, shot him, killing him.
23:44And then pandemonium broke loose.
23:48When there was an attempt to tie everyone up,
23:51eventually Abigail Folger started to get herself undone,
23:55and she took off.
23:57Folger and Frykowski both tried to run.
24:00Watson caught Frykowski outside,
24:03hit him over the head, then stabbed him 51 times.
24:06Krenwinkel caught Folger on the lawn.
24:08I left and followed her.
24:11I ran after her with an upraised knife,
24:14and we went out through a back door,
24:17and I ran her down, and I began to stab her.
24:21I remember her saying, I'm already dead.
24:25When I looked around, I knew this is wrong,
24:29but you're a part of this horrendous stance.
24:33And it was like, no matter what or anywhere I turn,
24:36it wasn't going to stop.
24:38Abigail, who was stabbed 28 times,
24:42mostly by Patricia Krenwinkel first,
24:44and then Tex joined her at the very end.
24:46And when the police saw her body on the lawn,
24:50on the property the first day,
24:51she was in her nightgown,
24:52and they thought it was a red nightgown
24:54because of all the blood.
24:56It wasn't until they got close enough
24:57to see that that was blood.
24:59Meanwhile, inside, Atkins is facing off
25:02with Sharon Tate.
25:03She's eight and a half months pregnant,
25:05and she's begging for mercy.
25:07When Sharon was being stabbed to death,
25:10Susan said that she begged for the life of her baby.
25:14She said, just, I don't care what you do to me,
25:16please bear my baby.
25:17And then in her dying breath,
25:19she called out to her mother.
25:20Atkins describing that moment in a 1976 interview
25:23with the local NBC station.
25:39Atkins then stabbed Tate.
25:41Watson returned and joined in the attack.
25:44The actress's autopsy found 16 stab wounds.
25:47She died, and her baby died inside her.
25:51What would bring someone to the depths
25:55of this kind of cruelty,
25:59this kind of barbaric behavior?
26:03It's so breathtakingly despicable.
26:10As the killers left the bloody scene,
26:13Atkins dipped a towel in Sharon Tate's blood
26:15and wrote the word pig on the front door.
26:19I said, if you're gonna do something,
26:21leave something witchy.
26:25Just like I would tell you,
26:27if you're gonna do something,
26:29do it well, and leave something witchy.
26:32Leave a sign to let the world know
26:34that you were there.
26:35Have a good day.
26:37When I got back to the ranch,
26:40we got out of the car.
26:42Charlie came up and asked everybody how it went.
26:45I looked at him, and I said,
26:48Charlie, they were so young.
26:52The horrific scene would not be discovered
26:54until the next morning,
26:55when the housekeeper arrived.
26:57She ran out screaming, blood, murder,
27:01and ran to the neighbors,
27:02and they called the police.
27:03We have five dead bodies.
27:06There are three male bodies
27:07and two female bodies.
27:09Movie star Sharon Tate
27:11and four other persons
27:12were murdered in her home in Bel Air.
27:15The news begins to emerge
27:16that something horrible has happened,
27:18and the details of it,
27:19and the names of the people involved,
27:22and that it seems to have been
27:23random and incredibly savage.
27:28I was the one that got the call,
27:30so it was mine.
27:33A call that lasted all my life.
27:36So you walked in.
27:37I walked in,
27:38saw the white rambler
27:41that Stephen Parent was in.
27:44Back in 1994,
27:45Officer Jerry DeRosa
27:46took Diane Sawyer through the property,
27:49retracing his steps
27:50from that haunting morning
27:52decades before.
27:54The words pig
27:56were written in this area
27:58in blood
28:00on the front door,
28:02and the door was ajar.
28:05Sharon Tate's body
28:07was in this area here.
28:09Jay Sebring was in this area here.
28:13That particular morning,
28:14it was very quiet,
28:16and the only thing
28:18that I can recall hearing
28:19were the sounds of the flies
28:21that were on the bodies.
28:23Sharon and Jay Sebring
28:25were dead inside the living room.
28:28Jay had a hood
28:29and a noose around his neck,
28:31and he had been shot.
28:33Sharon had been stabbed to death.
28:36News of Tate's murder
28:37devastated her family.
28:39I said,
28:40Mom, now slow down.
28:42What just happened?
28:44This is in between
28:45horrible sobbing.
28:48Beyond.
28:49Just beyond.
28:50And it took a minute,
28:52but she said that
28:53Sharon was dead.
28:57All of you know
28:58how beautiful she was,
29:00but only few of you
29:02know how good she was.
29:07Sadly, it wasn't over.
29:09The city of Los Angeles
29:11has had another multiple murder.
29:12And I shouted across the newsroom,
29:15it's happened again.
29:24This is Waverly Drive in Los Feliz,
29:27still one of the nicest,
29:28most upscale neighborhoods
29:29in Los Angeles.
29:31And much of this neighborhood
29:32looks exactly like it did in 1969.
29:35But one of the biggest differences
29:36is the fences
29:38and the gates
29:39and the fact that back then
29:40most people didn't even lock their doors.
29:43So there was almost nothing to stop
29:45the Manson family
29:46from rolling right in here
29:47and going inside the LaBianco home.
29:50On the night of August 10, 1969,
29:53just one day after the Tate murders,
29:56Manson once again dispatched members
29:57of his family on a mission.
29:59Only this time,
30:01he went with them.
30:02I knew that people would die.
30:04I knew that there would be killing.
30:06That night,
30:07Manson once again chose Tex Watson,
30:09Patricia Krenwinkel,
30:10and Susan Atkins to go.
30:12He has Linda Kasabian driving,
30:15but on this night,
30:16he adds 19-year-old Leslie Van Houten.
30:19He asked me,
30:21do you believe enough
30:22in what I say
30:23to know that this is something
30:25that has to be done
30:26or something to that effect?
30:27And I said, yes, I do.
30:29I didn't walk right up
30:30and say, may I go?
30:33But I think everything
30:34on my face said that.
30:36Once again,
30:36the choice of the house
30:37is targeted.
30:38But like the Tate murders,
30:40the victims are strangers to Manson.
30:43Rosemary and Lino LaBianca die
30:46because Manson knows
30:48how to get to their house.
30:50Though he never met
30:51the LaBiancas,
30:53Manson and some of the family members
30:55attended parties
30:56at the house next door.
30:57It was next door to Harold True.
31:00Harold True was my old road dog.
31:02It was a party pad.
31:03Charles Manson broke into the house alone
31:06while his family members
31:09stayed outside in the car,
31:11had a gun,
31:12and tied up Rosemary and Lino.
31:14Charles Manson told Lino
31:16and Rosemary LaBianca
31:18not to worry that he,
31:20it was just a robbery
31:21and he wasn't going to hurt them.
31:23He wasn't going to hurt them.
31:25And I seen a guy sitting on the couch
31:27and I laughed at him.
31:29He said, hi.
31:29I said, hi.
31:30It seems after the first night's killings,
31:32they learned some lessons.
31:34And one of the lessons was
31:36that people are going to freak out
31:38when there are people there to kill them.
31:40And so Manson decides
31:42he's going to go to this scene
31:44at the outset
31:45to kind of calm people down
31:47so that his killers
31:49have an easier time.
31:51Did he leave instructions?
31:53Yeah.
31:54He told Tex,
31:57don't scare them like last night.
31:59Yeah.
32:00I remember something like that,
32:02but I don't remember exactly
32:03the right words.
32:04If you're going to go to war
32:06and you're fighting your enemy
32:08and you kill him when he's afraid,
32:10you know,
32:11it's a bad omen.
32:12It's bad.
32:12At this point,
32:13Manson, Linda Kasabian
32:15and Susan Atkins drive away.
32:17I told the other dudes,
32:18I'll see you later, man.
32:19You know,
32:19like I'll catch it on the run, man.
32:21I'm gone, man.
32:22And I split, man.
32:23That leaves behind Tex Watson,
32:25Patricia Krenwinkel
32:27and Leslie Van Houten.
32:28And that's when the horrors
32:29really began
32:30for this innocent couple.
32:32When Mrs. LaBianca
32:34heard her husband
32:35being killed by Tex,
32:37she started calling out to him
32:41and yelling for him.
32:42And she somehow
32:44broke free of her restraints
32:46and Leslie and Patricia
32:48tackled her
32:49and started stabbing her.
32:51And Tex came in
32:54and killed her.
32:58And then Tex turned me around
33:01and handed me the knife
33:02and he said,
33:03do something.
33:04Because Manson had told him
33:06to make sure
33:06that all of us
33:07got our hands dirty.
33:12And I stabbed Mrs. LaBianca
33:14in the lower back
33:15about 16 times.
33:19During the murder,
33:21Leslie,
33:22she said she failed.
33:23She failed Manson
33:24because she just,
33:25she panicked,
33:26she froze
33:27and that's when
33:28she stabbed the dead body.
33:29Did she know
33:30it was a dead body?
33:30To this day,
33:31she says she does not know.
33:33But she thinks
33:34it was dead.
33:35The bodies,
33:36you know,
33:38were violated.
33:39After Lena was dead,
33:40they carved war
33:41into his stomach.
33:43It had been said
33:44by Charlie,
33:45make sure that there was
33:46all these witchy signs.
33:47and I went and
33:51Mr. LaBianca
33:52was already dead
33:53and I had gotten a fork
33:56and I stabbed him
33:58with a fork
33:59repeatedly
34:00and eventually
34:01left the fork
34:02in him.
34:04And then I wrote
34:05words all over the,
34:09the house.
34:12Helter-skelter.
34:13Helter-skelter.
34:14And
34:16rise.
34:16Rise and
34:17I think there was
34:18something else.
34:19Pigs.
34:20Pigs, probably.
34:21How do you live
34:23with knowing
34:24that was inside of you?
34:26It's,
34:27it's not easy.
34:29If anything,
34:31the older I get,
34:32the harder it is.
34:33Mrs. LaBianca
34:35was younger
34:35than I am now.
34:38I
34:41took away
34:42all that life.
34:43Another bizarre
34:44murder in Los Angeles,
34:45Mrs. Lino LaBianca
34:47found in the bedroom
34:48dead, her back...
34:49The LaBianca murders
34:50would unleash
34:50additional shockwaves
34:52throughout the city
34:53of Los Angeles.
34:54The uncertainty
34:55drives people crazy.
34:57Law enforcement
34:58and the community
34:59have no idea
35:00who or why
35:02these have occurred.
35:03We've gone
35:03from just
35:04a few years
35:05prior being
35:06the summer of love
35:07to a summer
35:08of fear
35:09and paranoia.
35:11Initially,
35:12police didn't
35:12connect the murders
35:13at the Tate
35:14and LaBianca houses.
35:16This was not
35:17the LAPD's
35:17finest hour.
35:18There was
35:19an enormous
35:20amount of evidence
35:21that was ended up
35:22recovered by
35:23journalists or kids
35:25and things
35:26that should not
35:27have been found
35:28and recovered
35:28by non-law enforcement.
35:31Strangely enough,
35:32in the months
35:33it took to find
35:33and charge the killers,
35:35many of them
35:36had already been
35:37in police custody.
35:38Before the Manson
35:40family are suspects
35:41in the murders,
35:42they were suspects
35:43in a car theft ring.
35:45And police arrived
35:46at the scene
35:47and apparently
35:48Manson was relieved
35:50that it was just
35:51over that.
35:52But it was that arrest
35:54that led to
35:56the whole case
35:58coming together.
36:00And that's because
36:01after those car theft
36:02arrests,
36:02Susan Atkins,
36:03who stabbed Sharon Tate,
36:05started spilling
36:06her secrets in jail.
36:08That's when the case
36:09broke wide open.
36:11She started saying
36:12about how stupid
36:13the police were
36:14and how they really
36:15were on the wrong track
36:17on a lot of crimes.
36:19And I do recall
36:20saying to her,
36:21well, what are you
36:21talking about?
36:22And her answer to me
36:23was, well, you know
36:24those murders
36:25up Benedict Canyon?
36:26And I said, yeah.
36:28And she said to me,
36:29well, you know
36:30who did it, don't you?
36:31And I said, no.
36:32And she says,
36:32you're looking at her.
36:33I don't think
36:35we would know
36:36about the Manson family
36:38or Charles Manson
36:39had Susan Atkins
36:41not bragged
36:44about her participation.
36:46I think it would be
36:47an unsolved mystery,
36:49sadly.
36:51Finally, Manson
36:52and his followers
36:53are arrested
36:54for the murders.
36:55This was just
36:56the beginning
36:57of the drama.
36:58Charlie,
36:59could you look
36:59this way, please?
37:07Manson's efforts
37:08to portray himself
37:09as the lone fighter
37:10against an unfair
37:11establishment
37:12are not working.
37:13The trial was
37:14very dramatic.
37:15I guess what you
37:16would say is
37:17this was an era
37:18of trial as theater.
37:21This was the trial
37:22of the century.
37:22It lasted for almost
37:24a year, every night,
37:25Monday to Friday.
37:26He wanted to be
37:27the center of attention.
37:29It fed into his narcissism.
37:35Every afternoon,
37:36Manson and the attorneys
37:38and the young women
37:39who were also defendants
37:41would all get together
37:42and plan what wacky thing
37:44they were going to do
37:45the next day.
37:45And the one thing
37:46that they were going
37:47to continue to do
37:48was be slavishly devoted
37:50to Charles Manson.
37:51Why did you say, Charlie?
37:53Everyone was charged
37:54with capital
37:54premeditated murder.
37:55And at the time,
37:56in California,
37:58that carried
37:58the death penalty.
37:59How do you feel,
38:00Mr. Frederico?
38:00What was eerie
38:02during the murder trials
38:03were his followers
38:05acting completely
38:06unaffected
38:07by the horrible nature
38:10of the murders
38:11and what they were
38:12being tried for.
38:14And the women
38:14would wear these little
38:15like girly dresses
38:17with ruffles and stuff
38:19and little pigtails
38:20and they'd hold hands
38:22and skip in and out
38:24of the courtroom
38:25singing nursery rhymes
38:26or singing songs
38:27that Manson had composed.
38:32The entire proceedings
38:34were scripted
38:35by Charlie.
38:35Every day we'd meet
38:36and he'd decide,
38:37well, today I want you
38:38each to stand up
38:38and hold your hands
38:39in some stupid symbols.
38:40You're going to get up
38:41and scream,
38:42the old gray mare.
38:43You're going to get up
38:43and burn an X in your head.
38:45You're going to go bald.
38:46And that day,
38:47we proceeded through
38:48the events
38:48as he said it.
38:50The X is still visible.
38:52A little.
38:53Or a lot.
38:55A lot.
38:55Oh, okay.
38:56I don't even see it anymore.
38:57I figured as I age
39:00it'll look like
39:01part of my aging.
39:03Outside court,
39:04members of the Manson family
39:06who'd not been charged
39:07with the crimes
39:07would show up
39:09and hold a sort of vigil.
39:11There's a revolution
39:12coming very soon.
39:14They also famously,
39:15and this is horrifying footage,
39:16they crawled,
39:18about six of the women
39:19crawled on their hands
39:20and knees
39:21from Hollywood
39:22to the courthouse.
39:24It took a day.
39:25In tribute to Charlie.
39:27One of the biggest questions
39:28during the trial
39:29centered around
39:30Manson's part
39:31in the crimes
39:32since he had not
39:33technically stabbed
39:34or shot
39:35any of the victims himself.
39:37What you have to show
39:38is that he
39:40controls
39:41everything.
39:42This is a guy
39:43who decided
39:44he wanted people killed
39:45but he didn't want
39:46to do it himself.
39:47Manson's control
39:48control over his followers
39:50was so complete,
39:51so total,
39:52that he was able
39:54to literally weaponize them.
39:56They became,
39:57for him,
39:59like a knife
40:00or a gun
40:01or a weapon
40:02that he would turn
40:03against his perceived enemies.
40:05According to the prosecutor,
40:07Manson wanted to ignite
40:08a race war
40:09that he called
40:09helter-skelter.
40:10He believed it was coming.
40:12He prophesied
40:13to his followers
40:14that there was going
40:16to be this
40:16world-changing race war
40:19where the blacks
40:20rose up against
40:20the white oppressors.
40:22So this race war
40:23wasn't happening
40:24fast enough,
40:25so Manson decided
40:26to accelerate it.
40:27And he's a racist.
40:28And so he wants
40:29these crimes
40:30to be committed
40:31so that the police
40:32will blame black people.
40:34This is the kind
40:35of sickness
40:36we're talking about here.
40:37Maybe he believed
40:38there'd be a race war.
40:40Maybe he didn't.
40:40But I think that's
40:42secondary
40:42to the fundamental
40:44evil of what
40:46Charles Manson was.
40:49But the biggest coup
40:50for the prosecution
40:51may have come
40:52from the Manson
40:53family itself.
40:54Linda Kasabian,
40:56the getaway driver
40:56from both murders,
40:58she testified
40:59against Manson
41:00and her friends.
41:02Today in court,
41:03the prosecution's
41:04key witness,
41:05Linda Kasabian,
41:06continued to testify.
41:07We granted
41:08Linda Kasabian
41:09immunity
41:10so she was
41:11our star witness.
41:13She was an accomplice.
41:14She was equally guilty.
41:15She saw everything.
41:17She didn't physically
41:18kill anyone.
41:19At trial,
41:21she gave jurors
41:22insight as to
41:23what happened
41:23in terms of
41:24the preparation
41:25and the aftermath
41:26of these brutal murders.
41:27The jury today
41:28found all four
41:29defendants guilty
41:30of first-degree
41:30murder and conspiracy.
41:32In the end,
41:33the jury deliberated
41:34for nine days
41:35before finally
41:36finding Manson,
41:37Krenwinkel,
41:38Ben Houghton
41:38and Atkins
41:39all guilty.
41:40Tex Watson
41:41would be convicted
41:42as well.
41:43They were given
41:44the death sentence,
41:45but the Supreme Court
41:46of California
41:47overturned death penalties
41:49in the state.
41:50So all of their sentences
41:52are immediately converted
41:54to life
41:56with the chance
41:58for parole.
41:59Not only do they get
41:59life with the chance
42:00of parole,
42:01but their parole hearings
42:02start less than
42:03a decade later.
42:04With each one
42:05of those changes,
42:07each hearing,
42:08I know this can be
42:10the time.
42:11This one can be
42:12the one.
42:13What kind of punishment
42:14do you deserve?
42:15What is enough?
42:16I don't know
42:16when enough punishment
42:17will be enough for me.
42:19That all changed
42:20in 2021
42:21when Leslie Van Houten
42:23was recommended
42:23for parole
42:24by a state board.
42:25She and her lawyer
42:26argued that Van Houten
42:28had been a model prisoner.
42:30Rich Pfeiffer
42:31is Van Houten's attorney.
42:32Why was Leslie Van Houten's
42:34case so important?
42:34And why was it
42:35important to you?
42:36She did a lot of work
42:37with the other inmates,
42:38tutoring them,
42:39doing a lot of
42:40rehabilitative programs.
42:42She earned it.
42:43She needed to be released.
42:44It needed to send a message
42:45that people can be
42:48rehabilitated successfully.
42:49First of all,
42:50the public,
42:50all they knew of Manson.
42:52They know it was this
42:52bloody, awful,
42:53gruesome, horrible crime,
42:55maybe one of the worst
42:57in the history of the world
42:58almost.
42:58That's all they know.
42:59They don't know
43:00Leslie's part in it.
43:01They don't know
43:02what happened to Leslie
43:02after she was gone to prison.
43:04So basically what you're
43:05saying is that nothing
43:06could wash off
43:07the Manson family's stain.
43:09Even the fact that a judge
43:10thought that she should
43:11get probation.
43:12Correct.
43:14Absolutely.
43:15But Governor Gavin Newsom
43:16vetoed the parole board,
43:18leaving Van Houten
43:19behind bars.
43:20However, a California
43:21appeals court then
43:22overruled Newsom,
43:24opening the door for Van
43:25Houten, then 73 years
43:27old to finally be released
43:29from prison.
43:29I think Leslie Van Houten
43:31is extremely dangerous
43:33and perhaps more dangerous
43:35because she is a little bit
43:37smarter and very cunning,
43:39very, very cunning.
43:41Pfeiffer says Van Houten
43:42now lives somewhere
43:44in Northern California,
43:45working as a paralegal.
43:47With Van Houten released,
43:49Krenwinkel, now 77 years old,
43:52is the longest serving
43:53female inmate
43:54in the state of California,
43:5556 years behind bars.
43:57She's hoping Van Houten's
43:59path to freedom
44:00could also be hers.
44:03Keith Watley is her attorney.
44:07Just about everyone
44:08is capable of committing
44:09extreme violence
44:11under the worst circumstances
44:13and just about everyone's
44:14capable of transformation
44:15under the best circumstances.
44:17This wasn't just murder.
44:18It was mutilation.
44:20It was something that
44:22most people consider
44:23beyond the pale.
44:24Does she have insight
44:25about what she did?
44:26She talks about
44:27why she was so receptive
44:29to what Manson was offering,
44:31which was like an answer
44:32for her to who she is
44:35in the world,
44:35who she's supposed to be,
44:36what she's supposed to do.
44:37He showed up pretending
44:39to have all the answers
44:40when she had none in her life.
44:42But getting Krenwinkel released
44:43could be significantly harder.
44:45She was present
44:46and killed people
44:48at both the Tate
44:49and the LaBianca houses.
44:50And while she's also
44:51been a model prisoner,
44:53getting out may be
44:55a harder sell.
44:56Do you think that your client,
44:57Patricia Krenwinkel,
44:59does pose an unreasonable risk
45:00to society if she'd be released?
45:02No, absolutely not.
45:03Not even close.
45:04For a lot of reasons.
45:05But she also is very active
45:07in supporting other people,
45:08especially other survivors
45:10of domestic violence.
45:11She was a survivor
45:12of domestic violence.
45:13She was 19 when she met Manson,
45:1621 when these crimes happened.
45:17The fact that she was under age 26
45:20at the time of the crime
45:21means that under California law,
45:23she's supposed to get great weight
45:25in considering
45:26did she have the capacity
45:27to change from that
45:29or was it some fixed way of being?
45:30And they've done that in this case.
45:32I totally disagree
45:33with anyone who suggests
45:35that if this case happened now,
45:38these women might be treated
45:39more leniently.
45:40The criminal justice system
45:42has gotten tougher since then,
45:44not more lenient.
45:45They wouldn't be having parole hearings
45:47every couple of years.
45:49They would have been sentenced
45:51at the minimum
45:52to life without parole.
45:54So the idea that,
45:56oh, if this had happened now,
45:58they'd be in a better situation,
46:00nonsense.
46:01The idea that we finally accepted
46:03in California
46:04is people age out of crime,
46:06especially violent crime.
46:07And so when you get into
46:09your 60s and 70s,
46:11even in your 50s,
46:12you're much, much less likely
46:14to commit any kind of violence.
46:15And she fits in that category.
46:17I do think that people look
46:19at a Krenwinkel and think,
46:21oh, look at Nona.
46:23Look at, this is a grandma.
46:24How could she possibly
46:25be a threat to the community?
46:28While she still has her voice,
46:29I don't think you can just look
46:32at the age of a person
46:33and think that they are not
46:35a threat to society.
46:37I don't trust that.
46:38Can you understand why people
46:40can't get over the savagery
46:41of what she did versus what,
46:43I guess, Leslie Van Houten did?
46:45Well, it's maybe the right question
46:47for this, certainly,
46:48this political time.
46:49I think the way we approach
46:50the question and the case
46:51is that the severity of the crime
46:54is not supposed to dictate
46:57the outcome of the parole proceeding.
47:00The law requires that
47:01that not be true.
47:02Over the summer,
47:03the parole board did recommend
47:05Krenwinkel for release.
47:06As a former prosecutor,
47:08I don't care how many
47:09psychological evaluations
47:10she's had.
47:11I don't care how many times
47:13she's expressed remorse.
47:16That kind of behavior
47:17and criminal conduct, in my view,
47:20cannot be rehabilitated.
47:21Rick Allen Ross,
47:23in his expertise with cults
47:24and their leaders,
47:25says he's been repeatedly asked
47:27to write letters supporting parole
47:29for the Manson killers.
47:32I refuse to write the letters.
47:35The crimes were so hideous
47:37and the damage so horrible
47:39for the families
47:40that I could not,
47:42in good conscience,
47:43write those letters.
47:44Sit your ass in jail.
47:46Take what you were sentenced to.
47:49Be happy.
47:51Your second chance
47:52was the chance to live.
47:54That's more than any
47:56of your victims had.
47:58So take the second chance
48:00you were given
48:01and do the most with it.
48:06Do you ever think about
48:09his followers now?
48:11Leslie Van Houten
48:12and Patricia Krenwinkel.
48:13You know,
48:14I very often get asked
48:16about them.
48:17When bad things happen,
48:18we always want to understand
48:20why.
48:22It's been 56 years
48:24since the Manson murder spree
48:26and yet these crimes
48:28continue to captivate
48:30the country.
48:31The Manson murders
48:32continue to haunt us
48:33because of their savagery,
48:35because of their victims,
48:36and because of the spell,
48:39the evil,
48:40malevolent spell
48:41they cast on
48:43how we view
48:44that whole time.
48:45It's affected
48:45popular culture.
48:47It's affected
48:48the justice system.
48:49There are not so many murders
48:50that change the way
48:51people live their lives.
48:53This was one of them.
48:54I receive emails
48:56from people
48:57that still think
48:58Charlie Manson
48:59was some kind of a martyr
49:00for the counterculture.
49:02He wasn't anything like that.
49:04He was a hardened criminal
49:06who was a psychopath
49:08and a manipulator.
49:11Charles Manson
49:12died in prison in 2017
49:13at the age of 83.
49:16He had been formally
49:17denied parole 12 times.
49:19There is a chip missing,
49:22the empathy chip
49:23they don't have.
49:24The only thing
49:25that matters to them
49:26is that they get
49:27what they want.
49:28I would like to be out someday.
49:31I hope to be out someday.
49:34Susan Atkins,
49:36the woman who stabbed Sharon Tate,
49:37died from cancer
49:39back in 2009.
49:40She had been denied parole 18 times.
49:43Dex Watson remains in prison.
49:46He's a born-again Christian now
49:47and a minister behind bars.
49:50He has often talked about
49:51his remorse for the crimes
49:52in interviews.
49:54I hate what I've done.
49:56I hate having to be
49:59the person that had committed
50:01a crime that's so hideous.
50:04I hate that.
50:05Watson married and fathered
50:07four children during his incarceration.
50:09And has also been denied parole 18 times.
50:13Dex is not interested
50:15in trying to get paroled.
50:16He's given up.
50:17Given up?
50:18Yeah.
50:18There's another person
50:19that according to the law
50:20should be released.
50:21But he was one of the ringleaders,
50:23essentially the leader
50:24in the two most vicious murders.
50:26He did what Manson told him to do.
50:28Just like the girls.
50:29Which is lead these multiple homicides.
50:33Dex is doing what Manson told him to do,
50:35even though Manson wasn't right there.
50:37Family members of the victims
50:39have been trying to make sure
50:40that the brutality of what happened
50:44doesn't get forgotten.
50:45That yes, it happened a long time ago.
50:48But their position is
50:51we can never forget
50:53what happened,
50:55how it happened,
50:56and how they reacted afterwards.
50:59If she could find a way
51:01to help the survivors
51:04find some peace,
51:05that's what she would do.
51:06In her view,
51:07they'll only get that when she dies.
51:10You mean the family members
51:11will only get peace
51:12when Patricia dies?
51:13I'm not sure they'll get it even then,
51:15but she's convinced
51:16that's the only thing she has to give.
51:19Just two weeks before the deadline
51:21to make a decision,
51:22Governor Gavin Newsom
51:23reversed the parole board,
51:25meaning Krenwinkel
51:26will stay in prison.
51:28The governor,
51:29in reversing the grant of parole,
51:31focused on insight.
51:33He recognized that, yes,
51:34she was very young
51:35when she committed the crime,
51:36and she's very old now.
51:38She's been in prison for 55 years.
51:40She's about 77 years old.
51:42But he said those factors
51:44are outweighed
51:45by her lack of insight,
51:47her inability to understand
51:49what she did wrong,
51:50her casting of blame on others.
51:53And again,
51:54he laid this out in 2022.
51:56She hasn't learned
51:57over the last three years.
51:59That lack of insight
52:00means she poses
52:01an unreasonable risk
52:02of safety to society,
52:04and we agree.
52:05Krenwinkel's attorney,
52:06Keith Watley,
52:07said in a statement,
52:08the governor has unfortunately
52:09chosen politics over people.
52:13Deborah Tate says
52:14she will keep showing up
52:15at those parole hearings
52:16defending her sister
52:18because the killer's punishments
52:20still matter.
52:22They'll have to take me in on a gurney.
52:24I'm going.
52:25My body's falling apart,
52:27but my brain is still pretty sharp.
52:30I have to be committed to this.
52:32This is public safety,
52:34and I'm no longer fighting for my sister
52:37because she's long gone.
52:39I'm the last living member of my family.
52:41I'm fighting for all of y'all,
52:44everyone else out there.
52:57Yeah,
53:13I'm scared.
53:15I'm unfortunately
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