At long bloody last, Charles Manson is dead.
TMZ is reporting that the man behind one of the most infamous and gruesome killing sprees in American history passed away late on Sunday night (local time) at the age of 83.
Debra Tate, the sister of Manson’s most famous victim Sharon Tate, is said to have received a phone call from the Department of Corrections informing her of Manson’s demise. Officials are in the process of contacting victims’ families.
In 1969 Manson masterminded a series of slayings in Los Angeles, carried out by a troupe of devoted followers that he had amassed, designed to spark a race war that he dubbed “Helter Skelter,” named for The Beatles song.
In August 1969, Manson’s followers brutally and gruesomely attacked and killed 5 people at the Beverley Hills home of actress Sharon Tate – who at the time was heavily pregnant with husband Roman Polanski.
The night after the Tate murders, the Manson Family randomly attacked and killed Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
The slayings captured the imagination of the public, not just for their brutality and callousness, but for the cult-like manor in which Manson had directed his followers.
Manson was arrested in December of 1969. In 1971 he was found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for all 7 people killed. At the time, he was given a death sentence. But when California ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972, that punishment was commuted to 9 consecutive life sentences.
In January of this year, Manson was treated for intestinal bleeding. A few days ago Manson was reportedly wheeled into Bakersfield Hospital by uniformed police who told TMZ sources that it was “just a matter of time.”
Of the other Manson family members directly involved in the Tate-LaBianca murders, Tex Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten remain incarcerated, Susan Atkins died in prison in 2009, Clem Grogan was paroled in 1985, and Linda Kasabian, who was ordered to remain outside the Tate house while the killings took place, turned witness against the Manson family and has lived the remainder of her life in secrecy.
