The Manson Family

Serial killers

including Manson and his young, loyal disciples — is thought to have carried out some 35 killings. Most of their cases were never tried, in part for lack of evidence. The perpetrators had also already been sentenced to life for the killings on August 9, 1969 (Tate, writer Wojciech Frykowski, his partner, coffee bean heiress Abigail Folger and celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring) and two more victims on August 10, 1969 (wealthy supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary). Sharon Tate Manson Family victim Sharon Tate, circa 1965. Photo: Screen Collection/Getty Images In August 1969, Manson gathered a group of his most loyal Family followers to carry out his massacre among Hollywood's elite and "beautiful people." The first of Manson’s victims was murdered at the home Polanski had rented, located at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, an area just north of Beverly Hills. Polanski was away in London shooting a film., and the four victims had just returned home from dinner at the time of the murder. While Manson himself took no part in the actual killings, he directed four of his most obedient followers — Charles "Tex" Watson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Linda Kasabian — to the address and directed them to kill everyone. According to one of the Family member's statements, the Polanski household had been targeted because it represented the showbiz world that had rejected Manson. Steven Parent had been visiting his friend Garretson when he became the Manson Family’s first victim. As he drove away from the house in the dark early morning hours, he was spotted by the intruders and shot dead. Kasabian was horrified by the shooting of the boy, and she remained outside to keep watch. Kasabian acted as the getaway driver and was to become the star witness during the trial. When the other three broke into the house, they herded Tate, Frykowski, Folgers and Sebring into the living room and tied them up. Sebring was shot and brutally kicked as he tried to defend Tate. During the terrifying murder spree, both Frykowski and Folger managed to escape from the house but were chased and stabbed to death. At the trial, Kasabian described how she saw Frykowski staggering out of the house covered in blood and was horrified at the sight. She told him she was "sorry," but despite her pleas to his attacker to stop, the victim was bludgeoned repeatedly. Folger escaped from the house with terrible injuries but was caught on the front lawn and stabbed 28 times. Eight-months-pregnant Tate pleaded for the life of her unborn child. She was mercilessly stabbed in the stomach by Atkins. Kasabian told of Atkins's chilling words to Tate before she stabbed her: "Look, bitch, I have no mercy for you. You're going to die, and you'd better get used to it." Atkins then used Tate's blood to write the word "pig" on the front door. However, instead of this brutal massacre sating the pathological Manson, he criticized the murderers for being sloppy. The following night, Manson took Family members Watson, Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten to the Los Feliz address of the LaBiancas, and the couple was murdered in a similarly horrifying fashion.