All language subtitles for MV5BODg0MjU4O

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[eerie music]

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- I was a member
of the Manson Family.

- Charlie was permeating
my whole being.

- He was alive.

- He was manipulating in a way
that no one knew

he was manipulating.

- I don't need to kill anyone!

I think it.

- What was it
about Charlie Manson

that made these women
give up their names

and their belongings
and join his family?

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- I didn't have
any family to speak of.

It was pretty torturous,
just this loneliness

of not having anybody
to ever count on.

- She's exactly the kind
of person ISIS looks for,

because she wanted desperately
to be part of something.

- He made victims of more
than just the people that died.

There are some people
you don't have to forgive.

- I never saw fulfillment
and happiness

in the people I looked up to.

I'd say meeting Manson
saved my life,

my health, my brain,

my emotional health,
my mental health,

my physical health.

I'm thankful.

- I have no idea
how you could have been

involved in that family
and have continued

to believe what Manson said.

- You want to talk
about immoral and evil,

go to Hollywood.

We touched it.
It needed to be touched.

♪ ♪

- From my perspective,
I was looking for a place

to be a part of something
bigger than just myself.

- That's a person
who is vulnerable,

and that's why
a lot of cult leaders

choose young girls.

Dianne was the perfect target.

- It was hard to live with.

I felt this overwhelming guilt,

just guilty by association.

It's just been very cathartic
for me to realize

that I was a victim
of his manipulation.

- We were all looking
for a family

that we related to.

- Squeaky wanted to rebel.

If you've ever been a parent
of a child

who's in their teens
and they just wanna rebel

and they find the bad boy...

- Charlie, he had what I wanted.

It was amazing to me.

I had tried to kill

the leader... of the country.

- I knew that Charlie
put her up to it.

- I've never regretted
any of those experiences.

I've been out
for almost ten years.

[dramatic music]

- None of the people
should ever be paroled.

- These people can't be trusted.

Are they the same people
that they were in 1969?

- Everything was about Charlie.

- It was kill or be killed.

- Just because a person kills

does not make them evil and bad.

War is not murder.

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

[foreboding music]

- That summer and what

Charles Manson
and the women did,

I mean, it really took

the innocence away from America.

♪ ♪

- In California,
five members of a so-called

religious cult
including Charles Manson,

the guru or high priest,
have been indicted

in the murder of Sharon Tate
and six others.

- Charlie Manson hadn't
actually picked up a knife

and stabbed anybody.

He ordered them to go do this,
and they did.

♪ ♪

- There's nothing about it
that isn't

completely heartrending,
disgusting,

scary, vicious.

It was meant to be vicious,
violent, and vile.

[chilling music]

♪ ♪

- It was a very scary thing

to have these band of hippies
kill people.

- The group was broken up
last October

when the deputies raided
the camp.

Some of the women were nude,

and some wore only
bikini bottoms.

- The Manson Family
was going to get us.

That became
the proverbial bogeyman.

- The women...

- I don't fear
for anybody's testimony.

- They didn't show any remorse.

I mean, they just doubled down,

and they wanted to be there
for their leader, for Charlie.

I mean, how frightening is that

to the people that are watching
this trial?

Female narrator:
It was a shocking trial:

Charles Manson and some of
his young followers in court

charged with murder
and conspiracy

in the brutal deaths
of seven people.

- Manson's influence
over these women

was so strong that they believed

what they were doing
was the right thing.

- I was interviewing
someone in prison,

and she said every woman
she knew was there

because of a man,

either because she did
his dirty work for him

or maybe retribution
because he cheated on her.

But it was mainly
that they had been

manipulated by men
and had found themselves

in prison as a result.

Narrator: In 1969,
Charles Manson convinced

a group of very young women
to commit crimes

and murder for him.

Why were these women
willing to abandon

the lives they had known
for a 5'2" ex-con like Manson?

[rock music]

- Everything's got to be
in the context of the '60s.

- It was
a very different time, yeah.

The country
sort of just opened up

partly due to...
different drugs, I guess.

- 500,000 of our brothers
are killing and dying

in a jungle 10,000 miles away.

- There were all kinds
of things happening

on different college campuses.

Many aspects
of society were seeing

the disillusion of the system.

- My mother said she
considered me more of a sister

in, you know,
this counterculture movement

than she did, you know,
her daughter.

- It was peace, love.

People were exploring
alternative lifestyles.

I was at that right age.

We loved guys who played guitar.

We loved the guys
who were sort of brooding

and mysterious.

Everybody was speaking
in psychobabble.

[dark music]

narrator:
The women who became a part

of Manson's family were
between the ages of 13 and 24.

They were orphans,
runaways, and rebels.

But what was it about him
that attracted them?

♪ ♪

- I'll say anything
you want me to say.

Just, you know,
give me some rest, you know?

So everybody's very happy now.
They got what they wanted.

I just can't even watch myself
talking about it.

It's just horrible.

I was born in France.

My mother was taken
by an officer

and raped.

She took her own life
after the war,

and then I was adopted
by American parents.

My mother who adopted me
got cancer

and died when I was 16.

She took her own life also,

because she thought
she might be a burden.

And then I was estranged
from my stepfather.

Basically, I wasn't homeless
like under a bridge

or anything like that,
but I really didn't have

a place of my own.

It was pretty torturous,
you know,

just this loneliness
of not having anybody

to ever count on.

- These young women
were searching for love.

- They wanted so desperately
to be accepted and to be in.

- I was totally looking
for that acceptance.

♪ ♪

At the time,

my home life
was pretty disorganized.

My dad had always been
kind of enamored

with this
counterculture movement.

My mom gave up everything
for my dad's dream

of dropping out.

We had a big yard sale
and moved into a bread truck.

Five of us, you know,
three kids and two adults,

and we were
supposed to be doing it

with these other members
of this commune.

Then when I got to this commune,

the people that were in charge
said they were uncomfortable

with my being there

because I was a sexually active

underaged female.

They weren't kicking me out,

but I didn't feel like
I belonged.

My parents, they had given me
emancipation as a minor.

I had really gotten lost
in the weeds,

and so I was looking for a place

to be a part of something.

- When my parents dropped out,
I was 13.

- You've got a combination
of elements:

someone who wants
to be independent,

someone who may even think
they can handle independence,

but who is entirely
emotionally ill-prepared.

That's a person
who is vulnerable.

[dramatic music]

- I was 18,
and then my dad threw me out.

We had started to argue.

He was... he just didn't want

the interaction with me.

It wasn't that I was
contesting all the time.

It was that I wanted to know
and he didn't have answers.

And he thought he should have
all the answers, I guess.

I felt like I had
to go out and find out myself.

♪ ♪

My father and I had argued about

just a definition
of a word or something,

something really silly.

And he said,
"You get out of this house

and never come back."

I took him at his word.

I did cry,
because I just thought,

"Well, that's pretty final."

- They were, many of them,
in middle-class families

where they just wanted to rebel.

And if you've ever been
a parent of a child

who's in their teens,

you can understand that
to an extent.

- Lynn's father was
an aeronautical engineer

from Southern California.

My stepfather was
an aeronautical engineer.

We had a lot of similarities
in my upbringing,

but I'd say I was more
upper middle class.

I mean, we would be
in the society column

at Christmastime, looking
pretty and photogenic.

Like, "Ooh, beautiful,
beautiful American family."

I had so many
respiratory things going on,

two tracheotomies
by the time I was one.

My mother did not want me

to survive the many operations
I had.

I know that for a fact.
She conveyed it daily.

I was 24 years old,

and I had learning disabilities.

I never saw fulfillment
and happiness

in, you know,
the people I looked up to.

None of them were happy.

Many of them were alcoholics.

Narrator:
It was in the fall of 1967

when many of the women
met Manson for the first time.

- We were all looking
for a family, I think.

We were all looking for a family

that we related to.

- If you couple
the desire for inclusion

with a fear of rejection,

you can get people
to do almost anything.

And it's
a really dangerous thing

when you've got someone
who knows how to do that.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- Charlie held all the cards.

- I really, truly believed
that my survival

was going to be to stay
with Charlie.

- Charlie told me that
I had to be willing to kill.

- It's so hard to believe
a woman could have

these up-close, personal,
intimate murders

and not feel anything.

- How can you put
the finger at us

and call us evil for doing
what needed to be done?

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

narrator: By the time
the brutal murders

had occurred,
the women had been with Manson

for almost two years.

How was Manson able to find
all these lost souls

from dysfunctional families
and convince them

to give themselves to him?

- Charlie was dynamic
and charismatic,

and he would play the guitar,
and he sang.

And it was in that culture

where these young women
were searching for love.

- They were hungry
for a connection.

He had the ability
to pay attention,

which picked up strengths

but, most important,
vulnerabilities,

and knew how to manipulate that.

- I went to Topanga Canyon,

and that's where
I first met Charlie.

[tense music]

We walked outside,
and he looked at my throat.

And he traced his finger
around my tracheotomy scar.

♪ ♪

And he said,
"Your mother wanted you dead

because she was jealous."

He's whatever a person
wants to make of him.

He's a mirror, actually.

And I thought, "Oh, my God,
he is totally in my mind."

And he said,
"You're not weak."

His brilliance was permeating
my whole being.

My mind was pretty much blown

just by his voice,
by his demeanor,

by the happiness
and the brightness.

Narrator:
He convinced these women

that he had a unique insight
into their beings.

And with that, they were hooked.

♪ ♪

- I had a job.

I had just boughten a bunch

of scuba diving equipment.

I called up my roommate
and said,

"You can sell
my scuba diving equipment,

"you can sell my skis,
and I will call my boss back

and tell her
I'm not coming back to work."

There's a new thought arising.

We learned that the only truth
we've ever heard

comes from Charles.

♪ ♪

narrator: Like Blue,
Squeaky met Manson by chance

in Southern California.

Squeaky had just left home

after an argument
with her father.

- I was out at the beach.

It was dark.
Nobody was around.

I had thought I could find
some hippies.

Charlie, he had been going
somewhere else...

I think to Hollywood.

And instead,
he stopped off in Venice,

walked down the road.

He didn't see me
until he got close enough,

and then he said,

"So your father
kicked you out?"

And it was amazing to me.

♪ ♪

He was very interested,
animated.

He was interacting.

He was alive.
That's the main thing.

Charlie, he exhibited so much.

It was a quiet...
it was a presence,

and that's probably the thing
that's hardest to convey.

Narrator:
With nowhere else to go

and enamored
by their first meeting,

Squeaky joined Manson
and met the others.

In the beginning, Manson
and the women had nothing.

They lived off the good nature
of others

and ate out of dumpsters
when there was nothing else.

To get around,
they borrowed cars and vans.

- We traveled in a VW bus.

And there were very quickly
three of us

and then five of us,

and then we had to get
a bigger bus.

I mean, he was not
recruiting anybody.

What it was is,

we were discovering America.

- Charlie's group
was very nomadic.

They didn't have anything.

He would drive this bus,
and he would, you know,

literally drive down the coast
and pick up these women.

It was happiness, free love,

you know,
sort of the hippie culture.

- Everybody took everybody in
during that time,

so it didn't feel like
you were homeless.

- There was all this free love

and people handing people drugs

and, "Yeah, man,
I'll give you free food."

- We were irreverent
human beings,

and we were traveling.

- They were just feeling lost
and vulnerable

to a guy like Manson.

Narrator: Snake celebrated
her 14th birthday

all by herself.

She was lonely
and had been abandoned

by her family.

When she was most vulnerable,

she crossed paths
with Charles Manson.

- I'd been on my own
for, you know,

quite a few months.

And I met these girls,
and they made me feel like

just incredibly special.

- Dianne was making decisions

for where she wanted to be,
where she wanted to go

that no 14-year-old
should really be doing.

Her parents just wrote out
a letter and said,

"Okay, you can live
on your own."

And they thought it was fine,

and that's when she wound up

being abandoned on her own.

- Charlie was extremely loving,

and I felt welcome.

He took me that night
and made love to me

like I'd never
experienced before,

in a way that, you know,
made me feel like a woman.

It was the most magical,
you know,

that I had ever encountered.

- He used his sexuality

as a way of increasing
dependence on him.

Narrator: In the '60s,
for the first time,

free expression of sexuality
was part of the culture,

something Manson used
to his advantage.

When he first met Snake
and had sex with her,

Manson was 34 and she was 14.

- At the time,
they were experimenting

in open relationships
and sexuality.

But there's an imbalance
in the power

and the persuasion,

and that's why we protect
young people

from being influenced by people

who are at a different
maturity level.

- I remember thinking
that I wanted

Charlie to love only me
and marry me.

I was disenfranchised.

I didn't feel like
I really belonged anywhere,

and they invited me
to come live with them.

So I stayed with them.

[ominous music]

- I think he seduced them
on many different levels,

and he was very good at it.

♪ ♪

narrator:
When Manson met Gypsy,

his group was still small

and traveling
around Southern California.

Gypsy had been homeless

since her adopted mother's
suicide.

- One day, a car drove up,

an old beat-up Chevy
with an old cowboy

and four girls in it.

And that's how I met Charlie.

Squeaky was sitting
next to Charlie,

and on the other side of her
was Sandy Good.

He was the most confident
person I had ever run into.

He was fun-loving,
and everybody seemed

very peaceful and happy.

Charlie took me out
to talk to me,

and he really came on to me

really, really strong.

I felt accepted.

It just felt like...
it was kind of like

a dream come true.

I was an orphan,
so I was looking for family.

So I said, "Well, I'm staying,"

and I never left.

- Charlie preached about that,

having fun and being open

and giving yourself
to the family,

but it came at a price.

It came at a price
of giving yourself to Charlie.

So when it came time for him
to want something from them,

when it came to asking them
to kill,

they were willing
to do that as well.

[suspenseful music]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Charlie promised you
that you would be all

part of his family,
because these women

didn't feel like
they were loved enough

in their own family.

But by giving up of themselves,

they gave everything to Charlie,

which gave Charlie power.

- He studied at the foot
of the masters.

Before Manson started to gather
his followers,

he had been in prison.

Before he went in,

he had all these abandonment
experiences from women.

His wife had left him.

So when he was in prison,

he was asking,
"How do I keep a woman?"

He learned and was expecting

to come out of prison
and, "Hey, what am I gonna do?

I'll become a pimp,"

except there was
all this free love.

Narrator: In 1969,

Charles Manson was 34 years old,

and he had already spent
22 years in prison,

over half his life.

[tense music]

- He talked to me
like a brother.

We were on the same level.

We were communicating
our feelings to each other

right away.

It was life-changing.

- I've been in jail all my life.

Man, I've lived
on a handball court.

This guy raised me up.

All the men in the joint
raised me up,

told me what to do,
what was right and wrong.

♪ ♪

- If you're looking
for Charles Manson

and his values, definitely,
they come from prison,

for sure.

- The outside world
programs people.

The inside unprograms people
to wisdom and understanding.

- In prison, you have to control

your immediate environment,

because if you don't,
you can end up dead.

So this is how he was wired.

He was manipulating in a way
that no one knew

he was manipulating.

It was, like, unprogramming us
from all the lies

that we were told

and reprogramming us to feel
that we were perfect.

[solemn music]

- Charles Manson, he would
find the vulnerability

in each of the women
that he gathered,

and he would become that.

He could look at someone
and size them up

almost immediately,
know exactly what they need,

and give it to them.

♪ ♪

narrator: One year
after Manson met the women,

his group of followers
had grown to 20 people

and was still expanding.

Traveling around
Southern California

had become
increasingly difficult.

They needed to find
a more permanent home.

- Charlie had to find a place
for his nomadic band,

and he brought them
to George Spahn's ranch.

Narrator:
The ranch was perfect

for Manson's growing family.

Manson made a deal

with the blind and elderly
owner, George Spahn.

The women would work the ranch

in exchange for everyone's
room and board.

- The women would take care
of the mules

and clean out the stalls
and work around the ranch.

- George gave us all names.

He would put his hand
on our arm.

I kind of went, "Eh,"

and he started calling me
Squeaky.

- I ended up
with the nickname Snake,

which I didn't
particularly like.

- I liked being at the ranch

and horses...
women that I could respect.

But mostly, Charlie was the...

You know, I wanted to...

be with him.

[ominous music]

narrator:
Moving to Spahn Ranch

was a turning point
for the women

in Manson's group.

The ranch allowed him
to isolate them,

brainwashing them even further.

- They're completely isolated.

The only source
of information, news

that they have
is Charles Manson.

[desolate music]

There's no television,
no newspapers,

no magazines.

- There was no electricity.

There was no books.

There were no calendars.

There were no intellectual
debates in the air.

It was just the girls
participating

in preparing the meal.

- The isolation helped Manson.
He knew that.

- It wasn't as if he was
telling people what to do

and being bossy and commanding.

He'd ask questions like...

"What do you think about this?"

"Should we do this?"
He'd bring you into it.

And then if you agreed,

then you were, like, giving
your word you would do it.

But you didn't think that you
were being told what to do.

Narrator: Though the women
were providing for Manson,

he convinced them
that he was the one

providing for them.

- By that time, it had been
about a year's worth

of absolutely believing
that Charlie knew everything

and that my only safety

was to stay with him
and everybody.

- I had to have a feeling
of safety.

Safety has always been
a big issue with me.

- It was gradual,
and by the time it had become

a totalitarian community,

they no longer
could challenge him.

They had no perspective.

[suspenseful music]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

narrator:
A year after meeting Manson,

the women in the group
were completely enthralled,

becoming more and more
invested in him

and each other.

- The lines were blurred.

It wasn't like one person's
a father;

another person's your brother.

It was friend, brother,
lover, father, mother.

You know,
it was just all blurred.

We were everything
to each other.

Narrator:
In the fall of 1968,

another woman
came into the fold,

19-year-old runaway
Leslie Van Houten.

- Leslie was, you know...
I remember her being,

like, you know,
the prom princess,

California, high school gal.

And I had never been
to high school at that point.

- In the '60s,
her parents got divorced,

which today doesn't seem
like a big deal.

But back then, it was.

[tense music]

She went from being
with the cool kids in school

to being shunned by them.

She started using drugs,
and she got pregnant.

- Her mother also recoiled
physically from Leslie

when she told her
she was pregnant,

and it was devastating.

- Her mother forced her
to have an illegal abortion.

They buried the fetus
in the backyard.

And not surprisingly,
drug use escalated,

and then she got involved
in the late '60s

in the hippie movement.

That's when she met
Catherine Share.

♪ ♪

- And I said, "I'm going back
to this ranch,"

and I told her where it was.

She'd be welcome there anytime.

And she came to the ranch
by herself three weeks later.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

narrator:
In the spring of 1969,

Charles Manson would have
the women take LSD

and then reenact
the crucifixion of Christ

with him as the central figure.

He had them take
LSD trips together,

and that made them
even more reliant

on each other
and susceptible to him.

[eerie music]

- I had my first LSD trip
with Charlie.

And that was a mind blow.

- LSD was an experience

you didn't wanna have too often,

because trying to take it
too often

was almost like trying
to grab knowledge.

- It seemed like a shortcut
to enlightenment.

It felt like you could see
the universe.

[tranquil music]

♪ ♪

- I was already an acidhead.

By that time, I took so much

that I lost who I was.

I went around picking flowers
and gave 'em to everybody,

and I was just
in this childlike state

for a long time.

♪ ♪

- Charlie took me up
on a big hill

overlooking Los Angeles.

And in my first LSD vision,

I saw the whole city in flames,

and I was laughing and laughing.

It was a laughter
that I've never experienced

before or since.

Later I asked Charlie,
"What... what happened?"

And he said
he saw the whole thing.

Narrator: LSD also allowed
Manson to create

a growing sense of fear
within the group.

He often had them take
the drug together

to create a communal sense
of right and wrong

dictated by him.

- One of the things to make
this kind of thing work

is, the outsiders
have to be dangerous.

You develop empathy

for your brothers and sisters
in the group,

and then there's
a threat from outside.

Manson was so good
at manipulating

that feeling of threat.

[foreboding music]

- For a long time,
Charlie talked about

more esoteric kind of things.

But after a while,
he started talking about

the fact that there was going
to be a revolution.

♪ ♪

- There were so many
different aspects

to American culture then

for what they considered to be
the inevitable revolution.

There was the war in Vietnam.

♪ ♪

- There was, you know,
lots of civil rights issues.

- It's time now for us
to say to these men

that you have been foul with us.

- Everybody talked about him.

I mean, it was in music.

- We weren't intending
to participate.

We wanted to get away
from the cities

and away from the anarchy.

- We began to distrust.

The police wouldn't protect us.

The military wasn't gonna
protect us.

We had to count on each other.

- You know, as time went on,

he talked about it
more and more,

and he was just saying
that it was gonna start.

- Charles Manson isolated them
from outside reality.

They only had him to turn to.

[suspenseful music]

Manson, he's paranoid
and he's losing his grip.

- He came to me and said,

"They might attack us
at any time."

- I'm afraid for my life,
but on the other hand,

I'm still looking
for his approval.

- If somebody's threatening
their master,

they're dangerous.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

narrator: By 1969,
the women had spent two years

being brainwashed
into total devotion

to their leader.

- They really had nothing
except Charlie.

They'd given up their names.

They'd given up their families.

They'd given up their identity.

They'd given up their money.

- He would say,
"You can leave me,

but no one will ever love you
like I love you,"

or, "No one will ever love you,
period."

narrator: In the months
leading up to the murders,

Manson took a darker turn.

He began to test the limits
of his power.

Being the youngest,
Snake was the most vulnerable.

- I don't think Dianne,
at that time,

would have thought
that she was being abused,

and she was living
in a hippie cult.

- I remember wanting Charlie
to make love to me.

I wanted him to make love
to me like he could

and that he had in the past.

I think that just like people
who get addicted to heroin,

they're always trying
to have that first high again,

that's what it was for me.

I wanted that initial feeling

of being super special
and super loved

and, you know,
like in the very beginning.

And he took me down,
you know, the road

and took me into this little
gypsy caravan

and sodomized me, raped me,

left me in tears and bleeding.

And he said something
to the effect of,

"Well, that's the way
we do it in prison."

♪ ♪

I don't know.

It just was a really ugly...
it was a really ugly

side of him.

I don't know how to describe it.

I'm afraid for my life,

but on the other hand,

I'm still looking
for his approval.

Narrator: A month before
the Manson Family's

infamous murder spree,

his power over the women
escalated.

He had been using
a fear of outsiders

to hold his group together.

And on July 1, 1969,
things got violent.

[menacing music]

- There was a bad drug deal,

and Charlie shot a black man.

[gunshot]

So I was cooking one night.

He came to me and said,

"The Black Panthers
know where we are,

and they might attack us
at any time."

- The Black Panther Party
for Self Defense believes

that the time has come
for black people

to arm themselves
against this terror,

the terror of
the white people, presumably,

before it is too late.

♪ ♪

narrator:
It wasn't politics

that had Manson running scared.

It was a drug deal gone wrong

between Manson and a member
of the Black Panthers

that had him fearing
retaliation.

- To me, it was,
"Well, it's started.

The Black Panthers
are starting the revolution."

[indistinct chanting]

- In Los Angeles,

the Black Panthers
and the police were killing

each other, I guess.

- There was all this activity.

- I really, truly believed

that my survival was going
to be to stay with Charlie,

'cause he knew how to maneuver
all this.

- Manson, he's paranoid,
and he's losing his grip.

- That's when Charlie
asked Bobby if he would come

and stay at the ranch
and just protect the ranch.

[ominous music]

narrator: In order
to protect himself

from the Black Panthers,
Manson invited

a 21-year-old musician
named Bobby Beausoleil

to join the family
at Spahn Ranch.

To the women, recruiting Bobby
was another sign

that Manson was protecting
them from a revolution.

- He was a self-confident kid.

He was wearing a top hat
and a cape.

He had run away
when he was young.

But he and Charlie
were different,

but they liked each other.

They got a kick
out of each other.

Narrator: Two weeks before
the Tate-LaBianca murders,

Bobby Beausoleil killed
a man named Gary Hinman.

- After we entered the home,

we saw signs of a struggle,

and it appeared as though
there had been

some degree of violence.

Narrator: Charles Manson
and Bobby Beausoleil

held Hinman hostage
in a dispute over a drug deal.

Beausoleil eventually
killed Hinman

and staged the crime scene
to look like

the Black Panthers
committed the murder.

The goal was to point
the finger at someone

other than Manson
and his family.

And since Manson
was having a dispute

with the Black Panthers,

it seemed like they were
the most obvious choice.

- They put signs on the walls
to indicate

that it was a Black Panther.

- At the Hinman murder,
you have Beausoleil writing

"political piggy"
in Hinman's blood

and then putting paw prints.

- Clearly they were trying

to point suspicion
at the Black Panthers.

Narrator:
Bobby Beausoleil committing

that first murder
was a turning point

for the women.

Now they had to decide
how far they were willing

to go to defend the group

and prove their commitment
to Manson.

- Whenever you have these
so-called normal people

doing these extraordinarily
brutal things,

it's a threat that has been
usually manipulated.

- Charlie told me that I had
to be willing to kill

in order to not be killed.

Narrator:
When Bobby Beausoleil

was arrested,
Manson had everything

he needed to convince
the family to kill for him.

The women thought
the revolution had begun.

Their enemy
was the Black Panthers,

and now Bobby Beausoleil
needed their help.

♪ ♪

- The catalyst for the murders

was Bobby Beausoleil
being arrested

for the Hinman murder.

Narrator: Manson had convinced
them that they were at war.

They planned a mission
to kill more people

to frame their enemies
and free Bobby Beausoleil.

- It's not a coincidence
that they went out

and committed those murders
two days after learning

that Bobby Beausoleil
had been arrested.

It was a copycat crime
designed... poorly designed

to make the authorities think
that the killer of Gary Hinman

was still at large
and that they would thus

release Bobby Beausoleil,
which was kind of naive.

- They were doing a job
for Charlie.

Pit bulls, they make
wonderful, loyal dogs,

and if somebody's threatening
their master,

they're dangerous.

I think it explains
some of what happened.

- There was this extra energy
about "Bobby's been arrested."

- I wanted to ask Charlie,
"What's going on with Bobby?"

And he said, "He got arrested,"

and I said,
"Well, is he in jail?"

He goes, "Yeah, he's in jail,"

and I said,
"Well, I'll go visit him.

What jail is he in?"

He goes, "I've got this covered.

You stay out of it."

narrator:
Events had escalated quickly,

and some would say Manson
was completely unhinged.

- It's power and anger

he had at institutions.

I think what's more important
and more dangerous

and has more implications
for our world

is his subjects,
and that's scary.

Because we'd like to think

they're real different
than us, and they aren't.

- How can you put
the finger at us

and call us evil
for being good soldiers

and doing what needed
to be done?

[suspenseful music]

- It's more frightening
because it's women.

- We got stopped
and went to jail.

It was that night
that the murders happened.

- Sharon Tate was
8 1/2 months pregnant.

- Manson's influence
over these women

was so strong that they believed

what they were doing
was the right thing.

They had depersonalized
the victims.

In that moment, a person
has a conscious choice

to do something that is
so against human nature,

to kill someone.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- I have very strong feelings
about what... the women

who committed the murders,

but I also do believe
that there's abuse involved

and you act in a certain way

that otherwise
you would not act.

Narrator:
Over the course of two years,

Charles Manson used fear
and isolation to convince

his followers
that they were in danger

and had to kill in order
to defend themselves.

The first group of people
he chose to commit murder

were family members Tex Watson,

Patricia Krenwinkel,
Susan Atkins,

and Linda Kasabian.

- Tex Watson, I mean,
he was really the one

who was the ringleader,
if you will,

of the most violent,
horrendous murders.

Tex had come from a very strict

family upbringing back in Texas,

and I think he was happy to be
out from under that thumb.

And he just felt love,

as he said
all these years later,

love from Charlie,
acceptance from Charlie.

And he was
sort of Charlie's wingman,

for lack of better words.

Narrator: Like Tex,

Susan Atkins, nicknamed Sadie,

was blinded by Manson's words
of love and acceptance.

She had been abandoned
by her family

at the age of 18.

- Susan was quirky.

Susan would irritate
the hell out of you.

- I willingly got into something

that completely took control
over me.

You take away
a person's conscience

of right and wrong
by telling them

when they're under LSD
or any mind-expanding drug,

"There's no such thing
as guilt."

- Charlie, he would hold
our fingers over candle flames

and tell us
that it's just... you know,

it's all in our head
that that hurts.

- You don't like the feeling
of guilt, so it's easy to say,

"Yeah, there's no such thing
as guilt.

"I'll believe
there's no such thing as guilt.

Therefore I can do anything
and not feel guilty about it."

[solemn music]

- I've come to the realization
that they really...

they really believed
hook, line, and sinker

that death didn't mean anything.

Narrator: Like many
of the other women,

Patricia Krenwinkel,
nicknamed Katie,

grew up feeling
like an outsider.

- Patty Krenwinkel,
really of all the girls,

I think
the most dramatic difference,

that she of all the girls

could have committed murders.

♪ ♪

- Pat was working
for an insurance company.

She was tired of that.

She'd walk along the beach,
and she'd imagine

just walking off into the water.

♪ ♪

Her sister was a heroin addict.

Her parents had divorced.

She had everything
but a feeling of home,

you know.

- As a child, she was teased

and she wasn't treated well
and she just didn't fit in.

♪ ♪

narrator: Linda Kasabian
was a young single mother

who was homeless
and joined the group

a month before
the Tate-LaBianca murders.

- Linda Kasabian
joined the group.

She was just lost.

[ominous music]

♪ ♪

- I had been on the ranch.
It was really, really hot.

I had just taken
a nice cold shower,

and I was like, "I would like
to get away from the heat."

narrator: In the meantime,

Blue and another woman
from the group

had just been arrested
for using stolen credit cards.

- We got stopped
and ditched the credit cards

and went to jail.

I think it was that night
that the murders happened.

Narrator: On the night
Sharon Tate and her friends

were murdered,

Manson spoke to Tex, Patricia,

Sadie, and Linda but was careful

not to give them
explicit instructions.

- Charlie said different
things to different people

depending on who they were

to get the effect
that he wanted.

- He made each one feel like
the special one,

and that was just
a manipulation tactic.

This is how pimps
control their women.

- Manson did evidently say,
"Do what has to be done."

- I mean, people think
that the murders

were committed by people
who were bloodthirsty.

They were not.

They weren't bloodthirsty.

They were doing
whatever they had to do.

- War is not murder.

[tense music]

♪ ♪

- There are many theories
as to why the group went

to the Tate estate
and that house on that night.

♪ ♪

A lot of people are convinced
it had to do with

Manson's music being rejected
by Terry Melcher,

who had lived in that house.

I don't believe
the women knew that

and I doubt that Manson knew
who Sharon Tate was.

She was just really pretty,
a very talented actress,

and people really loved her.

- They had Tex
as their pseudo-leader

telling them,
"Follow through with this,

and I'll be there to help
make sure you get it done."

♪ ♪

narrator:
Steven Parent was a teenager

who happened to be leaving
the property

at the same time the killers
were walking up the driveway.

- Watson shot him four times
at point-blank range.

[gunshot]

♪ ♪

- Steve Parent was absolutely
the definition

of the kid in the wrong place
at the wrong time,

just assassinated.

- When they got to the house,

Frykowski was asleep
on the front sofa.

Narrator:
Wojciech Frykowski was

Sharon Tate's houseguest
who had fallen asleep

in the living room.

- Krenwinkel and Atkins
went through looking

for other people in the house.

[sinister music]

♪ ♪

They walked past Folger,
who was in bed reading.

Narrator:
Abigail Folger, the heiress

to the Folgers Coffee fortune,

was also staying at the house.

- Sharon Tate was in bed,

and on the foot of her bed
was Jay Sebring.

Narrator: Jay Sebring
was a celebrity hairstylist

and Sharon Tate's
closest friend.

[malevolent music]

♪ ♪

- And Sharon Tate
was 8 1/2 months pregnant.

Watson tied this long rope
he had...

One end around Sebring's neck.

He threw it over the high beam

and tied the other end
around Sharon Tate's neck.

[distorted scream]

Watson took his gun

and smashed Sebring in the face

and stabbed him and shot him,

killing him.

[gunshot]

- Abigail Folger ran
out of the back of the house,

Krenwinkel chasing her
with an upraised knife,

finally catching her
on the front lawn.

Frykowski got out,
Watson chasing him

with a knife and a gun,

catching him in the front yard.

- Sharon Tate
is about to give birth,

and she's faced
with this murderer.

And all she wants to do is,

"Please save my child."

And she begs,
"Just let me have my child.

Please let me have my baby."

- Atkins said, "Look, bitch,

"I don't care about you
or your baby.

"You're gonna die, and you
better be ready for it,

and I don't feel a thing
about it."

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- It's so hard to believe
a woman could have

these up-close, personal,
intimate murders

and not feel anything.

- It must have been
so absolutely horrifying.

To think Sharon Tate
is about to give birth,

and she's faced
with this murderer.

[menacing music]

She's laughed at
before she's killed

and that knife is plunged
into her belly.

I mean, I don't think
we can imagine it.

I don't think we can
put ourselves there.

I just don't think we can.

The horror
that she must have felt...

- Susan talked about
thinking about cutting out

Sharon Tate's baby
and saving it.

It's just... I have no idea

how they could have done that.

[tense music]

- Atkins got a towel

and dipped it
in Sharon Tate's blood

and went out
and wrote the word "pig"

on the front door.

♪ ♪

- They felt
what they did was right.

If I ever had to,

I hoped that I could be
that fierce.

- You want to talk
about devils and demonic

and immoral and evil,
go to Hollywood.

We don't touch the rotten
horribleness of that world,

don't even skim it.

However, we did skim it.

Yeah, yeah, we touched it...

touched it.

It needed to be touched.

♪ ♪

- Friday night in Los Angeles,

a movie actress and four
of her friends were murdered,

and the circumstances
were lurid.

Narrator:
The day after the murders,

the women who had participated
kept to themselves

under strict instructions
from Manson

not to talk about what happened.

- I didn't know
what really happened,

and Charlie, by that time,

was using
his need-to-know basis.

You know, you talk to the people

that need to know

and only the people
that need to know.

Narrator: Five brutal murders
had already occurred,

but the next day,
Manson was ready for more.

He convinced the group

that the revolution
was escalating

and their part
was far from over.

In this interview from 1969,

Leslie Van Houten explained
how Manson primed her to kill.

[somber music]

- I still cannot believe
that, you know,

she allowed Charlie
to manipulate her

to that extent that she would
actually murder for him.

I don't know
how she could have gotten

to that point.

♪ ♪

- It was kill or be killed.

That was what drove them on.

It's that feeling of threat
from the outside,

and Manson was so good
at manipulating.

- How do we look at these people

who commit certain types
of crimes under this duress

of being undue influence
of someone else.

- In that moment,
a person has a choice

to do a good thing
or a bad thing.

When you are making
a conscious choice

to kill someone,

you are faced with consequences.

[lively music]

♪ ♪

- They drove around that night

looking for a house to hit,
basically.

And Charlie had looked

at a couple of different houses.

♪ ♪

- They went to Waverly Drive,

and some of the girls had been
to the house next door before.

Narrator:
It was time for a second

lethal home invasion.

This time, the group
broke into the home

of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.

- The LaBiancas
were really nice people.

Leno was a corporate executive,

and Rosemary had been
a waitress.

And he met her at a restaurant
and fell in love with her.

Narrator:
The three family members

who were chosen to kill
the LaBiancas

on the night of August 10th

were Tex Watson,
Patricia Krenwinkel,

and, for the first time,
Leslie Van Houten.

[eerie music]

♪ ♪

- When they went in,
Krenwinkel immediately went

to the kitchen to get
kitchen knives

for herself and Van Houten.

♪ ♪

Van Houten and Krenwinkel
took Rosemary into the bedroom.

And Van Houten unplugged a lamp

that was on the table
next to the bed...

And put a pillowcase
over Rosemary's head

and then wrapped
the lamp cord around her neck.

Rosemary heard Leno
getting stabbed to death

in the living room and she got
a sudden burst of energy

and rose up from the bed
and screamed out,

"Leno, Leno!"

♪ ♪

- I mean, I've looked
at a lot of crime scene photos,

and these are just
the most horrific.

♪ ♪

- Krenwinkel wrote
"death to pigs"

and on the refrigerator wrote
"helter skelter."

- Tex, he had newspaper,
and he slapped it,

and he said, "I did this.
Charlie told me to."

- I wasn't ready for killing.

I hoped that if I needed to,
I would.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- I mean, I've looked
at a lot of crime scene photos

as a federal prosecutor,

and these are just
the most horrific.

And it's hard to imagine
that the people

who are responsible for them
are these young

sort of flighty young women,

but that's the reality.

Those are the murderers
right there.

Narrator: On the night
of August 10th,

the Manson Family broke
into a second affluent home,

this time slaughtering
husband and wife

Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.

- The thing that I have
the hardest time with

with the LaBiancas' murders was

Mrs. LaBianca hearing
her husband being killed

in the next room.

[harrowing music]

♪ ♪

- Watson came in,

and then Watson and Van Houten
proceeded

to stab Rosemary LaBianca
to death.

♪ ♪

[chilling music]

♪ ♪

- It's far more brutal
and gratuitous.

It's vicious,
even... almost more vicious.

- Krenwinkel went into
the LaBiancas' living room.

She took the tines
of a carving fork

and plunged it into his abdomen

and wrote in big letters
the word "war,"

W-A-R, etched into his abdomen.

[unsettling music]

♪ ♪

Krenwinkel, above the inside
part of the front door,

she wrote the wrote the word
"rise" in big letters

and on the living room wall

in big letters wrote
"death to pigs"

and the refrigerator wrote

"helter skelter,"
but she misspelled "helter."

Leslie took coins,
and when she got back

to the Spahn Ranch,
she went to a backhouse.

And the first thing
that Leslie did was,

she went out
and collected firewood.

♪ ♪

- I had woke up to find
Leslie burning stuff.

♪ ♪

She gave me a bag
with some coins in it,

you know, for candy.

They weren't acting weird.

They were just
kind of matter of fact.

I knew that they'd gone out
on some of these

creepy-crawly missions
where they dressed in black

and they would sneak
into people's homes

and rearrange stuff.

And I thought that
that was just some stuff

that, you know,
she had acquired through that.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- We were an innocent country,

and what Charlie Manson
and the family did

those two nights...

really changed American culture.

People who didn't have
alarm systems

went out and got them.

I mean, moms who hadn't before

walked their kids to school

started walking
their kids to school.

Narrator: In the days
following the murders,

word began to circulate
around Spahn Ranch.

The women who had been
following Charles Manson

learned that their brothers
and sisters had committed

brutal acts of violence.

- Leno LaBianca,
supermarket owner,

and his wife had both
been stabbed to death

in their home.

Narrator: On the day
of the Tate murders,

Blue was arrested

for using stolen credit cards.

When she was released
a few days later,

she learned that members
of the family

had killed seven people.

- I was in jail
for a couple days,

got released.

I hitchhiked back from jail
by myself,

got an ice cream cone,
got off at the ranch.

Sadie couldn't wait
to spill her story.

Just because a person kills

does not make them evil and bad.

I knew these were warm, good...

I mean, Katie was one
of the most warm, gracious,

hospitable people I've ever met.

- These two crimes this weekend

so grotesquely similar.

- Tex, he had newspaper
in his hand,

and it had the headlines,
the Tate-LaBianca murders,

and a big headline,
and he slapped it, and he said,

"I did this,"
and, "Charlie told me to."

And so I think I read
a little bit about it,

and it was just, like, shocking.

I was totally traumatized
from then on and scared.

[dispiriting music]

♪ ♪

- The services for Ms. Tate,
a remarkably pretty actress

who was about to become
a mother,

were held in West Los Angeles.

♪ ♪

- I didn't... I didn't feel...

bad that these people were dead.

I didn't even know
they were alive.

But as far as killing goes,

I wasn't ready for killing.

I hoped that if I needed to,
I would.

♪ ♪

- I feel very, very sad
for the victims.

I can't... I can't... I was
so shut down during that time

that I can't...
it's just horrible.

I mean, just... I mean...

I just can't imagine...

how horrible their family feels
and everything.

You know,
I feel very sad for them.

And I also feel sad
for the young people

that were turned into murderers.

- You can't excuse somebody,
then, for going into the home

and brutally murdering
another human being.

You can't excuse it by saying,

"Oh, well,
they were brainwashed."

I'm sorry,
that doesn't excuse you.

They still committed the murder.

[suspenseful music]

The women,
they didn't show any remorse.

I mean, they just doubled down.

How frightening is that?

- I stood up and said,

"This court is a mockery
of justice."

- We were afraid
that the Manson Family

was going to get us.

- That was absolutely
terrifying.

- I was holding this huge gun,

and then I said to myself,

"Are you gonna shoot him?"

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

narrator: One month after
the Tate and LaBianca murders,

the women of
the Manson Family were dealing

with the aftermath,
worried that authorities

could find them at any moment.

- There was this whole
different kind of energy,

and it didn't feel good.

Narrator: Manson was now
immersed in paranoia

and made the decision
to move the family

to an even more isolated ranch

located 200 miles away
in Death Valley.

- There was this frenetic energy

to create supplies
and a foundation or whatever

to move us to the desert.

- We were gathering
our last leather clothing

and whatever we needed
to live out in the desert.

Narrator: While the women
prepared to follow Manson

into further isolation,

Los Angeles authorities were
struggling to find the people

responsible
for the terrifying crimes.

[sullen music]

- The investigation really
was not going anywhere fast.

- Police searched the premises.

They found no evidence
of robbery,

no suggestion of motive.

- The police bungled the case,

completely... literally walking
over pieces of evidence.

It's one of these examples
where law enforcement just...

one arm wasn't talking
to the other arm.

- A baffling crime and bizarre.

♪ ♪

- And at this point,
nobody is interested

in Charles Manson.

Narrator: Not for murder,
but authorities did have

their sights on the family.

Police stormed the new hideout

and nabbed them
for stealing cars.

- They were arresting us
for grand larceny,

which I was in the
middle of washing my hair,

and a door blew open

and I've got a gun, you know,
pointed at me.

- The group was broken up
last October

after sheriff's deputies
investigated

a series of thefts.

- We're in Inyo County.

All the girls were
in the same cell together.

I was afraid to move.
I was afraid to talk.

I was just...
I think I was, like,

literally in shock, you know.

I just went along.

- Squeaky, at the time,
would just, like,

look at me like, "Shut up."

narrator: Four months
after the murders,

there was a breakthrough
in the case.

- It wasn't till December.

They'd taken Susan Atkins away

'cause she had a warrant out
for her arrest,

and that's when she started
telling this whole delusion

to her cellmate.

Narrator: Susan Atkins
was one of the four

who committed the Tate murders.

- Susan Atkins just randomly
starts speaking

to two of her cellmates
about the Tate murders.

That was a huge break
for the prosecution

when they heard that tip
from just a random conversation

heard in lockup.

That's really
what broke the case.

[ominous music]

- Charles Manson.
It stopped everything.

It had the same impact
as earlier that summer

watching the man on the moon.

- I was Charlie's legal writer
in the very beginning,

so I would hitchhike
with my baby

to the LA County Jail,

and I would, you know,
visit him in the attorney room.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

narrator:
During the Tate-LaBianca

murder trial,
some of the women remained

unapologetically devoted
to Manson.

- I didn't feel
I could judge them.

Now they say
that it was Charlie's fault.

Was he... should he have been
responsible for us?

Is he responsible for anything

that happened with us?

I don't feel like that.

We weren't raised by him.

He wasn't our leader.

People are what they are.

- They brought the rest of us up

to testify in front
of the grand jury,

and the bailiff asks,
you know, "Name?"

For the first time I say,
"Dianne Lake.

I'm 16,
and I want my mommy."

And I did. I was scared.

I felt alone and so vulnerable.

They quickly make me
a ward of the court

and send me off
for a 90-day observation

at Patton State Hospital,

which turned into, like,
nearly nine months.

I was coming out
of that psychosis.

- It took the grand jury
just 20 minutes

to agree that six members
of the hippie tribe

should be indicted
in the Sharon Tate murders

and those of a supermarket
owner and his wife.

Narrator:
Manson and five others

were indicted for murder

and conspiracy to commit murder.

And even though Manson
didn't hold a weapon

and wasn't on the scene,

he was charged
because there was no doubt

in prosecutors' minds
as to who was the mastermind

behind these horrific crimes.

- I stood up and said,

"The court is... this court
is a mockery of justice."

And another one of the women
stood up and said

something else,
and another one stood up

and said something else.

We might have done a day or two

or three days,
maybe four days in jail

for contempt of court.

After that, we were banned
from the courtroom.

We decided to do a vigil
on the street corner.

- Of course, everything was
about Charlie on the corner,

so it was about
getting Charlie out.

He was the person
that doesn't mind

who they put under the bus,
who gets killed,

who gets blamed
as long as he survives.

It's just pure
self-preservation.

- Young people starting
to stand up for themselves,

and it's always gratifying
to me to see it,

because that's us.

That's what we were doing.

- It was clear to everyone
in the courtroom

that Manson was calling
the shots.

Manson would stand up
and say something.

Then the three girls
would stand up

and say the same thing.

And Manson put an X
on his forehead,

and the next day, the girls
had Xs on their forehead.

- They're hiding the truth.

In the name of fair trial...

you know, there's no fair trial.

We X'd ourselves
out of the system.

- They played
right into our hands,

because we were trying to show
that he was the mastermind

and that he ordered
these murders.

- I remember the day they were
given the death penalty.

I didn't think
they would be killed,

and I certainly don't think
they should be.

- Do you believe that there
should be a death penalty?

- A death penalty?
- Yeah.

- Aren't we all born to die?

- They did something.

They gave their lives, really.

[suspenseful music]

- Prison is not a nice place.

- I wanted to stay
with the girls, with Charlie,

with everybody that was inside.

- I said, "I don't want out

until my people
get a fair trial."

- All the death penalty cases
had to become life

with the possibility of parole.

- How would you like to wake up
some morning and find out

that Leslie Van Houten
is your next-door neighbor?

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

narrator: In the aftermath

of the Tate-LaBianca
murder trial,

the women went from being
isolated with Manson

to being isolated without him.

- At the time of an arrest,

why didn't the women say,

"Thank goodness you captured me.

I'm out of here.
I've been in this cult."

They didn't say that.

Narrator: In 1971,
Gypsy was convicted

of armed robbery in connection
with a raid

on a gun shop followed by
a shoot-out with the police.

She ended up in prison

with her former family members,

the women convicted
of the Tate-LaBianca murders.

- I did five years,
and three years was

in the special security
housing unit

with Leslie and Patricia
and Susan Atkins.

Patricia, at that time,

she'd have all the pictures
of Charlie up,

and then she'd tear 'em down
and just...

Like, she was back and forth.

[daunting music]

- Pat would swoon about Charlie

and say the things he said
and how he paid attention.

This inmate said,
"Every pimp who's any good

"says all this stuff.

"Manson isn't special.

You know, he's just doing what
all pimps do and hustlers."

I think, for her,
that was one of the steps.

[foreboding music]

Leslie, how she describes
dismantling

the hold Manson had on her,
it was gradual.

♪ ♪

- Leslie had hoped
that they would go through

with the death penalty
so it could just be over.

Narrator: Susan Atkins
renounced Manson

and became a born-again
Christian in prison.

Six years after
she was sentenced to death,

she began giving interviews,
asking for forgiveness.

Narrator: Once in prison,

Gypsy began to reflect
on her role as a mother,

finally finding the strength
to break free

from Manson's hold.

- My son is the one
that really... you know,

I didn't want him
to be an orphan.

There was somebody besides me
that I needed to take care of.

He's the one that changed
my life.

So everything that I did
was so that he would be okay

from then on.

Narrator: After being released
from the psychiatric hospital,

Snake was plagued by guilt
and focused on trying

to live a normal life.

- I started going to church.

I told my pastor
just because I felt... I felt

this overwhelming,
you know, guilt.

I confessed that I had been

a member of this
murderous family.

I really looked to God,
you know, for forgiveness.

Narrator: Squeaky and Blue's
belief in Manson

has never wavered.

After he was incarcerated,

they committed crimes
in the hopes of reuniting

with their former
family members in prison.

- Prison is not a nice place,

but I felt a solidarity
with the other people.

Narrator: Five years
after the Tate-LaBianca trial,

Squeaky was arrested
for attempting

to assassinate
President Gerald Ford,

who was making
a public appearance

where she lived.

- I heard that Ford
was coming, and I thought,

"Oh, I'll go and...
I'll go and talk to him."

[tense music]

And then I thought,
"He isn't gonna talk to you.

He's not gonna stop on his way.
He's not gonna stop."

And then I thought,

"Well, maybe I'll bring a gun."

And I just put the gun out
and stuck it in there.

♪ ♪

A Secret Service agent
grabbed it.

And they had me on the ground,

and I was telling them,
"It's okay.

It's okay. It didn't go off.
It's okay."

The guy walked over,

and he picked up my hand,

and I was so relaxed.

And then he was talking to me,

and the Secret Service agent
said, "Who are you?"

- Sandra Good, another member

of the so-called Manson Family,

was picked up by police.

- We were living together,
so they arrested me.

And they took me to jail,

and they wanted to ascertain
if there was a conspiracy

to assassinate the president
of the United States.

Narrator:
Squeaky was sentenced

to life in prison

with the possibility of parole.

- I was able to go

to the parole board
after ten years.

But I didn't go
to the parole board.

I wanted to stay
with the girls, with Charlie,

with everybody that was inside.

♪ ♪

narrator:
After Squeaky's trial,

Blue was tried, convicted,
and sentenced to 15 years

for sending death threats
to corporate executives.

The women were sent
to the same federal prison.

- I didn't snivel and cry
and go to the parole board.

I did my time.

And then I refused to leave.

I said, "I don't want out until
my people get a fair trial."

They had to basically
kick me out.

♪ ♪

narrator: Squeaky was paroled
after serving 34 years.

- I've been out
for almost ten years.

It's hard to be sorry
if you're going by your heart.

Narrator: In the 50 years

since the Tate-LaBianca murders,

members of the Manson Family

have been denied parole
over 100 times.

- They all received
the death penalty at trial.

But California,
a few years later,

overturned the death penalty.

- That meant that everybody
on death row...

Manson, Krenwinkel, Watson,

Van Houten, Atkins...

they all had their sentences
commuted from death to life.

- All the death penalty cases,
then, had to become life

with the possibility of parole.

Narrator: There's no question
that the women

who followed Charles Manson
suffered all kinds of abuse.

Some look back with regret,

and others have never lost
their faith in him.

And those women
who killed on his behalf,

do they ever deserve
a second chance?

- I just feel like

when someone's
gotten their mind back

and they've done everything
they could to make up

for a horrible thing they've
done when they were kids

that it's just time
to do a little forgiving

and let them, you know,
not die in prison.

- They weren't remorseful.

Think about that.

They were not remorseful
at the time.

Yeah, you get remorseful
in prison.

Narrator: Manson died
on November 19, 2017.

And Tex Watson
remains in prison,

having never been found
suitable for parole.

Bobby Beausoleil was found
suitable for parole in 2019,

but his release was blocked
by the governor of California.

Three women went to prison
for the Tate-LaBianca murders.

Susan Atkins died in prison
from brain cancer in 2009.

Patricia Krenwinkel has been
denied parole 14 times.

Leslie Van Houten
has been found suitable

for parole three times,

but her release
has also been blocked

by the governor of California.

- As a rehabilitated woman,
I would like to state

that the insight I have gained

is not meant to excuse
any of my acts.

- How would you like
to wake up some morning

and find out
that Leslie Van Houten

is your next-door neighbor?

Now, she's gonna be somebody's
next-door neighbor,

and you know what she's done.

- There's people that have
done 50 times worse

and they've gotten out.

They're being used politically.

They're being used
to sell crime.

You've got to have a scapegoat.

Got to have the evil people.

- If they really had remorse,

they would waive
their parole hearings

so that the families
of the victims

don't have to relive
this experience over and over.

♪ ♪

narrator:
For more information

on "Manson: The Women,"

go to oxygen.com.