Susan Atkins and Linda Kasabian to go to Cielo Drive and ‘totally destroy everyone in it as gruesome as you can.’
Arriving at the quiet, secluded house, they cut the phone lines and climbed the fence into the grounds. A car approached and Watson instructed the girls to hide in some bushes. Pulling out a gun, he shot the car’s driver dead. The young man in the car was eighteen-year-old Stephen Parent, who had been visiting William Garretson, a caretaker living in the guest house on the property. Watson then cut a hole in a screen at an open window and told Kasabian to wait at the gate. He and the two other girls climbed in through the window.
Wojciech Frykowski, a friend of Polanski, was sleeping on the sofa in the living room. ‘I’m the devil, and I’m here to do the devil’s business,’ Watson chillingly announced. The other occupants of the house were rounded up: Tate, Jay Sebring, (America’s top men’s hair stylist) and twenty-five year-old Abigail Folger (a coffee heiress).
Watson tied Tate’s and Sebring’s necks together and threw the other end of the rope over a beam so that they would choke if they tried to escape. Watson then stabbed Folger several times. Frykowski freed his hands from the towel they had used to tie him up and tried to escape, but Watson shot him twice. At this point, Kasabian appeared, trying to bring a halt to proceedings, saying that someone was coming.
Folger, bleeding profusely, ran to the pool area where Krenwinkel and Watson stabbed her repeatedly. Frykowski was also stabbed by Watson while trying to crawl across the lawn. He was found later with 51 stab wounds to his body. Meanwhile, in the house, Sharon Tate was pleading for her life and that of her unborn baby. Atkins told her she did not care about her or her baby and she and Watson stabbed her 16 times.
Manson had asked them to leave a sign when they left. So, Atkins grabbed a towel and wrote the word ‘pig’ on the front door in Sharon Tate’s blood.
The following night it was the turn of Leno LaBianca, a supermarket executive, and his wife, Rosemary, who were brutally murdered.
Eventually, it became clear that Charles Manson and his followers were connected to the killings and, in October, the desert ranches on which they were living were raided, and a couple of dozen people, including Manson, were arrested. Meanwhile, Susan Atkins confessed to detectives that she had been involved in the killing of a man called Gary Hinman. She also shared her story about the Sharon Tate murders with the women with whom she shared a cell.
Warrants were issued for Charles Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel and Linda Kasabian in the Tate case, and they were noted as suspects in the LaBianca case. Soon after, Kasabian had handed herself in to police, they were all under arrest. Kasabian had not taken part in the actual killings, and was granted immunity in exchange for testifying against the others.
The girls tried to twist their stories to take all the blame themselves and spare Charles, but, on 25 January, 1971, Manson, Krenwinkel and Atkins were found guilty of all seven charges of murder, and, Leslie Van Houten, who had been involved in the LaBianca murders, was found guilty of two counts of murder. Watson was found guilty on all seven counts later in the year. They were sentenced to death, but their sentences were commuted to life after the US supreme court declared the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972.
10050 Cielo Drive was occupied for a while by rock star Trent Reznor, of the band Nine Inch Nails, and was the site of sessions for his album Downward Spiral as well as sessions for Marilyn Manson’s Reznor-produced Portrait of an American Family.
In 1994, the owner, American television producer, Jeff Franklin, demolished the house and built a new house called Villa Bella. It was allocated the new street address of 10066 Cielo
Arriving at the quiet, secluded house, they cut the phone lines and climbed the fence into the grounds. A car approached and Watson instructed the girls to hide in some bushes. Pulling out a gun, he shot the car’s driver dead. The young man in the car was eighteen-year-old Stephen Parent, who had been visiting William Garretson, a caretaker living in the guest house on the property. Watson then cut a hole in a screen at an open window and told Kasabian to wait at the gate. He and the two other girls climbed in through the window.
Wojciech Frykowski, a friend of Polanski, was sleeping on the sofa in the living room. ‘I’m the devil, and I’m here to do the devil’s business,’ Watson chillingly announced. The other occupants of the house were rounded up: Tate, Jay Sebring, (America’s top men’s hair stylist) and twenty-five year-old Abigail Folger (a coffee heiress).
Watson tied Tate’s and Sebring’s necks together and threw the other end of the rope over a beam so that they would choke if they tried to escape. Watson then stabbed Folger several times. Frykowski freed his hands from the towel they had used to tie him up and tried to escape, but Watson shot him twice. At this point, Kasabian appeared, trying to bring a halt to proceedings, saying that someone was coming.
Folger, bleeding profusely, ran to the pool area where Krenwinkel and Watson stabbed her repeatedly. Frykowski was also stabbed by Watson while trying to crawl across the lawn. He was found later with 51 stab wounds to his body. Meanwhile, in the house, Sharon Tate was pleading for her life and that of her unborn baby. Atkins told her she did not care about her or her baby and she and Watson stabbed her 16 times.
Manson had asked them to leave a sign when they left. So, Atkins grabbed a towel and wrote the word ‘pig’ on the front door in Sharon Tate’s blood.
The following night it was the turn of Leno LaBianca, a supermarket executive, and his wife, Rosemary, who were brutally murdered.
Eventually, it became clear that Charles Manson and his followers were connected to the killings and, in October, the desert ranches on which they were living were raided, and a couple of dozen people, including Manson, were arrested. Meanwhile, Susan Atkins confessed to detectives that she had been involved in the killing of a man called Gary Hinman. She also shared her story about the Sharon Tate murders with the women with whom she shared a cell.
Warrants were issued for Charles Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel and Linda Kasabian in the Tate case, and they were noted as suspects in the LaBianca case. Soon after, Kasabian had handed herself in to police, they were all under arrest. Kasabian had not taken part in the actual killings, and was granted immunity in exchange for testifying against the others.
The girls tried to twist their stories to take all the blame themselves and spare Charles, but, on 25 January, 1971, Manson, Krenwinkel and Atkins were found guilty of all seven charges of murder, and, Leslie Van Houten, who had been involved in the LaBianca murders, was found guilty of two counts of murder. Watson was found guilty on all seven counts later in the year. They were sentenced to death, but their sentences were commuted to life after the US supreme court declared the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972.
10050 Cielo Drive was occupied for a while by rock star Trent Reznor, of the band Nine Inch Nails, and was the site of sessions for his album Downward Spiral as well as sessions for Marilyn Manson’s Reznor-produced Portrait of an American Family.
In 1994, the owner, American television producer, Jeff Franklin, demolished the house and built a new house called Villa Bella. It was allocated the new street address of 10066 Cielo
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