Trick or Treat

Happy True Crime Thursday 

and 

Happy Halloween to all of you! 

As most of you remember, one of the main things after trick or treating was that your parents would inspect your candy to see if there were any signs it had been tampered with.

I always thought it was ridiculous and they were standing between me and my Reeses peanut butter cups. 

Did parents do this based off of an urban legend they had heard over and over or did this paranoia actually come from true events? 

October 31, 1974 in Deer Park, Texas, 8 year old Timothy O'Bryan was like any other little kid that evening, excited to dress up and get some candy. The O'Bryan family which consisted of Ronald, his wife Daynene, 5 year old Elizabeth and Timothy had dinner at the home of their friends the Bates, the children of both families planned to go trick or treating together in their neighborhood. Timothy's father Ronald along with Mr. Bates accompanied the children on the Halloween outing. 

Timothy

After Halloween festivities were over, Ronald took the children home while his wife went to visit a friend. Ronald told the kids that before bed they were allowed to have one piece of candy. Timothy chose a giant size Pixy Stix, he was having difficulties getting the candy out of the tube so Ronald rolled the stick in his hands to loosen the candy for his eager son. Timothy told his dad that the candy tasted bitter, so Ronald gave him a cup of Kool-aid to help wash it down and get rid of the taste. 

Timothy soon there after ran to the bathroom where he immediately started to vomit. He became more and more sick and began having convulsions, Ronald called an ambulance, sadly Timothy died within an hour after eating the candy. During his autopsy cyanide was discovered in the fluid from his stomach and in his blood, the amount found was well above a fatal dose. 

Ronald told the police his son was fine until he had the candy. A Pathologist tested the Pixy Stix, it contained enough cyanide to kill 2 adults. Timothy's death from poisoned Halloween candy sent panic throughout the community. Parents within the neighborhood and the surrounding areas turned in their children's candy to police fearing it was laced with the same poison that killed Timothy. 

At first Ronald told police he couldn't remember which house the Pixy Stix came from. After walking the neighborhood with police 3 times he led them to a home, he recalled that the group had visited that night. He stated that the occupant of the home didn't answer at first so the kids ran off, Ronald claimed that owner cracked the door open and handed him 5 Pixy Stix. He told the police he didn't see his face, but described him as "hairy." Police confirmed with Ronald that he had handed out the remaining Pixy Stix after giving 2 of them to his children, they were able to track down those children and luckily they hadn't consumed the candy because they also contained the poison. 

Police zeroed in on the owner of the home, a man by the name of Courtney Melvin. He was an air traffic controller at Hobby Airport and soon police were able to rule him out. He didn't get home from work until 11 pm Halloween night, 200 people were able to confirm that he was there for his entire shift. 

Police then turned their suspicions to the next viable suspect, and that was Ronald. They thought it was strange that he couldn't remember what house the Pixy Stix came from at first because they had only gone down 2 streets that night because it was raining and they called it a night early. Soon they discovered that Ronald was over $100,000 in debt, he had a history of not holding down a job for very long. He had gone through 21 jobs in a 10 year span. He was about to be fired from his job at Texas State Optical, he was suspected of theft. His car was about to be repossessed, he had defaulted on several bank loans and the house was being foreclosed on.

 A phone call to the police from an insurance agent made it very clear what motive would have been for Ronald. Unknown to his wife he had taken out policies on his children shortly before Halloween...that's right policies...meaning multiple! In total he took out approximately $60,000. He also called the insurance company to inquire about collecting the money on Timothy the morning after he died. 

They also learned that Ronald had visited a chemical supply store in Houston to buy cyanide shortly before Halloween, he ended up not buying any there because the smallest amount available was 5 pounds. Ronald was also going to community college at the time and police discovered that he would ask his professor some interesting questions like "What is more lethal: cyanide or another type of poison?" It was easy to see for police that Ronald was definitely involved in his sons death, they believed that he poisoned Timothy and gave the other children the candy in an effort to cover up his crime. 

He was arrested and went to trial in May of 1975. His wife adamantly insisted she had zero idea of her husbands malicious plan, she testified against him. On June 3rd Ronald O'Bryan was found guilty on one count of capital murder and four counts of attempted murder. It took the jury only 46 minutes to deliberate. He was sentenced to death. 

Ronald O'Bryan was dubbed "The Candy man" 

On March 31, 1984 Ronald ate his last meal (steak, fries, peas and a Boston cream pie) and soon there after he was executed by lethal injection. Hundreds of people gathered outside the walls of the Texas State Penitentiary, some even wearing costumes, they shouted "Trick or Treat!"

As for Halloween itself, especially in Texas the holiday became somewhat tainted. Bill LaNier a former detective stated "We put out the word- if you have any suspicious candy or if anything looks strange, bring it to us. We wound up with a whole roomful of candy. People didn't go trick or treating around here for years." Hinton a former DA said "Even today it's still talked about" "I think it changed Halloween." 

Have a Happy and Safe Halloween you guys! 
I'll see you next week. 






Resources:
https://murderpedia.org/male.O/o1/obryan-ronald-clark.htm
https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/murder/candyman-poisoned-halloween-candy-pixie-stix

The Butcher

Happy True Crime Thursday! 

So keeping on the theme of last week, today I'm going to discuss a story that I'm not going to lie is downright disturbing. 

This story inspired movies such as 

"Psycho, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,"
and "The Silence of the Lambs,"  

Talking about Ed Gein, The Butcher of Plainfield! 

Lets first dive into what Ed's upbringing was like. 

Edward Theodore Gein was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin on August 27, 1906 to George and Augusta. His father was a timid alcoholic and his mother...well she was quite the character, she was domineering and fanatically religious. It was Ed alongside his brother Henry that would endure abuse along with constant preaching. She promoted the fear of carnal sin, which she stated existed all around them. She would tell them that women were vessels of sin and caused disease.

In 1914, Augusta moved the family away to a remote farm outside of a small town in Wisconsin in the hopes of sheltering her children from the sinful world. They had very little contact with the outside world, Ed had a very isolated childhood. They were allowed to go to school and that was it. Even then Ed's only interaction with other children was his brother.

On the farm they would slaughter the livestock they raised, Ed was told that he was not allowed to go into the slaughtering shed, but he did just that. One afternoon he snuck in and witnessed his parents butchering a pig while covered in blood. Is this where it all began for Ed?

By 8th grade Ed stopped attending school and worked around the farm.

In 1940 his father George died from heart failure due to his alcoholism. Ed and Henry then began to pick up odd jobs in order to support the family, mostly as handymen, but Ed even took babysitting jobs. In 1944, the brothers were burning some brush on the farm when the fire got out of control. Henry's body was found later on that day when Ed stated he was missing. It was said that the fire was the result of his death, asphyxiation. Later on down the road that initial conclusion would soon be challenged. Was his death truly just a tragic accident? 

Now for those that have seen the movie Psycho, this is where they drew the inspiration. Ed was obsessively devoted to his mother, he rarely left home and shockingly never dated any women (insert sarcastic tone.)  After Henry's death she had a paralyzing stroke and Ed was there for anything she needed. After a second stroke her health decline rapidly. Augusta passed away in late 1945. This put Ed into a downward spiral, he had lost the only woman he had ever loved. He was now all alone. He boarded up rooms that were used by his mother, leaving them untouched while the rest of the home turned into chaos. He soon took an interest in anatomy books and would get some ideas for interior decorating. 

Let's fast forward to the morning of November 16, 1957. It was then that a hardware store owner by the name of Bernice Worden disappeared, there was a report that her truck had been driven out from the rear of the store around 9:30 that morning. Locals saw that the store was closed and figured it was because of deer hunting season. But it was when her son entered the store around 5:00 that evening that he discovered blood stains on the floor and saw the cash register was left wide open. Her son was also the Deputy Sheriff. He had stated to investigators that he was suspicious of a gentlemen by the name of Ed Gein, he had been to the store several times before and was very odd. 

So they decided they would go and question Ed and take a look around in the hopes that they would find Bernice. When the authorities did their search of the farmhouse, they stumbled upon a grisly scene that no one could have imagined. 

Along with Eds anatomy books he also became obsessed with the human experiments that were conducted in Nazi camps. He started to fantasize about sex and dismemberment. He told one of his only friends Gus about the experiments that he wanted to perform, but needed bodies. So the two of them began to rob graves, you know typical bonding activities between friends. They also went as far as robbing his mother Augusta's grave. Over the years his experiments with corpses became more bizarre and gruesome. He turned to cannibalism and necrophilia. He would return the corpses to their graves, well the parts he didn't want to keep for himself that is. 

The center of his obsessions seemed to stem from his overwhelming desire to turn himself into a woman. Enter in the movie "Silence of the Lambs" and the character Buffalo Bill as well as Leather face from "Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Ed would take women's skin and drape them on himself, this included making face masks and using their breasts kind of like a vest. He went as far as making a fully body female jumpsuit.

Soon grave robbing wasn't enough for him. To perfect his suits he was going to need a fresher body. On December 8, 1954 Ed killed Mary Hogan, a tavern owner. The authorities couldn't solve her disappearance, but definitely knew she had been a victim of foul play. 

In Bernice's case, Ed went into the hardware store that morning, like he had many times before. He grabbed a .22 rifle from the display rack, put in his own bullet and shot her. He placed her body into the stores truck, grabbed the money from the register and drove back to his home. 

Ok this next part is pretty gruesome so fair warning...

When the police entered the home of Ed Gein, they were hoping to find Bernice, alive. Instead they discovered; skulls made into bowls, jewelry made from human skin, skulls on his bedposts, a lampshade made from a face, hanging lips, chairs upholstered with human skin, the skin masks, a nipple belt, and a box of vulva's...including his mothers that was painted silver. Barf. 

The police made their way to the shed, sheriff Art Schley lit a torch in the darkened shed and soon came across the naked corpse of Bernice hanging upside down, disemboweled with the head and throat missing. 

Although police believed he killed others during his time, Ed only admitted to the murders of Worden and Hogan. In regards to the death of his brother Henry, there is speculation that Ed had something to do with it. There was no official investigation or autopsy done, his body wasn't burned and he had several bruises on his head when he was found. The circumstances were suspicious and Ed would have done anything to keep mother all to himself.  

In 1958, Ed Gein was declared insane, he was sent to Wisconsin State Hospital in Mendota, where he remained until his death in 1984 at the age of 77 due to lung cancer. 

Whew! Told you this one was disturbing.

See you all next week


Resources:
https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/ed-gein
https://www.ranker.com/list/ed-gein-childhood/amandasedlakhevener
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/ed-gein-kills-final-victim-bernice-worden
https://www.thoughtco.com/serial-killer-edward-gein-972713

Do you like scary movies?

Happy True Crime Thursday!

Since Halloween time is upon us I have decided for the next couple of weeks the stories will be based on events that inspired some of the most well known horror movies out there. 

Today I'll be discussing Danny Rolling, also known as The Gainesville Ripper.

The inspiration behind the movie "Scream." 

* Disclaimer: Today's blog does contain information about crimes that include abuse, sexual assualt and murder

Danny Rolling was born in May of 1954 in Shreveport, Louisiana to Claudia and James Rolling. James was a police officer, but definitely did not serve and protect his family. James was highly abuse towards his wife and children. Danny was only a year old when James first abused him, why? Because he wasn't crawling properly. In 1955 Danny's younger brother Kevin was born and the abuse only continued to get worse for the family. Claudia made several attempts to leave, but sadly always returned.

By the 3rd grade he was already failing school due to the amount of absences he had. His mother had a complete nervous breakdown and ended up being committed for a period of time because she had slit her wrists. The counselors at Danny's school described his personality as "suffering from an inferiority complex. with aggressive tendencies and poor impulse control." Little did they probably know that these tendencies would soon be the layout of Danny's life. 

At the age of 11 Danny tired to find something to cope with his abuse, he turned to music. He sang hymn like songs and played the guitar, but soon this wasn't enough for him. He turned to drugs and alcohol which only made things worse.  By the age of 14 he was caught by his neighbors when he was peeping into the daughters room. He tried his best to stay on track and in control, he attended church and would later enlist in the Air Force looking for some stability. He just couldn't quit drugs though and ended up being discharged from the military. His commanding officer told his mother that "he was not mature and did not have the nervous system or maturity necessary for the military life."  Despite all of this he got married at a young age and had a daughter, he led what appeared to be a normal life...

But like many of you know...not everything is how it appears. 

In 1977, at the age of 23 Danny had been with his wife for 4 years. She separated from Danny after he threatened to kill her. Danny was devastated. This devastation turned into frustration and anger and Danny lost it. Over the next decade he turned to a life of petty crime and also spent periods of time behind bars for armed robbery in Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.  

He broke out of prison on several occasions and couldn't keep a job. In May of 1990 he shot his father who was 58 at the time, he shot him twice (once in the stomach and once in the face,) he nearly killed him. Even though he survived he lost an eye and an ear. Now wanted for attempted murder Danny fled to Louisiana, he stayed briefly in Sarasota, Florida. It was there that he broke into the home of Janet Frake, he raped her and left. Danny wore a mask and was never charged with the crime, even though later on DNA evidence triggered by Sarasota police indicated a match. 

In late August of 1990 Danny set up a campsite in the woods just outside of Gainesville, Florida and soon would gain the name of The Gainsville Ripper. 

On August 24 Danny broke into the home of Sonja Larson and Christina Powell, armed with a pistol and a military hunting knife.  They were both first year students at the University of Florida. He murdered Sonja first, covering her mouth with duct tape and stabbing her while she slept. Next he moved on to Christina, he raped her before killing her and cutting off her nipples. He cleaned up the scene and posed both of his victims in sexualized positions. Christina's parent grew worried after they hadn't heard from their daughter so they traveled from Jacksonville to check on her. Sadly they discovered the girls bodies on the afternoon of August 26th. 

Little did police know at this point that the day after Sonja and Christina were murdered another 18 year old by the name of Christa Hoyt became Danny's next victim. This time he entered the home, raped and stabbed Christa, rupturing her aorta. He ended up not only cutting off her nipples like the last, but also decapitated her. He put her head on a bookshelf and propped her body up in bed. 

In the early morning hours of the 27th is when police discovered Christa's body when she was reported missing, she had missed her shift as a clerk at the Alachua County Sheriff's Department. News broke out around campus about the gruesome murders. 

Soon Danny would murder again, this time breaking into the apartment of Tracy Paules and Manuel Taboada. Danny stabbed Manuel first while he slept, but he awoke and fought back, sadly he was overpowered by Danny and was stabbed 31 times. Tracy ran to the bathroom and locked the door, unfortunately Danny was able to break the door down. He raped Tracy for hours and then killed her via 3 stabs to the neck. They were discovered the next day. 

Panic started to set in at this point throughout Gainesville, 5 murders within such a short time frame. 

Police set their sights on 19 year old Edward Humphrey. He suffered from manic depression and had been recently arrested for assaulting his grandmother. Police thought he had circumstantial ties to the crimes. His bail was set at 1 million dollars and eventually he would serve 14 months in state prison on assault charges. The murders stopped while he was locked up so the police thought for sure they had their man. 

Danny may have stopped his killing ways at this point, but he still was committing robbery. It was during one of these robberies on September 7, 1990 that he would be taken into police custody after a short chase. Ken Raym, the arresting officer said that as they took Danny into custody he said "Boy, you guys are good." 

Police soon discovered Danny's campsite, it was here that they discovered evidence that tied him to the crimes. One piece of evidence was a cassette tape with songs describing his plans. It was DNA evidence that sealed the deal. 

It was in February of 1994 when Danny pled guilty to 5 counts of murder, 3 counts of sexual battery and armed burglary. While addressing the court he said "I've been running from first one thing and then another all my life, whether from problems at home, or with the law, or from myself." "But there are some things that you just can't run from, and this being one of those." A month later he was sentenced to death. 

Aspiring Screenwriter Kevin Williamson took the case of The Gainesville Ripper as a source of inspiration for a screenplay he was writing about a series of murders in a college town and the circuitous search for the killer. Soon that screenplay turned into the 1996 film "Scream," directed by the "Master of Horror" Wes Craven.

On October 25, 2006 Danny Rolling was put to death by lethal injection. Shortly before his execution he gave a note to his "spiritual adviser" Reverend Mike Hudspeth, in which he confessed to the murders of the Grissom family that happened 17 years earlier in his hometown. He broke into their home, and stabbed William, 55, his daughter Julie, 24, and his grandson Sean, 8 all to death. Julie was his main focus. He raped her and posed her body. When Danny was asked if he had any final words he said, well rather sang "none greater than thee, O Lord, none greater than thee." 

I actually had never heard of Danny Rolling "The Gainesville Ripper" before. He aspired to be as infamous as Ted Bundy, but he never had that dream fulfilled. The authorities made sure the main focus was on the victims and the families instead of giving him the attention he desired. 

See you guys next week!

https://allthatsinteresting.com/danny-rolling-gainesville-ripper

https://www.oxygen.com/crime-time/serial-killer-danny-rolling-gainesville-ripper-posed-students-florida

http://mentalfloss.com/article/58039/15-things-you-may-not-have-known-about-scream

Helter Skelter Part 2

Happy True Crime Thursday!
Today is Part 2 inside the crazy life of Charles Manson.

If you haven't read part 1 yet I would highly recommend it so you get a sense of who he was in the earlier years and how what happens in part 2 came to be!

What started off as an Innocent title for a song soon became something else entirely because of Charles Manson. Helter Skelter was the name of a Beatles song that Paul McCartney wrote, he stated "I was using the symbol of a helter skelter (a playground slide) as a ride from the top to the bottom" Charles in his twisted mind took the single as inspiration for a spree that ended in the murders of 9 individuals in the Summer of 1969. 

Gary Hinman

The first victim was a friend of the Manson family, 34 year old musician Gary Hinman. He worked in a music shop and taught the bagpipes, drums, piano and trombone. He also had the side gig of managing a Mescaline factory in his basement, Mescaline is a hallucinogenic drug that occurs naturally in certain cacti plants. A member of the Manson Family, Robert "Bobby" Beausoleil allegedly purchased 1,000 tabs of Mescaline from Gary. Bobby then turned around and sold those tabs to some customers, they came back to him and complained about the drugs, demanding their money back. Bobby went to Gary not only to ask for his drug money back, but Charles also ordered Bobby and family members Susan Atkins and Mary Brunner (who I mentioned in part 1) to try to get $20,000 by scaring him. Manson believed that Gary recently had inherited right around that amount. Bobby later stated that he wouldn't have brought the girls with him if he would have known what was going to happen, he only brought them to try and persuade Gary out of the money. 

They asked for the money, but Gary was adamant he didn't have any and in fact the possessions he had weren't even his. He didn't own his house or his cars. Bobby thought he was lying, so he roughed him up. Soon he believed Gary was telling the truth, so he called Charles. Charles arrived with another family member Bruce Davis. Charles drew out a samurai sword he had brought with him and sliced Gary from ear to cheek. At this point Bobby panicked, Gary was his friend and this wasn't what he wanted to happen. He asked Charles why he did that, "to show you how to be a man" Charles replied. Charles and Bruce took off in one of Gary's cars. Leaving Bobby alone with the 2 girls and an injured Gary. They did what they could to get Gary cleaned up, Gary was in a daze and told everyone to leave and that he didn't believe in violence. Bobby became agitated by the situation, there was no way out of this without him ending up in prison. Bobby killed Gary. He wrote "political piggy" and drew a paw print on the wall in Gary's blood in an attempt to convince the police that the Black Panthers were involved, investigating the impending race war that Charles had preached about. 

This was just the beginning.

A few weeks later on the night of August 8, 1969, four Manson family members (Tex Watson, Patricia Kenwinkel, Linda Kasabian and Susan again) drove to the home of well known director Roman Polanksi. This home was one that I mentioned in part one, prior to Roman living there producer Terry Melcher lived there. They drove to the home under orders from Charles, he told them to go there and kill whoever they found. 

Roman wasn't home, but his wife, actress Sharon Tate was, alongside her friends Jay Sebring who was a celebrity hairstylist, Abigail Folger, the coffee heiress and her boyfriend Voytek Frykowski. Before breaking in Tex made sure to cut the phone line to the house and park their car at the bottom of the hill. While they were working their way into the home they saw headlights approaching from the driveway within the property, Tex ordered the girls to lie in the bushes. He stepped out in front of the vehicle, 18 year old Steven Parent had been visiting the caretaker of the property, William Garrestson and was on his way out when he was stopped. Tex took out his .22-caliber, Steven begged for his life saying he wouldn't tell anyone about them being there. Tex lunged at him with a knife, causing a slash wound on his hand, then he shot him 4 times, killing him. 

Susan, Tex and Patricia broke into the home while Linda stood outside to keep watch. First they approached Voytek who was sleeping on the living room couch. Tex kicked him in the head, when Voytek asked who he was and what he was doing there Tex replied back "I'm the devil, and I'm here to do the devil's business." He bound his hands with a towel. 

Tex told Susan and Patricia to find any other occupants in the home, they found Sharon, Jay and Abigail and forced them into the living room. Tex began to tie up Sharon and Jay by their necks with rope he had brought with him. Jay was growing upset with how Tex was handling Sharon...because at this time she was 8 months pregnant, Tex shot him. Jay laid on the floor groaning while they took Abigail to get money out of her purse, when they came back into the room Tex stabbed Jay 7 times.

At this point Voytek was able to free himself and started to struggle with Susan, she stabbed at his legs with a knife. He was able to fight her off and make his way to the front porch, but Tex caught up with him, struck him in the head with the gun, stabbed him repeatedly and then shot him twice. 

Abigail escaped from Patricia and fled outside to the pool area, but Patricia caught up to her and tackled her to the ground. Tex came around and stabbed her 28 times in the front lawn. Voytek was still alive at this point! He was struggling across the yard, when Tex came up and stabbed him again several times, killing him. Voytek  was stabbed 51 times. This next part is tough. Inside the house was the only person remaining, Sharon Tate. She pleaded with them to at least keep her as a hostage until she was able to give birth, to save the life inside her. It's unclear whether it was Susan or Tex or both that ended up stabbing Sharon 16 times, killing her and her unborn child.

They wrote "pig" on the front door in Sharon's blood. They left the house, and on the way back to the ranch they dumped their bloody clothes and the weapons. 

On August 10th, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were in bed not knowing they soon would be meeting the same fate. Rosemary had heard the news about the murders that occurred and was especially disturbed about it, especially due to some events that had been happening in their own home. The LaBianca's had reported some bizarre happenings to the police. Objects in the home had been moved around and they would find their dogs outside when they had left them inside. What happened to them that night still remains a mystery as to whether it was premeditated and also why they were chosen. 

Charles and Tex were the first ones to enter the home, they went into the bedroom and subdued the couple, promising no one would get hurt, they were only there to rob them. Rosemary was left in the bedroom while they moved Leno into the living room. Charles then left the home, and instructed Patricia and Leslie who were waiting in the car to go inside...and murder the people in there. While the ladies went to find Rosemary Tex noticed Leno was starting to struggle so he stabbed him in the neck with a bayonet. In the bedroom Rosemary could hear her husband struggling, so she started to fight the women and this angered Leslie. She went to the kitchen and brought back knives, Rosemary pleaded with them to take whatever they wanted and to not hurt her. This didn't work, Leslie got on top of her and stabbed her in the neck. Later she stated "we started stabbing and cutting up the lady." The knife bent, they panicked and up came Tex to help. He stabbed her in the lower torso...she was stabbed 41 times. 

Patricia wrote the words war on Leno's chest, put a fork in his stomach and wrote "Rise," "Death to Pigs," and misspelled "Healter Skelter" with the victims blood. They showered, pet the dogs and left. Charles handed Rosemary's wallet to Linda who was the driver and told her to drop it onto the sidewalk when they arrived in a black neighborhood. 

The 9th murder was that of Donald "Shorty" Shea. he was a horse wrangler at the ranch. He was killed in August of 1969 after the other murders had occurred. It is believed that the Manson family killed him because they feared he was a police informant. His body wasn't discovered until 8 years later. 

Manson and his family were arrested within the same year, but at the time it was not for the murders, it was simply for the belief that they had vandalized a portion of the Death Valley National Park.  They had no idea that they had murder suspects in custody. 

It was Susan Atkins who ended up confessing to the murder of Gary Hinman, this lead police to the involvement of Manson and his followers in the killings. 

Various motivations were brought up during the trial, the most feasible was Manson's pathological ego and his diagnosis of schizophrenia and paranoid delusional disorder that led him to leave behind a trail of destruction. 

In true Manson style he released an album in an effort to raise money for his defense. He loved the media attention and one day during court proceedings he showed up with an x carved into his forehead. Some of his lovely female followers then decided to  copy the act. That x was gradually modified until it turned into a swastika. 

On January 25th, 1971, Charles Manson was convicted of first degree murder for directing the deaths of the Tate-LaBianca victims. He was sentenced to death, but in 1972 California's Supreme Court invalidated all death sentences, so it turned to a life sentence. He was denied parole 12 times. He died in 2017. 

Throughout his trial the killers would often giggle and exchange looks with Charles, they showed no remorse for the crimes they had commited. 

In court, Leslie (only 19 when she took part in the LaBianca murders) said that Charles took advantage of her vulnerability and the dislike of her mother, although she believed that he was a man of vision. During a parole board hearing 30 years later she said she was horrified with what she had done that night and desperately wanted to redeem herself. Her parole was denied. 

Susan admitted in an initial confession to her fellow inmates that if she would have had enough time she would have cut out Sharon Tate's unborn baby. That these murders wouldn't have been the end of their grisly acts, they had a list of other high-profile Hollywood stars to be killed. Why celebrities you may ask? She said they wanted to commit murders that would shock the world and make people take notice. She was sentenced to life in prison. She died in 2009.

Linda was the key witness for Manson's trial, she was given immunity for her testimony. 
The man she once witnessed with love and understanding in his eyes, she now only saw hate. She sat in the courtroom spilling out everything and was extremely brave. Mason would glare at her and trace his finger across his neck. 

Tex tried to enter a plea of insanity, but it didn't work out for him. His sentence was life in prison. He became a born again Christian and an ordained minister. He married and had 4 children before California banned conjugal visits, later divorcing in 2003. He claims to feel remorse for the crimes he committed, "I hate having to be the person that had committed a crime that's so hideous. I hate that" He's been denied parole 17 times. 

Patricia Kenwinkel also is serving a life sentence and has been denied parole 14 times. While in the early years she had zero remorse she later stated that due to her father never leaving her side "unconditional love and acceptance were the beginnings of the foundation for me to stop and realize what I had beome...the monster I became."

Manson's explanation for the murders was as you probably would guess....bizarre. "It's the Beatles, the music they're putting out" "These kids listen to this music and pick up the message. It's subliminal...It is not my music. I hear what it relates. It says 'Rise.' it says 'Kill." Why blame it on me? I didn't write the music." 

Whew! This could have been easily a 20 part series, I highly encourage you guys if you haven't already to look up videos of Charles Manson to get a real feel for how out of this world he really was. 

See you guys next week!!

Resources:

https://www.history.com/news/charles-manson-helter-skelter
https://allthatsinteresting.com/gary-hinman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manson_Family
https://allthatsinteresting.com/leno-rosemary-labianca-murders
https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/local/2019/09/20/court-denies-release-manson-follower-leslie-van-houten/2391368001/
https://allthatsinteresting.com/tex-watson

Helter Skelter

Happy True Crime Thursday True Crimers!

Today I decided to go with a case that was one of the first to peek my interest into the world of Criminal Psychology. 

We're talking about Charles Manson!

This one will have a part 2 due to all the craziness involved.

Let's begin with a little background as to how Charles came into the world and his younger years. He was born on November 12, 1934 to Kathleen Maddox in Cincinnati, Ohio. His mother Kathleen was only 16 years old when she gave birth and at this time she was an alcoholic and a prostitute. Kathleen married a man by the name of William Manson right before giving birth (he was not the father), Charles took his last name and kept it despite the marriage not lasting for very long. Kathleen had very little interest in being a mother. She would drink heavily and spent periods of time in jail.  According to Charles, Kathleen once said to a waitress in a cafe that the waitress could have him for a pitcher of beer after the waitress jokingly said she would buy him from her. The waitress gave her a pitcher of beer, Kathleen drank it and left without Charles. Several days went by before his uncle who had been searching the town for him found the waitress and took Charles home. 

Since his mother obviously couldn't care for him he spent his youth with a number of different relatives. His grandma was a religious fanatic, one of his uncles constantly ridiculed Charles for being feminine and another uncle committed suicide after he learned his land was being seized by authorities, while Charles was in his care. He tried to go back to his mom, but she rejected him. He was then sent to Gibault School for Boys in Terre Haute, Indiana. Which wouldn't be his one and only experience when it came to reform schools. Charles turned to a life of petty crimes and living on the streets. Before to long petty crimes turned into burglary and auto theft. He would escape from a reform school, steal, get caught, and be sent back to reform school. Wash, rinse, repeat. At one school; the Indiana Boys School, he claimed later that other students raped him with the encouragement of a staff member. He decided to develop a technique to make people think he was insane because he was unable to defend himself. He called this technique the "insane game," he would screech, grimace and wave his arms around. 

At the age of 17 he was driving a stolen vehicle across state lines when he got caught. This earned him his first federal offense. He was sent to the National Training School for Boys in Washington, D.C. When he arrived he was given aptitude tests that showed he had an IQ of 109, but was illiterate. He was also deemed aggressively antisocial, so per the psychiatrists recommendation Charles was transferred to Natural Bridge Honor Camp, a minimum security institute. Charles was caught raping a boy at knife point while there, and at that point they sent him to the Federal Reformatory in Petersburg, Virginia. There he kept the violence going, he committed 8 seriously disciplinary offenses. He was then moved AGAIN to a maximum security prison in Chillicothe, Ohio where he was supposed to remain until his 21st birthday, but was released early due to good behavior and went to live with his aunt and uncle in 1954. 

Rosalie and Charles

Later that year he married Rosalie Willis who was 17 at the time. The 2 of them decided to head to California, in (not shockingly) a stolen car. Rosalie became pregnant soon after. In March of 1956 she gave birth to Charles Manson Jr., this would be one month before his father would be sent to prison again. This time it was for 3 years at the Terminal Island Prison in San Pedro, CA. One year into Charles' sentence Rosalie found someone new, left town and divorced him. 

In 1958, Charles was released from prison. He began pimping in Hollywood, his first was a 16 year old runaway girl.  He was also receiving money from a girl who had wealthy parents. By September of 1959 he was pleading guilty to the charge of attempting to cash a forged check that he claimed to have stolen from a mailbox, this charge was later dropped and he received a 10 year suspended sentence and probation. This was all thanks to his loving girlfriend Leona "Candy" Stevens (Musser) she made a tearful plea before the judge that her and Charles were madly in love and were wanting to get married and start a family. 

He married Leona that same year. She gave birth to their son Charles Luther Manson soon after. By June 1960, Charles was arrested again and charged with crossing state lines with the intent of prostitution of his wife and another woman. His parole was revoked and he received a 10 year sentence to be served at McNeil Island Penitentiary in Pudget Sound, off the Washington state coast not for the original charge, but for the charge of cashing checks that he stole from a mailbox. Leona divorced him in 1963.

During this term Charles began to take an interest in Scientology and music. His interest soon turned into an obsession. He was practicing music all the time, playing the guitar, writing dozens of his own songs and started singing. He was under the impression that when he got out he was going to become a famous musician. 

In June of 1966, Charles was sent to Terminal Island for the 2nd time in his lifetime in preparation for early release. He was released on March 21, 1967. At this point he was 32 and had spent more than half of his life in prison. He decided to move to San Francisco, California. 

He quickly found a home among the hippie filled Haight-Asbury district of the city, where the "Summer of Love" was underway.

Mary Brunner

Here he met Mary Brunner who was a college educated library worker, she let Charles stay at her apartment. After staying there for a few weeks the two of them became lovers. She was into his alternative lifestyle, Charles represented giving her a life of freedom and opportunity. She quit her job and the two of them drifted around California in a van. She was his biggest advocate and soon he struck up a following, mainly of vulnerable young women who were looking for a sense of belonging and he provided that.

Dennis Wilson

Enter in Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson, while driving home one day he picked up 2 hitchhikers, these hitchhikers were from Mason's group.They talked with him about a man, a man who was a musical and mysterious guru, named Charlie that they lived with.  Dennis brought the girls to his house, left for a bit and when he got back he was met by Charles Manson, the Charlie the girls had mentioned. It took just a short period of time for Dennis to fall under Charles' spell and he was convinced that he was the real deal. 

For the months following the initial meeting Charlie and his ladies lived in Dennis' home. Manson made his music and began preaching his gospel. They were doing drugs (mainly acid) on a regular basis and the ladies were like servants to the men. Whatever Charlie asked they did.  

Through his connection with Dennis he was able to meet producer Terry Melcher who was renting a now infamous home that we will talk about a little later on.  Dennis tried to incorporate Charles' music into his band, but Charles was uncooperative. Even going to the extent of pulling a knife on another producer. Dennis told him he'd had enough of his erratic behavior and told him and his girls to leave. During their stay they racked up about $100,000 worth of food, property damage and medical bills due to spreading the love of gonorrhea to each other. 

Spahn Ranch 

It was then that the "family" moved to Spahn Ranch, a former movie set that milk entrepreneur George Spahn owned. In exchange for manual labor and sexual gratification from the Manson girls the 80 year old allowed them to stay on the ranch. The ranch became a commune. 

So lets discuss how this "family" turned into a cult. His followers described Charles as being on the same spectrum as Jesus Christ. He seemed to have all the answers to everything and put their minds at peace. Well Charles also believed he was a Christ like figure, and would say his full name slowly. Charles Willis Manson, "Charles's Will Is Man's Son." Even at one point reenacting Christ's crucifixion as though he was Christ himself. His eccentric views captured the minds of the family, although the majority of the time everyone including Manson was taking Hallucinogenic drugs. Mason took these young vulnerable women, manipulated them and gave them drugs to brainwash them. Making it so they lost the ability to recognize the significance and consequences of their actions. 

Charles would often give sermons to his group about an impending race war between white and blacks. He told them that there would be definite bloodshed between the races and that as a family they needed to hide underground until it was all over. That they would emerge and become saviors to the black race that would win the war. Charles named this so called prophecy after the Beatles song....Helter Skelter.

Stay tuned for part 2 of Charles' story, where we go from crazy talk to crazy actions, including murder.

Resources: 

https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/charles-manson
https://www.thoughtco.com/charles-manson-cult-leader-serial-killer-1779365
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson#First_imprisonment
https://allthatsinteresting.com/charles-manson-wife-rosalie-jean-willis
https://allthatsinteresting.com/manson-family
https://allthatsinteresting.com/charles-manson-facts