Charles Manson
By Jada Cheatham
Crime Scene Overview
Charles Manson and his most valued cult followers were the head of killing five people on August 9, 1969. The killing is at the home in Los Angeles of celebrity couple, Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski. Sharon Tate had four of her friends over on the day of August 9th while her husband was away to film in Europe. Manson never killed any of the group, but he did tell his followers that he wanted everyone inside dead and he did not care how they did it. On the night of the killing him and the group came onto Tate's property by climbing bushes, then a few minutes later they killed their first victim an 18 year old boy, Steven Parent. Then they went inside the house and found everyone and tied them up in the living room. When some of them tried to escape they killed them by stabbing them and using a gun as well. Everyone that was inside the house died (besides the cult) which included Sharon Tate, Tate's unborn child, a hairstylist Jay sebring, aspiring screen writer Wojciech Frykowski, and Abigail Folger.
Sociological/ Psychological Profile
Charles Manson's killings could be classified as a mix of both organized and disorganized. It is organized because they had a plan of how they were going to carry out the murders, but it was also disorganized since he had his followers do the killings themselves their emotions and thoughts would sometimes impact them and maybe the killings would go the exact way they planned it at first. People don't call Charles Manson as psychotic or anything, he had issues while growing up but nothing that goes along with psychotic characteristics, he just grew up being very to himself and brought up in rough situations.
Background
Charles Manson was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on November 12,1934. His Mother is Kathleen Maddox, and when she had him she was 16 and a prostitute. In 1939 Maddox got arrested for robbing a gas station, so then Manson was sent to live with his aunt and her husband. While Mason was growing up he soon adapted to a life filled with violence and loneliness. He never made any friends, he always kept to himself and just observe what was happening around him. It did not take him long to follow in his mothers footsteps which led him to go to a reform school at the age of nine. Whenever he tried to go to his mother she always left him because she did not want anything to do with him. Charles Manson throughout growing up was in and out of reform schools, jails, and institutions. He never had anyone around him and was always alone. He had a life full of crime which included, rape, drug use, pimping, stealing, and fraud.
Building the case
Evidence that was found was Manson's followers finger prints over all of the stuff that they used, and they found DNA in a rope that was used at the crime scene. A lot of the evidence they had got messed up because the police did not realize some things would get messed up if the touched it. With finding DNA on the rope it helped lead the arrest of three of the four followers. The other follower that was apart of the cult was already in custody for another crime not related to the killing of the five people. Manson was also already in custody at the time to a different crime as well.
Legal aspects
Today, Charles Manson is serving nine life sentences behind bars and has been denied parole a dozen of times and more than likely he will be dying behind bars. His followers that helped him in his murders include Susan Atkins, Charles "Tex" Watson, and Linda Kasabian. Atkins died behind bars and was serving a life sentence, Watson is still behind bars and will continue to stay there, and Kasabian testified against Manson and his followers because she was horrified in what they did got her freedom granted through doing that and his now living peacefully in New Hampshire.
Random facts
There are a few movies out now about Charles Manson that includes, Manson family movies, The Six Degrees of Helter Skelter, and Bovine Vendetta. Also The song Helter Skelter made by the Beatles had a big impact on Charles Manson because he thought that the group was sending a message to start a race war.
Reflections
This project taught me that criminals will do what they want and will go at any length possible no matter if they get caught or not. They don't care about the consequences because they get blinded by the hate they have and want to take it out on their victims. I also noticed that most criminals have been brought up in rough situations which usually explains why they do what they did, but that is never an excuse.