Helter Skelter / Vincent Bugliosi

Overall Summary

Bugliosi (1934-2015) was a prosecuting attorney in the Charles Manson murder case. He wrote Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders as an account of how he and his team put these criminals behind bars. It’s written with help from Curt Gentry, who interviewed Bugliosi extensively for this book. In it, Bugliosi criticizes law enforcement agencies for their failure to catch these killers earlier than they did, while also describing gruesome details about the murders committed by them.

 

Bugliosi opens the book in 1969, at a house on Cielo Drive. The owner of the home was Sharon Tate and she had been murdered along with 4 others. The police investigated her murder because it seemed like someone who knew her killed her. There were no signs of robbery so the police assumed that whoever killed them might have been looking for drugs or money. Two nights later another family found their parents dead under similar circumstances as Sharon Tate’s murder but there was no connection between these two murders which meant they needed to look into other motives such as gambling connections since this was what happened to Leno LaBianca, one of the victims’ husband.

 

It took months for the police to catch up with Manson and his group of followers. The murders had been done by a group that called themselves the Family, who lived at Spahn Ranch, an old Western movie set outside of Los Angeles. Several members had already been arrested for arson and stealing cars when two other members were arrested for killing Gary Hinman on July 27th. They boasted about their crimes in prison, which led to the connection between these murders and those committed on August 9th at Tate-LaBianca house (which was owned by Roman Polanski). These five people were eventually caught: Manson, Atkins, Krenwinkel, Van Houten and Watson

 

The prosecution was led by Bugliosi. He started the investigation in November 1969 and learned more about Manson’s followers. In his investigation, he found Linda Kasabian as a star witness who had seen the murders of Sharon Tate and others. She agreed to testify against Manson if she received immunity from prosecution for her part in the crime. The case lacked physical evidence linking Manson to the crimes, so Bugliosi decided that his best chance at getting a conviction was on conspiracy charges rather than murder charges because of all the diaries laying out Manson’s plans for Helter Skelter (a race war).

 

Manson and the other three women were held in jail. They planned to disrupt the trial, but it ended up doing them more harm than good. Manson was provided with a lawyer who wasn’t very good at his job, so he got another one that helped him out. The media was all over this case, which made things difficult for everyone involved. In court on Friday, July 24th and through the weekend, Manson had an “X” carved onto his forehead along with the other defendants as a sign of solidarity against society’s norms.

 

The Manson trial had a profound effect on the public. It was so well-known that President Nixon commented on it and Charles Manson was known for causing chaos during the proceedings. The jury members were unhappy with their sequestration by the end of the trial, which lasted over eight months. After deliberation, they found Manson guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder as well as other counts of first degree murder in January 25th 1971. In August 1971, Tex Watson’s case went to court and he was accused of 7 accounts of first degree murder and one account for conspiracy to commit murder. He received death penalty sentences but after an appeal from California Supreme Court abolished capital punishment in February 18th 1972, his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment where he remains up until today when Bugliosi wrote this book

 

 

Part 1: “The Murders”

Bugliosi begins by explaining that five people were murdered on a Saturday night in August 1969 at 10050 Cielo Drive, a house near Beverly Hills. The owner of the house was Rudi Altobelli, who rented it to Roman Polanski. It is important to note that because this area was isolated from other houses and there were few witnesses, the murders went unreported until later.

 

On August 8, 1969, at 8:00 am, a housekeeper found the bodies of Sharon Tate (26), Jay Sebring (35), Abigail Folger (25), Voytek Frykowski (32) and Steven Parent. Tate was famous actress married to Roman Polanski. She was eight months pregnant. Sebring was well-known hair stylist who used to be with Tate before she met Polanski. Frykowski was friend of Polanski who dated Folger; she discovered the other four victims in the house and two others in the yard. The only person not associated with either group is Steven Parent, a teenager whose body was found on a white rambler near where he lived next door to one of the houses being rented by Manson’s followers for use as an LSD laboratory during their stay in Los Angeles from July through September 1969.

 

Within two hours, the Los Angeles Police Department arrived at the house. They found an extraordinary crime scene. Forensic evidence showed that Parent had been shot four times with a.22 pistol, Sebring was stabbed seven times and both were tied up with nylon rope across a ceiling beam. Folger and Frykowski evidently attempted to escape because they each received 28 and 51 stab wounds respectively. The killers cut phone wires, stole little of value, and wrote “PIG” in blood on the front door leading to the porch.

 

There were problems with the way the crime scene was handled. The officers reported incompatible times of arrival and tracked blood through the crime scene. Small pieces of evidence moved from one place to another. According to Bugliosi, Forensic chemist Joe Granado took incomplete blood samples and ran subtypes on only 21 of the 45 he took. The officers found caretaker William Garretson (age 19) sleeping in the secluded guest house behind 10050 Cielo Drive. Initially, they treated him like a suspect but later released him after realizing their mistake.

 

On August 10, 1969, the Manson family murdered Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. The couple was killed in their home on Waverly Drive. They were found by friends and family members at 9:30 pm that night. Friends had probably been killed sometime between 2 am and dawn that morning. Evidence indicated they had been stabbed repeatedly with knives and forks sticking out of them. A large team headed by Lieutenant Paul LePage headed the investigation into the murders. Blood evidence was contaminated when people who investigated the scene touched it before investigators arrived to collect samples for analysis.

 

Despite the similarities between the two crime scenes, no connection was made immediately. The detectives who were investigating the Tate scene found evidence of drug usage and so they were exploring those connections. They also questioned Garretson, who was being held in custody at that time. Both investigative teams had something else in common: they both assumed that 90 percent of all homicides are committed by someone close to the victim.

 

Three days after the murder, a man named William Garretson was released because there wasn’t enough evidence to convict him. He claimed that he had no idea what happened 500 yards away on the night of the murders when he visited Parent’s home in an attempt to sell him a clock radio. The press latched onto this story and celebrities feared they would be targeted next. Narrowing down suspects became difficult as so much crime scene evidence had been leaked by detectives to the press. A reward for $25,000 offered by Polanski’s family further diluted potential witnesses’ pool of information due to lack of confidentiality agreements with those who were interviewed or gave statements about their knowledge surrounding the case. As months passed without new developments from detectives regarding leads and suspects, inconclusive reports were filed until new evidence surfaced three years later in 2002 that led police back into investigating Garretson again based on his past criminal history which included sexually assaulting two women at knifepoint in 1969 while wearing an LAPD uniform inside his van (he was never charged).

 

 

 

Part 2: “The Killers”

Manson, born in 1934, led a cult known as “the family”. Manson was a career criminal who committed various crimes with his family. The Tate and Bianca murders were not the first ones.

 

Prior to the Tate-LaBianca murders, Manson and his followers Bobby Beausoleil, Susan Atkins (also known as Sadie Mae Glutz), and Mary Brunner went to Gary Hinman’s house. The purpose was for them to extract money from him. However, what resulted were three days of torture that ended in murder. According to Beausoleil, he wrote “POLITICAL PIGGY” on the wall with Hinman’s blood followed by a paw print symbol. This was done so it would seem like the Black Panthers political organization committed the crime instead of Manson’s cult members.

 

In August, the LASO (Los Angeles Sheriffs Office) arrested members of the Family for unrelated car theft charges. The ranch was owned by George Spahn who was being manipulated by Squeaky Fromme. They released all suspects due to lack of evidence. On August 16, Manson’s followers murdered Donald Shea on the ranch after they thought he had gone to the police about them stealing cars and other property from his employer. In October, a second raid occurred at Barker Ranch in Death Valley where more arrests were made and two members of the group confessed to killing Mr Hinman which led authorities back to Manson as well as Atkins who claimed she killed him with her own knife while Watson held him down.

 

In 1969, the Tate and LaBianca families were victims of a series of murders. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) was investigating the crimes while the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office (LASO) investigated another crime that had similarities to the Tate and LaBianca murders. In November 1969, one member of each family killed himself with Russian Roulette. On October 31, Atkins bragged about her involvement in both sets of murders to fellow inmates at Sybil Brand Institute for Women in California. Her knowledge was intimate and she showed no remorse for what she did. She said “You have to love people deeply if you’re going to kill them.”

 

The detectives looked for a motorcycle gang that Manson was trying to recruit. They found two members of the Straight Satan Motorcycle Club, Danny DeCarlo and Al Springer. They told them about Manson’s recruitment attempts and how he wanted to get involved in murder. As a result, Atkins, Watson, Krenwinkel and Van Houten were convicted of the murders along with Charles Manson himself. The police swept up all the family members on November 19th and charged them with multiple crimes including murder.

 

 

 

Part 3: “The Investigation—Phase Two”

The author begins by introducing himself as the Deputy District Attorney of Los Angeles. He explains that, on November 18, 1969 he was assigned to prosecute the Manson Family and worried about how such a case would affect his family. The author quotes from Canon of Ethics of the American Bar Association: “The primary duty of a lawyer engaged in public prosecution is not to convict, but to see that justice is done.”

 

Bugliosi went to the Spahn Ranch, and he was with a few people from the LAPD and LASO. He said it was very strange there. They didn’t find anything of interest except for some bullets. The DA’s office argued about whether or not Atkins should get a deal because she murdered someone, but Bugliosi thought she shouldn’t have gotten any deal at all because she committed murder. Then another team went out to Barker Ranch, which is where Manson lived as well as his followers.

 

The Manson Family was a group of people living in two ranches in the Death Valley desert. They were led by Charles Manson, who had been hiding out in one of his hideouts when he was arrested. The members coordinated their stories to make them more believable for Bugliosi’s benefit, leading him to believe that they were re-enacting Rommel’s army days.

 

Bugliosi went on to do research about Manson, who had spent most of his life in institutions. He was first put up for adoption and then committed crimes such as prostitution and auto theft. After being released from prison in 1967, he became obsessed with Scientology and the Beatles. He began assembling a group of people that would eventually become known as the Manson Family shortly after his release from prison. His record showed no history of violence but did show an obsession with music production or performance.

 

By November 26, Bugliosi and his team had gathered little evidence for the first trial. However, Leslie Van Houten revealed that there were more people involved in the murders. On November 30, Watson’s fingerprints matched a print at one of the murder scenes. He was arrested in Texas on December 1st. Krenwinkel was also arrested later that day. Kasabian turned herself in after hearing about the warrant against her.

 

Soon, more people came forward and testified against Manson. One of the first to do so was Barbara Hoyt, who had been one of his followers before she left him. Mary Brunner was another woman who had been with Manson since the beginning. However, it ultimately depended on Atkins’ grand jury testimony; in this regard, her detailed testimony worked out well for the prosecution team. She got a plea deal that would keep her from receiving death penalty if convicted by a trial jury. Bugliosi writes that he worried whether or not the jury would believe Atkins’ story about what happened during those nights in August 1969 at Spahn Ranch when they killed Tate and others while Manson directed them from afar via walkie talkies. On December 8, indictments were issued for Manson, Watson, Krenwinkel, Atkins and Kasabian. Their pleas were heard by Judge William Keene. Paul Fitzgerald organized their defense team.

 

The case already received a lot of media attention. Manson wanted to capitalize on this, so he leaked the story to the Los Angeles Times. The prosecutor was concerned that it would be difficult to find twelve jurors who hadn’t heard about the case before. In addition, Atkins sent an intimidating letter (called a “kite”) with words from one of Manson’s songs: “Cease to exist, just come and say you love me”.

 

The Los Angeles Police Department took a gun into evidence that would later be used as evidence in the trial. Manson asked to defend himself, and Judge Keene dismissed his public defender. Bugliosi believed that Watson was involved in the murders, so he collected information about their relationship. Watson’s Texas attorney fought extradition but lost.

 

 

 

Part 4: “The Search for the Motive”

If Bugliosi wanted to convict Manson, he had to find a motive. He sorted through the evidence and found that there wasn’t any substantial evidence linking him to the crimes. The younger detectives were more cooperative in sorting through it all than the older ones.

 

Manson had the same access to evidence as Bugliosi did, except for witness addresses and photos of the crime scenes. Manson also had access to other defendants in his trial, which could have been a problem for Bugliosi’s case. Behind the scenes, he tried to make a substitution on behalf of Leslie Van Houten’s defense but was unsure about her ability to make decisions on her own behalf.

 

With his co-counsel, Bugliosi began to build a case that would explain Manson’s motive for the murders. They rejected the idea of robbery as motivation and determined that Manson was trying to get money for bail for an imprisoned member. The prosecution acknowledged that Manson had attempted to do a business deal with music manager Terry Melcher, but this did not explain why he killed Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. From his notes, Bugliosi pieced together Manson’s belief in Helter Skelter (a term used by British pop group The Beatles), which was “an apocalyptic race war”. It would be started through high profile killings. Then they could hide out in Death Valley until it ended. Bugliosi doubted whether or not he should use this theory at trial because it seemed so far-fetched, but after talking with Family members Gregg Jakobson and Dianne Lake, he decided to go forward with it.

 

Manson stretched his rights as an inmate to the maximum by granting interviews and coordinating with Atkins. Bugliosi notes that Manson developed a following among alternative media outlets, such as Jerry Rubin, who was known for disrupting trials in 1968. The first attorneys to visit him were Ira Reiner, Daye Shinn and Ronald Hughes. These three would become prominent in Manson’s defense.

 

Bugliosi spent the rest of February gathering evidence to support his theory. He spoke to witnesses, who testified that Manson was near Cielo Drive before the murders took place and had a firm psychological grip over his followers. Bugliosi also read the Beatles’ White Album, which included songs named “Piggies” and “Helter Skelter.” Finally, he looked into other people’s testimony about Manson’s bizarre racial beliefs.

 

The most important thing is that Bugliosi reached a deal with Kasabian, who acted as a lookout for the murders. She claimed to have been an eyewitness to Folger’s and Frykowski’s murder on the lawn of the Cielo Drive property. This made her at least an accessory to the crimes.

 

 

 

Part 5: “Don’t You Know Who You’re Crucifying?”

Manson began to make increasingly outrageous requests, such as that Bugliosi should be jailed for a period of time. The judge eventually decided that Manson was too difficult to defend and appointed him an attorney who would represent him throughout the trial. Atkins also fired her attorney and hired one approved by Manson, which made Bugliosi focus on Kasabian as a key witness for the prosecution.

 

Kasabian admitted to her part in the crime and offered valuable information about it. She was able to provide a timeline of events, as well as some details that weren’t public knowledge. The group stopped near Rudolf Weber’s house and changed their clothes after they hosed themselves off there. Manson was “in complete command” during the LaBianca murders, according to Kasabian. She also led the Family away from another murder by leading them to an empty apartment.

 

Bugliosi, a prosecutor in the case, wanted to show that Manson was out of town during the murders. He got statements and records to prove this. To do so, he worked with police officers who investigated the Tate murders as well as witnesses who survived them. One of these witnesses claimed that Manson had taught his followers how to kill people at a ranch called Barker Ranch (the place where they all lived). Another witness said she saw him give knives to his followers there. Once Bugliosi became part of Manson’s legal team, he tried various methods in order to have Manson declared mentally unfit for trial. This angered Manson, which led him to fire Hughes and become his own attorney again.

 

Bugliosi interviewed Bernard Crowe, who was unwilling to testify that Manson shot him in July 1969. He also had a bullet lodged in his spine from the shooting. Bugliosi got handwriting samples and linked the.22 caliber pistol to Spahn Ranch. A larger problem Bugliosi faced was how to present Kasabian as a witness after she left her first daughter Tanya behind and did not report the murders.

 

The trial was set for June 15th and Manson attempted to switch his attorney, Irving Kanarek, with the more experienced Robert Hughes. However, Judge Keene denied this request because of how obstructive Kanarek tended to be in court. The Family continued their disruptive behavior as well.

 

 

 

Part 6: “The Trial”

The trial of Charles Manson began on June 15th, 1970. The jury was chosen based on two criteria: anyone who said they could not vote for the death penalty under any circumstances and anyone who had read Susan Atkins’ confession were automatically excluded. Bugliosi says that one important legal precedent helped him win this case: vicarious liability, which allows leaders of a conspiracy to be held responsible for crimes committed by co-conspirators. This is an important but subtle legal precedent that he requested the court allow him to explain to the jury. By July 14th, all jurors were selected and sequestered during the highly publicized trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The Family did not cause disruptions during jury selection because Manson told them to behave themselves while Van Houten fired her attorney after being influenced by Manson’s last attorney Hughes

 

The trial began on Friday, July 24th and was a media circus. Manson arrived with an “X” carved onto his forehead, claiming that he had “X’d himself from their world.” Bugliosi started off by giving an opening statement in which he summarized the prosecution’s case: he argued that while there is no burden of proof to prove motivation for murder, they would provide evidence to support Helter Skelter theory (the idea that the murders were committed as part of a plan). Kanarek objected several times during Bugliosi’s remarks but reserved his objections until after the prosecution presented its case.

 

The defense called the first witnesses. Colonel Tate, Sharon’s father, took the stand first. He was followed by Parent’s father Wilfred. The housecleaner who discovered the bodies, Winifred Chapman, took the stand after that. Then William Garretson came up to testify as well. During his testimony, he received a lot of praise from jurors and made a good impression on them.

 

On Monday, Kasabian started her testimony. Kanarek repeatedly interrupted the proceedings and was therefore held in contempt of court by Judge Older. Bugliosi admitted that he had to refer to a few instances where Hearsay would be applicable, but after some research into precedent, it was decided that certain forms of Hearsay would be allowed. Kasabian’s immunity deal seemed to pay off when she presented credible and relatable testimony from a close eyewitness. The Family members were outraged at this betrayal and harassed her during the trial.

 

Bugliosi recounted one instance where Manson made a slashing motion across his throat with his finger as if he wanted Kasabian dead for testifying against him.

 

On August 3, the Associated Press quoted President Richard Nixon, who weighed in on the highly publicized case. He said, “Here is a man who was guilty of eight murders. Yet here is a man who, as far as the coverage is concerned, appeared to be a glamorous figure.” In failing to use the word “alleged,” Nixon made it seem like he had already passed judgment on an ongoing trial that would make Bugliosi’s job more difficult. The jury was sequestered and wouldn’t see newspapers or TV reports about Manson’s guilt for themselves. Bugliosi claims that Manson brought into his jail cell a newspaper with huge headlines claiming that Nixon declared him guilty before anyone else did.

 

Kasabian would be questioned by the prosecution for 17 days, often repeating answers to questions about sex and drugs. However, her testimony was credible because she had a conscience and seemed deeply affected by the murders. She left for New Hampshire with her family after being given immunity from prosecution. On August 7th, Randy Starr (a witness who tied Manson to the murder) died of an “undetermined illness.” Other witnesses were intimidated into not testifying or skipped town because they feared that their lives were in danger if they testified against Manson. Juan Flynn (who claimed that he heard Manson admit to committing the murders) stayed hidden out of fear of his life while Barbara Hoyt (an estranged Family member who planned on testifying against Manson) was drugged with LSD during lunch so that she couldn’t testify.

 

In September, the prosecution called witnesses to corroborate Kasabian’s testimony. The defense tried to discredit her by focusing on the knife wounds in the LaBianca case and questioning whether a.22 was used in both murders. By the time Bugliosi had finished calling all his witnesses, he had only called about 80 people, which is low for such a complex case. He used those witnesses to strengthen his domination theory against Manson.

 

When Bugliosi was followed by the Manson family, he turned around and swore at them. The next day, Kanarek asked that Bugliosi be arrested for violating Section 415 of the Penal Code because he made obscene remarks in front of a woman. On September 26th, a brushfire engulfed Spahn Ranch where the Manson Family lived. Juan Flynn testified that Manson had control over his followers, which made him guilty of murder. On October 5th, an enraged and cornered Manson lunged at Judge Older to attack him but was restrained by bailiffs. When it came time for their case to be heard on November 19th, they surprised everyone involved: “Thank you your honor,” said Paul Fitzgerald.

 

 

 

Part 7: “Murder in the Wind”

Before the defense rested, Van Houten, Atkins and Krenwinkel volunteered to take responsibility for the murders. Hughes refused to go along with this plan and resigned from the team. The three Family members then demanded to testify in court on their own behalf. Kanarek asked for separate trials for his client. Manson testified outside of the presence of jury members during a 10-day break before final arguments were made by both sides. Bugliosi described Manson’s speech as “hypnotic.” He said that it was not him who taught people how to kill but rather society had done so.

 

When court resumed after the Christmas holiday, Hughes was missing. Bugliosi feared that he had been murdered by Manson and his followers. He appointed Maxwell Keith as Van Houten’s co-attorney, who demanded a mistrial because of the disruptions caused by Manson’s family members. Bugliosi gave closing arguments in which he tied the murders to Manson, and Atkins grabbed his notes and tore them up in front of him. Older finally barred Manson from attending trial proceedings, but jury morale was waning due to the Family’s antics.

 

The defense lawyers for Manson and his followers gave weak arguments. The attorney for Van Houten made a strong argument, saying that if people believe she was mindlessly following orders, then she can’t be guilty of premeditated murder. Bugliosi also pointed out that the Family members were acting rationally on the night of the murders by destroying evidence. After 10 days, the jury reached a verdict.

 

In January, the jury deliberated and found Manson, Krenwinkel, Atkins guilty of murder. The jury also found Van Houten guilty of conspiracy and two counts of first-degree murder. Bugliosi tried to show some emotion on their faces but was unsuccessful. He notes that Van Houten pointed to the box (jurors) and said they looked sad. Fitzgerald later told the press a change in venue would have helped his clients get acquitted.

 

 

 

Part 8: “Fires in Your Cities”

Penalties were given to Manson and his followers for the murders they committed. The penalty was either life imprisonment or death, depending on whether the judge thought he deserved it. Bugliosi gave a closing argument first in which he stated that all of them were guilty because they knew what was going to happen when they went with him. He then called two witnesses who said that the Family members had killed before. Then, Krenwinkel’s parents testified about her character as gentle with animals and Van Houten’s mother talked about how she had been homecoming queen and always made people laugh. Atkins’ father didn’t want to testify but Barrett did, saying that Manson had changed since being in prison. Several other family members spoke on his behalf including Fromme and Share. Atkins defended herself by taking credit for everything Charlie did, admitting she told Tate “I have no mercy for you”.

 

The trial had gone on for 8 months, and the jury was sequestered. The day after Older ended the sequestration of the jurors, they returned to court ready to continue their work. Krenwinkel and Van Houten took the stand but did not express remorse for their actions. Ruth Ann Moorehouse and Steve Grogan both gave bizarre testimony as well. Bugliosi testified as an investigator in addition to psychiatrists who could testify that LSD affected Manson’s followers’ minds differently than other people’s would be affected by it. However, in a similar manner to how investigators initially mishandled the case due to overemphasizing drug use and distribution among those involved with Manson rather than focusing on more important aspects of what happened at 10050 Cielo Drive, so too did defense attorneys botch up their case by calling psychiatric professionals whose opinions were based upon factors unrelated to overuse of LSD or any other drug used by members of Manson’s cult.

 

The court proceedings were concluded on March 29, 1971. The jury found that Manson and his three accomplices should be given the death penalty. This was because they had committed murder in an especially heinous, cruel, or depraved manner. It was expected to take at least five years before the appeals process would be completed.

 

Many of the defense lawyers who worked on the case lost clients and money because of it. They also had to deal with a tragedy when they found out that Mr. Hughes died after the trial was over.

 

 

 

Epilogue

In 1971, the Manson family members who were convicted of murder were sentenced to 90 days in jail. Charles Watson was found guilty of seven accounts of first-degree murder and one account of conspiracy to commit murder. He received a death sentence for his crimes on October 12, 1971.

 

Separate trials were held for the murder of other Manson Family victims. Atkins was found guilty in the murder of Gary Hinman, and Manson, Grogan, and Bruce Davis were found guilty in the death of Donald “Shorty” Shea. The body of Shorty Shea had never been recovered. On August 21, 1971, members Mary Brunner (who later changed her name to Squeaky), Catherine Share (later Susan), Dennis Rice (later Steve), Lawrence Bailey (later Little Larry), Kenneth Como (also known as Kenny or Cookie), and Charles Lovett attempted to rob a weapon surplus store in Los Angeles County’s Hawthorne area. After a 10-minute gun battle that resulted in no fatalities, all gang members were apprehended by police officers who arrived at the scene after hearing gunfire from outside their patrol cars. On February 18th 1972 California abolished use of capital punishment. All inmates involved with this case had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment.

 

 

 

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Helter Skelter Book Summary, by Vincent Bugliosi | Allen Cheng