Tuesday, August 5, 2014

"My Life After Manson" Patricia Krenwinkel

The video at the bottom of the article is one we haven't seen and
Kren speaks quite a bit in this.  Thanks Max for the heads up!

August 4, 2014.
Op-Docs
By OLIVIA KLAUS

I vividly remember entering the California Institution for Women for the first time in 2001. As the prison guard slammed the gate behind me, I wondered if I had made the right decision to become a volunteer for an inmate support group. But my nerves were eased by a woman who introduced herself as “Krenny.” Welcoming me into the group, she seemed quiet and insecure — yet also exuded an inner strength. I had no idea how she got here and didn’t ask.

It was only several years later, while documenting the support group for a documentary film, “Sin by Silence,” that I learned Krenny’s full name: Patricia Krenwinkel. I was astounded. She was one of the infamous Charles Manson followers, convicted of seven murders. She eventually approached me to go on camera with her story.

In this Op-Doc video, Ms. Krenwinkel provides her first on-camera interview since 1994, reflecting on her life before and after Manson. This week is the 45th anniversary of her crimes.

In 1969, at age 21, Ms. Krenwinkel was a member of Mr. Manson’s cult in Los Angeles. His group, which he called the “Family,” included more than a dozen men and women who adhered to a bizarre mixture of hippie culture and apocalyptic paranoia. Seeking to inspire a race war, Manson ordered Ms. Krenwinkel and other members of his group to commit a series of murders. Over the course of two nights, they savagely murdered seven people, inflicting more than 130 stab wounds. One of them, the actress Sharon Tate, was eight and a half months pregnant. At their trial, the women shamelessly admitted their crimes and flaunted their allegiance to a leader they loved, but who clearly controlled their minds.

Over the years, I had gotten to know this woman — and our many conversations about life, love and politics had revealed slivers of a dark past. But not until her on-camera interview, featured in this Op-Doc, did I fully comprehend her journey of self-discovery. In prison, she has struggled mightily to reconcile two parts of her life: the 21-year-old girl who committed crimes to win the approval of the man she loved; and the 66-year-old woman who lives each day haunted by the unending suffering she has caused.

Ms. Krenwinkel is now the longest serving woman in the California prison system. She says she takes full responsibility for her actions — finally, she says, she is a woman she can accept. But is society ready to accept her back? She is next eligible for parole in 2018.



Read original story HERE






35 comments:

Max Frost said...

The THANKS goes to Chatsworth Charlie for this one...

Max Frost said...

Very powerful testimony.

Matt said...

Absolutely riveting. I can't wait to get that.

Mr. Humphrat said...

Yes, great interview. Thank you.

HellzBellz said...

Nice Pics too of her youth and lil kid time with parents. I have never seen before. Interesting Docu , but I dont think I can see it here in Europe ???? I dont think it will be on internet soon

HellzBellz said...

And owh...@Matt,...never knew the Col and you were such good friends...

Anonymous said...

Can't wait to see the full documentary - don't know if anyone is has the info as to when and where this will be shown.

However, I wonder if Pat will tell exactly what happened on both nights. There are so many different account of what went down. If nothing else, it would be helpful if she would give up the true sequence of events.

I fully understand that Pat has to be careful about what she says because she has a parole hearing in 2018.

AustinAnn74 said...

How many of y'all feel sorry for Krenwinkel? Just curious....

Max Frost said...

Feel sorry or feel like she should get out?

That's the most sincere that I've seen her - no airs.

Anonymous said...

Ann,

I don't feel sorry for her. She went along the first night and was very much a major player in the carnage which ensued. She then chose to go along the second night and, again, was a prominent participant in all that occurred. She was an adult, albeit a young adult, not a child. She purposively made the decision to take part on those evenings in the knowledge that people were going to be killed.

As I have said before on this site, there is a photo of PK taken while she was incarcerated, where she is making a gesture with her hands which apparently means 'loyal to Charlie'.

She made her bed, now she can lie in it!

Anonymous said...

"It was only several years later, while documenting the support group for a documentary film, “Sin by Silence,” that I learned Krenny’s full name: Patricia Krenwinkel. I was astounded."

Oh, come now!

ColScott said...

Max - bitch was sorry on Sawyer. " I took a life and shit" very sincere.

Anyway now that someone has shown they have Google alerts over on the Official Blog we are commenting on what Krenny (lol) says.

And Matt is riveted by Good and Plenty don't take that too much to heart!

Matt said...

Not unheard of, Chats. We had a guest on here once (Amelia Marshall who worked for the LA Free Press and was assigned to cover the Family story at Spahn) who honestly didn't care about the story. She got up there and was like "horses!". Couldn't have given a shit about the Manson angle...

Matt said...

Col is trying to make splash to revive his dead-ass blog. Has to do it here where all the traffic is. No problem, we have alms for the poor.

ColScott said...

Matt
We are discussing Krenny's pubic hair at the ONLY official TLB blog. Can you say the same?

Be careful I will sic Brian Davis on you and make you cry.

Do you ever hear from those two girls who came on the 13 tour?

Max Frost said...

Col, there was an over the top element of PERFORMANCE with Krenwinkle in the Sawyer interview.

This was the most honest I've ever seen her.

Max Frost said...

Btw, Col and Matt should just lock themselves in a hot, dripping wet sauna and get it over with already...

Matt said...

I remember them. Nice girls. I never delete an email, btw.

Been getting a lot of hits from Staten Island lately, too.

ColScott said...

lost me?

Delete emails?
Staten Island?

Patty is Dead said...

Patty is curious what happened to those girl and to their project with Claire?

richko62 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
richko62 said...

Appears to me to be a well rehearsed ad for her next parole hearing...

Sarah Smith said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sarah Smith said...

I saw the full version of this film at the Tribeca Film Festival. Still think about it to this day...the film is that powerful and goes into so many more details about Patricia's journey than the NY Times version. Just pre-ordered my own DVD copy at http://www.LifeAfterManson.com

AustinAnn74 said...

We all know Miss Krenny isn't going to get out. Ever! She would have as much chance as Tex. That means no chance in hell. However, whatcha think about Bruce Davis? Will he be set free? I am going to have to say no. I don't see it happening for him either, even though it's kind of weird how Steve Grogan was released over 30 years ago, and Bruce is still there. Just trying to get a feel of what everyone thinks.

Max Frost said...

Steve Grogan was released over 30 years ago because he was a good house painter.

Mr. Humphrat said...

I don't consider Krenwinkel's Diane Sawyer interview a "performance." I think both she and Van Houten, at that time, seemed straight forward, honest and remorseful.
Max, I think it was you who said something to the effect that Krenwinkel fabricated the "Charlie they were so young" line for the Sawyer interview, and why hadn't she ever mentioned that before.
Sawyer stated it was her first interview in 25 years, so since 1969. When, in the ensuing years was she interviewed that lead you to believe she never would have said "Charlie they were so young?"
I think she may very well have said it, or it could be a false memory created through the years in her mind.
And people say why, if she said that, did she go the next night? She said to Sawyer, "I was already dead inside."
Some people say they went gleefully the next night. I don't think there's any way to know how they felt as individuals those nights.
But I still can understand how you can think the opposite. I detest what the killers did those nights also.

Max Frost said...

Mrs. Humphrat, they both were definitely playing it up for that interview. When people are in prison for that long they learn to perform very well.

You don't think they were doing it with glee that second night? Taking a shower, having chocolate milk & cheese, writing things on the wall in blood, and then cruising up to Sylmar to dump the wallet...sounds like a party to me.

As far as her not saying that before. It wasn't heard of before or since. Either way it sounds ridiculous to me. She was "reenacting" the moment as though someone was holding a gun to her head and she was being held prisoner and forced to kill against her will.

Just look at how she carried herself in the hallways of the Hall of Justice during the trial. It's on film. It was STILL a party for those guys - all of 'em.

Max Frost said...

Oh Mrs. Humphrat you brought back a memory from that interview...

Just watch Leslie when she's telling Sawyer how many times she stabbed Rosemary.

Does anyone believe that she really had to take a moment to RECALL???

Robert Hendrickson said...

Yup, Charlie Manson, the petty criminal, was HER "blame it on" bad guy and SHE needed acceptance. Made ME realize, Lyndon, the Pig Farmer, Johnson, was my "blame it on" establishment guy, and I needed some ACCEPTANCE. Now it ALL makes sense. BUT don't WE all need a "blame it on" guy for, at least, some degree of ACCEPTANCE.

Mr. Humphrat said...

True true true I see your point of view. By the way, does anyone know, did Robert Hendrickson and crew shoot all the footage in the hall of justice, the perp walks etc? And Manson's monologue, very echoey in which he's saying things like "things are getting sneaky up around sneakyville" Was that an interview in jail with the Hendrickson crew?

Max Frost said...

You don't hear Manson's voice in the original sneakyville speech but you do hear it in "Inside the Manson Gang" barely.

Robert can explain why.

Myna said...

Hello. Long time reader, first time to comment.

Interesting self-assessment by PK. While I fully support self-reflection, I find Ms. K's too easy. Many have suffered more. Many have been deeply wounded, yet would shun the mere thought of slaughter with fear and trembling. There was always a seed of destruction inside this woman that under the right time and conditions germinated itself to cause her brain to normalize a participation in the cold blooded murder spree that infamous August night. This goes for each of the killers.

And I've no doubt each of them regrets the last 45 years spent in prison for an act they still continue to somehow rationalize an external blame on in their mind. It was drugs. It was mind control. It was a frantic yearning to be accepted. It was the debris from an unloved childhood. Blah and blah.

If any one of them truly saw through the glass darkly at the absolute reality of what each of them had done, that head (or each of them) would have exploded decades ago. There would be no interviews, no self-reflection. No parole hearings, no Jesus to pretend it never happened while wiping away the blood stains. There would only be a white room and drool in some asylum somewhere.

In a more universal context, none of these murderers get it. Like defendants at the Nuremberg trials, there will always be the external rationalization: "I was only following orders." Like the others, PK compartmentalizes her atrocities. I suppose it is a survival mechanism to keep that head from explosion.

Matt said...

M, thanks for being a long-time reader and we're glad you've thrown your hat in the comments ring. Your remarks here are thoughtful and on the money. I can't disagree with anything you said.

dawnn said...

I think Patrica knows she will never get out.I feel that it is important that she speaks out imagine your a young person on the same road as she was She just might make a differents in someones life.After all she is living proof that your not going to get parolled in a few years.