Charlene Cafritz: The Questions and The Controversies

 Charlene Lawley Cafritz is a figure of mystery in the Manson saga. She is described as a recent divorcee from her marriage to a member of an influential, prominent Washington D.C. family, and was left a pile of money in her divorce settlement. Allegedly she met Charlie at one of those Hollywood parties; or maybe she met him at Dennis Wilson's house, sometime in 1968, when Cafritz would have been 22. Her name does not appear in Bugliosi's Helter Skelter, nor in most other books about the TLB saga.


Ed Sanders was the only journalist at the time to mention her. From his book, The Family, pg136:

"In December of 1968 Charlie and three girls drove in an old Studebaker to an exclusive dude ranch near Reno, Nevada where they spent two weeks as guests of Charlene Cafritz, whom Manson had met the previous summer at Dennis Wilson's beach home. Mrs. Cafritz was in Reno logging enough time to get a divorce. 
    Manson seems to have had a great effect on the young lady in terms of material detachment. As a result of her divorce settlement, the lady was left with a fortune in excess of two million dollars. This sum she spent in something like ten months, aided in early phases of her spend-frenzy by guess who.
    Sometime toward the end of December, a friend named Warnick drove the young divorcee back to Los Angeles from Reno. In January '69 Mrs. Cafritz visited New York where she spent $92,000 during that month.
    At one point Manson told the young lady that he wanted a blue Fleetwood Cadillac. The young lady erred and purchased instead a fire engine red Cadillac and he told her to take it back. She also evidently purchased a number of thoroughbred horses which Charlie gave away for her. ...
Mrs. Cafritz took numerous motion pictures of Manson and the family in Reno which no one seems to want to discuss. Mrs. Cafritz was a friend of Sharon Tate and Terry Melcher and many others associated with the oncoming tragedy."


Here is Lynette Fromme's version, from Reflexion, pg371:

"When it came to getting money Charlie went for what he knew. Her name was Charlene, a boot and whip-style girl with a curvy body. I read later that she was some kind of heiress, but he never mentioned it. He had met her at a party in Beverly Hills and invited her to The Ranch. She didn't come. She had invited him to her ranch in Nevada, and instead of going alone, he asked Sandy, Brenda, Paul, and me to go with him.
Charlene's Nevada ranch had an old-time hotel with a cowboy cafe at the front. Tired and hungry from the overnight drive, we went in for breakfast. Charlie sent one of the workers to let Charlene know that he had arrived. I almost missed seeing her. She was coming toward Charlie, but, after seeing the rest of us, she wheeled on her high heeled boots and let the screen door slam behind her. He went out to talk to her, and pretty soon an employee showed the rest of us to a bare rustic room with two beds, no telephone, and no TV. I don't know what gave me the impression that this ranch was more about women than horses, but I knew about Nevada's Mustang Ranch and I was beginning to think that Charlene might be running such an establishment. In any case, it was not an entertaining trip for us - we slept most of the time - and the next day Charlie returned to say we were leaving. As we drove away, he said that he had offered Charlene a place with us, but she didn't want it. I found out later that she had offered him a Cadillac, but he refused it. Apparently, this wasn't about stuff or money."


Gregg Jakobson had his own version:

Ed Sanders Cafritz file from the Sanders collection at Princetion University
LAPD interview form, dated 4-6-70
Mr. Jakobson informed investigators that Miss Cafritz had spent some time at Spahn Ranch with the Manson "family" and had taken numerous photographs of Spahn Ranch and the Manson "family".


This is what Charlene herself said at the time:

LAPD interview form, dated 6-11-70
Miss Cafritz stated she had never been to Spahn Ranch. ....
She was introduced to Charles Manson at Dennis Wilson's home in Malibu. ...
She took numerous still pictures and movie pictures of various members of the family when they visited her in Reno, Nevada, and at the Wilson residence.


Author Nick Schreck claimed this is what Manson told him:

Schreck post on FB of Sept 20, 2023
Further confirmation of what I stated in the File concerning Charlie's lover and cash cow, Charlene Cafritz, referencing my December 2012 conversation with Charles at Corcoran:
"Charlie readily confirmed long-standing rumors claiming that in December 1968 he and some of the girls in his commune performed in pornographic film shoots Cafritz had arranged at her dude ranch in Reno, Nevada."


One thing is certain---none of the photos and film taken have ever seen the light of day. Though investigators may have had access to them:

LAPD interview form, dated 6-11-70
"Additionally she(Charlene) stated that she also had a tape recording of Charles Manson which he had made for promotion of an album. She does not know where this tape recording is. She could not recall where this tape recording or the pictures were at this time.
   Note: In an earlier conversation with Miss Cafritz's mother, investigator learned that Charlene had numerous items stored in her mother's basement. Her mother indicated that the movie pictures were in the basement as were some tape recordings."

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After her time with Charlie, Charlene seems to have fallen into a spiral of self-destruction. The timeline(from researcher Casey Fields):


December 25, 1968 - Manson visits Charlene Cafritz near Reno.

August 22, 1969 - Charlene Cafritz allegedly called Spahn Ranch from St. Elizabeth mental hospital in Washington D.C.

December 19, 1969 - Charlene Cafritz (23) was arrested for trying to sell fourteen capsules of heroin to an undercover police officer. The arrest kept her from potentially testify in the trial.

April 5, 1970 - Charlene Cafritz was interviewed by LAPD investigator Sergeant Manuel P. “Chick” Gutierrez at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Washington D.C. Cafritz came to Gutierrez’ attention following his interview with Gregg Jakobsen. LAPD’s Jakobsen Interview Report stated, “Due to a misspelling in Miss Cafritz’ name, officers were unable to locate her until the above date. Cafritz was being held by the Washington D.C. court pending psychiatric examination."

April 14, 1970 - Charlene Cafritz was indicted for selling fourteen capsules of heroin to an undercover police officer.

April 17, 1970 - Charlene Cafritz and her mother were interviewed by LAPD Homicide Detective Sergeants Frank J. Patchett and Manuel Gutierrez via long-distance call.

September 4, 1970 - Charlene Cafritz died from an overdose of Nembutal.

September 8, 1970 - Charlene Cafritz was buried at Mt. Olive Cemetery in Washington D.C.

 Charlene's family, on both her parent's side, and her husband Carter Cafritz' side, had extensive, high-level connections to the diplomatic and intelligence worlds of Washington.

Researcher Paul Hart:
"Charlene’s mom (Lucille Lawley) worked for Raymond E. Murphy, who was the State Department’s liaison to the CIA. Charlene’s in-laws (Morris & Gwen Cafritz) were close to J. Edgar Hoover ever since the early 50s. ... They were also deeply in bed with the FBI, CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency (which her father Jack Lawley was with)."


Because of this, and other inconsistencies in the evidence, many speculate that Charlene was some kind of intel operative, and that her death was faked (she was then presumably given a new identity and life). Consider:

Researcher Paul Hart:
"Charlene only wanted to deal with Charlie, and to secretly funnel him funds. She wanted nothing to do with the rest of the Family. In fact, she didn’t even want to be seen by them when they visited her at a ranch in Nevada… Her mysterious disappearance after the TLB killings and her supposed “death” had Tom O’Neill chasing leads in DC for weeks. There was no death certificate or Social Security Death Index # for Charlene. ...

"Tom O'Neill found a former administrator of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in DC who said the FBI seized all the hospital’s records on Charlene after she supposedly died later in her apartment. ... Tom also interviewed a DC police detective who said all their records on Charlene were seized as well. ... Everything about her has been removed from public scrutiny. Photos, death notices, social security records, everything."

"Charlene's mom, Lucille A. Lawley died in 2008. On the website Find-A-Grave, someone posted the announcement of her death along with a bio and a photo of her grave. In the announcement, it says Lucille was survived by her husband Jack S. Lawley (the guy I told you was in military intelligence) and her daughter Charlene Marie Lawley!!! But Charlene supposedly died in 1970."


Also this odd note:

Paul Hart:  "TomO also interviewed a DC friend of Charlene’s who said she brought Manson to DC at least once. Explosive finding if true."
 

Confirmation?

From Death to Pigs, pg318    Phil Phillips describes a visit by Charlie at some point.
"...The next time I saw Charlie he came to Vegas and it was in the middle of the night, about three o'clock in the morning... but he came up and knocked on the door.. And he was acting real strange. He told me that he'd just come on a plane..."


On a plane? Hmmm... was he flying in from having visited Cafritz in DC, as one of her friends asserted to Tom O'Neill?

 

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 Unanswered questions:


--Did the Family just have contact with Cafritz one time--near Reno, or were there multiple contacts--at Dennis Wilson's, at Spahn, and at the ranch near Reno?

--Did they spend two days in Reno, or two weeks?

--Did she run a prostitution ring at the 'dude ranch'? If she made a porno movie with the Family, who was it made for?

--What happened to the extensive photo and film collection she made of the Family?

--Was she ever actually interviewed in person by LAPD investigators? Or was there just a phone call with the mother?

--Was her death faked?


On the very day the detectives in LA learn of Charlene's location--April 6, 1970--she is committed to a hospital in DC for mental observation, and is still there in August. One wonders if the purpose of the heroin bust in Dec. '69 was to damage her credibility as a witness, and if the purpose of her being committed was merely to keep her away from the investigators.

Affluent society divorcees generally don't get involved in running houses of prostitution or making porno movies. Nor do they generally get involved in dealing heroin out of parking lots in DC. Lots of unanswered questions about this person.


There are different ways to interpret this evidence:

--scenario #1

Charlene was just an adventurous young lady out to enjoy life ("young, dumb, wanna have some fun"). She meets Charlie by chance, and is quickly entranced and enamored by his charisma and presence, like so many others. Enough to give Charlie money, but not enough to actually join the Family. But then she gets strung out on the hard stuff, and accidentally ODs.

Schreck:
"Charlie told me he had no doubt she was dead, said she was always very likely to o.d. due to her constant hard drug abuse."


--scenario #2

Cafritz was sent out by the covert operators to contact Charlie, make sure he has funds to operate, and document the Family lifestyle. After the murders, she starts to doubt her employers, and figures out that her trust may have been abused. Her suspicions and her guilt drive her to drugs, and to an OD, either accidental or intentional(suicide).


--scenario #3

Cafritz was sent out by the covert operators, but they didn't plan on her involvement being outed by Jakobson, and now start to worry that a young and disillusioned Charlene will spill the beans to the experienced investigators. So they arrange her death via an OD(murder). Or they tell her that she has no choice and will have to fake her death and accept a new life with a new identity.

 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/DramaFreeNoDealers/posts/7928466610535911/
"The famous missing collection of Charlene Lawley Cafritz. Yearbooks, school books and more."      

1966   "...includes pictures of Charlene.  Nicknamed "Charlie," has senior year book..."

oo-ee-oo!