Melcher was not a Welcher

 

 

 

 One theory of the Cielo murders claims that Charlie chose that house to 'put the fear' into Terry Melcher for welching on a promised recording contract:

HS, pg315(paperback)

Much of the time at the Gresham Street house... was spent composing songs for Charlie's album. Charlie worked hard on these songs.   Manson was counting on Terry Melcher to produce this album. According to numerous Family members.  Terry had promised to come and listen to the songs one evening,   Melcher didn't show.  Manson, according to Poston and Watkins, never forgave Terry for this.  "Melcher's word was no good," he said angrily on a number of occasions.

 

But it appears that they were far friendlier to Terry than expected if you believe in that theory.

From Charlie's interview with Rolling Stone magazine of December 5th, 2013:

www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/charles-manson-today-the-final-confessions-of-a-psychopath-20131121
".. Melcher... apparently decided Manson wasn't a talent worth pursuing. Although Manson himself told everyone that a recording contract was imminent.
"Yeah, it was Terry Melcher's house, and he lied to everybody at the ranch, said he was gonna do stuff he didn't do. He got their hopes up, you dig? Terry was a spoiled brat that had seven automobiles and didn't have nothing to worry about. I'd cheated him in a card game and won a house. It was part card game, part con, all devil, heh heh. But I won it. He owed me. So, Terry Melcher was part of it. He did a lot of things that wasn't right. But, no one was mad at Terry Melcher,   Not really. He was just in somebody's mind, and when they went by there, it was a familiar place, and they went into a familiar place. ..."

Feb 25, 1985 - Charles Manson was interviewed at Vacaville Prison by KALX 90.7 Berkeley Radio When asked about Melcher, Manson said, “I like Terry. Terry’s a nice gentle person, he’s a peaceful person, he doesn’t lie, he’s treated me right. He’s, I would consider him a friend. But I think all this madness scared him. I think it scared him to think that I’m somebody that I’m not."

Manson In His Own Words by Nuel Emmons, published in 1986  pg148
"Melcher was all right and I had no bad feelings for him."

Doris Day, Her Own Story by A.E. Hotchner c. 1975  pg240
..I found out at one point that Manson knew I had moved to the Malibu beach house. ... But then why didn't he knock on the door, if he wanted to get in touch with me? None of it made much sense. Susan Atkins, one of the murderers, had told her attorney on tape, "The reason Charlie picked that house was to instill fear into Terry Melcher because Terry had given us his word on a few things and never came through with them." I have no idea to what she was referring. I made no representations to them about anything.

Death to Pigs, by Robert Hendrickson, c.2011  pg303
Watkins claimed Greg Jacobson promised that Terry would be there (at Gresham) to hear their music.
Watkins:  "Terry never said he would be there, Gregg said, Terry would be there."
Brooks:  "Gregg pulled the same one though, a couple of times. Gregg said he'd show up, but he(Melcher) didn't."

https://murdersofaugust69.freeforums.net/thread/1287/terry-melcher-rolling-stone-1974
Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 9May1974   

When I was finished, their lawyer, Kanarek, said something like, ‘We want Mr. Melcher to know that the defendants have never borne him any ill will.’

Two Trips to Cielo

 

The official version of events says that the Cielo murders took place from around 12:20am to about 12:50am.  

Here are the witnesses that support that timeline:  

--At 1am Rudy Weber claims he saw Tex and the girls using the hose outside his house to wash up.  He even got the license plate # from the Ford they were driving.  "Mr. Weber stated he was guessing at the time"

--Neighbor Mrs Kott
she heard, “in close sequence", what sounded like three or four gunshots. They seemed to have come from the direction of the gate of 10050 and she later guessed it to be between 12:30-1AM.
HS, pg24  "She did not check the time but later guessed it be be between 12:30 and 1am."

--William Garretson's testimony that Parent left the guest house shortly after 12:15am.

--Both Susan & Linda stated that Charlie asked them what they were doing home so early

--HS, pg117
"Virginia also learned(from Atkins) that the Tate murders had taken place between midnight and one in the morning..."

--Seymour Kott, NBC interview:  heard nothing after midnight

-----------------------------------

But there are numerous witnesses that saw or heard somethiing after 1am

--Tim Ireland says his supervisor gave the time he came to him as 12.40 as he had looked at his watch ~ Ireland originally told the police it was 1.30am
 The police report notes: "Between 0100 and 0130 Mr. Ireland was awake, alert and watching the sleeping children. He heard a male voice from what seemed to him a long distance away to the north or northeast shout, 'Oh, God, no. Stop. Stop. Oh, God, no, don't'.

--Seymour Kott
LA Times Article, Aug 27, 1969
http://www.cielodrive.com/archive/tate-neighbor-heard-shots-screams-in-murder-house-about-2-in-morning/
  He heard shots and screams at "2 or 2:30am – no earlier,"
" I heard a loud shot, a woman’s scream, then another shot."

--Emmett Steele (9951 Beverly Grove Dr.) who was awakened by the barking of one of his hunting dogs. He estimated the time to be between 2 and 3am.

--14-year-old Carlos Gill,  who had a clear eye-view to the house and sound would travel right to his window who said it was 4:00 AM.
"At approximately 0400 hours he heard the sound of voices arguing. He believed it was three or four persons. The argument increased in volume and became more heated. It lasted approximately one minute and then subsided abruptly."   "Carlos, with an open window did not hear any gunshots between 1-1:30AM."

--Robert Bullington and Eric Karlson, two security patrol trained to mark the time who both said at 4:11am they heard three gunshots

--Unk 911 caller who reported "woman screaming" call from the same area, about 4am.   "I hope we don't have a murder. We just had a woman-screaming call in that area."

--www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/arts-and-culture/a26932479/manson-family-murders-sharon-tate-death-explained-reactions/
--Richard Correll (director):
Sees Tex, another man, and two females driving near the crime scene at 3:30am.

--William Garretson also gave an account that supports the claim of gunshots after 1am:

From the trial transcripts:

MR. FITZGERALD: ... I am in possession of what purports to be a transcript of an interview with Mr. Garretson at 4:25 pm, on August 10th, 1969, where this witness was asked about the events that took place on August 8th and 9th. He stated in connection with questions about dogs barking that: “It was about 2 or 3 hours after he left,” referring to Steven Parent, “somewhere around there, that is when I looked out in the yard....” ... The importance of the dogs barking is that they may signal or herald the arrival on the scene of the persons who perpetrated the events.

But if there was a return visit, why not just admit that?  I suspect it was because it would have raised too many questions for the Bel Air Patrol, on how they could have missed the killers coming and going, twice.

The Private Investigators

 

There were a whole slew of private investigators doing work on the TLB case.

The Family Ed Sanders pg306
Mr. Peter Folger, Abigail Folger's father, according to numerous people involved, initiated an intense investigation into the matter, as did Roman Polanski who were assisted by several famous Los Angeles private investigators. ... In fact, at least ten private investigators in Los Angeles were used extensively throughout the investigation of the case, both by private parties and the district attorney.

newsblaze.com/entertainment/books/sharon-tate-a-life-by-ed-sanders-power-book-review_72226/
William Garretson’s attorney, Barry Tarlow, hired a private investigator to conduct an additional polygraph examination, hoping to get to the bottom of this survival mystery.

Here are some names:

labyrinth13.com/eBook-ROYF.pdf
Paul Krassner, writing for a 1999 edition of Scope magazine:
--When Hal Lipset, the renowned private investigator, informed me a few years ago that the Los Angeles Police Department seized pornographic films and videotapes found in Polanski's loft ,,,

--Excerpt from Sharon Tate - A Life by Ed Sanders
"Hatami told me he has no memory at all of Manson coming to the front door of Cielo Drive, but that the memory was suggested to him by an investigator named Reeve Whitson, who worked for both Col. Paul Tate and the prosecutor Vince Bugliosi."

[The Private Sector: Private Spies, Rent-a-Cops, and the Police Industrial Complex by George O'Toole c.1978 pg223

When the CIA first considered the very sensitive question of operating within the United States, someone must have pointed out that firms like Fidelity Reporting Service could offer ideal cover. Private detective agencies are licensed to snoop, and they provide a confidential service, routinely refusing to disclose their clients' identities. They could provide perfect camouflage for the CIA's domestic intelligence activities.]

--Ed Sanders and Paul Fitzgerald employed a private investigator(PI) named Larry Larsen.

--Scanlans, May 1970
"Michael McCowan was the investigator for the defense in the Panther case, as well as in the Charles Manson case..."

--Witness to Evil, by George Bishop c.1971  pg144
Hughes...employed an investigator, long-haired William Swinney, whose wife took to breast-feeding their infant baby while sitting on the floor of the corridor outside the courtroom, right beside the men's lavatories.

Did Leno have his own PI, hired to look into the break-ins at the Waverly house?

--www.mansonblog.com/2023/08/54-years-of-remembering-victims.html (comments section)
Louise(Leno's daughter) said...
As far as the burglaries, for example, I recall those instances on several occasions where Dad and Rose talked about them. They never had those issues on Woking Way. All happened at Waverly, there were many times it happened, and different things happened--rug cuttings once, moving things around, and the actual thefts/burglaries. Dad told us he hired a detective but I never saw him. All mysteries.

--truthontatelabianca.com/threads/maybe-something-new-maybe-not.5232/    poster 'martine'
What many do not know is that from very early on in their relationship, Peter Sr. had all of Gibbie's and Voytek's comings and goings monitored. Peter Sr. had an investigative and security team which could put the CIA and FBI to shame. In fact, both of these teams were made up of former members of these institutes and of the Secret Service as well as other high-ranking retired military men.

--Some details about PJ Tate's own private investigation:

Restless Souls, by Alisa Statman

pg73
PJ to Helder: "...I'm confident that my network of connections can accomplish in one day what will take your men a week."

pg74
PJ: I turned off the television. There were three other men in the family room, all friends from the US Department of Defense, all skilled investigators. After the murders, Guy was the first to offer his assistance. As an FBI agent, he'd spent twenty of his forty-nine years traveling the globe...
(The men start discussing plans to investigate Roman, One of the men--"Jake"--watches Roman being polygraphed by Lt. Deemer)

Thus 'Jake' is close enough to the LAPD to get access to the polygraph room.

Unfortunately whatever they found out is totally private and there has been no leaks(other than Larson) in the decades since.