Manson Tour 2015: Olancha - Karl Stubbs' Neighbor and Hannum Ranch

You may remember a post written from our phone interview a couple of years ago with "Kathleen Costello," the next door neighbor of Karl Stubbs. A review of that post will give a little background.

The murder of Mr. Stubbs happened in November of 1968. It is a killing that seemed to fit the Tex Watson pattern, but was never proven. We dropped in on Mrs. Costello. She recapped her memories from that time and we learned a little more.

This is the view of the Stubbs house from the Costello house. It's very close.

Note the small center structure. It is a pump house.

The right side of the Stubbs house. At center is the pump house. 

The white sedan driven by the young killers parked directly in front of it.

The driveway of the Costello residence looking towards the dirt road. Karl Stubbs, battered so badly that he couldn't walk and could not see because his eyes were swollen, shut crawled from his house and out to the road in front. He crawled to the horseshoe shaped Costello driveway and all the way into the residence. In trying to find the telephone he bloodied the file cabinet but was unable to find the phone. He crawled out again and out onto the dirt road, but he mistakenly took the right part of the horseshoe shaped drive. He then crawled left toward the next neighbor's property. He turned into what he thought was the next neighbor's drive but it was just the other side of the Costello's horseshoe shaped drive! At this point he didn't have the energy to go any further.

Later, Mr. Costello passed his property while hauling ore from the mine where he was employed to the mill where it would be processed. He spotted Karl and stopped to lend assistance.

Karl Stubbs passed away three days later. His murder has not been solved.

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Hannum Ranch Ruins

About a mile from the Stubbs house is Hannum Ranch. The Family, with the permission of David Hannum used the property as a storage area for supplies. It is also the ranch where Tex Watson holed-up with Dianne Lake after the TLB murders.

After: Jake's Saloon. Lone Pine, CA

The Next Morning - Mt Whitney 14,455 Ft. The highest peak in the lower 48.

The east end of the Sierras. Visible from Lone Pine, CA:

An Interview With Karl Stubbs' Neighbor

On Sunday, March 17, I spoke with Kathleen Costello (not her real name), who was a friend and neighbor of Karl Stubbs in Olancha, CA.

Starting at the beginning: The assault on Mr. Stubbs happened on November 12, 1968. He died on Nov. 15.  Our impression at Eviliz was that Karl Stubbs was blind, but according to Kathleen, Mr. Stubbs was a strapping 6’+ man (even at age 82) who got around just fine on his own. He was not blind. After the attack, his eyes were swollen shut and his head was swollen, which is what contributed to the myth that he was blind. He was also completely lucid the day after the attack.

According to police reports, there was a white car containing 2 young men and 2 young women with Indiana license plates seen in Ridgecrest 1 hour after the report of the attack. Karl Stubbs described his attackers as being 2 young men and 2 young women.  

According to Kathleen, Karl made his living during his prime as a railroad worker and now lived on a pension. He walked to the nearby store and paid for his groceries, etc. with cash that he kept in his bib overalls. The assumption may have been that these 4 young people may have seen him in the store and thought he had a lot of money and made him a robbery target. But, according to Kathleen he had very little money, and survived by selling small amounts of his acreage over the years -some of which Kathleen and her husband purchased.

On the morning of the attack, on her way to work, Kathleen drove past Mr. Stubbs’ driveway and saw a white car there. She took notice of this, as Mr. Stubbs did not drive or often receive visitors. Another woman, Clara Castner, who with her husband owned the service station, used to bring Mr. Stubbs’ mail to him daily. On this day, there were people in his house: 2 young men and 2 young women. Stubbs said they were there to get water or something.  Helping people was normal for him, and she didn’t think he was under duress at the time, so she felt comfortable leaving.

After he was attacked and beaten, Mr. Stubbs crawled to Kathleen’s house. Her husband Jim (Jim died in 1990) and Clara Caster (also a neighbor) found him in the driveway.  They called 911, then sat with Karl until the ambulance arrived. He told all parties present that when the men kicked him, the girls laughed. They thought he had money hidden somewhere, but he didn’t..

Over one year later as the TLB trial became national news, Clara recognized Tex as being one of the ones in the house.  That’s when it clicked for her. A lot of people thought that Clara Castner was nuts. “But she wasn’t crazy. Her religion was odd and she talked about things that people didn’t understand. But she was not crazy. She was a school teacher for a long time. She just had religious beliefs that were different than ours”.

As far as Hannum Ranch is concerned, Kathleen does not remember it as ever being a working ranch but more as just a property spread. She remembers David Hannum (who worked at Spahn, hence the connection with the Manson Family) very outgoing and verbal. Not crazy. He was just a nice young man. Joy and Roy Hunter who owned and lived for a time at Hannum Ranch were his aunt and uncle. She says David, their nephew could not have possibly been involved in the nefarious activities surrounding the Family. She also firmly believes that David had the authority to allow them to park the tractor trailer(s) there to use it as a staging area to run supplies to Barker Ranch. He was also the person that was able to allow Tex & Snake the ability to stay there after the TLB murders although he had no knowledge of those crimes. Although Kathleen said might be able to find David through Joy (his aunt), the MansonBlog staff has found evidence that he died back in June of 1998.

Where have you gone, Mark Fuhrman?

Wouldn't it be something if an author with a bonafide background in detective work who has a history of investigating and solving high profile cold cases decided to pick up all of these pieces laid out here in the Manson blogosphere and get into that LA evidence vault to solve all of this once and for all and publish his findings?

Like with (the grown up) Michael Skakel, who committed the Martha Moxley murder in 1975 and was brought to justice after Fuhrman's book in 2002 - attention would be turned back onto the (elderly) Manson Family.

The unindicted conspirators in Labianca and Shea would be put back on the stand to answer the as of yet unanswered questions.

Unsolved murders like Marina Habe, Jane Doe #59,  Clyda Dulaney, Nancy Warren, James Sharp, Doreen Gaul, Filippo Tenerelli, Darwin Scott, Karl Stubbs, Mark Walts and possibly even more would be brought into the public consciousness. ZERO???

Testimony in the new wave of trials would include among scores of others Tex Watson, Bruce Davis, Mary Brunner, Steve Grogan, Sherry Cooper, Cathy Gillies, Gregg Jakobson, Roman Polanski (under duress and via satellite, of course) and even Nick Sand (was there a Brotherhood of Eternal Love connection via people in Santa Barbara and Gary Hinman?).

TV ratings would be through the roof - not to mention the stats on the blogs.

Sgt Dostie and Buster would get their well deserved 12 foot deep pandora's box dig. This time with network coverage.

C'mon Fuhrman, what else have you got to do? They did cancel your radio show. Read the books, go through the evidence, read the forums & watch the DVD's. We'll even help you (HA!). Then write another book and let's see if there are more trials. But please, get it done before Bugliosi and Charlie check out - we'll need them to spar as expert analysts on truTV!

Eviliz Tour 2012 - Day 2

DAY 2

Today we headed out to Death Valley. Since we are in Nevada the first stop for the Eviliz crew will be the Devil's Hole. It is located surprisingly close to Pahrump. The final five miles or so are dirt roads, but not too bad as far as dirt roads go.

The Devil's Hole is not in Death Valley National Park. In Fact, it's quite a distance from it. In looking at the maps we all came to the same conclusion: Charlie really covered some ground!

The actual Devil's Hole spot itself is a scientific place of importance because of the small population of prehistoric pup fish that live there. It is in fact the only place on Earth where they exist. For this reason it is fenced-off but you can still stand almost directly over it.

To go down in 1969 would have taken robust young people. It's quite a climb and quite a drop to the bottom if you were to fall. On this day the bottomless pit did not open.

The drive into Death Valley was beautiful. It is however, long. Our second destination for the day was to get to Father Crowley Point. In order to get there we would pass through places like Furnace Creek and Panamint Springs. Both places are very isolated, but each has a nice restaurant or two which we took full advantage of. Crossing the mountain ranges took us to elevations over 5000 ft where we needed jackets. But Furnace Creek is some 500 ft below sea level and it was HOT. We couldn't imagine how hot it gets in August. Oh, and gas was a little pricey in Furnace Springs, but luckily for Mr. Patty and I, the ale was cold.

We finally got to Father Crowley Point. When we first arrived the wind was really kicking. Grump and I both thought we heard a train coming. On the second hearing we realized it was the acoustics created by the winds churning between the mountains around us!

Of course you all know that this is the spot where Fillipo Tennerelli's car was pushed over the edge after his murder in Bishop, CA. It is one of those incidents that fits the Manson pattern but was never proven. FCP is like being at the top of the world. The view of the Panamint Mountains and Death Valley below are spectacular. It gives a vantage point to see the route that Charles Manson sought to find to bring the Family to its desert hideout undetected by not traveling on public roads. The expanse of this area kept ringing home the same thought: Charlie and the Family really covered some ground!

We decided to bunk in Ridgecrest, way to the south but a town that has modern amenities and is relatively close to tomorrow's destinations - Ballarat, Barker's & Meyer's Ranches! Upon examining our map we concluded that we had time to hit Olancha - the site of the Family's staging area, Hannum Ranch and of course the spot of yet another Family related but never proven murder - Karl Stubbs in 1968. Olancha is quite close to the mountains beside it. The Spring runoff makes it plush and green compared to what we had seen all day.

The Karl Stubbs house

TOMORROW, BARKER'S RANCH!!!

This Day in Manson History - Karl Stubbs is Murdered

Retired Spiritualist & Author Karl Stubbs murdered in Olancha, CA this day November 15, 1968 -  43 years ago. Many theorize that Tex and two of the Manson Girls are responsible. What do you think?



To refresh your memory, read these two posts:

http://www.eviliz.com/2011/05/olancha.html
http://www.eviliz.com/2011/05/more-on-stubbs-murder.html

More on the Stubbs Murder

A friend of the blog recently sent in the following photos of Olancha, CA that are relevant to the Karl Stubbs murder case. Below is Karl's house in which he was robbed and beaten: The store where poor old Karl was shopping that day in November of 1968 when he was spotted by some hippies (two girls and two boys) and followed home. Why, it's the Fresh Jerky Stand near the intersection of 190 and 395!: Looking towards the Stubbs residence from the Fresh Jerky stand. The house is visible through the trees in the center of the photo.

Olancha

Above: Olancha, CA in the 1940's

Item Two that was lost, reprinted for your enjoyment: (cached version available at http://www.zimbio.com/member/eviliz/articles/i6aVXZXjLRG/Charles+TexWatson+identified+1968+murder)
From Giovanni Di Stefano's site, Studio Legale (http://www.studiolegaleinternazionale.com), a portion of the correspondence between Di Stefano and Barack Obama regarding the murder of Karl Stubbs:

"Tex Watson was seen following a man named Karl Stubbs to his house and that man was later found dead on 9/15/1968 in Olancha, California. This the verbatim statement from the California Police Officer as below:

“I have another murder that I want to tell you about. The victim is an 80 year old man named Karl Stubbs who was killed November 15, 1968 in Olancha, Ca., almost a year before Tate/LaBianca/Hinman/Shea. A witness identified Tex Watson in 1970. There were also two unknown girls there when Karl was beaten. The murder was not followed up on. Why? Because Charlie was nowhere near Olancha then and it would show that Tex is the serial killer. There is no way the Bug could have convinced the jury that he had total mind control on everyone back in 1968!

I spoke to the witness that lived behind Karl. She told me that Karl crawled to her trailer and told her husband that there was a boy and two girls that came in his house demanding money. Every time the boy would kick him in the head the girls would laugh. The witness said that Karl was totally lucid but he could not see. He died hours later. A year later, Tex Watson confessed the Tate/LaBianca murders to Diane Lake while there were in Olancha. Olancha is the gateway to the Barker Ranch via Hwy 190.

The case was investigated by the California Department of Justice. Tom interviewed the investigator who said that the investigation "fell through the cracks". It was not until Tex was finally extradited from Texas, after everyone else was tried, that the clerk at the store recognized Tex on TV as one of the kids that followed Karl home from the store. It is unknown if this was ever reported to Law Enforcement.

To this day, DOJ will not do anything with this case. (I have talked with them). Why not?????
It would show that Tex was killing people almost a year before, independently on his own, as well as two of the girls. That would not support the Bug's Helter Mind Control/Helter Skelter theory.

Olancha is a very small town. Gas Station, Store and one restaurant. About 500 people scattered over many square miles on ranches. It was not local kids. The Hannum Ranch is in Olancha. David Hannum worked at the Spahn Ranch in 1969 and the family used his mother's ranch in Olancha to park a semi trailer full of supplies and use it as a base.”

Giovanni Di Stefano Asks Governor Jerry Brown to Dismiss Manson Conviction without Prejudice

By Ro Hurley, cnn.com

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA – On April 24, 2011, Manson attorney Giovanni Di Stefano sent a request to California Governor Jerry Brown asking him to grant executive clemency to Charles Manson and immediately release Manson from Corcoran State Prison.

Di Stefano has requested executive clemency based on remission of sentence in lieu of a full pardon. The request cites specifically that in the original trial, Manson was denied the sixth amendment right to represent himself, highlighting a footnote in a 1970’s ruling that enforces one’s constitutional right to act as his or her own attorney. This case specifically mentions Charles Manson by stating, “The state mentions several times that one of its prisoners who may benefit from the Faretta decision is Charles Manson.” The footnote continues to state, “A federal court must make its decisions in accord with the Constitution and the laws, without regard to the notoriety of parties or nonparties."

Mentioned in the request for clemency is a possible conflict of interest when prosecuting attorney Vincent Bugliosi released his bestselling novel “Helter Skelter.” Di Stefano pointed out, “We must question why did Mr. Bugliosi engage a "ghost writer" throughout the trial and would the world have known about Mr. Bugliosi if Charles Manson had been acquitted in royalties from his book. “

Additionally, the claim points to Charles “Tex” Watson as the mastermind behind the killing spree. A retired California police officer claimed that Tex Watson was the murderer of an elderly man named Karl Stubbs long before Watson was associated with Charles Manson.

Recently, Spain’s “Vanity Fair” magazine ran a story of a phone interview from 2009 in which the magazine claimed that Manson had broken his silence after 20 years. Charles Manson’s longtime friend John Michael Jones exclaimed, “Manson’s comments were taken completely out of context by Vanity Fair. He has always been an environmentalist and has never claimed responsibility for any murder. This was a magazine’s sad attempt to re-hash an old interview to in order to get ratings.”