Patricia Krenwinkel Granted Parole Again

 

How a 77-year-old Manson follower has Newsom in familiar bind

By Bob Egelko, Courts Reporter

June 3, 2025

San Francisco Chronicle

 

Once again, a state parole board has found one of cult leader Charles Manson’s followers – Patricia Krenwinkel – suitable for release after more than 56 years behind bars for her role in seven 1969 murders. And once again, Gov. Gavin Newsom must decide whether there is any evidence that Krenwinkel, 77, would pose any danger if released – and whether a decision to free her would affect his political future.

The Board of Parole Hearings, whose members were appointed by the governor, voted Friday to grant parole to Krenwinkel, the state’s longest-serving female prisoner. The board had ruled against her 14 times before recommending parole in 2022, but Newsom vetoed her release, saying she had not shown “sufficient insight” into her crimes.

The governor gave a similar explanation in 2022 for vetoing the parole of another Manson follower, Leslie Van Houten, whose release had been approved five times by the parole board since 2016 but blocked each time by Govs. Jerry Brown and Newsom.

But a state appeals court ruled in 2023 that Newsom had failed to justify his conclusions that Van Houten, 73, lacked sufficient understanding of her actions and could still be dangerous after 54 years in prison. She was freed after the governor decided not to appeal the ruling.

“The only factor that can explain this veto (of Van Houten’s parole) is political optics, and California law does not allow governors to veto people’s parole because it will look bad,” said Hadar Aviram, a professor at UC College of the Law San Francisco and author of the 2020 book “Yesterday’s Monsters: The Manson Family Cases and the Illusion of Parole.”

And she said the same thinking will most likely affect Newsom’s upcoming decision on Krenwinkel, once the parole board’s decision becomes final in 120 days.

“What does he think people have an appetite for in this political reality?” Aviram asked, noting California voters’ approval last November of Proposition 36, which increased some sentences for drug crimes. “It costs him nothing to oppose (her release). In the worst-case scenario, the court overrules him again and she gets out.”

Newsom’s office denied a request for comment.

Manson ordered seven of his followers, including the 21-year-old Krenwinkel and two other young women, to kill nine people in three gruesome attacks in the Benedict Canyon area of Los Angeles in July and August 1969. 

During her trial, Krenwinkel admitted chasing Abigail Folger, heiress of the Folger coffee family, and stabbing her 25 times in the home of actress Sharon Tate, another murder victim, and then helping to kill grocery store executive Leno Bianca and his wife, Rosemary, and using their blood to scrawl “Death to pigs” on a wall.

Convicted of seven murders, Krenwinkel was sentenced to death along with Manson and three others in 1971. But the sentences were reduced to life with the possibility of parole after the California Supreme Court overturned the state’s death penalty law in 1972.

The voters passed a new law in 1977 making capital crimes punishable by death or life in prison without the possibility of parole, but those sentenced under the earlier law, including Krenwinkel, remained eligible for parole. Another ballot measure, approved by the voters in 1988, authorized the governor to veto decisions by the parole board.

In prison, Krenwinkel has a clean disciplinary record, earned a college degree and has taken part in community-service programs, working to support other inmates with mental illnesses. At her 2022 parole hearing, she said that after dropping out of school and becoming an infatuated member of Manson’s so-called family at age 19, “I allowed myself to just start absolutely becoming devoid of any form of morality or real ethics.”

In a statement released by Krenwinkel’s lawyers, Jane Dorotik, a former inmate and now part of the support group California Coalition for Women Prisoners, said, “Those of us who served time with her came to know her as a thoughtful, gentle, and kind person – someone deeply dedicated to creating a safe, caring environment.”

Relatives of the murder victims have not been persuaded.

“I beg the board to consider parole for Patricia Krenwinkel only when her victims are paroled from their graves,” Anthony Demaria, a nephew of victim Jay Sebring, testified at one of her hearings.

And Patrick Sequeira, a prosecutor in the murder cases, told the board that if Krenwinkel “truly understood her crimes and the horrific nature of it, she wouldn’t be here at a parole hearing. She would just accept a punishment.”

Not so, said her lead attorney, Keith Wattley, executive director of UnCommon Law, an Oakland-based firm that represents inmates seeking parole.

“Pat has fully accepted responsibility for everything she did, everything she contributed to, every twisted philosophy she embraced and endorsed and, most importantly, every life she destroyed by her actions in 1969,” Wattley said in a statement after the board’s latest decision.

“Now it’s the Governor’s turn to show that he believes in law and order when the law requires a person’s release despite public outcry.” 

Podcast - The Witches of Mendocino

River Wade does a podcast about crime, cults, and drugs in the Emerald Triangle region of Northern California.

Listen as Susan Atkins and 'The Witches Of Mendocino' create havoc in Mendocino County as they attempt to find new recruits for The Family. 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-02-the-witches-of-mendocino/id1711135839?i=1000630769677

Governor Newsom Reverses Krenwinkel Parole

 

Don Thompson

Published Oct. 14, 2022 6:15 p.m. PDT

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. - California's governor blocked the parole of Charles Manson follower Patricia Krenwinkel on Friday, more than five decades after she scrawled "Helter Skelter" on a wall using the blood of one of their victims.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said Krenwinkel, now 74, is still too much of a public safety risk to be freed.

"Ms. Krenwinkel fully accepted Mr. Manson's racist, apocalyptical ideologies," Newsom said. "Ms. Krenwinkel was not only a victim of Mr. Manson's abuse. She was also a significant contributor to the violence and tragedy that became the Manson Family's legacy."

A two-member parole panel for the first time in May recommended that Krenwinkel be released, after she previously had been denied parole 14 times. Newsom has previously rejected parole recommendations for other followers of Manson, who died in prison in 2017.

Krenwinkel became the state's longest-serving female inmate when fellow Manson follower Susan Atkins died of cancer in prison in 2009. Her attorney, Keith Wattley, said he understands Krenwinkel is the longest-serving woman in the United States.

She and other followers of the cult leader terrorized the state in the late 1960s, committing crimes that Newsom said "were among the most fear-inducing in California's history."

She was convicted in the slayings of pregnant actor Sharon Tate and four other people in 1969. She helped kill grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary the next night in what prosecutors say was an attempt by Manson to start a race war.

Newsom agreed that she has been well-behaved in prison, has completed many rehabilitation and education programs and has "demonstrated effusive remorse." But he concluded that "her efforts have not sufficiently reduced her risk for future dangerousness."

She still doesn't have sufficient insight into what caused her to commit the crimes or her "triggers for antisocial thinking and conduct" during bad relationships, Newsom said.

"Beyond the brutal murders she committed, she played a leadership role in the cult, and an enforcer of Mr. Manson's tyranny. She forced the other women in the cult to obey Mr. Manson, and prevented them from escaping when they tried to leave," he said.

Wattley did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages seeking comment on Newsom's decision.

But Anthony DiMaria, nephew of Jay Sebring, one of Krenwinkel's victims, had urged Newsom to block her release "due to the rare, severe, egregious nature of her crimes." He said her actions incited "the entire Helter Skelter legacy that has caused permanent historical scars" and inspired at least two ritualized killings years later.

New laws since Krenwinkel was last denied parole in 2017 required the parole panel to consider that she committed the murders at a young age and is now elderly.

Also, for the first time, Los Angeles County prosecutors weren't at the parole hearing to object, under District Attorney George Gascon's policy that prosecutors should not be involved in deciding whether prisoners are ready for release.

She and other participants were initially sentenced to death. But they were resentenced to life with the possibility of parole after the death penalty in California was briefly ruled unconstitutional in 1972.

Krenwinkel was 19 and living with her older sister when she met Manson, then age 33, at a party during a time when she said she was feeling lost and alone.

"He seemed a bit bigger than life," she testified in May, and she started feeling "that somehow his take on the world was the right, was the right one."

She said she left with him for what she thought would be a relationship with "the new man in my life" who unlike others told her he loved her and that she was beautiful.

Manson "had answers that I wanted to hear ... that I might be loved, that I might have the kind of affection that I was looking forward to in my life," she said.

Instead, she said Manson abused her and others physically and emotionally while requiring that they trust him without question, testimony that led the parole panel to conclude that Krenwinkel was a victim of intimate partner battery at the time.

It took about two years of traveling and drug use until he began emerging as "the Christ-like figure who was leading the cult" who began talking about sparking a race war and asking his followers, "would you kill for me? And I said yes."

Krenwinkel talked about during her 2016 parole hearing how she repeatedly stabbed Abigail Folger, 26, heiress to a coffee fortune, at Tate's home on Aug. 9, 1969.

The next night, she said Manson and his right-hand man, Charles "Tex" Watson, told her to "do something witchy," so she stabbed La Bianca in the stomach with a fork, then took a rag and wrote "Helter Skelter," "Rise" and "Death to Pigs" on the walls with his blood.

The bone-handled fork "was part of a set that we used at holidays ... to carve our turkeys," the couple's nephew Louis Smaldino, told parole officials, calling Krenwinkel "a vicious and uncaring killer."

Sharon Tate's sister, Debra Tate, the last surviving member of her immediate family, was among victims who dismissed Krenwinkel's explanation that she was led to Manson by alcohol use and a non-supportive family while growing up.

"We all come from homes with problems and didn't decide to go out and brutally kill seven strangers," Tate told parole officials.

Original story

UP DATE:

Cielodrive has just shared Governor Newsom's six page reversal decision with us. Thanks Cielodrive.

Decision

Charlie Says - Movie Review

    Charlie Says (2019) hit the theater as a limited release in 2019, and pretty much came and went, barely even registering a showing at the box office, only taking in about $37,000. Despite this poor showing, it is actually a pretty good film, well worth checking out. The movie comes at the TLB saga from a different angle- a post-murders, feminist slant. The production values are relatively good, and there are some decent performances. It is currently available on Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Roku. 

    When it comes to movies about the Manson saga, it is probably best to look at the films from two angles- how does it work as a movie, i.e. entertainment, and how does it fit into the whole area of Manson/TLB studies regarding accuracy. This film is not a documentary, so problems with accuracy should not deter you from viewing it. Word of warning: there is abundant nudity and sexual situation in the film.

     The source material for the movie is The Family by Ed Sanders, and The Long Prison Journey of Leslie Van Houten by Karlene Faith (the producers add a disclaimer at the end that the movie was made without the cooperation of Leslie and Katie. Susan had already passed away at this point). The primary focus of the movie is on Lulu, with Katie and Karlene Faith playing prominent supporting roles. Susan does feature as well, but not too as large a degree as the others. Charlie is of course in a large number of scenes, but he is not the focus of the film. 

    The film itself alternates between two time periods- the mid 1970s and the months leading up to the TLB murders. Karlene Faith is a grad student that is invited by the warden of the California Institute for Women to teach courses to Lulu, Sadie, and Katie, who are being kept in isolation after having had their death sentences overturned. Karlene is a feminist scholar and focuses part of the sessions with the girls on the premise that they may also be victims of Manson's abuse. As the story progresses, the girls come to some painful realizations about the lives they led with Manson and the horrors they took part in. 

    All of the actors involved do a good job, with some giving real scene stealing performances. Hannah Murray as Leslie and Sosie Bacon as Katie are very expressive and emotional in their portrayals. Marianne Rendon actually underplays Sadie, making her more pensive than the typical over the top crazy Sadie portrayals we have come to expect. Merritt Wever really nails the socially conscious and empathetic Ms. Faith. 

    Some scenes to look out for: Paul Watkins bringing a young girl to the ranch who doesn't fall for Charlie's act or his jailhouse pimp games, Melcher's visit to Spahn for Charlie's music showcase, Charlie's physical and sexual abuse of Sadie over salad dressing (this really highlights his misogyny and control over the women) and the final key scenes in the movie: the LaBianca's murders and the cut to the 'present' when it really sinks in for Leslie.

    The LaBianca's murder scene is harrowing. We see the casualness of Charlie dispatching them inside, the confusion and mounting terror in Lulu, Rosemary's desperate fight for her life against a knife wielding Katie as she hears her husband being murdered down the hall. It culminates with Tex and Katie prodding Lulu to stab Rosemary. Hannah Murray plays this scene to great effect, punctuating each stab with her own blood curdling screams. The look she has on her blood spattered face afterwards is powerful.   

     Now onto the actual history in the film. A lot of the Manson movies are hampered by the fact that there is an awful lot of information and back story to pack into a running time of around two hours. Out of necessity, things are left out or condensed for storytelling's sake, or put onto composite characters or other characters. Charlie says at times suffers from some of these faults. 

    The set at Spahn is pretty accurate, and it is actually the same set used in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. We also get to see Squeaky taking care of George (in more ways than one), Charlie orchestrating an orgy, Charlie's head games, the acid trips, Dennis Wilson, the Straight Satans, etc. these scenes come and go pretty quickly. 

     The motive for the murders is presented as being part Helter Skelter and part Manson's frustration at his derailed music career. After Melcher passes on Charlie's music, Charlie starts to spiral, becoming more and more aggressive in pushing Helter Skelter on the Family. Helter Skelter was mentioned in passing at first, but after this rejection, it takes center stage. 

    The filmmakers actually gave most of the women distinct, actual personalities, rather than the cartoonish portrayals they often get in some films. 

    The murders themselves receive little screen time. We are shown Tex and Sadie getting high on speed the night of Cielo. the murders at Cielo are condensed into a short but powerful scene of Sadie holding a terrified and pleading Sharon while Katie tells Tex to 'kill her.' Tex slashes Sharon's face and then the scene ends. The Waverly scene is slightly longer, but the actual murders aren't depicted in a graphic manner where we see Rosemary being stabbed by Leslie- we just see Leslie thrusting a knife over and over.

    Manson here is shown to be more of a con man and wannabe pimp than in some of his other on screen portrayals. He is shown to be manipulative more than he is shown to be some kind of mystical guru with extraordinary powers of persuasion and the ability to stop clocks. He uses a mix of drugs, physical abuse, sex, jailhouse games, and some pseudo philosophy in order to manipulate the Family members. 

      Overall, Charlie Says is one of the better Manson related films. The performances of the leads make it standout, and the portrayal of the relationships between the three women and Manson are fascinating to watch. It also includes a fairly accurate portrayal of life at Spahn.   

Patricia Krenwinkel - May 26, 2022 - Parole Hearing Transcript

Tobias sent me the link to Patricia Krenwinkel's most recent parole hearing over a week ago but I failed to notice in a timely manner as I've been outside hunting rabbits and earwigs in the hot Ohio sun. Thanks, Tobias. 

And thanks as always to cielodrive.com for stocking and hosting the Manson Family research library year after year. You rock, dude. 

Patricia Krenwinkel Will Soon Walk Among You

Just kidding. Old Gavin will arrive with Thor's hammer and smash the shit out of her in six months or less. 

At least for right now, Katie Marnie Reeves etc gets to dream about trips to Knott's Berry Farm and the beach and Stoner Van Houten's crib for a series of live shows. 

Does anyone think Krenwinkel will actually walk? 

Who Drove to Gary's?

via law.justia.com

Ella Jo Bailey testified for the People that she had known Manson since 1967 and travelled extensively throughout the southwestern United States with him, Mary Brunner, Patricia Krenwinkel and Lynne Fromme, and that they moved to the Spahn Ranch in 1968 where she met Davis and Beausoleil. 

Several times during May and June 1969, Manson talked to Bailey and others about "going out" to get money to buy dune buggies to go to the desert to live. In July of 1969 Manson talked to several members of the family about the need to get money and names were discussed of various persons from whom they could get money. Hinman's name was discussed and the fact that he owned a house and stocks and bonds. 

On July 26, 1969, Manson told Bailey and Bill Vance that he wanted them to go to Hinman's house and persuade him to join the "family" or sign over all of his property and automobiles. Vance said he had better things to do and walked away. That night at about 6 p.m. Bailey saw Manson talking to Beausoleil and Davis. Beausoleil had a knife (People's exh. 18) and Davis had a nine millimeter Radom gun (People's exh. 30). Subsequent investigation by officers established that Davis had purchased the gun under an assumed name. Bailey saw Brunner and Atkins dressed in dark clothes. Bailey saw Brunner, Atkins, Beausoleil and a fourth unidentified person drive off in [71 Cal. App. 3d 14] a ranch hand's car which was driven by the fourth person. Davis was still in the parking lot.

Gavin Newsom Dunks on Leslie Van Houten Again

Less than two months before Patricia Krenwinkel has another turn in front of the parole board, California Governor Gavin Newsom goes hard on crime and sends Leslie back to her room after saying she's still dangerous. 

Sometimes there are laws and rules and regulations. Other times, a rich person gets to decide your fate. 

But I gotta agree with the guv. This morning, a seventy-two year old woman stared me down at the IHOP while I ate my chocolate chip pancakes and extra crispy bacon. Lemme tell ya, I was relieved when I escaped the situation without violence happening to me. 

Leno LaBianca's Safe

 
This is hungry work.

Apologies to Hozier. A Super Bowl feast is cooking behind me while I type and I want all of it now. Thanks for letting me hang out with you today and also for my continuing education. 

- Let's also take a second to recognize the Col apologizing to Grim last week and Grim being all okay thanks we're cool. Tears flooded my eyes and I don't mean fake Sadie Mae Glutz ones. This bitter Manson world needs more of that. 

*Begins trashing others. 

Not really. I bring just a single question, a handful of photos, and several screen caps into the Colosseum today. Before we get started, let's give a quick shoutout to the almighty cielodrive.com for providing us with with both LaBianca Homicide Investigative Reports for our discussion.

#1

#2

Last week, I gleefully dove into a new rabbit hole hoping to land on a police document verifying the claim that an office safe at a Gateway Market store was wide open the morning after the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Neil Sanders adds the safe at Rosemary's dress shop to the list of opened safes. 

My gut feeling is all roads lead to Bill Nelson and the safes are nothing more than an often repeated opinion, but I'm wrong a lot and want to ask you blog readers. Do any of you have a police report that details open safes at LaBianca businesses the morning after their deaths? I failed in my quest to find one.

Being a rube scoot, I also learned Leno ran a second family company during the same search. This is from the 2nd report linked above. I broke the word salad into readable segments and fixed a couple of typos. 

Peter DeSantis, Leno's other brother-in-law, was interviewed and polygraphed at Parker Center. The polygraph exam indicated he had no guilty knowledge of the crime. 

DeSantis has been a lifelong friend of Leno and described him as "family." They worked together at the market for Leno's father in the '40's. Leno later ran the operation of State Wholesale Grocers, a second company owned by Leno's father. Smaldino, another brother-in-law, ran the Gateway Market chain. When Leno's father died the two companies were then managed by Leno, although they remained separate. 

DeSantis believed Smaldino resented Leno's being the boss as he, Smaldino, knew more about the business. Smaldino kept a constant check on Leno's activities in the business and Leno resented Smaldino's 'supervision.' 

Leno once commented to Norwood, when discussing how he was taking money from the company by writing checks, that he couldn't have done it when Smaldino was around because Smaldino checked him too closely. Leno's mother was the first to tell DeSantis about Leno taking money from the company. DeSantis claimed he was shocked, as the two had discussed ways to cut expenses to help the company. 

Leno told DeSantis in June 1969 that he was going to leave the company. DeSantis discussed Leno's future plans with him. Leno told DeSantis ha had no definite plans for employment. He mentioned going into an investment situation with three other men. Each man was to put up $25,000. The only man in the group that Leno mentioned was Bill O'Brien. 

After Leno's death, DeSantis learned he was planning to buy a ranch for $127,000 in Vista, California. DeSantis couldn't understand where Leno was to get the money to purchase the property, pay back the money he had borrowed from the company and go into the investment business. 

DeSantis is the regional head of a fraternal organization, The Sons of Italy. The region extends from Colorado to Hawaii. DeSantis refused the idea that the Mafia could have been responsible for the crime. He commented that if they had, he would probably have heard about it.

"Are you trying to get me killed?" - DeSantis

My brain wheezed into action. DeSantis is high up in the company. Is he the number two guy behind Leno? Why didn't DeSantis say anything about empty safes to investigators? If not him, who found the safe open and at which store? Which executive handled the matter with the police? 

And where is the police report? 

Off I went. The First Homicide Investigation Report misidentifies Rosemary's dress as a peignoir. 

That's a cropped photo of Rosemary. She's on her stomach and her dress and nightgown are pulled up over her head. Leslie destroyed her. The photo alone seems like it's enough to doom you forever if someone repeatedly shoves it into parole board folders prior to hearings. 

That's Manson in Emmons. Same source for the following. 

          Two quick takes from the above. Charlie hands Rosemary her dress for the sake of modesty, and Charlie declines Leno's offer of a trip to his store for more money. "All you want."

Common arguments against Emmons include Charlie split with the author when Emmons revealed too much, or when Emmons was outright lying. If what Charlie told Emmons is correct, he never considered removing Rosemary from the home. 

Three decades later, Author Neil Sanders -- in a book many call a ripoff of Schreck -- concludes Rosemary left with her hit squad because of the dress and where the boat was found. 

[Note: When Schreck's book arrives, I'll be back to compare the two. But for now, all I have in my library is Neil Sanders.]

Anyone with a link or recording of Charlie saying they took the LaBiancas to their stores that night, please send it along. More from Neil Sanders:

 

Let's check the source on that. From Bugliosi: 

Rosemary LaBianca was lying face down on the bedroom floor, parallel to the bed and dresser, in a large pool of blood. She was wearing a short pink nightgown and, over it, an expensive dress, blue with white horizontal stripes, which Suzanne would later identify as one of her mother’s favorites. Both nightgown and dress were bunched up over her head, so her back, buttocks, and legs were bare. Cline didn’t even try to count the stab wounds, there were so many. Her hands were not tied but, like Leno, she had a pillowcase over her head and a lamp cord was wrapped around her neck. The cord was attached to one of a pair of bedroom lamps, both of which had overturned. The tautness of the cord, plus a second pool of blood about two feet from the body, indicated that perhaps she had tried to crawl, pulling the lamps over while doing so.

Okay, cool. Bugs is about to mention the ride to Gateway and the dress shop, right? Let's keep reading. 

A second pink DOA slip was filled out, for Mrs. Rosemary LaBianca. Joe Dorgan had to tell Suzanne and Frank.

There was writing, in what appeared to be blood, in three places in the residence. High up on the north wall in the living room, above several paintings, were printed the words DEATH TO PIGS. On the south wall, to the left of the front door, even higher up, was the single word RISE. There were two words on the refrigerator door in the kitchen, the first of which was misspelled. They read HEALTER SKELTER.

Nope. 

The guy with the biggest book in the study never mentions a trip to Gateway. Why would Sanders include that info in his argument? Bugs never mentions it. 

I'm not a Bugliosi fan in any way. In fact, I'm the opposite. But it's worth mentioning the safes were not a part of the main discussion back in the 70's like they are today. 

Without a police report, what other empirical evidence exists that Rosemary wearing a dress, and a boat in the street, equals the Manson gang took Rosemary to her and Leno's businesses and left the safes open? And how is the evidence verified? 

The safes are enduringly fascinating. Proving it either way might mean a change on the mountaintop if someone is hungry enough. In the background, the argument has raged for more than a decade across Internet sites and in true crime books. Here's our Matt arguing with Starship on LSB so long ago. 

Matt said...

Starship, it wasn't just an article, and I don't believe that it's "bullshit."

Leno, at the time he met Rosemary was relatively wealthy and stood to inherit a great deal when his mother passed away.

While married to Leno, Rosemary is still sleeping with Frank Struthers and Reba Gage. After the murders, Frank Sr. tells police that Frank Jr will be coming into a large inheritance from his mother. Later, Frank Sr. accuses Suzan LaBerge of ripping off Frank Jr in his inheritance.

It is alleged that at the time Suzan had emptied out the house and, before the police could get to it, a safe at Gateway Markets and then threatened any of Leno's family members that got in her way. Some members of her family believe that Suzan had a hand in the murders.

While married to Leno, Rosemary seems to try a lot of get rich quick routes. She gets her real estate license, her insurance license, opens a dress shop, and eventually begins getting into real estate, stocks, and securities.

People assume that Leno's financial troubles were due to gambling. Others believe that Rosemary bled him dry by spending lavishly, buying a house that was beyond their means (Working Way) and eventually having him invest in real estate, stocks, and securities and forming dummy corps to hide their funds and avoid taxes.

While Leno's getting poorer, Rosemary may be getting richer and hiding the money from Leno in secret accounts.

To avoid financial ruin, Leno sells the house on Working Way at a large profit and buys the family home on Waverly. With that money he continues to make bad real estate investments - Myca Corp and a Riverside Parcel investment scam. And begins skimming off money from Gateway.

Leno misappropriated $200,000 from Gateway. They had a combined debt of $30,000 "their properties were extensively mortgaged."

In the meantime, Rosemary is moving out of her truck boutique and into a real store front - and possibly opened at least 2 others and co-owned (good friend) Lucy Larsen's Pet Shop.

These are not suppositions, Sunset. They are all in the police reports (the second one in particular).

Suzan LaBerge enters the narrative at some point as a safe robber if you're unaware. Not sure how she'd have the safe codes at Gateway but whatever. Outside of that, I don't have a ton for you. The safes have been talked to death. 

But I'm stubborn, and I'm trying to put a single fact into place here in the place where no sense makes sense. 

Might anyone have a police report? 

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

Bonus. When John and Leslie first locked eyes. 

Katie Is Eligible For Parole In 2022 - A Look Back

Patricia Krenwinkel has been down since before I was born. 

The third member of the Manson Family even if she thought she was the first for a few days, Pat met Charlie in Manhattan Beach in 1967 at the apartment of a friend Charlie shared with Pat's older half-sister. Lynette Fromme mentions the same former TI inmate amigo of Charlie early in her book. Fromme says Bill had surfboard feet and unwelcoming eyes or something similar. I'd like to know more about Bill if you've researched him already.

A quick summary of Pat's story is life was sad from the time she hit double digits. She was lonely, met Charlie, decided to take off with him, and it was a terrible decision. Pat turns seventy-five this year and has never been in trouble in prison since her incarceration more than half a century ago. She is the longest serving female inmate in the California penal system. In certain Internet circles, Krenwinkel is the personification of evil. 

Inmate Krenwinkel is not a threat to any of us yet we are taxed to keep ourselves safe from her. There's no way can we allow her to live out her years in a nursing home or assisted living facility on her own dime? Must the point be made until their hearts stop beating? 

LVH was a legal adult for less than a year when she committed her crime. A baby. She remains in prison in early 2022.  

But that's for another time. This is Pat's post. June 2017 was the last time she sat in front of political appointees who rotate through the story every three years in extended guest star roles. The appointees do this thing where certain aging inmates are granted freedom in a season's penultimate episode only to have the governor swoop in during the finale and nix the release. 

Pat's 2017 parole hearing was a continuation of the December 2016 hearing that paused when the Board adjourned and spent half a year researching whether she was a victim of Charles Manson. A highlight from this split-season occurs when Deb Tate takes a moment to make the hearing(s) about herself and announces Paul Tate hit her. Deb escaped Col Paul. Pat should've escaped Chuck Summers. 

Krenwinkel's fifteenth parole hearing takes place this year.

Thanks as always to almighty cielodrive.com for providing today's discussion materials. In addition to 2016 and 2017, Krenwinkel's 1978, 2004, and 2011 parole hearings are available there for download. I also included screen caps from a Word doc of Pat's 1988 hearing below.   

What a pickle. Krenwinkel was sixty-nine in late June 2017 when the parole board said go kick rocks for another half decade. First, Charles Manson dies in prison that November. Then, Barbara Hoyt passes in December on Katie's seventieth birthday. That must've hit like a Mack truck behind Katie's locked steel door. 

LVH was prettier. Sadie stole the show. They all sang in the hallway. The Times chronicled Manson's self-destructive courtroom behavior the day Charlie claimed Judge Older was biased. A fiction writer could not have created a better surname for a judge in this trial. 

The New York Times 

October 7, 1970 

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 7— Charles M. Manson led his three women co-defendants in another revolt in their murder trial today.

Brought into court for the first time since he tried to attack the judge on Monday, Manson stood defiantly at the defense table, his long hair swaying as he talked, and angrily accused Judge Charles H. Older of being “emotionally involved” in trying to see him convicted.

Manson, accused of planning a series of murders for his hippie “family” to carry out, was asked by Judge Older if he was willing to behave “in a proper manner” if allowed back in the courtroom.

“Proper?” asked Manson, folding his arms across his chest. He began to accuse the judge of not giving him a fair trial. The judge interrupted Manson. “Just answer the question,” the judge said. “Yes or no.”

“You want to hear my answer?” asked Manson. “If you'd be as detached as you're supposed to be, not be emotionally involved, and do your job as you're supposed to... I can't accept anything you've done. I can't accept the past for the future.”

“Remove Mr. Manson from the courtroom,” said the judge.

As Manson was being taken away by a deputy sheriff, the judge questioned the three women defendants—Susan Denise Atkins, 21 years old, Patricia Krenwinkel, 21, and Leslie Van Houten, 20.

Miss Atkins said in reply to the judge:

“You are not my judge. You are not my God. You may be these people's God. You're not mine.”

As Miss Atkins was led away, Miss Krenwinkel rose and told the judge:

“I'll judge myself. You don't speak my words. You are taking yourself to destruction. I do not accept this courtroom.”

Miss Van Houten silently shook her head when Judge Older asked her if she was willing to abide by the court's rulings.

“You are no longer my father,” she said.

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

Oh, Lulu. Did you know Judge Older and his wife raised three girls? Any parents reading this ever had multiple teenage daughters living at home with them at the same time? Anybody watch their sisters fight with their parents growing up? Dare I ask if any of us ever told a parent we wish we had other parents? 

Take a gander at Older's military record. Think he played games? Add four fools and a pencil to Older's eighteen kills.  

"Clang bang clang," snarled the handsome SoCal judge. "You put on quite a show. I sentence each of you to fry like bacon. Get your g-damned smart-mouthed pigtails outta my courtroom." 

Those might not be actual quotes.

Yunnanyi, China. Chuck Older is awarded the Fifth Class Order of the Cloud and Banner, and the Star-Wing Metal. Behind him is a P-40 Tomahawk. The photo is dated June 6, 1942. 

Older's Wikipedia page.  

Ronald Reagan appointed Older to the bench in 1967. The former US President is on the right in this photo from the Reagan Library. 

Reagan as George Gipp teaching the boys in South Bend how to go long.  

Power hates a vacuum. Clowning Reagan's ghost and what he represented is pain-free today. Not so much back then. Reagan and company had made their bones and were enjoying their rewards. The only place anyone was going was over to Buck Compton's annual steak fry. Revolution smevolution, losers.  

Early on, before monetizing them completely, Bugliosi might've believed the Family would someday get out of prison. I noticed a similar statement attributed to Stephen Kay but didn't pick up on any of that sentiment when reading these transcripts. 

1978: 

A longtime television aficionado, I often group everything into seasons in my mind. Casts included. Weird, but effective. Back in college, I discovered I could remember almost everything from lectures if I pretended the class was a tv show. Everyone has their memory tricks I suppose. 

This season kicks off with a bang. With his career in shambles after using a jailhouse confession to free an inmate who then went out and did horrible things, exiled Stephen Kay arrives from his Backwater punishment posting somewhat (but not really) unannounced in Episode One. Lemme tell ya, Kay ain't tryin to help Pat breathe fresh ocean air down at the Santa Monica pier. 

Krenwinkel's attorney S. Dana Gilbert is the first of Krenwinkel's lawyers on this journey who will point out that something is wrong or certain rules aren't being followed etc. The Board never cares. 

They're like dude, c'mon. She bent a knife on someone's collarbone. Let's keep it moving so we can avoid some of rush hour on our way home. 

Down the road, they stop apologizing. Reporters, cameras, lights. Sit there and shut your trap. Baby, you're a star. 

Stephen Kay is the only representative of the People at this hearing. He claims Pat carved "WAR" into Leno's stomach. She replies she did not. He says she admitted she did back in the penalty phase of her trial. 

Overall, without a prior hearing for comparison, this one is pretty tame. The Board gets their backstory and Pat's life post-sentencing. How can they be sure she won't join another apocalyptic cult if they let her go? Similar questions. Pat's crimes are eight years old. Outside of Kay's passion, the events of August 1969 seem like they took place decades earlier.  

1988:

Stephen Kay is back representing the People. Wendy Park is now Krenwinkel's attorney. The media has arrived. Attorney Park says, "Under rule number something point whatever, you're not allowed to have the media here and broadcast and turn on the lights and..." other exhausting things to type when you know the ending. 

Confused, the Board members glance at one another. The senior member mumbles, "What happened to the last guy? Do we have to break in a new attorney every time?" 

Park also tries to have Kay tossed out, like attorney Gilbert a decade earlier, because she wasn't given thirty days advance notice of Kay's participation in the hearing. If only documents had existed where potential surprises might've been identified ahead of time. 

No dice. Kay remains. The score moves to 2-0 in his favor. 

Attorney Park fights the good fight but her best efforts fail. The Board deliberates for all of forty-five minutes before sending Krenwinkel back to her room. This excellent post from 2015 goes much deeper into detail on the backstories of Pat and her co-defendants if you'd like to learn more or refresh.

AP News story covering Pat's 1988 hearing. 

2004:

July 7 

Now we're cookin with gas. Stephen Kay is back again. Deb Tate and representatives from the victims' families are there forevermore or until Krenwinkel's death. Donald Bartell is Pat's attorney. Krenwinkel is five years older than Tate and looks one hundred percent healthier. 

Physical fitness is not enough. Pat is torpedo'd before she leaves port. Presiding Commissioner Al Angele cites a recent psychological evaluation in the decision to deny parole. 

"'Psychological evaluation dated 3/30/04 by Peter Hu, H-U, was not supportive of release. The Doctor states an excessive dangerousness." 

Inmate is a 56-year-old Caucasian female who indicated that she had been brainwashed by Charles Manson and who in essence had ultimate control of her actions. She stated that despite her moral (sic) fear that she'd be killed by Mr. Manson, she was still unable to accomplish instructions he gave her regarding killing the victims. Although she has not done (indiscernible) dangerous within the past interval, I have some concerns with respect to utility for parole. She has yet to demonstrate an insight regarding her actions, she has yet to demonstrate remorse or regret for her actions and has not been able to recognize the loss of the victims' families suffered over the years. It is my opinion that she has maintained an habitual pattern of (indiscernible) and severity of the crime by acknowledging in a subtle manner that it was Mr. Manson who was ultimately responsible for the commission of these crimes. There is no current evidence of cult behavior or predatory type of like relationships that she had in the past and believe that her violence potential outside a controlled setting is less than the persons (indiscernible) innocent offense. I do believe her willingness to adhere to the rules and regulations of society and her years of maturity have caused the risk factor to decrease.

Stephen Kay Piles on: 

Deb Tate and the Next-of-Kin's do their jobs and it's see ya in 2011. 

2011:

This year, the show runners opened up the checkbook and brought in an all-star cast. Stephen Kay is back. Deb Tate reprises her role. Linda Deutsch. Reed Saxon. Patrick freakin Sequeira. 

Keith Wattley is Pat's attorney. The hearing opens in a familiar way. You're exploiting my client... 

Don't ever kill anyone. They'll turn you into a zoo animal for the rest of your life if you do something witchy enough. Mixups happened back at Parole HQ. Someone forgot to mention the hearing to the LaBianca family members. Deb Tate almost didn't get past the gate. 

I AM THE ONLY TATE. 

Deb Tate has a letter she says is from the LaBianca family. The Board is like is it okay with you if we read it? Wattley goes wtf I object. They say lol. 

Even if you skim this hearing, you should read Deb Tate's soliloquy at the end. Pure magic. Here's a big reveal in case you're unaware. 

 

Thank God she was smart enough to avoid the evil trap so many others fell into headfirst. Tate also has clinical hot takes on 12 Step Programs and other fields. I think she's probably some type of doctor. Two doctors maybe. In no way is she squeezing nickels from an old woman's dusty atrocities. 

We're left with a seven year cliffhanger. Krenwinkel is denied parole this time for not caring enough or not showing enough emotion when she groveled at the feet of superior minds. Something like that. The story kinda falls apart when Tate steals the show.  

2016/2017: 

Donna Lebowitz replaces Stephen Kay. Nga Lam is now Deputy Commissioner. Pat and Wattley are not ready for Judge Lam. No one is. Lam makes Sequeria look like a Manson apologist. 

New storyline this season. The 1980's had their Satanic Panic back when people were primitive rubes. We won't get fooled again. Now it's all about the kids. We gotta save the children. 

By 2016, America is fired up about child trafficking. Roman Polanski dated fifteen year old Nastassja Kinski in 1976 and no one said a word. Two years later, Katie was denied parole because the Board wasn't convinced she would not join a new cult. The young loves weren't given a thought. 

Today, Polanski has problems flying certain places because of his proclivities. 

Times change. 

Child trafficking is now also Patricia Krenwinkel's problem. She should've stopped Charlie or smuggled the little runaways across the Alps to escape the Germans. Anything. But her cruel heart is just too black. 

That was from a victim's family member. Again, this is the first we're hearing of sex with twelve year olds. 

Pat Krenwinkel is now a pervert. Lam tears at her flesh with his double row of razor teeth. Deb Tate tries to ensure no one forgets she's onstage but it's too late. We're already on IG, Twitter, and Facebook demanding more lines and scenes for Judge Lam. It's time to cycle Tate out. 

She's kaput.

Somebody call Bree Ford. 

"Psychologically speaking." I bet Bree Ford is never lazy with her adverbs. 

Anyway, they adjourn and say we'll be back in half a year. 

When they reconvene in June, Pat is shelved until 2022. Deb Tate closes it out with personal anecdotes. For example, Dr. Drew (her close personal friend) wanted to attend the hearing but could not. Other secrets are revealed in the word salad below.  

Everyone in that house were personal, very close friends, long-time friends of mine. I have in my hand a letter from Barbara Hoyt, just in case you folks only got a summary of the interview that she gave to the department of parole boards investigator, and, uh, then after that, there's some other things I would like to address. For me, personally, prior to me reading this letter, I would like to state that in doing tons of research and plus having a lot of personal friends, one being Dr. Drew Pinsky, who was very active in getting this law passed in the first place, it's clearly a division the way it has been interpreted today for this case between the medical definition and the way that it has been basically, excuse my French, bastardized for the purpose of this hearing. Drew was willing to come with me, but, um, we'll address that another day. Okay, here goes the letter: To whom it may concern, my name is Barbara Hoyt. I lived with the Manson family for f -- six months during spring through fall of 1969. I didn't interact with Katie, who's -- that was Ms. Krenwinkel -- very much, but during the time I was there, I never saw Charlie hit or beat her. I did see him hit Diane Lake often and Bo Rosenberg once. Diane Lake seemed to be his out -- outlet person. Charlie and his followers were certainly abusive to their victims. I have never seen Sadie, Katie or Leslie hit even once. Charlie never hit, and Charlie never hit her. We were all free to come and go at will. Charlie would try to talk the girls out of it by making love to them, and she provides an example, as in with Gypsy, or try to talk them out of leaving. He was very charming. The girls could be sexually partnered with each other or with any of the men. I heard that Katie would not have sex with anybody but Charlie because she thought she was ugly, which you are not ugly. If you think these killers are rehabilitated, think again. Katie went out to the LaBianca home, and without any hesitation, went to the kitchen drawer, took out the biggest knife and took Ms. LaBianca into the bedroom to kill her. She then repeatedly stabbed Mr. LaBianca s -- uh, several times in the stomach with a carving fork and then wrote messages in blood on the walls and refrigerator for the victims' family to find later. Katie cried, saying to the prosecutor and victims' next of kin, I know you want me dead. Not one of us have ever wished death on any of these killers. However, the killers did wish death on our family members, and I'm sure, in my case, since I get repeated death threats, they most certainly want to see me gone. 

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

Bonus:

LSD seemed harmless. 

And a blanket made from hair. 

Tidbits from my Chuck Older research. See you next week. +ggw