DeWayne Allen Wolfer

About a year ago Deb sent me almost everything that follows on DeWayne Wolfer. Thank you, Deb.

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DeWayne Allen Wolfer was born July 25, 1925. At the time of the Tate-LaBianca trial he was employed in the Scientific Investigation Division (SID) of the LAPD as a criminologist. While technically a police officer by pay rate, Wolfer makes it pretty clear in his testimony that he did not really consider himself to be one. 

 

On August 18,1969 Wolfer went to 10050 Cielo Drive to conduct acoustic testing with an assistant named Butler. To be specific, he went there to test whether Garretson could have heard the gunshots that night. He took a decibel or sound meter and a .22 long barrel, Colt version of the revolver used in the murders. 

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In Helter Skelter Bugliosi says this about Wolfer’s acoustic experiment. 

 

“Using a general level sound meter and a .22 caliber revolver, and duplicating as closely as possible the conditions that existed on the night of the murders, Wolfer and an assistant proved (1) that if Garretson was inside the guest house as he claimed, he couldn’t possibly have heard the shots that killed Steven Parent; and (2) that with the stereo on, with the volume at either 4 or 5, he couldn’t have heard either screams or gunshots coming from in front of or inside the main residence.* The tests supported Garretson’s story that he did not hear any shots that night.” (Emphasis added by me)

 

Bugliosi, Vincent; Curt Gentry. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders (pp. 71-72). W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition.

 

That’s not what Wolfer said at trial. But we’ll get there in a bit.

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At first blush Wolfer looks like a great witness. 

Wolfer had a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Southern California in chemistry or physics. He had served as a criminalist since 1951. He was a professor at the California State College of Long Beach where he taught 'criminalistics' and he had previously taught at the University of Southern California, El Camino College, Fullerton College, Santa Barbara College and Ventura College. He had testified hundreds of times involving firearms and ballistic matters. He had written the lab procedures manual for SID and he was a member of the American Association of Forensic Scientists.

 

His resume included acting as chief investigator and testifying in the trial of Jack Kirschke. In 1967 a deputy DA from Los Angeles County, Jack Kirschke, killed his wife and her lover. He was arrested and charged with the double murder, tried and found guilty in large part, according to the press, based upon Wolfer’s testimony that included a dramatic reenactment of the lover’s body falling to the floor to explain a sound heard by witnesses that helped undermine Kirschke’s alibi. 

 

Wolfer was brought in to testify in the closing days of the trial. He was the prosecution’s key witness. His testimony that it was Kirschke's gun that killed the two lovers and his testimony that one of the bodies fell off the bed because of a shift in blood after death was credited with Kirschke's conviction. His third area of expertise during the trial was to explain acoustically how several witness might not have heard the gunshots. He opined that Kirschke used a crude silencer. 

 

Kirschke was paroled in 1977. 

 

In 1968 Wolfer was the key ballistics investigator in the assassination of Robert Kennedy and subsequently testified in the trial of Sirhan Sirhan. He is the guy who testified that all the shots came from Sirhan’s gun. In fact, he said 'no other gun in the world' could have fired the shots. He also testified on an acoustics issue. The picture up there is from that case. 

 

Sometime in 1971-72 he became the chief of SID despite the objection of a number of people orchestrated by an attorney named Barbara Warner Blehr. These objections led to an investigation into Wolfer’s practices including the Sirhan gun. He was cleared of any wrongdoing by a LA DA ‘s investigation. 

 

Wolfer passed away in 2012.

 

Deb dug a little deeper and found a few blemishes on Wolfer’s resume. 

 

In 1975 Mr. Kirschke filed an appeal of his conviction. The appeal was denied by the Court of Appeals on grounds that are legally correct but here is what the court had to say about Wolfer. 

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"We conclude that while Wolfer negligently presented false demonstrative evidence in support of his ballistics testimony, Kirschke had ample opportunity to rebut the demonstrative evidence at trial so that the negligently false evidence is not a basis for collateral attack. (In re Manchester, 33 Cal.2d 740, 742, 204 P.2d 881; In re Waltreus, 62 Cal.2d 218, 221, 42 Cal.Rptr. 9, 397 P.2d 1001, cert. den. 382 U.S. 853, 86 S.Ct. 103, 15 L.Ed.2d 92.) We conclude further that while Wolfer's acoustical testimony was false and while his testimony on qualifications as an expert on anatomy was also false and borders on the perjurious, the opinion evidence given by Wolfer dealing with acoustics and anatomy pertained to essentially irrelevant matter and beyond a reasonable doubt could not have affected the outcome of the trial" (Emphasis added by me).  

 

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ca-court-of-appeal/1830296.html

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Ouch!

 

By 1980 Wolfer, now the head of SID, was suspended without pay for 30 days and his entire department was disciplined for a host of offenses including sloppy handling of evidence, drinking on the job and firing pellet guns out the windows. 

 

 

On November 24, 1988, an article appeared in the LA Weekly entitled Robert Kennedy: The Assassination This Time. The article followed the release of documents related to the assassination by the LAPD. Now, admittedly, the LA Weekly is not the LA Times. But here is what they say about Wolfer, referencing, in part, his issues from 1971 and the opinion of a colleague from that time that is far from flattering. 

 

 

So, according to this information and a court, Wolfer had a problem with the truth and used very sloppy or negligent techniques. He also is alleged to have fudged his results to get the DA what he wanted. 

 

Now back to Cielo Drive. 

 

Wolfer and Butler arrive at Cielo Drive at noon on August 18^th. So much for “duplicating as closely as possible the conditions that existed on the night of the murders”. 

 

In fact, very little about the experiment duplicated the night of the murders. Wolfer testified that Sergeant George Deese opened the rear door (pool?) and rear (nursery?) windows and ‘reconditioned the scene to its original positions’ (tipped over the trunks?). Humidity, wind, background noise and temperature were not compared even though Wolfer admitted they could play a factor. Wolfer appeared to not recognize that the rear of the house was actually the front of the house.

 

Butler then went to three locations on the property: where Parent’s car was found, near the location of the trunks and close to the front porch near the heel print. Butler fired five rounds at each location two times, towards the ground, into a sandbag. That too could effect the decibels recorded. So too, could Butler's position. If he was between the gun and the meter his body could help muffle the sound. 

 

Wolfer was inside the guest house near the stereo with the meter. Garretson testified he was on the couch (which would buffer the sound of the stereo) and at one point was at a window in the bathroom. Wolfer never changed his location.  

The first set of five were fired with the stereo off. The second set were fired, he testified at first, with the FM radio in the stereo on at volume “5”. Wolfer testified he could hear and register on his meter the first 5 but not the second five shots. 

 

He also testified that somewhere around volume 2-3 the shots could probably be heard but he wrote nothing down at the time regarding any test.

 

Fitzgerald: You are a man with an obvious scientific orientation, are you not? 

A. I would say yes. 

Q. And I take it that when the stereo was set at 3 you wrote down the reading on your decibel meter, correct? 

A. No, I did not. 

Q. Was there some reason for that? 

A. Yes. 

Q. What was the reason? 

A. My major reason was I was sent there to conduct tests at the setting of 5. 

Q. And you did not record the decibel level when the stereo was set at 4 either, did you? 

A. Mentally, yes, but recording it physically, no. 

Q. You are depending on your memory today when you testified as to the decibel level when the stereo was set at 4 and 3? 

A. Yes.

 

Stewart, Mike. The People of the State of California vs. Charles Manson Vol III (pp. 3290-3291). Kindle Edition.

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As an aside, one thing I have noticed about the defense lawyers in this trial is how utterly unprepared they were. When you try a case, you have a pretty good idea who the witnesses will be (in a criminal case the DA has to tell you) and prepare exhibits and questions based upon what you know. Now and again, you might have to lean over to your client in a civil case and ask, ‘who is this?’ but generally you know. 

 

During his testimony Wolfer denied he was an expert on acoustics, which should have brought an objection: irrelevant, since all he is doing is vouching for the credibility of Garretson. At that point no witness for the defense has challenged Garretson’s credibility. 

In Kirschke (and the RFK trial) he stated he was, indeed, an expert on acoustics and Bugliosi certainly qualified him with questions as an expert, generally although not on any specific subject. One of the things you do with an expert is check out how they testified before and maybe ask Wolfer what happened in the last three years to change his status. 

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Wolfer initially claimed he played the FM radio to record his test firings and then modified his testimony to include a record on the turntable but noted neither the radio station, the length of time needed to perform the test firings, the name of the record or which songs he played. 

 

Fitzgerald: Were you playing records? Were you playing tapes? Or were you listening to FM-AM through the stereo, or what? 

A. As I recall we were listening to FM—or there was a stereo record on. We did play the stereo record, too. 

Q. Was it any different? 

A. Basically, no, it wasn’t. 

Q. Do you remember what the stereo record was that you played? 

A. No, I don’t recall that I do.

Q. I take it you are an expert— 

A. May I finish? 

Q. I’m sorry. 

A. I did not know what the record was by name then. I never looked at the name of the record. It was on the turntable when we arrived.

 

Stewart, Mike. The People of the State of California vs. Charles Manson Vol III (p. 3292). Kindle Edition. 

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On August 18^th he did not simulate screams or yelling and thus did not conclude what was claimed by Bugliosi in Helter Skelter, above, that Garretson could not hear the screams. One has to ask why he didn’t make this test when in September, using off site locations like Knott's house, this is precisely what he did. 

 

Kanarek:  Now, in connection with the previous experiments that you ran, that you have already related to us concerning which Mr. Bugliosi has interrogated you, is it a fact that Officer Butler also used the word “Help” in the experiments? 

A. No. Officer Butler did not holler in the first series of tests, if that is what counsel is referring to. The first series of tests on August the 18th was conducted merely with the firing of the Colt revolver.

 

Stewart, Mike. The People of the State of California vs. Charles Manson Vol III (p. 3335). Kindle Edition.

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He did not make any notes during his experiment. Not one. 

 

Bugliosi: With respect to your experiment on August the 18th, 1969, the first formal written report you prepared was dated August 26, 1969, is that correct? 

A. That’s correct. 

Q. That is eight days later? 

A. That’s correct. 

Q. And you do not recall whether you made any report prior to that time? 

A. No, I mean I did not make any report. I might have made a verbal report, but I made no written report. 

Q. You don’t recall whether you made any notes prior to that time? 

A. No.

 

Stewart, Mike. The People of the State of California vs. Charles Manson Vol III (pp. 3409-3410). Kindle Edition.

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As he testified, Wolfer also did not immediately write his report. 

He wrote his report eight days later on August 26^th apparently from memory, using a form called an Evidence Analyzed Report. This report was subsequently lost. He wrote a second report on September 22, 1969, relating to efforts to hear shots and yelling from off-site locations.  At Bugliosi’s request he wrote a third report, October 5^, 1970, in a narrative form. But we only care about the first one. It was rediscovered the day of his testimony. 

 

All of this is very sloppy. Much of what a jury could learn from Wolfer would require them to rely on Wolfer’s testimony, not a report, which in turn was based in large part on his memory. They would have to trust he is reporting accurately and his history says he was not. 

 

Kanarek and Fitzgerald identified two issues with the August 26th report but neither asked the right question about those issues. Fitzgerald never asked the key question and Kanarek, being Kanarek, asked compound questions that likely baffled everyone in the courtroom. 

 

Kanarek did manage to point out that while the form had a specific blank where the analyzing officer was supposed to state his opinion about the analysis, this blank was not filled in.  In other words, his report does not express the opinion that Garretson could not have heard the shots with the stereo at 5. 

 

Kanarek had Wolfer read the August 26, 1969, report. Here is what it said. 

 

Q. Would you read that to us, please. 

A. August the 18th, 1969. Scene: 10050 Cielo Drive. 12:00 noon. Sound test. Colt, 9-1/2 inch barreled revolver, Remington golden L-R—which is Long Rifle. Sound level meter-General Radio Company.

 

Car position in driveway to the rear of house, 31 to 32-1/2 decibels. Front room to the rear of the house, 31-39 decibels. Car position in driveway to rear of house (radio) 78-78 decibels. Front room to rear of house, radio, and then in parens—I am sorry, radio was in parenthesis. Over this is “Set 5.” 78-78 decibels. Steps to the rear of the house, 31-42 plus decibels. Steps to the rear of the house (radio) 78-78 decibels. 

 

Blood samples, et cetera. Taken. Bullets examined.

 

Stewart, Mike. The People of the State of California vs. Charles Manson Vol III (pp. 3390-3391). Kindle Edition.

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It is never explained why he took blood samples or examined bullets, which samples or which bullets. You should note he refers to the rear of the house. Parent's car was not in the rear of the house. The front porch steps are not the rear of the house, either. 

Here is an Analyzed Evidence Report from LaBianca. The arrow points to the opinion section. 

Fitzgerald noticed that the First Homicide Progress Report dated, if I recall correctly, September 1, 1969, contained an opposite conclusion regarding Garretson and the gunshots but Fitzgerald never asked the right question. 

 

BY MR. FITZGERALD: 

Q. At the time that you went to the Cielo Avenue location to perform certain acoustical tests, did you have information that the tests, similar type tests, had been conducted by persons within your department? 

A. No, I did not. 

MR. FITZGERALD: I have nothing further.

 

Stewart, Mike. The People of the State of California vs. Charles Manson Vol III (pp. 3407-3408). Kindle Edition.

 

Wait! That’s the wrong question. He should have asked if Wolfer was aware of any such test, period. He then should have shown him the First Homicide Progress Report and asked him if it is referring to his test or another test.

 

The First Homicide Progress Report says this: 

 

“Investigating officers went back to the crime scene and reviewed the physical and acoustical aspects of the scene as related to what Garretson, who claimed to have been awake all night in the guest house writing letters, claimed he heard or saw.

 

In the opinion of the investigating officers and by scientific research by S.I.D., it is highly unlikely that Garretson was not aware of the screams, gunshots and other turmoil that would result from a multiple homicide such as took place in his near proximity. These findings, however, did not absolutely preclude the fact that Garretson did not hear or see any of the events connected with the homicide.” (Emphasis added by me)

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Remember on August 18^th Garretson, although released from jail with charges dropped, was still a suspect. In fact, in the report he is still suspect #1. 

Wolfer did not go to Cielo Drive to prove Garretson could not hear the shots. He went there to prove the opposite and that is likely why there is no opinion in the report and why the Homicide Report has that odd contradiction at the end of the quote.

 

I believe the SID reference is Wolfer. Given the above history, it is not a stretch to conclude that in August 1969 he would have testified that Garretson could hear the shots if Garretson was on trial. Garretson never would have testified. Whisenhunt would have said the stereo was not on. His testimony would be he could have heard the shots which contradicted his statements to the police. 

 

I should note that William Whisenhunt mentions an acoustic experiment two to three days after the murders during his testimony. 

 

Bugliosi: Did you return to the Tate residence a few days later? 

Whisenhunt: Yes. 

Q. Do you know when it was, approximately? 

A. I returned that day, the next day and the day after, for a period of three days. 

Q. Did you ever participate in any type of an experiment at the scene of the Tate residence involving the firing of a .22 caliber revolver?

MR. KANAREK: May we approach the bench, your Honor, on this kind of an interrogation? 

THE COURT: That question calls for a yes or no answer. 

MR. KANAREK: I think it is immaterial. There is no foundation. Certainly, there is no foundation. 

THE COURT: No. That question can be answered yes or no. You may answer. Do you have the question in mind? 

THE WITNESS: Yes, your Honor. The answer is yes. 

BY MR. BUGLIOSI: Q. When did this experiment take place? 

A. Sometime within the first three days. Approximately the 11th, I believe. 

Q. August the 11th? 

A. Yes. 

Q. ’69? 

A. Yes.

 

A side bar occurs after that answer which concludes as follows: 

 

THE COURT: Then there is the other question of whether or not the gun and the ammunition used in the experiment were similar to the gun and the ammunition fired by whoever shot Mr. Parent. 

MR. BUGLIOSI: Okay. I will pass it for now. 

MR. FITZGERALD: Also, the official reports of the Los Angeles Police Department indicate that they didn’t believe Garretson, and the reports of their tests were that they could hear. 

MR. BUGLIOSI: Really? 

MR. FITZGERALD: Yes. 

MR. BUGLIOSI: Do you have it? 

MR. FITZGERALD: Yes. 

MR. BUGLIOSI: I don’t have it and I asked for the reports about five months ago.

 

Stewart, Mike. The People of the State of California vs. Charles Manson Vol II (pp. 3650-3658). Kindle Edition.

 

Bugliosi is obviously referring to Wolfer (when he passes) and his missing August 26, 1969 report (in the last line). Fitzgerald is referring the First Homicide Progress Report. 

 

But Bugliosi says this in Helter Skelter, which, oddly, contradicts Whisenhunt's testimony. 

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Whisenhunt remained behind [at the guest house], looking for weapons and bloodstained clothing. Though he found neither, he did notice many small details of the scene. One at the time seemed so insignificant that he forgot it until later questioning brought it back to mind. There was a stereo next to the couch. It had been off when they entered the room. Looking at the controls, Whisenhunt noticed that the volume setting was between 4 and 5. 

 

Bugliosi, Vincent; Curt Gentry. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders (p. 13). W. W. Norton & Company. Kindle Edition.

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This is an example of the leading questioning Bugliosi inflicted on several witnesses in their interviews and points out the problem with his style. It is possible that Buglosi’s questioning reminded Whisenhunt that he saw the stereo between 4 and 5. Did he actually remember that or did Bugliosi supply that memory and why wasn’t the test done between 4-5 but only recorded at 5 in the August 26^th report? 

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There may have been another informal test on August 11 and that may be why Wolfer was sent to conduct a more scientific test seven days later. That makes sense. 

 

By the way, Garretson didn’t say he was listening to the FM radio which Wolfer certainly tested. He said this: 

 

Q. BY MR. FITZGERALD: Is that the entrance you customarily used for ingress and egress?

A. Yes. 

Q. Do you recall what you were listening to in the guest house on the stereo? 

A. Yes, some records. 

Q. Do you recall what the records were?

 A. The Words and The Mamas and The Papas—no, wait a minute—Mama Cass, and The Doors.

 

Stewart, Mike. The People of the State of California vs. Charles Manson Vol II (pp. 197-198). Kindle Edition.

 

I could not find a band called “The Words” in the sixties. I am guessing the stenographer mis-heard The Byrds.

 

I did some math using all the Doors albums and Byrds albums released up to August 1,1969 and the two by Cass Elliott: Dream a Little Dream, October 1968 and Bubble Gum, Lemonade and Something for Mama, June 1969. While they vary album to album, a side of an album comes in around 15-18 minutes with the early Byrds’ albums on the short side. 

 

As all of us who grew up with vinyl know, there are ‘dead’ spaces between songs. Not all songs have the same recorded volume (acoustic versus electric for example) and some fade at the end or start quieter and rock later like Stairway to Heaven or  You Can't Always Get What You Want. 

More importantly, you have to flip the album or put on the next one, unless you were dumb enough to stack them. Then you had to wait for the next one to drop. Wolfer says a record (singular) was on the turntable not records (plural). 

None of this was considered by Wolfer. 

 

A definitive timeline for the murders has never really been established. A clock says 12:15 a.m. and with some help from the police, Rudolf Weber remembers looking at his clock at 1:00 a.m. so let's just take five minutes off each end for Parent to reach his car and the murderers to reach Weber: 35 minutes or 30, I don't care. 

 

That means, during the crime, Garretson flipped the album at least once or put on a new album at least once. And during that time the guest house would have been quiet. And while Wolfer had the album right in front of him he didn’t test that either. 

 

Wolfer’s history suggests rather strongly that his investigation was likely negligent, leading to false results. The opinion of others suggests he would go so far as to create results for the DA. I think you see that when you compare his testimony (Garretson couldn’t hear the shots) to the First Homicide Progress Report (Garretson could hear them). 

 

Since I doubt the murderers paused, like an escaping Andy Dufresne, to wait for the next side of The Soft Parade to kick off, I think we can eliminate Garretson couldn’t hear the gunshots from the list of established facts. 

 

Pax vobiscum, 

 

Dreath with a lot of help from Deb

 

 

Once Upon A Time In Cielo Drive

10050 Cielo Drive, Los Angeles. It has been 53 years since the murders there in the summer of 1969, but the story surrounding them has not showed signs of fading away. The house, built in the 1940's for actress Michelle Morgan, also served as home to Lillian Gish, Candice Bergen, Samantha Eggar, and many other Hollywood celebrities. For those interested in the Tate/LaBianca murders, the story of this famous address probably acquires its greatest significance beginning on November 19, 1963. This is the date, according to his trial testimony, that Rudy Altobelli moved in to Cielo. Everyone who lived there contributes to the story of the house in some way, but it is the story of the events of August 1969 that endures.

Little appears to be known about Cielo from the time Altobelli purchased the property, to, say, when Terry Melcher moved in, renting the main house beginning on May 15, 1966, along with Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders. This all changes, of course, with the introduction of Charles Manson and Tex Watson into the story. 

Yet there is certainly a subset of this time, all but forgotten, if it were not for a few passages of witness testimony at the trials. To be sure, many witnesses contributed to this aspect of the story (the backstory), but this post will focus on a select few of these. These are parts of the story which are background, apocryphal.  According to his mother, William Garretson left his hometown of Lancaster Ohio in October 1968, hitching out to Los Angeles. It took Bill and a companion only a couple of rides to make it to California, and with not much more than change in their pockets.

William Garretson enters the story of Cielo in a rather strange way: he all but materializes suddenly into the narrative. Bill early on conveyed to his attorney, Barry Tarlow, that he encountered his future employer, Altobelli, while hitchhiking in Hollywood. Bill later confirms the same to LT. A.H. Burdick of the LAPD at Parker Center, along with everything else he was asked about Cielo.

 William Garretson in guest house at Cielo

W.E. Garretson in conversation with B.G. Tarlow

LT. Burdick interviewed Garretson on Sunday August 10, 1969:

Q How did you come upon that job?

\

A Well, I met Mr. Altobelli on--in Hollywood. And he, you know, he wanted--he's just got back from Europe, and he let some woman stay there before[in the guest house]that he knew for twenty years, and, you know, she partied every night and everything and the place was torn up and he--and just, you know, he told me if I wanted a job, I could come up and clean his house, and I was going to go back to Ohio in March, and I was picked up for Possession of Marijuana, and  it was lowered to Visitation. And so, you know, after that I was going to go back to Ohio, but he was going to Europe and he wanted to--he said the dogs liked me and everything, and he wanted to know if I would stay on while he went to Europe, then he would be back, you know, and he asked me, you know, he'd give me an airplane ticket home and everything.

Q Who was the woman who had your job before?

A Edith Stoltan(phonetic).

From this exchange we learn the most famous caretaker at Cielo had a predecessor, a certain Edith Stoltan. I could find no information on her, but apparently, she was a long-time friend of Altobelli, and equally, it would seem, as trustworthy as young Bill.

Again, Garretson:

Q But she lived in this house on--

A --when he went to Europe before.

Q On Cielo before?

A Yeah.

Q And she partied every night and he didn't like this?

A Well, that's from what I hear, you know, the place was a mess when I got there and everything. 

Q What place was a mess? 

A The guest house.

Q The guest house?

A Yes. She was taking care of the dogs and the bird. The bird died and everything...

(Tape Recorded Polygraph Examination of William Eston Garretson. Tape #32116. August 10, 1969 1625 hours.)

Guest house at Cielo, view of front door towards kitchen and bathroom. Notice the phone with the long extension cord on the table, along with the Budweiser beer cans.

 

During the trial, Rudy Altobelli, on the stand, corroborates Bill's story to LT. Burdick, and adds some detail. One detail that I find most interesting is the following exchange with Ron Hughes:

Q Now, did you know Mr. Garretson prior to your hiring him?

A No.

Q You just met him that day?

A No, I did not.

Q Well, he wasn't a friend, though?

A No.

Q How much previous to hiring him had you met him? 

A He had been hired way before that, when I first came back from Rome. I came back because of the heavy rains and I needed somebody to clean up some things, and Mr. Garretson was hired by me, and he seemed to be very nice and he loved the animals and the animals loved him. He seemed to be ideal to leave my dogs with. He seemed to be trustworthy.

(p. 14,781 Manson, et al trial testimony. Courtesy Cielodrive.com).

Q When you left for Europe in March did you know that Voityck Frykowski and Abigail Folger were going to live in the house in Sharon's and Roman's absence?

A I was told they were going to stay there, yes.

Q Did you know that they were going to entertain while they were there?

A No, that was not a question.

Q Did you know they were going to have large parties?

A No--

Mr. Bugliosi: That is assuming a fact not in evidence, your Honor. 

The Court: Sustained.

(p. 14,795 Manson, et al trial testimony. Courtesy Cielodrive.com).

Apparently the winter of December 1968 into early 1969 produced some very heavy rains and damaging floods in the L.A. area. No doubt this caused some storm damage at Cielo, and Bill Garretson was hired to help clean up the property (or was it just the guest house?), "way before" assuming the official caretaker duties at the guest house on March 24, 1969. It could have conceivably been in late 1968, during the heavy rains, but obviously before Rudy and Sharon Tate made their trip to Europe on March 24. Rudy hired Bill because he was "trustworthy". He had to have known Bill long enough and well enough to come to that conclusion. After all, Rudy had known Edith Stoltan for twenty years.

Rudy Altobelli

Hughes continues:

Q How long to Abigail Folger and Voityck Frykowski moving into the main house had you met them?

A I had met them at the party, I guess I was introduced to them at the house the day before. [March 23, 1969. The day before Altobelli and Sharon Tate left for Europe together]. It was very casual. I never had any conversation except for Abigail once, by telephone from London, when we were waiting for the plane to Rome, I was concerned about the boy in the back, and Sharon said I should call Abigail because she was a social worker and she could keep an eye on him and get him on the right path.

(p. 14,798).

Abigail Folger and Voytek Frykowski. Was Abigail keeping an eye on Bill Garretson?

At the trial, defense attorney Shinn cross examined William Garretson:

Q Have you ever been inside the Tate residence?

A Yes.

Q How many times?

A Twice.

Q What was the occasion?

A Well, before Mrs. Polanski, you know, moved in to, you know, the main house, I was there. I mean, you know, that was before anybody moved in.

Q Was this the first time you entered the house?

A And I was invited over another time.

Q Invited for what? For a party? For a dinner?

A No. That was when Abigail and Frykowski were staying there. They invited me over.

Q And how long did you stay?

A Five to ten minutes.

Q Did you have anything to eat or drink at that time?

A Just a beer.

Q One beer?

A Yes.

(p. 4,635).

Hughes continues:

Q And Christopher could that evening get out from the guest house on to the back patio, the double doors, as you indicated; is that correct?

A He could have gotten out. He could have been gone and I wouldn't have known about it.

Q And there was nothing to keep him, then, once out in the back patio from going around in front of the guest house up to the large residence; is that correct?

A Yes.

(p. 4706).

William Garretson waiting to be called to testify at Manson trial

Backyard of guest house at Cielo. Is this what Garretson referred to as the "little place"?

Bugliosi & Garretson:

Q The three dogs that you took care of for Mr. Altobelli, where were they that night?

A They were staying with me in the living room.

Q Did they leave the house at all during the night or did they stay with you the entire night?

A Yes, I had the back door open on the patio by the stereo.

Q Did they leave during the night or did they stay with you inside the living room?

A Well, the Weimaraner left. The larger dog.

(p. 4,636).

Cielo guest house. View from front door towards stereo

If Edith Stoltan liked to party in the guest house, Bill kept it rather respectable by comparison. But this did not stop Bill from entertaining guests while in residence. To be sure, Bill Garretson became lonely, and did what lonely people do: he reached out for companionship. These companions included, principally, Darrell Kistler and Roy Plank, both of whom were from Bill's native Ohio.

Students of this case will remember Kistler and Plank from Bill's recorded polygraph examination. They both factor significantly, and were of keen interest to LT. Burdick. Bill volunteered that he asked Kistler, who just returned from Vietnam, to live with him in the guest house in late May. He lived with Bill for about a month. This came to an abrupt end in late June when Bill threw Kistler out for stealing bottles of champagne from the main house. How Kistler accomplished this is unknown, but it happened on more than one occasion. Undoubtedly this was champagne that was delivered to Cielo, and perhaps left outside by the front door, or at the service porch area in the rear. It should be remembered that Billy Doyle loved champagne, and Abigail Folger did give champagne as a gift, at least to Witold-K for his birthday, which was in May).

Roy Plank high school yearbook photo, fourth row, last picture

I could find no photos of Kistler anywhere on the internet, and no yearbooks that I was able to locate had a photo of him in them, either. The same can be said for Patricia Montgomery, although her name appears in lists of graduating students of Indio High, at places like Classlists.com. The girls did not live at Cielo, but had occasionally stayed overnight, according to Bill Garretson. When Bill kicked Kistler out, the girls left with him, returning to Indio. LT. Burdick asked Bill if both girls were from Indio, and Bill replied, "[Y]es, both the girls." Apparently it was Debbie Tidwell that Bill favored.

Debbie Tidwell yearbook photo

Another visitor to the Cielo guest house, according to Bill Garretson's interview with LAPD, was Roy Plank. Roy and Bill were classmates in high school back in Lancaster Ohio. Plank was a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, who ultimately went A.W.O.L. and wound up being apprehended in Lancaster. Very little is known of the whereabouts of Plank and Kistler immediately following the murders of August 1969, but I was able to locate some newspaper clippings. This from the Indio Desert Sun: 

"Driver Has Repeating Accidents"

"Indio--An accident looking for a place to happen happened twice Wednesday night, in Palm Desert, and between Palm Desert and Indio. Booked at the Indio Sheriff's Sub-Station on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol after the accidents was Darrell Kistler, 23, of 80-521 Highway 111, Indio, a California Highway Patrolman said. 

The first accident occurred at 9:45p.m. at the Security Pacific National Bank at 74-011 Highway 111 in Palm Desert. According to the CHP officer, Kistler, driving a panel truck, attempted to drive into the bank parking lot, missed the driveway, knocked over an entrance sign, backed up into the bank wall and also broke off a sprinkler...

At 11:30p.m., on Highway 1121, 1300 feet west of Dune Palms Road, the panel truck, driven eastbound by Kistler, crashed into the rear of another eastbound vehicle driven by John Bailey, 48...Taken to Indio Community Hospital and treated for minor injuries and released after the crash were Kistler and two passengers in the Bailey vehicle..."(Desert Sun, Volume 44, Number 229, 29 April 1971).

Darrell Kistler obituary notice from the Lancaster Eagle Gazette in the 1980's. Unfortunately he died a young man.

Roy Plank died in 2014 in Lancaster Ohio while mowing the grass. Apparently he had a heart attack.(Lancaster Eagle Gazette, August 11, 2014). I did manage to locate Debbie Tidwell on social media, and reached out to her, asking if she would care to comment on the summer of '69 at the guest house on Cielo. I have not received a reply from her.

Other regular visitors to the guest house were brothers Tom and Dave Vargas, gardeners employed by Rudy Altobelli since about 1965 at Cielo. The brothers tended to the Cielo property twice a week professionally, and when they were not working there, they used the guest house, shall we say, recreationally. According to Garretson, it was Tom Vargas who visited the guest house Thursday night, August 7, 1969. Accompanying Tom that evening was his girlfriend. Tom bought Bill the now famous Budweiser beers that--along with a couple of joints and a Dexedrine capsule--got poor Bill rather sick, causing him to feel somewhat fragile Friday August 8th.

Tom Vargas, like his brother Dave, were married men. Dave, it appears, brought his girlfriend to Cielo, but parked outside the gate to the property for their fooling--around sessions. This would probably have been in about the same place where Tex Watson would park the car on Friday August 8th when he cut the phone lines to Cielo.

LT. Burdick continued to question Bill Garretson:

Q What have you seen going on there that is different?

A I never seen--well, that night?

Q Any time?

A Oh, maybe one time I seen that--I don't know, I--I was asleep and I woke up, and that was when Darrell was living there and those two girls were staying that night, and they were over in the pool swimming and I went over there and they said that they'd seen Polk (phonetic)--Sharon wasn't there yet, I don't think, on mescaline--that somebody was on mescaline or something.

Q I didn't hear you.

A Somebody was on mescaline or something that lived in the main house. That was what they told me. 

Q How would they know this?

A They said that they told 'em.

Q They told them? What do you mean?

A They told them that they were on mescaline or something.

Q Someone that was in the main house told the two girls that were visiting you that?

A Yeah, yeah, and that they were on mescaline or something--I don't know.

***

Q How many times have you been in that big house, the main house?

A I think about twice.

Q When was the last time?

A That's when they asked me over one time. Abigail and the young Polanski. And they asked me--they asked me up. Abigail called me up and asked if I didn't have to go to court the next day for a (*) Possession of Marijuana charge which they lowered to Visitation. They wanted to talk to me, and that was the last time I was there. 

Q They wanted to talk to you?

A Yes.

Q About what?

A About going to court. 

Q What did they tell you?

A Well, it seemed like they were really concerned, you know, because Mr. Altobelli left and she, you know, he left with Mrs. Polanski, and she seemed a little bit concerned, you know, what was going to happen, if I was going to get, you know, a probation or whatever. You know, we discussed it. That was the last time I was there.

Q Did they offer you any narcotics?

A No.

Q Did they ask whether you could get some information for them? Or could you get some from them?

A They offered me a beer when I was there.

Q Offered you a beer?

A Yeah, or a glass of milk.

Q That was how long ago?

A Let's see, that was in March--middle of March.

Rudy Altobelli further contributes to the story of Cielo by filling in more gaps, and by expanding upon the association between Abigail and Bill while occupying the property. To me at least, Rudy placed an enormous amount of trust in both Bill and Abigail while they lived at Cielo. According to Altobelli's testimony, he met Abigail and Voytek for the first time on the day before he and Sharon left for Europe. Within a week Abigail and Voytek would be fully moved into the main house, while they invited friend and artist Witold-K to occupy their rented house at 2774 Woodstock in Laurel Canyon.

Altobelli, however, was concerned about Bill living in the guest house on his own, so Sharon suggested that Abigail keep an eye on him as she was a social worker. The ultimate extent to which she and Bill had contact is unknown, but through testimony we learn that Abigail and Voytek did offer Bill rides down to Sunset, and possibly back up to Cielo. Bill claimed that he was never invited to any gatherings at the main house, probably in an effort by Abigail to distance him from outside influences? Obviously Abigail and Voytek knew about Bill being charged with possession of marijuana, and were at least concerned about it.

Thus far, the story of Cielo, after Rudy Altobelli moved into it, may appear to be idyllic. We may imagine lazy summer days and evenings by the pool; famous and beautiful people coming and going; the gardeners performing their work; housekeepers keeping house; neighbors visiting. Everyone involved with these vignettes could, and in many cases did, contribute to this story: Samantha Eggar, Terry Melcher, Candice Bergen, Mark Lindsay, Witold-K, Billy Doyle, Debra Tate, Maureen Serot, Seymour Kott, Winifred Chapman, Tom and Dave Vargas.

Had this gone on uninterrupted, the world may have never heard about 10050 Cielo Drive. That is, of course, until Susan Atkins took over as a storyteller, and essentially created the official narrative of Cielo Drive for all time.

Susan Atkins, author of the master narrative

Unknown to Bill Garretson during the night of August 8, 1969, was that both his story and duties at Cielo Drive would fade, only to be usurped by the story Atkins would weave, literally while he wrote letters and listened to the music of the Doors and Cass Elliot. On that night, as the crickets chirped, the inflatables nudged each other in the pool, and the wind chime hanging by the front door gently sounded its song, the first word of Atkins' enduring narrative would be scrawled in blood on the front door. And perhaps, just perhaps, Patricia Krenwinkel became the last visitor to the guest house, attempting to gain entrance, but failing. It is in this failure that the transference of the story from Bill Garretson to Susan Atkins is solidified: Bill Garretson indeed lived to tell his part of the story, but the story of Susan Atkins would eclipse it, becoming the story of the "crime of the century".

 Linda Kasabian would confirm and amplify the master narrative

THE INTERSTITIAL PERIOD:

After the murders at Cielo, and with the conclusion of the immediate first week of the investigation, is a part of the story that I call, the interstitial period. It is a time of the continuing story, extending into the early '70s, but with several new storytellers. One of these is actress Olivia Hussey, star of the film, Romeo and Juliet in 1968, and directed by Franco Zeffirelli.

Ms. Hussey enters the pre-murder Cielo story as a footnote. In her autobiography, Olivia details how she factored into Cielo Drive, by meeting with Rudy Altobelli and the actor Christopher Jones.

Olivia Hussey autobiography book cover

It begins with Olivia, who was living in London in 1969, received a call from Rudy Altobelli. Both he and Stuart Cohen were managing young actor Christopher Jones, and Jones prevailed upon Altobelli to call Olivia, inviting her to dinner. Olivia and Christopher apparently got on well together, and before long, she was visiting him on the set of his latest movie, Ryan's Daughter.

Christopher Jones and Olivia Hussey

Olivia developed a relationship with Jones, and became very close to Altobelli as well. Soon enough, Rudy asked Olivia if he could manage her career. Olivia acquiesced, and thus began the professional and personal friendship with Altobelli that would ultimately bring her to 10050 Cielo Drive. Shortly thereafter, Olivia received word that she was to be a recipient of the Donatello award for best actor of the year(rather like the Oscar)in Italy. Before leaving, Rudy made a phone call to California, and spoke to Sharon Tate, who along with Roman Polanski had rented the Cielo main house that spring. The Donatello award ceremony was held on August 2, 1969. Olivia spoke to Sharon the day before, on August 1st, a mere week before Sharon's death.

Rudy then handed the phone to Olivia, and as she described it, Rudy said, "Olivia, I want you to say hello to a lovely woman who's looking forward to meeting you. Her husband is the director Roman Polanski. Her name is Sharon Tate." She went on to say, "Sharon Tate sounded warm and friendly. She told me that she adored me in Romeo & Juliet and that I must come out to LA so I could meet her, Roman, and their new baby, who was expected any day."(Olivia Hussey, The Girl On the Balcony. Kensington Publishing Group, 2018. p. 106).

After the Donatello award ceremony, Rudy introduced Olivia to Roman Polanski, who also received an award. Olivia recalled, [H]e talked about Sharon and moving to Los Angeles, he talked about how beautiful Rudy's home was and how I must come and see it if I ever found myself in LA. As I left that night, I thought how nice it would be to spend time with this couple."(Hussey, p. 107).

Roman Polanski receiving his Donatello award, August 2, 1969

Later, the relationship between Olivia and Christopher Jones began to take a dark turn. Jones was obviously significantly mentally ill, brooding, and sometimes violent. Rudy tried to help, but to no avail. After Jones' film wrapped, Olivia called their relationship a wrap--she had had enough. To be sure, during the filming of Jones' movie, while he spoke to Oliva alone one night, he punched her violently in the abdomen. But while still involved with Jones, Olivia began a friendship with Dino Martin, son of legendary film actor Dean Martin. Dino himself would ultimately enter the story of Cielo, dating and later marrying Olivia Hussey.

Altobelli convinced Olivia to move to L.A. and she agreed. But she had one problem: she had nowhere to live. To Rudy, this was no problem at all, and he offered her the bedroom at Cielo in which Abigail and Voytek had been staying. She would move in during September 1969. But five weeks before moving into the main house, the murders took place. As Olivia claims, "Rudy was still in Italy when he received the call with the news...I didn't know Sharon, having only spoken to her on the phone that one time. I did know Rudy, and I saw how much it affected him: He had known Sharon. The crime was vicious and senseless, and it happened in his home. Which would be my home for the next four years. Let me say simply that the whole time I lived at Cielo Drive there was nothing strange or macabre about it. I was still very young, and by the time I arrived all traces of the crime had been erased. Certainly something awful had happened there--it was sometimes odd to stand in the living room and look out at the front lawn, knowing that those terrible things had happened right there--but it was not the house's fault. As someone once said, evil does exist, but it is always human."(Hussey, p. 113).

Olivia Hussey poolside at Cielo and in the former bedroom of Abigail and Voytek

Olivia Hussey in 1969

However, the interstitial period was not without its problems for Olivia Hussey. When she moved into Cielo, she was informed by Altobelli that, since he still represented him, and because he had nowhere  else to live, Christopher Jones would move into the guest house, just a few weeks after William Garretson vacated it. Jones was instructed by Altobelli to keep his distance from Olivia, and for a while, Jones did just that.

Meantime, Olivia enjoyed her new friendships with the Hollywood elite, including young Dino Martin. She enjoyed Hollywood nightclubs and meeting people who came to Altobelli's parties at Cielo. Olivia said of Altobelli, "Rudy, I was learning, had a malicious streak and a medieval kind of humor: He laughed loudest at others' misfortune or embarrassment. It was not a pleasant quality, but more often than not it was obscured by his flamboyant, circus-act personality."(Hussey, p. 120).

Olivia met Terry Melcher, who according to Tom O'Neill in his book, Chaos, revealed that Terry moved back into Cielo not long after the murders. Terry and Olivia began a "very casual" relationship, but ultimately she found Terry "brooding and moody and always high, and after about a month our relationship fizzled out."(Hussey, p. 121).

Terry Melcher at Manson trial

Olivia lived the good life at Cielo, which included, as she says, smoking weed with Altobelli. And ostensibly, like many in her circle, she was not frightened away because of the murders in August. But evil had not entirely left 10050 Cielo Drive after the murders. One might think that with the rise of the sun on Saturday August 9, 1969, the evil specter of the night before would have vanished, frightened away by the dawn. This was not the case, as Olivia unfortunately soon would learn: 

"There was a standing lamp in the corner of my bedroom[Abigail and Voytek's]at Cielo Drive. When the door was pushed open, say by one of Rudy's two dogs, a shadow would slide slowly, like an eclipse, from the ceiling to the floor...One night, I was almost asleep when the shadow began to move across the room. Out of habit I dropped my hand down off the bed and waited for Lady, Rudy's German Shepherd, to find it and snuggle up. This time, though, it wasn't Lady; it was Christopher. And he closed the door behind him. The next five--and--a--half hours were the worst of my life. Christopher was hearing voices. He was twitching. He was so far gone it was shocking.(Hussey, p. 124).

Olivia goes on to detail the terror of the night, describing how Jones beat and then raped her. Jones left the former bedroom of Abigail and Voytek at 5:30AM. "After a while, I managed to get up and walk gingerly into the kitchen, where Rudy took one look at me and started to scream."(Hussey, p. 125). With that, Rudy Altobelli immediately threw Christopher Jones out of Cielo forever.

Long story short, Dino Martin came to Olivia's rescue, and the two fell in love. The rape resulted in a pregnancy, and Olivia decided upon an abortion, as she did not want a child to link her to Jones. In the end, Martin and Olivia were married, and had a child together.

Olivia Hussey and Dino Martin. At Cielo?

The interstitial period saw many people come and go from Cielo Drive, including a certain Robert Conrad(not the actor), an exchange student from Yugoslavia studying design at UCLA. According to Rudy's testimony at the trials, Conrad was hired as a houseboy(probably to assume the duties of the previous caretaker, William Garretson), from February to August 1970.

Bob Esty and Stuart Cohen in the living room of 10050 Cielo Drive, 1970's

Bedroom of Olivia Hussey at 10050 Cielo Drive, formerly occupied by Abigail Folger and Voytek Frykowski

After the early 1970's what I call the interstitial period comes to a conclusion, ending as ambiguously as it started. Of course, many more years of the story of Cielo Drive would follow, with the addition of many now famous storytellers. Sadly, and for reasons unknown to me, Rudy Altobelli decided to sell his beloved house on the hill, in the late 1980's. He purchased the property in 1963 for $86,000, and sold it for $1.6 million. According to Tom O'Neill, both he and Altobelli--who had became friends--visited Cielo one evening after the original house had been demolished, and replaced with the house that presently stands there. It was a melancholy visit. Says Altobelli, "I lived in that house twenty--five years, four months, and thirty--eight hours[.]" O'Neill went on to say that Altobelli wound up living "in a converted garage in a neighborhood known for its gang activity."(Tom O'Neill, Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties. Little Brown and Company, 2019. p. 106).

Front yard of 10050 Cielo Drive, October 1, 1969

Pool area of Cielo

The house that occupies the former 10050 Cielo Drive property is currently up for sale, for a paltry $85 million, if one felt so inclined. Obliterated are the neat front lawn, manicured hedge and gardens, so treasured by the inhabitants of the original 10050. The utility pole that Tex Watson climbed has been moved to the other side of the road, but one of the original majestic fir trees in the front yard remains, known as the "Abigail Folger Tree," as it stood very near where Abigail died in the front yard of 10050.

I suppose if the hill on which this famous property sits could speak, it too would have a story to tell. We continue to hear about this famous address by Tex Watson and Patricia Krenwinkle at their various parole hearings, essentially parroting the official master narrative of Susan Atkins. But long after the Tex Watsons and Patricia Krenwinkles of our current world depart, we no doubt will not have heard the end of the stories of Cielo Drive. And we never will.