Take the Back Alley to Langley - Part Two

Reeve Whitson - Junior Year of High School 

Part One Introduction 

This is a quick section. Just a little fact check on O'Neill's version of Whitson's early years and we'll be out the door.

Whenever I decide I've discovered the most interesting person in this study, a new rabbit hole opens in front of my fingertips, and down I go. Without fail, I search every time for a starting point long before the subject enters our realm. I need to see them as people. 

I look for the usual stuff. Hopes. Dreams. Were they loved? 

Truth be told, love isn't something I always find on these dark roads. Imagine if some connection existed between unloved children and bad outcomes. Talk about possibilities. 

I'll stop there. Bootstraps arguments are pointless. We've already had them and it's not like monsters and heroes appear fully formed the first time they emerge from the shadows anyway. That stuff only happens in movies. In real life, monsters and heroes walk beside us every step of the way. 

Online, I followed Tom O'Neill's research team to Reeve Whitson's relatives. Figuring out who's who isn't super hard. Crime dogs always stop when they discover someone they can call. Paper trails only need to stretch that far. 

Here are the things I found while attempting to confirm O'Neill's backstory on Whitson. Thankfully, my ride through history was easy this time. None of the snow was unplowed. 

Reeve's father was a circus performer in a successful family business. He had representation in the Big Apple. 

Reeve's mother took him to London while she worked. I thought she was an actress but O'Neill says she's a dancer. He's probably correct. 

Whitson took part in school activities you might expect from the son of performers. Drama. Singing. Instruments. He also stayed fit. All in all, Reeve was a handsome overachiever. I found an honest smile in almost every photo. 

Basketball team manager.

This one will make Tobias happy. Whitson ran Track! 

O'Neill tells us in Chaos that Whitson went to Indiana University after high school but I couldn't find anything. Someone has locked down several Whitson photos online. That cruelty knows no bounds.  

Buntline, where for art thou? An ROTC type photo would be fantastic right about now. 

My research into Whitson's backstory made me feel like O'Neill didn't fudge anything. I didn't expect any funny business but found myself pleasantly surprised nevertheless. I'll be back with more screen caps from Whitson's public life in subsequent sections. For now, let's leave Whitson in the stands of an early 1950's Hoosier basketball game and jump to 1969. 

At least this time, the person actually exists. See you in Part Three. 

Take the Back Alley to Langley - Part One

Reeve Whitson - Freshman Year of High School 

Did photographer Shahrokh Hatami doom Sharon Tate and her friends one March morning in 1969 after a confrontation with Charles Manson at the Cielo front door? Were Rudi Altobelli's tenants cursed that evening when the Rudi told Charlie he'd be in Italy for a year after Charlie stood in front of the guesthouse and said he'd like to talk more in the future? 

Was Manson even there that day? Hatami wasn't sure. Mighty Max Frost, I am reaching out with my mind. Beep boop tell me what Rudi said. 

Today, we're exploring Tom O'Neill's claim that a possible CIA agent named Reeve Whitson has been left out of the Manson study history. According to O'Neill, after hearing Hatami's story, Whitson delivered his friend Hatomi (and his Ides of March tale) to Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, and then sat in on the unrecorded interview.  

-  Here is Hatami's backstory in case you think he's some hanger-on with a fancy camera who took a two year degree at Santa Monica College after UCLA laughed at his high school GPA and asked him to jump through hoops before achieving main campus status. Hatami was no state school guy. 

 - Here is Bugliosi's closing argument in the Manson, et al, trial. Photographer Hatami is mentioned fourteen times. 

During the trial, Bugliosi argued that Hatami's high-handed dismissal at the Cielo  to the guesthouse sent Charlie over the edge. Bugs asked about Hatami's aggressive posture, tone, and had him describe how he jabbed an index finger toward the guesthouse when dismissing Manson. 

- Here's a newspaper article from a courtroom reporter (via the almighty) if you are new to our study or desire a quick refresh on Hatami's testimony.  

Others weren't so sure about the encounters. Filmmaker and author Robert Hendrickson smelled a rat and believed Bugliosi needed those March 1969 confrontations to convince the jury Charlie visited Cielo before the murders took place and had an axe to grind after the Hatami and Altobelli brush offs. Hendrickson was so passionate about about Bugliosi's duplicity that he continued his argument across two Hatami posts in our blog library. 

- This video in Matt's post from 2014 shows Sharon and Hatami in better days. Hatami is the shirtless hunk. Sharon is as pretty as pretty gets. Hatami's girlfriend is hanging around because she's no fool. 

That fateful day in March, Hatami takes the chivalry route when an uninvited man reaches the Cielo front door. Not shocking. Manly man exhibitions in front of attractive women have always been a thing, even if sometimes it's only pretend. 

According to author Tom O'Neill, Hatami first shared his Charlie encounter story with possible CIA agent Reeve Whitson. The son of an actress and a circus acrobat, Whitson enters our story when Tom O'Neill has Whitson phone Hatami early that Saturday morning we all know so well before anyone else discovered the bodies up on Cielo. 

In O'Neill's Chaos, Whitson claims to friends he was the CIA surveillance team watching the Cielo house. He was supposedly on the scene early that fateful Friday but didn't stick around. According to his friends, Whitson forever lamented his inability to prevent the killings.  

We need to back up a bit because things are already not making sense. How does Reeve Whitson, a rumored CIA super spook, find his way to the Cielo crowd? 

Bugliosi never mentions Whitson in his book, but Chaos provides insight. According to O'Neill, Whitson might've bonded with Sebring over race cars. And Whitson's mom was good buds with Doris Tate. Third, O'Neill writes, Paul Tate told him Whitson was a friend to himself, Sharon, and Roman.   

So there's three hows. Whitson maybe became a family friend after meeting Sebring at the track. Unfortunately, answering my first question created a second. Why was Whitson surveilling his good friends? 

Reeve Whitson was an archconservative on an anti-drug mission. By some accounts, an ounce of blow was found in Jay Sebring's Porsche the morning following the murders. That's more than a personal stash, Idgaf who you are. An ounce was enough to get half the houses on the block trembling while searching for the man through their bedroom blinds the night of August 8th. Was Sebring doing deals out of the Cielo parking lot? 

English Major Math time: 

* In 1969, one gram of cocaine cost $100-$150 dollars in Los Angeles

* We know Jay sold little baggies out of his briefcase

* Sebring would be a fool to give rich people his lowest price - let's err on the bigger side this time 

* Twenty-eight grams come out of an ounce - more if Sebring stepped on his dope 

* $150 x 28 = $4200

* $4200 in 1969 money is more than $32000 today 

** Let's pause for reader corrections on the amount of cocaine found in Sebring's car, and also to give others a chance to describe how much blow they snorted some random Friday night in the 80's at a Huey Lewis concert. 

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Discussion Materials: 

In addition to what is linked above, we're using newspapers articles, Helter Skelter, and Tom O'Neill's Chaos. Feel free to add links to any supporting or counterarguments in the comments below the posts. 

Most of O'Neill's research we're discussing in this piece is found in Chapter Six of Chaos, titled Who Was Reeve Whitson? I'm using the Kindle version. You should explore digital searching if you don't already. Yes, chopped down trees feel great in my hands, but they are garbage when I wonder how many times Whitson is printed in the text (150). 

Or Hatami (43). Btw, O'Neill doesn't care which version you buy. Both cost about the same. 

Continues in Part 2...

James VanBebber's Manson Family

James VanBebber's Manson Family is not for the squeamish. Consider that your trigger warning. 

Roger Ebert titled his review, "Disgusting but undeniably powerful." I don't know how to say it better. This film is gory art. I expected to watch ninety minutes of nonsense, make a few screen caps, type a bit of gallows humor, and move on. I could not have been more mistaken. 

Patti Smith lyrics rushed through my mind during the parts of this movie my eyes refused to watch. 

"I'm an American artist and I have no guilt. I seek pleasure. I seek the nerves under your skin." 

You will find the film online in two seconds. I tried to buy a copy on Amazon but was unsuccessful. Van Bebber began the project in 1988. Ebert's review was published in 2004. 

Links to a few VanBebber interviews are located below my screen caps. His great sense of humor comes through in his work. Severin Films released a DVD/Blu Ray combo in 2003. I've also included a few pages from a book on the film. 

Let's go to the screen caps. First up, Brenda McCann. VanBebber plays Bobby and maybe steals his own show. Maureen Allisse as Sadie also maybe steals the show. The cast definitely works. I could list most of them as show stealers. 

Let's Go George!

Clem and Bruce are combined into Clem Davis lol.  

Leave. Something. Witchy. Marcelo Games is a memorable Charlie. 

VanBebber takes Hendrickson, Helter Skelter, and other well-known interviews with the inmates, etc, runs it through a Pettibon Book of Manson filter, and adds an Olympic-size swimming pool amount of blood to his exploration of young people and their continuing infatuation with Charles Manson. The result is pop culture at its darkest. 

Film club, tell me what you think. 

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VanBebber interviews:

dvdtalk.com

Decibel Magazine part one and part two.

birthmoviesdeath.com

* Thanks to my homie, Al, for the page photos. Secret agent Deb also helped with this post. I'm grateful to both of them. Jimmy VB, if you Google yourself and end up here, that's me in your inbox begging for an interview.  

** We have a couple of new writers joining the blog and experienced a little mixup over who was posting today. I was holding this post back for Friday but hopped in when I discovered the confusion. Real writers will be back with actual research next Monday, although I might return first this Friday with more of my nonsense. 

I'm your kind. I'm your brother. 

And I claim weekends as my own. +ggw

Bobby Beausoliel Parole Hearing - 28 Jan 2022

Almighty cielodrive.com carries the Manson research scene through another winter. We are lucky readers. Buy that man a cup of coffee if you can. 

*Thanks to Tobias for sending this along. 

Charles Manson Estate Battle Paused

Yesterday, a new judge in the Charles Manson probate case asked attorneys to file court papers detailing their recommendations by March 18th for a final status conference June 1st. 

Highlights: 

- Jason Freeman is representing himself this time around 

- Michael Channels' lawyer, Timothy Lyons, wants a ruling on a 2002 Charles Manson will that named Channels executor of Manson's estate

- Manson's half-sister Nancy Claassen asserts she is the "sole heir-at-law" 

Tuesday Supplement - Fla$h and Honey Bear

Donald Lee Laisure and Susan Atkins by artist Kelly Hutchison. 

Someone please commission me a piece. My vision is Brenda McCann surfing in a bikini except the surf board is a dune buggy and the desert is the ocean. I'm also nothing but collaborative at my core if the same goes for you. No Willetts' baby, por favor.  

Brenda can say she loves me unless you think that's weird or too much. 

How's your week going? We're discussing Sadie Mae Glutz a lot recently and I wanted to sneak Donald Lee Laisure onto the blog for his second appearance before we move on. Click through to the page of origin and tell me if you think Susan's dress cost $6000 in 1981 money. I think Flash sewed it himself. 

Last Sunday, Laisure's claim he was married thirty-four times popped into my brain uninvited. You'll see the number of his marriages bump up to forty-five on the Maury tv show if you watch my homie Myra Elvira's 2021 update on his life and times. Thanks for aggregating that footage, Myra. 

A year before me, Myra also went looking for verification on the number of Laisure's marriages. I think we each found nine. Just like criminals, no bullshitter ever expected the Internet. Laisure was both. 

Character actors play an important role in successful productions. Donald Lee Flash Lai$ure was one of the best to cross our stage. He brilliantly promoted himself from the rank of Private to a 4 Star General in the US Marine Corps, and earned a Silver Star, Navy Cross, and Air Medal along the way. Laisure's phony career lasted from Vietnam through the Persian Gulf. 

Fifty-five people have reached the rank of 4 Star General in the US Marine Corps while alive. The number was in the low twenties when Laisure promoted himself to full general. When I searched for an official reaction, I found the Corps more amused than angry. Like everyone else, they thought Flash Laisure was a clown.  

Time is Irrelevant to Me - December 1969

Susan Atkins served a life sentence. I see how she arrived there but believe she died in the right place at sixty-one years old. She went too far too many times. 

But what about once the killers are locked away? Are they allowed to retain their humanity after taking part in despicable deeds? Is redemption ever possible? Does empathy remain forbidden after they're dead? We're arguing all of that lately on this blog.

Issues pop up before a debate can begin. How do we qualify "despicable?" I'm squeamish and won't touch certain cases on my dark travels. My despicable might arrive sooner than another reader's. Etc.

For a starting point today, let's assume we all consider using a knife to murder a terrified pregnant woman after she watches her friends die and pleads for her unborn child's life a despicable act. 

Calling out for her mother as she passes. Shame on you. 

When I read blog comments during the weeks we talk about the inmates, I notice two groups. First, people advocating across the board transparency and fairness in parole processes. Something that shows a human life is not the possession of some political overlord or overlords. I completely agree with this camp. Every California inmate should live under the same sentences and rules for release. 

The opposition here is like are you nuts? Look what they did. F-them. 

I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a foot on either side of that line. 

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Our reference materials for this discussion are provided by cielodrive.com. Thank you, kindly.  

1 Dec 1969 Susan Atkins Paul Caruso Richard Caballero Interview.

5 Dec 1969 Susan Atkins Grand Jury Testimony.

Tex Watson is arrested November 30th in Texas. Police catch up with Patricia Krenwinkel in Mobile the following day. Back in Los Angeles, Paul Caruso and Richard Caballero are interviewing their new client, Susan Denise Atkins, when the net drops on Krenwinkel two thousand miles away. 

The last part is possibly not accurate but I see it that way when I'm at my storyboard. Starsky and Hutch music plays in the background. "Police! Freeze!" 

 - Here is a link to my blog colleague David's excellent write up on Paul Caruso with a comment from Caruso's son below the post. 

Other writers believe Caruso was a mafia lawyer sent to cement a narrative into place. I'm interested in every side of that argument. What are your thoughts? 

Honkeys like me from Honkeyville possibly needed several decades to realize Caballero isn't an Italian name, and that's okay. There's no judgement when you ride with me. We can be hillbillies together forever. 

Circling back to my original question, let's look at Susan Atkins. She was at Hinman, Cielo, and Waverley (kinda). No one but Charlie visited more murder scenes. 

Reading Sadie's comments and testimony about her time with Sharon before Sharon died made me emotional. The photo of Atkins as a young girl standing in front of her father's car also remains burned into my brain. Maybe that's what keeps me coming back here. So many whys. 

Several statements in the above transcripts are heartbreaking. Other times, I laughed. Stop Talking was an alternative title I considered for this piece. 

"Helter Skelter" is not discussed during the interview with the lawyers, but joins the story four days later in front of the GJ (Grand Jury). 

Susan is speaking the language of her peers at Spahn's while addressing the GJ. She even rhymes her words at one point. Head and dead. Not a lot of smart in that gal at times. Watch Hendrickson on Youtube or any of the courthouse footage for verification on the group speak.  

Let's pause on the creepy crawls for a second. What are your thoughts on their genesis? Who was the first person saying hey let's go creepy crawling? 

Me if fam members asked me to go creepy crawling with them late at night: Omg I just got back from the A&P dumpsters. I wanna watch Clem's fire ritual. 

That's December 5, 1969. Friday. Four days earlier prior to a dinner plus ice cream, Atkins said this:

 

Two somewhat different scenarios. Sustenance and fear games. I spent an afternoon making a list of contradictions I found in the documents but stopped when my friend said: 

"Could be discrepancies or coaching. You would have to have a think about why the latter makes Tex/Manson look more culpable or if that was just her being ditzy." 

Inarguable. Dude should write blog posts.

Let's hop in on some omg and wtf moments from the first week of December 1969. A third title for this episode could be How to Doom Yourself to the Fullest. 

 *Judges scribble deductions on their scorecards 

"The air talked. I was programmed by Charlie but then like I also wasn't programmed by him."

Ah, the Infinite. Please go on. 

I followed up with my secret sources inside the CIA. Within minutes, they verified Sadie missed Climbing Residential Fences (CRF) day at CIA Assassins School. By the time she returned from a nasty bout of stomach flu, the class had jumped forward to Residential Kitchen Infiltration (RKI). 

Not sure why anyone would come clean about the following impulse but she says it in both documents. 

Sadie's second death rattle in three weeks. 

More disembodied voices.

LaBianca instructions overheard from the seatless back seat of Johnny Swartz's car. 

A possible moment of Bugliosi speaking through Sadie's mouth or the infinite or whatever. 

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Bonus:

The famous Clem oopsie. 

Life at Spahn's as told to the GJ.

Richard Caballero courthouse interview. 

She should've stayed with Caruso and Caballero. Either way, Susan Atkins is gone. Have you forgiven her since she served her sentence, or is forgiveness something that will never happen? 

Helter Skelter Ranked #4 - Weekend Pop Culture

Earlier this week, movieweb.com placed Helter Skelter (1976) at #4 on a list of top made-for-tv movies. What they call a movie was a miniseries but whatever. Steve Railsback typically gets all the pub in this one but Nancy Wolfe as Sexy Sadie steals the show whenever she's onscreen. Wolfe is riffing on Lynette Fromme's lines from Hendrickson in the above screen capture. Squeaky did it better but Nancy is no slouch. 

Anyone not super jaded and full of angry know everything is invited to join my watch party group if you are interested in studying the Manson milieu in pop culture. Manson scene politics are prohibited there. So is guru-ing. 

FYI, my blog email is unreliable. Don't waste your time until I figure it out. Apologies if you emailed me and I never replied. Happy Friday. +ggw 

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Gift Basket:

Helter Skelter (1976) on Youtube. 

1976 version of Helter Skelter Wikipedia page.

IMDB page with full cast (1976). 

Sadie via the Almighty. 

Schreck's Group Removed from Facebook?

                        Joe Coleman artist. 

Facebook might've said farewell to Nik Schreck's group today. Five years of research and literature vanished into thin air. The group housed scanned documents that will be impossible for noobs to find, several pdfs of books no longer in print, and other easily accessed study aides.

Facebook runs their own show and I get it, but I hope group admins were allowed to remove their files before the lights went out. 

The behind the scenes bs in this world is awful, and I don't necessarily agree with the Schrekians on everything Manson, but I know a ton of work went into that group. I feel for the people who busted their butts there for half a decade. May you rise from Zuckerberg's ashes. 

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? 

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Bonus. When John and Leslie first locked eyes.