manson has come to represent the malignant side of humanity. these people enjoyed killing. >> things the police had never seen before. >> sharon tate begged her, please don't kill me, please don't kill me. >> average kids from average american homes turn out to be the killers. >> he would dose them with lcd. >> 16, it's relative. >> charles manson stole lives. >> grief like you could not imagine. >> stole innocence. >> he looks beautiful, he looks happy and this draws a lot of people. >> and left a city living in fear. >> guns store sell out.

guard dogs are now selling for $5,000. >> good. >> you may think you know the manson story but not like this. >> he's a very evil sophisticated con man that knows exactly what he's doing. >> it's all play, isn't it? >> keith morrison takes you inside the murders of "manson." >> april 14th, 2016. a clear blustery day in the high desert outside los angeles. inside the walls of the california institution for women, a gray-haired 66-year-old inmate appears before the parole board, as she has done many times before. but this time something remarkable.

a clear blustery day in the high desert outside los angeles. inside the walls of the california institution for women, a gray-haired 66-year-old inmate appears before the parole board, as she has done many times before. but this time something remarkable. >> a parole board panel is recommending the release of former charles manson follower leslie van houten. >> leslie van houten, a name on the list forever linked with one of the most famous crimes and criminals of the 20th century, charles manson. >> you don't understand me, that's your trouble. not my fault because you don't understand me. i don't understand you either! >> the story of charles manson, his family and all the horror they wrought is buried in archives, memorialized in media long obsolete, and yet somehow it feels present.

that hot summer night that caught the world utterly unprepared. when los angeles became suddenly a very scary place. it was august 9th, 1969, around 8:00 a.m. officer jerry derosa was a young cop with the lapd working the day shift. >> the first call i got was to go out to ciela drive coming out as a drunk in a car. >> the officer cruised up the canyon and found the dead-end street. a neighbor flagged him down. suddenly the drunk in a car call became something else. >> he had told me that the maid came running back out, yelling blood and bodies. >> derosa, all alone, nosed his squad car up a gated driveway. he could see right away things weren't right. >> the telephone wires that had

been cut were hanging over the gate. we go through the gate and there's a car parked in the driveway. >> in the car he found not a drunk but a body. >> he had been shot. i walked around the front of the location and there were two more bodies on the lawn. >> then backup arrived and they went into the house and found a scene horrible in a way that would go down in history. there was a young woman. >> there were multiple stab wounds on her and then there was a thick rope that was wrapped around her neck. >> something else, the young woman was pregnant, eight months pregnant and stabbed repeatedly. next to her, a man with a bloody

towel over his head. he had been shot at close range and also stabbed. it was a bloodbath. >> had you ever seen such a thing before? >> no. it was horrendous. >> he could see down the hall out the back door, saw a guesthouse near a swimming pool. he and a second officer went to check it out. inside, they found a young man alive. >> i thought, this guy knows something. >> 19-year-old william garretson said he was the caretaker. he told derosa, he knew nothing, had seen nothing and heard nothing. >> with all the screaming and gunshots and fighting. >> how could he not hear it? >> you would think so. >> i handcuffed him and walked him through the property. >> they walked past the bodies on the front lawn. >> he didn't seem shocked by it? >> no, not at all. >> he was the first and most likely suspect. derosa took him to the station house to book him. then the detectives arrived and the coroners and, of course, the

press. >> rolling? >> at 8:30 this morning. an employee came to work at 10050 cielo and found several bodies in the house. >> the lapd didn't share right away the awful details or that the phone wires had been cut so no one could call for help or that an american flag had been draped over the couch or that someone had written in blood on the front door, one word, "pig." >> do you have any kind of apbs out, any suspects at all? >> no. the only person we have at this time is mr. garretson, whom we are questioning. >> the lapd didn't know much or say much. >> were the bodies badly mutilated? >> this, i would rather not discuss. >> who would know that fear would spread so fast, choke what

was left of innocence and choke us. the main thing is what no one knew was what started on cielo drive wasn't over. coming up, there was still another big shock to come. the identities of the victims. >> my boyfriend called my mother and he had heard five people were dead and it was rumored to be the house of sharon tate. downtherecare with cottonelle. downthere- [gasp] cause you booked a sitter to get a wax before your beach vacation with your husband, [yay!] so you use cottonelle cleaningripples™ that remove more at once for a superior clean, which feels ahhh-mazing-care. downtherecare with cottonelle. downtherecare with cottonelle. [ahhhhhhhh] before discovering nexium 24hr to treat her frequent heartburn, marie could only imagine enjoying freshly squeezed orange juice. now no fruit is forbidden. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn?

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it was media frenzy 1969 style, recorded on 16 millimeter film. >> we have a weird homicide with two bodies inside and two bodies outside. >> word of mouth had skewed the awful truth, by the time 16-year-old debra tate heard it. >> my boyfriend called my mother and he had heard there was a fire in benedict canyon and five people were dead and it was rumored to be the house of sharon tate. >> sharon tate, debra's big sister. >> claude, please stop it! i've hated this. go find yourself another girl. >> sharon tate's biggest film, "valley of the dolls," was two years behind her. now 26, she was known less for her acting than her beauty and

style and her husband. director roman polanski had recently shot to fame with "rosemary's baby," in which a woman discovers she may be carrying the child of the devil. in real life, sharon tate and roman polanski were expecting, too. >> she was so excited, like a new mom to be, creating the nice home nest for the family, to welcome the new life. >> and now debra, frantic to learn what happened to her sister, pressed her panic stricken mother. >> mother, what? what? tell me what. >> she must have -- >> she was out of her mind crazy, grief like you could not imagine. >> but it was no mistake. the murders already gruesome, now took on the trappings of celebrity. >> this was at the home of movie director, roman polanski, and it was his wife, sharon tate, who

was one of the victims. >> with sharon tate, 25-year-old coffee heiress, abigail folger, she had been working with poor kids and it was her body officers saw on the front yard. beside her was her boyfriend, 32, a sometime actor and old friend of roman's. inside the house, next to sharon, the man with the towel over his head was 35-year-old jay sebring. >> famous hair dresser to the stars who had been sharon tate's boyfriend. >> jeff guin wrote the 2013 book, "manson." >> they remained friends. sharon tate invited sebring over that evening. >> jay sebring's nephew. >> one of the sad ironies was jay was not supposed to be there that night. he was supposed to be in las vegas and for whatever reason he decided to stay. >> the body in the car took

longer to identify, turned out to be 19-year-old steve parent who was visiting the property's caretaker. parent went out to his car at just the wrong moment and never got out of the driveway. l.a. struggled to understand why would any kill all these people and why in such a sadistic manner? the lapd searched for clues in the surrounding brush, among the neighbors, as of course, the ever growing army of reporters. >> the lights weren't on. usually the gate light is on at least. >> why would you take note of that? >> it's always been on. >> strange, despite all the carnage, no real clues, though there was this one thing. >> it was revealed that a small amount of narcotics was found in the foreign sports car of sebring.

>> some pot and hash were found in the house, too. now, press began to wonder could the murders have something to do with the lifestyles sharon and her fabulous friends lived? in mourning, in shock, director roman polanski found himself in front of a camera defending his dead wife. >> sharon not only didn't use drugs, she didn't touch alcohol, she didn't smoke cigarettes. >> all sharon was thinking about was her baby, he added, their baby who died with her. >> a lot of blood all over the place. baby clothes. >> then another rumor hit the press, that the killings were somehow connected to polanski's horror movie, "rosemary's baby." this time a representative spoke for polanski. >> sharon and all other three friends were rational people

with no interest in mysticism or any cult. >> the news liked to try to pin on sharon and her friends, you know, the drug, sex, rock'n roll devil worshipping. >> horrific, yes, all those ugly theories. >> there was this kind of gossip subtext that these people brought this on themselves. these were people engage ing drugs or some sort of orgy. tragically, for the victims especially, that they were played off as a form of morality tale. >> drugs, orgies? there was no stopping the gossip. if anyone believed it, what happened next made no sense at all. coming up. >> everybody in los angeles is petrified. where are they going to strike next? >> then, someone does. >> i felt there was an immediate connection. >> when "dateline" continues. feel the clarity of non-drowsy claritin and relief from symptoms caused

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>> nearly 24 hours after this truly horrific crime with l.a. in deep shock, the police were baffled. >> anything i'd tell you at this point would be mere speculation. >> and then it happened again. >> the bodies of a man and his wife, found in their home, both

been stabbed to death, repeated stab wounds. >> did you know the people in this home? >> god, i've known these people for 30 years. >> what's their name? >> labianca. >> rosemary and leno, her husband. they found them tied, rosemary had large cord around her neck. leno stabbed 26 times, rosemary, 41. overkill would be an understatement. and again, just as it was at sharon tate's house, the murder scene seemed almost art directed, to elicit fear. >> a fork was jammed into leno la bianca's abdomen and was sticking there. >> paint on one wall was death to pigs. and the refrigerator, helter-skelter, like the song from the beatles album.

>> on his body the words "war" had been carved in the chest. >> these are brutal killings. >> elaine has written about the case for "people" magazine. >> in the middle of the night, showing up with knives, stabbing people multiple times, even when they were dead, things the police had never seen before. >> the killers seemed to have no conscience. >> they killed a husband and wife, took a shower in their home, calmly ate some food and left. >> over two successive nights, seven people and an unborn baby had been ruthlessly slaughtered.

l.a. braced itself after the next wave especially after the initial suspect, william garretson was released. >> there's a crazed killer in los angeles and an immediate city-wide panic. >> even though it was a hot august, angelinans closed their doors and windows. >> guns sell out and guard dogs going for $200 apiece are now selling for $5,000. everybody in los angeles is petrified, where are they going to strike next. >> hollywood was even scared. it's my understanding roman polanski started getting paranoid thinking it was someone among his peers. >> warren beatty said it was like a small nuclear device had gone off in hollywood. people were really scared and they needed to make sense and try to make sure they were

somehow insulated and not involved in this. >> people all over town knew it in their guts, the murders had to be related. >> i felt there was an immediate connection. so did everybody in my family. >> why did you think there was a connection? >> because of the writing on the wall. that was the main thing. >> officer jerry derosa, who was working the tape crime scene, thought so, too. >> i had heard about some conditions at the location at the labianca house. i thought to myself, i wonder if this is connected in some way, writing the blood on the wall and the stabbing. >> your mind went there pretty well right away? >> yeah. >> but it did not seem that way to the brass at the lapd. the department assigned a team of detectives to investigate the tate murders and another team of detectives to labianca.

the two teams worked out of the same squad room. the problem was they didn't work together. >> they didn't like each other, they didn't get along very well and they didn't exchange information for months. so each of those murders was pursued separately. >> detectives acknowledged the crime scenes looked similar but the labianca were middle class folks who owned grocery stores and didn't hang out with movie stars and coffee heiresses. but they think it was the same crime. >> police believe they may have used the same technique as to throw officers off the track. >> the media said, hey, these two crimes look similar. the police were quick to say, no, it's copycat. what would one have to do with the other? it didn't make sense on the surface.

>> the labianca cops looked at the usual? a workplace dispute, love triangle and a violent turn even as the tate cops looked for drug dealers. and both cases stayed open and it lingered in late '69 for weeks like the smog in l.a. >> was there a time you thought this would never be solved early on? >> yeah. it seemed to have gone on forever. >> never find out. >> never find out. that's its own kind of hell. >> all the while, the cops failed to realize the killers were hiding in plain sight. all it would take was a chance encounter between two unlikely characters and an l.a. jail to crack the case wide open. coming up, a jailhouse chat with a killer. >> she proceeded on to tell me how sharon tate begged her, please don't kill me, please don't kill me.

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autumn of '69, it was still hot in l.a.

but the police investigation of the grizzly tate labianca murders was ice cold. not a lead, a clue or suspect in sight. then in october, a woman widely known on the hollywood party circuit found herself in the jail. she knew people, once even dated frank sinatra. this wasn't her first fling with the law.

>> i was there for a violation of probation. >> that's where virginia was when she met a young woman who was not like the other inmates. >> she was very pretty, very friendly, always happy, singing, doing cartwheels in fact, up and down the aisle. >> the woman's name was susan atkins. virginia was intrigued. >> i casually asked her one day what she was there for. this is when she said, murder. >> susan told virginia she had been accused of killing a guy out of the suburbs months earlier. but then she went on bragging that the cops didn't know a fraction of what she had really done. >> she said, you know those murders in benedict canyon. >> of course, everyone knew about that. >> she said, you know who did it, don't you? i looked at her and said, no, i don't. her words to me, well, you're

looking at her. >> just that casually, susan atkins confessed to the crime the whole nation was talking about, enthusiastically, described the killings in all their bloodcurdling detail. >> sharon tate begged her, please don't kill me, please don't kill me, and she said -- she looked at her eye-to-eye and said, bitch, i don't care if you're going to have a baby or not, i'm going to kill you. >> then atkins told her she was part of a group and they killed lots more people, celebrities, like frank sinatra. >> the very fact there were going to be other murders of other people i could never ever be able to live with that. >> virginia got through to the police and told the whole story. so now lapd detectives zeroed in on susan atkins and learned she belonged to a commune called "the family." the leader was a short scruffy guy habitual criminal called manson. charles manson. the cops, to their surprise, discovered manson and several of his followers were already in custody. not for murder, but for car theft.

>> manson was a life-long criminal who never could go more than a day or two of his free life without breaking some law. >> and the people with him young, mostly women, were barely more than half his age. >> they're easily influenced. they came from broken homes or they were bullied at school, they didn't fit in. and he was able to tap into all of that. ♪ ♪

>> police began to interview these women. one was 18-year-old barbara hoyt, who spoke about life inside the family and what attracted her to charles manson. >> he was very loving. he was very much a father figure. >> how did it make you feel when he was nice to you like that? >> made me feel special. felt like we were all fingers on one hand, like we were the digits and charlie was the hand. >> police spoke with other manson women, too. and learned that in the fall of '67, manson moved to los angeles, where he sent his girls out to find someone, anyone who could make him a rock star. they encountered dennis wilson, of the beach boys who took manson to the beach boys studio, where he recorded this. ♪ restless as the wind

>> it never went anywhere. manson didn't measure up as a singer songwriter. he and his family about 20 of them settled in the rugged foothills of l.a. a place called spahn ranch, a movie place for old westerns. >> one of the best places about the ranch was they would stay there and do chores. >> when they weren't working they went dumpster diving for food and panhandle for money and sometimes stole cars. there was a lot of drugs and plenty of sex, all directed by manson. >> he told people who to sleep with, what to eat, where to, you know, do their bodily functions. >> barbara hoyt told the detectives that charlie preached to his flock constantly. >> he would quote from the book of revelation. >> which he knew pretty well. >> not pretty well, we're talking word-for-word. >> then detectives found out about charlie's other source of inspiration. >> they really did listen to the white album over and over. >> the beatles double album released a few months before the murders. one song in particular captivated charlie. ♪ helter-skelter.

>> helter-skelter lyrics the beatles said were inspired by an amusement park ride, harmless fun. but the people who heard them tell the cops, for him, helter-skelter meant something apocalyptic. what in the world did a beetles song have to do with the brutal murders of the tate home in los angeles? it all made perfect sense to charlie manson. coming up, manson's unshakable hold on his family. >> he dances, he sings, he looks beautiful, he looks happy, and this draws a lot of people. >> and the possible motive behind the murders. >> charlie would be king of the world. >> that's crazy talk. >> it wasn't to us. >> when "dateline" continues.

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october 1969, after two months of false leads in the tate and labianca murders, suddenly there was news. >> police apparently got their break in the tate case when this girl, susan atkins, a member of manson's family, was arrested in

another los angeles murder and talked to a cellmate about the tate killings. >> that information led investigators and the media to a hippie cult called "the family" and their leader, charles manson. >> he dances, he sings, he looks beautiful. he looks happy and this draws a lot of people, just like people are drawn to little babies. >> they looked like all the other hippies hanging around l.a. >> hippies up to this point were associated with peace, love, sharing. >> but prosecutor vincent interviewed them extensively and soon found out, he told us in 2008, these hippies were different, especially their leader, manson, ex-con and want to be rock star, obsessed with the book of revelation and the beatles. >> he thought they were prophets speaking to him and other tuned in people subliminally beneath the lyrics of their songs. ♪ >> in particular, that cut called "helter-skelter," manson's followers were well aware of the racial tension that flared up around the country including riots in l.a. and now

he told them the song, "helter-skelter" was the prophet of a race war between blacks and whites and armageddon manson spoke to his followers, both bizarre and deeply racist. >> there would be an all out war. during this war, he would lead his family into death valley, where there is a bottomless pit and city underneath the surface. they will go down there and be safe. when the war is over, the blacks will have won but they will not have the intellectual capacity to govern themselves. >> then, charlie told him, the family would take over. >> in other words, charlie would be king of the world. >> but then again, manson was feeding them a steady diet of lsd. >> he was serious about this? >> yeah. >> that's crazy talk. >> it wasn't to us. the world was crazy to us.

>> investigators learned from manson's followers that he was not content to wait for helter-skelter, he wanted to start it, by murdering wealthy white people, whom he called in homage to another beetle song, "piggies." but manson didn't plan to kill the piggies himself, he wanted his so-called family to do that. >> by that point, they were willing to do anything for him. >> because they loved him? because they feared him? because they were under his spell? what? >> they say that at that time they were brainwashed. >> it hardly seemed possible, yet as the prosecutor was able to piece it together, manson sent susan atkins, tex watson, linda kasabian and patricia to kill a group of friends tate did not even know and did know the producer who he tried and failed to get a record contract and knew the producer moved out. he now knew this.

whoever lived there now must be rich and famous. nobody else could afford a house like that. the house is picked because of its location. >> then manson sent the same group, plus leslie van houten to the labianca home the following night. seven savage murders all-in-one man's twisted fantasy. >> he knew exactly what he was doing. he's evil, a very evil sophisticated con man but not insane at all. >> susan atkins was the star witness at a grand jury and she revealed all the gruesome details how she and everyone slashed and shot everyone at the tate and labianca home and

crawled in blood the words charles manson shot them. >> when charles manson's name was scribbled on the murder scene, that was the equivalent of his signature. >> five members of a so-called religious cult, charles manson, a guru or high priest have been indicted along with six others. >> they brought charles manson in to los angeles, to the police station. they're expecting, my god, this must be some kind of monster. instead of some big beast barely restrained, there's this little tiny guy with long hair. >> are you sane? >> sane? it's relevant. >> now, the turbulent '60s came to a close and with the whole world watching, charles manson would go on trial.

>> he was the mastermind. these murders would never have taken place had it not been for charles manson. >> if look back the case against charlie seems obvious, it was not then. not for the prosecutor. manson didn't personally commit the murders, no physical evidence to show he manipulated this group and turned them into what the prosecutor called blood thirsty robots. >> i had to bring them in by way of circumstantial evidence. >> the prosecutor decided to use helter skelter. it played well on the white album. but how would it play with a jury? >> coming up, before o.j., this was the trial of the century. >> charlie always wanted to be famous and by god if this was how it was going to happen he was going to do it right? >> it's all a play, isn't it? >> then, does one of the killers have a chance at freedom?

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three of his followers went on trial for the tate murders. >> i think mr. manson feels he's a product of our society. >> prosecutor bugliosi's task is daunting and a defendant like no others that the prosecutor had ever encountered. >> he had to prove that charles manson, this weird little guy, could have some control over these other followers to make them commit murder but not to the extent the followers were mentally incompetent to be tried

either. >> that's a tricky business. >> it is tricky. >> and the trickiest part is to get the murder to stick to manson himself. >> it's a little more difficult because he did not physically participated in these murders. >> bugliosi had a two part problem, to show the control over his followers and the motive. >> that motive was helter-skelter of blacks and whites. he was he that introduced helter-skelter and talked about it all the time. >> he had a star witness lined up, susan atkins, the woman that confessed the whole story to a woman in jail. >> now that you have had a chance to get it off your chest, would you tell me how you feel? >> then atkins recanted and said she made up the whole thing.

so bugliosi had other former family members. like barbara who left the family. >> i decided could live with this when i became old? that would be a deciding factor. >> barbara knew she would take the stand in full view of her former manson followers. >> what was it like to testify, seeing them out there? >> they were really kissing up to me when i was in the back of the courtroom, blowing me kisses and smiling at me and all that. of course that changed when i started opening my mouth on the witness stand. >> day after day, members of the manson family demonstrated at the courthouse, performance art with a sinister gloss. >> the system wants destruction. that's what it's going to get. >> inside, charlie's co-defendants, leslie van houten, patricia krenwinkel and susan atkins played to the cameras.

it was a circus of weird. manson in the center ring. >> are you guilty of plotting any murders? >> i killed a chicken once. >> you guilty of these? >> no. >> you're absolutely innocent of committing murder or telling any to commit murder or planning it? >> i'll plead guilty to the indians. >> one day manson appeared with an x scratched on his forehead and the others followed suit. >> it was theater. charlie always wanted to be famous and he was going to do it right. >> how are you doing this morning, charlie? >> sharon's little sister seethed as she watched the antics on tv. >> they were mocking our very foundation. >> everyone seemed to have an opinion, even the president of the united states. >> here's man who is guilty directly or indirectly of eight murders without reason.

>> next day headline l.a. times, manson guilty nixon declares, threw the trial into a turmoil. >> all the while, manson basked in the media talking to any anywhere. >> the judge questioned my sanity. i question his. >> at the end of the 22 week trial, bugliosi told the jurors charles manson's family preached love and literally practiced cold-blooded murder. >> they literally slaughtered the victims in an orgy of murder. >> the verdict came after nine days of deliberations. the jury found all four defendants guilty of first degree murder. >> in my verdict, i wanted to protect society.

after all, this is the united states of america and we have a heritage and this is something we must protect. >> they were all sentenced to death. >> is he prepared to die? has he talked to you about death? >> he's already dead. he's already dead. he has no thoughts, he has no opinions. he's just an empty hole, he's infinite. >> tex watson, who did most of the actual killing, was convicted and sentenced to die in a separate trial. but in 1972, the california supreme court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional. the sentences were reduced to life in prison. there would be no gas chamber for any of the manson family. which meant that all of them, even charles manson himself, would have a chance at freedom after serving their sentences. over the last four decade, manson, tex watson, patricia krenwinkel and susan atkins all had parole hearings and each time they were denied.

in 2009, atkins died in prison. but leslie van houten does have a chance at freedom. >> it doesn't matter whether i wielded the fatal blows or not, i feel responsible for both of their deaths. >> two months ago the parole board recommended releasing van houten. but she is still waiting. the final decision is up to governor jerry brown. >> no question what sharon tate's younger sister, debra briefs, -- believes, the governor should say no. >> i don't think she deserves it. these people were brutally butchered. there has to be some kind of accountability in this world. >> convincing the jury of this very esoteric sophisticated murder of charles manson- >> prosecutor bugliosi died in 2015. helter-skelter led to manson's

enduring legend. >> why do you need to call me a murderer? i never killed anyone. >> charlie manson is a man of 82, a symbol of evil. he will remain behind bars, what's left of his life there admitting to no regret or remorse. >> remorse for what? you people have done everything in the world to me. doesn't that give me equal right? i can do anything i want to you people at any time i want to because that's what you've done to me. >> nearly 50 years have passed since he orchestrated those but charles manson remains forever seared into the public conscienceness, evil personified, the man some say brought down the curtain on the '60s and the age of innocence, who ultimately in his own twisted way, finally gained the fame he had been seeking all along.

president trump and his aides are pushing back against recession fears after a volatile week on wall street. the president is offering up an optimistic outlook for the economy. new polling shows the majority of americans support certain gun control measures like suspended background checks. the president put the focus on mental health. more protests expected in hong kong after hundreds of thousands of demonstrators braved heavy rain to rally peacefully yesterday. good morning, everyone, it's monday, august 19th. i'm ayman mohyeldin alongside yasmin vossoughian.