that took away her daughter, veronica is still is determined as ever to continue to do good work and help children in need. she and james have since adopted five more children, it is just one and he would have wanted them to do. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i'm natalie morales, thanks for watching. nks fo watching >> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline". >> manchin has come to represents the malignant side of humanity. these people enjoyed killing. >> things that the police had never seen before. >> sharon tate begged her, please don't kill me. >> average kids from average american homes turned out to be the killers. >> are you say?

>> sane? that's relative. >> charles manchin stole lives. >> things like you could not imagine! >> stole innocence. >> he looks beautiful, he looks happy. and he draws a lot of people. >> and left the city living in fear. >> gun store sellout. guard dogs are not selling for $5,000. >> you may think you know the manchin story, but not like this. >> he's a very evil, sophisticated con man. he knows exactly what he is doing. >> it was all a play. isn't it? >> hello and welcome to dateline! he was a charismatic ex con who dreamed of becoming a rock star. then he found a ragtag group of hippies in search of direction and purpose to follow him. in the end, their toxic union would result in a frenzy of

unfathomable brutality. how is charles manchin able to insert his influence to engineer a murderous rampage that would make him one of the most notorious figures in criminal history? here is keeping the morrison with manchin. >> april 14th, 2016. a clear blustery day outside los angeles. inside the walls of the california institution for women, the greyhaired 66-year-old appears before a parole board. and she has done many times before. but this time, something remarkable. >> a parole board panel is recommending the release of former charles manchin leslie van houten. >> leslie van houten, a name on a list forever linked with one of the most favors crime and criminals of the 21st century. charles manchin! >> you don't understand me!

that's your trouble! it's not my fault because you don't understand me! i don't understand you either! >> the story of charles manchin and his family, and all the horror they rot, is buried in archives. memorialized in media. long obsolete. yet, somehow, it feels present. that hot summer nights that caught the world utterly unprepared. when los angeles became, suddenly, a very scary place. it was august 9th, 1969. around 8 am. officer jerry was a little young cop on the lapd. where he met -- . >> the first call i got was the call to goes to c l drive. it came out as a drunk in a car. >> officer cruised up to the big canyon. and found the dead streak

called c l o drive. the neighbor flagged him down. and 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! him, all along, noticed his car in the driveway. he could see right away things were not right. >> the telephone wires that had been cut had been hanging over the gate. you go through the gate, and there is a car parked in the driveway. >> in the car he found, not a drunk, but a body! >> he had been shot. and 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 are multiple stab rooms on her. and then, there was a synthetic

rope that was wrapped around her neck. >> and something else. the young woman was pregnant, eight months pregnant! she'd been stabbed repeatedly. next to her, a man with a bloody towel over his head. he had been shot at close range, also stabbed! it was a bloodbath! >> had you ever seen such a thing before? >> no. it was horrendous. >> doris i could see at the hall out the back door, inside gets house near the swimming pool. he had a second officer went to check it out. and inside, they found a young man. a live. >> i thought, this guy knows something. >> 19 year old williams says he was a -- . he told derosa he knows nothing, had seen nothing, and heard nothing. >> with all the screaming, and the gunshots, and the fighting. >> how could he not hear it?

>> you would think so. i handcuffed him, and walked into the property. >> they walk us the batteries on the front lawn. >> did he seem shot? >> not at all. >> garrison was the first, and most likely suspect. derosa took him to the station house to book him. >> then the direct text is raw -- and of course the press. >> are you rolling? >> rolling! >> at 8:30 this morning, -- an employee came to work at 1005 owes ceelo, and we found several bodies in the house. >> the -- of the awful details. or that the phone wires had been cut so no i 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, paid! >> do you have any kind of atvs out? any suspects at all?

>> no. the only person we have as mr. garrison. we are questioning. >> the lapd was not saying much, did not know much. >> was the body mutilated? >> this i'd rather not discuss. >> who would know? that fear that would spread so fast. choke what was left of innocence. infect us to. but that night, the main thing no one knew was, what was started on ceo drive was not 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. >> when dateline continues! when dateline continues under budget too! and i get seven days to love it or my money back... i love it! i thought online meant no one to help me, but susan from carvana had all the answers. she didn't try to upsell me.

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okay, this is a freezer, not a time capsule. sometimes the house itself can tell you how a young homeowner is turning into their parents. -not those two. -yep, they're gone. -forever? -yep. that there is progressive's homequote explorer website, where i compared home insurance rates. we don't need to print the internet. some are beyond help. i will give you $100 if you can tell me what this is. -scotch egg. -it's a meatball. progressive can't help you from becoming your parents, but we can help you compare rates on home insurance with homequote explorer. we've got a lot of work to do. >> it was a media frenzy 1969

style, recorded on 16 millimeter film. >> we have a weird homicide with two bodies inside and two bodies outside. >> but word of mouth had skewed the awful truth. by the time 16-year-old deborah tate heard it. >> my boyfriend called my mother, and he had heard that there was a fire in a benedict canyon and five people were dead, and it was rumored to be the house of sharon tate.

>> sharon tate, deborah's big sister. sharon tate's biggest film valley of the dolls was two years behind her already, now 26 she was known last for her acting and then for her beauty, or style, and her husband. director roman polanski had recently shot to fame with rosemary's baby, in which a woman discovered she may be carrying the child of the devil. in real life, sharon tate and roman polanski were expecting to. she was so terribly excited, like a new mom to be creating the nice little home nest for the family to welcome the new life. >> now debra frantic to learn what happened to her sister pressed -- >> why, why, tell me why? >> she was out of her mind, crazy, grief like you couldn't imagine. >> but it was no mistake.

the murders already gruesome. now -- >> this was at the home of roman polanski and his wife sharon tate one of the victims. >> with sharon tate, 25 year old coffee harris abigail folger, she had been working -- it was her body they 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 a towel over his head was a 35-year-old jay sebring. >> famous harry jester to the stars, who had been sharing tapes boyfriend. >> jeff wrote the book mansion. they remained friends. shanty had invited to bring over that evening. >> jay-z brings nephew, one of

these that irony is this that jay was not supposed to be there that night. he was supposed to be in las vegas. for whatever reason, he decided to stay. >> the body in the car took longer to identify, turned out to be a 19 year old steve who was visiting the properties caretaker. i his car just at the wrong, moment never got out of the driveway. >> l.a. struggled to understand, why would anyone kill all these people, and why in such a statistic manner? the lapd searched for clues in the surrounding russia among the neighbors, as of course do the ever growing army of reporters. >> the lights weren't on. usually the gate light as on, at least -- >> why would you take note of? that >> it's always there. >> strange, despite all the carnage, no real crew clues. though, there was this one

thing -- >> small amount of narcotics was found in the sebring. some pot and hash were found in the house to. so now police begin to wonder could the murders have something to do with the lifestyles of sharon and her fabulous friends live? in morning, and 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. >> also in was thinking about was her baby, and their baby who died with her. >> a lot of blood all over the place, close -- >> but then another room hit the price, that the killings were somehow connected to polanski is a 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 -- >> the news liked to try to pin on sharon and her friends that drugs, sex, rock and roll, devil worship-ing. >> horrific, yes. all those ugly theories. >> there was this kind of got up subtext that these people brought this on themselves. these people were engaging in drugs, or some sort of orgies. tragically, for the victims, they were played off as a form of morality. >> drugs, orgies, there is no stopping the gossip. but if anyone believed it, and what happened next made no sense at all. >> coming up, >> everybody in los angeles this putrefied. where they're going to strike next? >> and then, someone does.

>> i felt that there was then a media connection. >> when dateline continues. hen dateline continues

welcome back! the unsolved murders of the pregnant actress sharon tate, and her friend, shunts the rumor mill turning. because roman pulaski has directed the film, rosemary's baby. was that the site and a

connection? or was -- it. now a second attack was about to send the media into overdrive. with shockwaves traveling through the hollywood hills and beyond. once again, here's keith morrison with manchin! >> nearly 24 hours after this truly horrific crime. with a leg in deep shock, the police were baffled. >> anything at this point would be merely speculation. >> and then, it happened again! >> the bodies of a man and his wife were found in their home, both been spent to death. repeat stab wounds. >> did you know the people in this home? >> god, i've known these people for 30 years! >> what's their name? >> -- >> rosemary and the snow. rosemary's children found them. the scene every bit as awful as the 1:10 miles away on c l o drive. in his hands, a leather code.

in his -- rosemary had a lab court around her neck. venal had been stabbed 26 times. rosemary, 41! overkill would be an understatement. and again, just as it was that sharon tate's house. the murder seemed seemed, almost, are directed. to illicit fear! >> a fork was jammed into lena's abdomen and left sticking there. >> painting and blood on one wall, was the word rise! on another, death to pigs. and on the refrigerator, helter-skelter. like the song just from the beatles white album. >> on her body, the word roar had been called in the chest. >> these were brutal killings! >> elena 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 that the police had never seen before. >> the killer seem 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. brace itself for the next wave, especially after that initial suspect, william was cleared and released. >> there is some crazed killers roaming los angeles. and there is an immediate citywide panic. >> even though it was a hot august, everyone close their windows, and lock their doors. >> gun store sell out! >> car dogs who are going for over $200 apiece, are now selling for $5,000! everybody in los angeles is

putrefied. where are they gonna strike next? >> hollywood was even scared. and from my understanding roman polanski started getting paranoid. thinking it was someone among his peers. >> it was like a small nuclear device had gone off in hollywood. and people were really scared. and they need to make sense, and make sure that they were not involved in this. >> people all over the town knew it in their gut. the murders had to be related. >> i felt that there was an immediate connection. so did everyone in my family. >> why did you think it was a connection? >> because of the writing on the wall. that was the main thing. >> officer gerry derosa who was working the crime scene thought so too. >> i heard about some of the conditions that were at the location at the -- house. i thought to myself, i wonder if this is connected in some way? writing the blood on the wall, the stabbings. >> in your mind, it's pretty

right away? >> yeah. >> but it did not seem that way to the brass of the lapd. the department assigned a team of detectives to assign the tail workers. they signed another team -- to. the two teams worked at the same squad room. the problem was, they did not work together. >> they didn't like each other, they did not get along very well. and they did not exchange information for months. so each of those murders was in pursued separately. >> they acknowledge the crime scenes looked similar, but the -- where middle class folks who owned cut fees stores. they didn't hang out with movie harasses. unlikely, they said, that the same person committed both crimes. >> -- the same technique as the bell air killer to throw police off the track. >> the media was quick to sort of say, hey, these two crimes

look similar. and the police were quick to say, no, it is a copycat. because what would one have to do with the other? it did not make sense on the surface. >> oh, the law bianca cops looked into unusual-ness. was it a workplace disputes? a crime turned violent? even as they looked for murderous drug dealers, both teams struck out! both cases stayed open. and the terror lingered, that late summer of 69 for weeks. like the smog over downtown l.a.. >> that was their time you thought this would never be resolved? early on? >> yes. it seemed to have gone on forever. >> we'll never find out who did? this >> never find out! and that's its own kind of hell. >> and all the while, the cops failed to realize that the killers were hiding in plain sight. all it would take was a chance encounter between two unlikely characters in 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! >> and a dark obsession with the beatles. >> they really did listen to the white album over, and over. >> when dateline continues! when dateline continues against fleas and ticks. it's effective and vet recommended. seresto. learn more at seresto.com. ♪ ♪ ♪ it's the most wonderful time of the year ♪ get fast relief of your worst allergy symptoms, learn more at seresto.com. including nasal congestion, with powerful claritin d, so you can breathe better. feel the clarity and make today the most wonderful time of the year. claritin d. how did olay top expensive creams? like this with hydration that beats the $100 cream in every jar of regenerist retinol24 collagen peptide new vitamin c

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happening. history made and space -- launch the international space station arrived safely today. the a x one crew of three wealthy entrepreneurs and a former astronaut will spend eight days on board the station. -- died after being hit by tom track near fort lauderdale. florida highway patrol says he was trying to cross the highway on foot for unknown reasons when he was hit. he was 24 years old.

now back to dateline. >> welcome back to dateline, i'm natalie morales. two years after -- rock the summer of 11th and missed, los angeles -- sharon tate and born maybe have been massacred uttering a merciless today killing spree. they have been over a month since the rampage, and detectives were -- the murders even connected. whoever was responsible for the carnage remain the mystery. but soon, the most unlikely source would deliver a game changing jailhouse confession. here again is keith morrison with edmonton. >> august 69, it was still high nelly. but the police investigation for grisly --

was ice-cold. not a league, clue, or suspect insight. then, in october, a woman widely known on the hollywood party circle found herself in the l.a. county woman's jail. her name was virginia graham. she knew people, once even dated frank sinatra, this wasn't her first flame with the law. >> i was there for violation of probation. >> so, that is where fortuna was when -- -- >> happy, singing, doing cartwheels up and down the aisle. >> the woman's name was susan atkins. virginia was intrigued. >> i casually after one day, when 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 says you know those murders and benedict canyon? >> of course everyone in l.a. knew about that. >> she said you know who did it, don't you? >> i looked at her, and i said no i don't. her words to me, were you looking at her. >> just that casually, susan atkins confessed to the crime the whole nation was talking about. enthusiastically described the killings and all their detail. >> sharon tate begged her, please don't kill me, please don't kill me. she said she looked at her, either i, and said bitch, i don't care if you are going to have a baby or not, i'm going to kill you. >> and then atkins told her she was part of a group, and they kill lots more people, celebrities like frank sinatra. >> the very fact that there

were going to be other murders committed of other people, i would 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, which had recently moved to a rundown old ranch in death valley. the leader was a short scruffy guy individual small time criminal named mans him. charles mans him. the cops to their surprise discovered that -- >> hansen was a lifelong criminal who could never go more than a day or two of his free life without breaking some law. >> and the people with, him young and mostly women were barely more than half his age. >> they are easily influenced.

you know, they came from broken homes, where they were bullied at school, they didn't fit in, and he was able to tap into all of that. >> police begin to interview this woman. one was 18 year old barbara, they 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 like that? >> it made me feel special. it felt like we were all figures on one hand, like we were the digital and charlie was the hand. >> police spoke with other manson women to, and learn that in the fall of 67, manchin 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 from the beach boys who took

manson to the beach boys studio where he recorded this. ♪ ♪ ♪ it never went anywhere, manson did it measure up as a singer songwriter. he and his family settled in the rugged foothills outside a layout a place called spawn ranch, an old movie location for hollywood westerns. >> one of the best things about the ranches they wanted to stay there because they could do choice. when they weren't working, the family went dumpster diving for food, panhandle for money, sometimes stole cars. there were a lot of drugs, and plenty of sex, all directed by manson. >> he told people who just sleep, with what to eat, what's their bodily functions. >> charlie preached to his -- constantly. >> he would quote from the book

of revelation. >> which he knew pretty? well >> not pretty, well we were 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, sprawling double album, released a few months before the murders. one song in particular captivated charlie. helter-skelter, with lyrics the beatles said were inspired by a amusement park ride, harmless fun. but the people who were charlie preach told the cops that for him, helter-skelter meant something apocalyptic. what in the world did a beatles song have to do with the brutal murders of -- in los angeles. it all made perfect sense to charlie manchin. >> coming up. >> manchin's unshakable hold on

his family. >> he dances, he sings, he looks, beautiful he looks happy. describes a lot of people. >> the possible motive behind the murders. >> charlie would be king of the world. >> that is crazy. top >> it wasn't to us. >> when dateline continues. n dateline continues ♪ oh, oh, oh ♪ ozempic® is proven to lower a1c. most people who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. and you may lose weight. adults lost on average up to 12 pounds. in adults also with known heart disease, ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. ozempic® helped me get back in my type 2 diabetes zone. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away

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after two months of fall sleeves in the tape and lobby uncle murders. suddenly there was news! >> police got their break in the case, when this girl, susan atkins, a member of manchin's family was arrested for the murder. and talk to her cellmate about the murders. >> that -- to a hippie called called, the family! and there may leader, charles manchin! >> 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. >> it looked like all the other hippies hanging out around l.a.. >> hippies around this point we're associated with peace, >> but detectives email -- and as he told us in 2008, these hippies word different. especially manchin. an ex con and want to be rock

star obsessed with the book of later revelation and the beatles. >> he thought there were prophets, speaking to him and other people. subliminally, beneath the lyrics of their songs. >> in particular, helter-skelter. manchin's family hours were aware of the -- including rights in l.a.. now, manchin told them the song helter-skelter was the beatles prophesy. of a race war between blacks and whites. the division of armageddon manchin preach to his followers, both bizarre and deeply racist. >> there will be an all out war. during this war, he will lead his family into death valley. where there is a bottomless pit in the city underneath the surface. they will go down there and be safe. when the wars over, the blacks won't have one. but they won't have the intellectual capacity to govern

themselves. >> then, charlie told them, the family would take over. >> in other words, charlie would be king of the world! >> but then again, manchin was feeling them a steady diet of lst. >> he was serious about this king of the world thing? >> yeah! >> that was crazy? top >> was not to us. the world was crazy to us! >> investigators learned from manchin's followers, that he was not content to wait for helter-skelter. he wanted to start it, by murdering wealthy white people. who he called the homage to another beatles song, piggies! but manchin did not want 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 filled him? because they were under his

spell? what? >> they say that at that time, they were brainwashed! >> it hardly seem possible. and yet, as prosecutor was able to put together, manchin had susan atkins, ted, patricia, to the home of sharon tate's and their friends. a group of people manchin did not even have no. he did now, the former residents. a music producer for a movie that tried to get -- he was well aware the producer and moved out. but he also knew this. >> whoever is living there now has to be rich and famous. no one else could afford a house like that. the house is picked because of its location. >> then, manchin sent the same group, plus leslie, to the blobby ankara home the following night. seven savage murders. all in the surface of one man's twisted fantasy.

>> he knew exactly what he was doing. he is very evil! he's a very evil, sophisticated con man. but he is not insane at all. >> -- convened a grand jury. susan atkins was a star witness. revealed all the gruesome details. about how she and other family members shot and slash everybody in the tate and law bianca home. and then scrawled in blood what's charles's mansion had taught him. >> and when helter-skelter had been found at the murder scene, it was the equivalent of vance and fingerprints of the murder scene. >> then, in december of 69, about four months after the killings. >> in california, four members of the religious cult, including charles manchin have been indicted in the murder of sharon tate and six others. >> they brought charles manchin into los angeles. to the police station. and they are expecting, my god, this must be some kind of

monster. and instead of some big beast, there is this little guy with long hair. >> are you saying? good >> sane? that's relative. >> now, the turbulent 60s came to a close, and with the whole world mom watching, charles manchin was to go on trial. >> he was a mastermind. these murders would have never taken place had it not been for charles hansen. >> but if, looking back to chase against him seems obvious, it was not then. not for bully ocd. that's because he did not physically do the murders. there was no evidence that he manipulated his group. turn them into what they called bloodthirsty robots. >> i had to bring him in on circumstantial evidence. >> so the prosecutor decided to use helter-skelter. the song from the white album. but how would it play with the jury? >> the riveting court case that

captivated the country. >> coming up! , before o.j., this was the trial of the century. >> charlie always wanted to be famous, and as it was going to happen, he was going to do it right! >> and is one of the killers have a chance at freedom? when dateline continues! en dateline continues! was a bit of a buzz kill, right? so she ordered sunglasses with prime, one day delivery. ♪♪ clever girl. people realized she's actually hilarious once you get to know her. eugh. as if. ♪♪ well, he was asking for it. prime changes everything. you might have heard of carvana and that we sell cars online. we believe buying a car should be something that gets you hyped up. and that your new car ought to come with newfound happiness and zero surprises. and all of us will stop at nothing to drive you happy. we'll drive you happy at carvana.

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nearly a year since the murders had shaken los angeles to its war. susan atkins told investigators in detail how charles manchin convinced her and other cult like group to do the unthinkable, massacre innocent people. atkins testimony would be key to the prosecution's case, but there was no physical evidence linking man send to the killings. what would it take to convince a jury that he was the evil puppet master behind the bloodshed. here's keith morrison with the conclusion of manchin. >> the 60s gave us the summer of love, in 1970 the summer of manson. >> all of the elements are present for one of the most sensational murder trials of the century. >> that summer -- life man because the cover boy and three of his followers went on trial for the murders. >> i think mr. manchin feels he

has a product of our society. >> prosecutor -- was extremely daunting, a case like no other, a defendant like no prosecutor had ever encountered. >> he had to prove that charles manson, this we are little guy, could have some control over these other followers to make them commit murder, but not to the extent that the followers were mentally incompetent to be tried either. >> that's a tricky business. >> it is very tricky. >> and the trickiest part, making a charge of first degree murder stick against mans and am self. >> it is a little more difficult to convict him because he did not physically participate in these murders. >> two part strategy, prove his domination over the family, and explain his motive to the jury. but what a motive? >> that motive was helter-skelter, a united war between blacks and whites. it was he who introduced

helter-skelter to the family. you talked about it all the time. >> he had a star witness lined up susan atkins the woman who confessed the story in jail and repeated everything to a grand jury. >> now that you have a chance to get it off your chest how do you feel? >> but then, atkins recanted. said she made up the whole thing. so -- turned to other family members, like barbara left the family when manchin's behavior frightened. >> i decided, do i want to live with myself when i get old? and that was a deciding factor. should became a wary witness for the prosecution, she knew she would take these down and full view of her former family and followers. >> what was it like to testify? seeing it out there? >> there were really kissing up to me when i was in the back of the courtroom. blowing me kisses, smiling at me. --

changed one eye open my mouth in the witness stand. >> they have today members of the family demonstrated at the courthouse, performance art with a sinister -- >> your system wants destruction, and that is what it is going to get. >> inside, charlize codefendants -- patricia and susan atkins played to the cameras. it was a circus of weird. manchin at the center of the ring. >> are you guilty of any murders? >> i killed a chicken. once >> you are absolutely innocent of any conspiracy to commit murder telling anyone to commit murder or planning it? >> i plead guilty to the indians. >> one dimension appeared in court with an ax scratched into his forehead. the rest of the family quickly followed suit. >> it was theater. charlie always wanted to be famous and if this is how it was going to happen, he was going to do it. >> how are you?

doing >> good. >> shanties little sister deborah -- as she watched the antics on tv. >> it's all a play isn't. >> they were mocking america. they were marking our very foundation. >> everyone seemed to be watching. everyone seemed to have an opinion, even the president of the united states. >> there is a man who is guilty, directly or indirectly, of a murders without reason. >> next they headline l.a. times, around the country, manchin guilty -- >> all the while manchin clasp in the media saying anything about anyone. >> the judge made a fool of himself again -- questions my sanity, i question his. >> at the end of the 22-week trial, -- told the jurors charles mentions family preached love,

but practice cold blooded murder. >> he slotted the victims in an orgy of murder. >> the verdict came after nine days of deliberation. the jury found all four defendants guilty of first degree murder. >> in my verdict i wanted to protect the 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. >> are you prepared to die? >> he's already. that he's already dead. he has no thoughts, no opinions, he's just an empty hole. he is infinite. >> -- 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 manchin family. which meant that all of them, even charles manchin himself would have a chance that freedom after serving their sentences. manchin -- patricia ants -- all had parole hearings, and each time they were denied. in 2009 atkins died in prison. but leslie we, she did have a chance at freedom. >> it doesn't matter whether i -- i feel responsible for both of the deaths. in april 2016 the parole board recommended -- multiple occasions, but each time the governor's office overruled the decision. sharing to turn your sister deborah was relieved. >> 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 sophisticated motive of charles manchin. >> prosecutor -- died in 2015. the story he -- helter-skelter was the motive for the killings, inadvertently added to manchin's legend. >> what you want to call me a murder for, i've never killed anyone, i don't need to kill anyone. >> charlie mentioned spend the rest of his life behind bars. in november 2017, shortly after his 83rd birthday, nearly 50 years since he orchestrated those brutal crimes he died in prison. throughout his long life, he never admitted regret or remorse. >> remorse or why? you people have done everything in the world to me. doesn't that give me equal right? i can do anything i want to your people, and anytime i want to. that is what you have done to me. >> charles mentone will remain

forever seared into the public consciousness, evil personified. the man some say it helped bring down the curtain on the 60s as an age of innocence. who ultimately in his own twisted way achieved the fame he had been seeking all along. >> that is all for this edition of dateline, i'm natalie morales, thanks for watching. >> i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is dateline. >> only her feet were exposed. can. those were her last hours. >> young women murdered or missing. families in english. >> i would text her and she would text right back. but this time, nothing. >> when they killed her, they killed me.