watson a knife and a gun. he told the girls to get a knife and a fresh change of clothing and to do whatever tex told them to doive you an example of the terrible brutality of these murders, frykowski was stabbed 51 times, shot twice, hit over the head 13 times with the butt of a revolver. watson told his psychiatrist, he said, you know, these people that i was stabbing, they were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. and while he was uttering those words, he had a big smile on his face. >> charles watson, small-town boy, star athlete, model citizen is now a main suspect in seven vicious cult murders. >> when they found out, the people of farmersville, that watson was charged with these murders, the general feeling in town is no way at all. this is a case of mistaken identity. no possible way was he involved in these murders. but obviously, he was. >> some people thought i might be the next son of farmersville to bring fame and pride to that dusty little community. being in church and being a good christian was just part of what it meant to be a young, american boy. and then there was sports. i

there was a big change in charles watson, in tex, towards the end there.secretly taking speed and spending more and more time with charlie. he finished charlie's sentences. he'd laugh like him. i think he just completely lost himself towards the end there. there was a lot of stuff happening in people's psyches that just all culminated into this horrible tragedy. >> i didn't know anything about the house. i was just told to do whatever tex said. i had been told there was no such thing as death. you were supposed to be able to kill and not feel anything. tex got the bolt cutters and cut two lines that led to the house. i saw headlights. tex told us to lie down and not make a sound. he went out of sight and i heard four gunshots. >> steven parent, 18-year-old kid. watson came up to the car, shot him four times. left him dead. what happened next as they approached the house, watson got into the house through the window, went to the front door, opened the front door and had patricia krenwinkel and susan atkins enter. linda kasabian stayed outside. >> at first i

>> manson and his followers, charles tex watson, who did most of the actual killing, patricia krenwinkel, shown here on the left, leslie van houten and susan atkins were all convicted and condemned to die in the gas chamber. their sentences, however, were later commuted to life when california temporarily dropped the death penalty in 1972. not long after, the fbi began researching serial killers and developed a profile on charles manson. one of the profilers who would study him was candice delong. what drew you to the study of manson? >> in training to become a profiler, we learned about all different kinds of criminal minds, and he was one of the many, many people that we studied. he was fascinating because a lot of people think charles manson is a killer. in fact, he directed others to kill. >> manson personally killed just one of the nine victims, the cowboy and aspiring actor, shorty shea. still, manson is thought by most people to be a serial killer. the whole image is one of intense evil, i guess. a frightening character who might slash out at any moment. people almost seem to be a