Gary Hinman: The Forgotten Manson Family Victim

Gary Hinman (photo: charlesmanson.com)

On July 25, 1969, Gary Allen Hinman was 34 years old, a UCLA student who was aiming to add a PhD in Sociology to his existing degree in chemistry.  To support himself, he worked at a music shop teaching piano, drums, the trombone and the bagpipes.  He also reportedly sold relatively small amounts of mescaline and/or marijuana for extra money.  

A year earlier, he had become interested in Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism and by the summer of 1969, he was planning a religious pilgrimage to Japan with his parents, who were going to pay for the trip.  A kind and gentle soul, Gary was known to open his Topanga Canyon house to friends and acquaintances in need.  Unfortunately, this generosity would cost him his life.

He had met Bobby Beausoleil and other so-called Manson Family members through the commune scene and counterculture that enveloped Los Angeles in the late Sixties.  An open-minded man who had once played at Carnegie Hall, Gary allowed Bobby (and others) to stay in the basement of his home in 1968.    

Beausoleil was 20 years old when he met and moved in with Gary.  He was a musician and an actor, having appeared in Mondo Hollywood and Kenneth Anger's 1967 film Lucifer Rising, as well as contributing to the movie's soundtrack, which was a condition in order for him to appear in the film.  (He would eventually produce the soundtrack from prison.)   He was living with Gary when he was cast in a supporting role in  the X-rated The Ramrodder, which was filmed at Spahn Ranch in late 1968.  It was Beausoleil's first introduction to Charles Manson and his so-called "Family."   Although he would never become a full-fledged member, he did associate with them and the girls.  

At some point, an invitation to join The Family was reportedly extended to Gary, who, being devoted to Buddhism, declined.  However, he did give Beausoleil and Manson guitar lessons.  

Gary's home at 964 Old Topanga Canyon Road
(photo: cielodrive.com) 

There are conflicting accounts as to what exactly led to Gary's murder.  Some say The Family was given incorrect information that he had recently come into $30,000.  There was also the story that Manson was offended that Gary had refused to join The Family, which would have included turning over all his assets to Manson.  Beausoleil, in a 2018 interview, claimed that he had purchased 1,000 tabs of mescaline from Gary and then turned around and sold the drugs to another person, who complained of the quality.  Beausoleil went to Gary's home on July 25, 1969, looking to get his money back with two girls in tow, Mary Brunner and Susan Atkins.   Mary, a former librarian at the University of 'Wisconsin, was Manson's first follower and mother to his then 15-month old child.  When the baby had been born, it was Gary who had donated formula, baby food, and clothing for his benefit.  Susan, a former stripper and devoted Manson follower, had a nine-month old baby behind at Spahn Ranch.  Both girls were allegedly sent along as Manson felt they could help to encourage Gary to hand over money as it was said that Gary had been intimate with both at times in the past.  

The trio found that Gary did not have the money to refund Beausoleil.  Nor, apparently, did he have any recent financial gains, much less $30,000.  He showed the people he considered friends that he only had $50 in his checking account.   When threats with a gun didn't work, Beausoleil beat the peace-loving Gary, while Mary and Susan apparently looked for anything worth selling in his home.  At some point, Gary either voluntarily signed over title to his two vehicles or did so by force.  

Mary Brunner recalled later that Manson was called at the Ranch and informed that Gary was not forthcoming with any money.  Shortly afterward, Manson, armed with a Samurai sword and fellow Family member Bruce Davis, arrived at Gary's residence and after walking through the front door, without a word, slashed Gary's left ear and down the side of his face.  It bled profusely.  According to Beausoleil, Manson told him he had cut Gary to show Beausoleil "how to be a man."  Manson then left in one of Gary's vehicles, leaving the bleeding and pleading man with Beausoleil, Brunner, and Atkins.  

Over the next 24 hours, Brunner and Atkins stitched up Gary's damaged ear with dental floss while Gary chanted and prayed.  According to Mary Brunner, he told the trio he would forget what had happened and would call his wound just a scratch, so long as they just left.  

Reporting following another phone conversation with Manson, Beausoleil informed Brunner that he was going to kill Gary.  

Beausoleil said that Gary had insisted on receiving medical attention, leaving Beausoleil to realize there was no way out of the situation he had gotten himself into.  

At some point on July 27, 1969, Beausoleil stabbed Gary twice in the chest.    However, Gary lingered for hours with the wounds before Beausoleil, Brunner, and Atkins took turns holding a pillow over Gary's face to speed his death along.  It was Atkins that was holding the pillow when Gary took his last breaths.  Once he had died, they used his blood to write "Political Piggy," along with a cat's paw, on the wall, thinking it would implicate the Black Panthers.  

The three then left the home with the whopping $20 they managed to score from their crime.  They used the money to buy coffee and strawberry cake.    

On Thursday, July 31, authorities received a report of a possible homicide and found the body of Gary Hinman.  He was still clutching his prayer beads in his hand.  

A week later, on August 7, 1969, Beausoleil was found on the 101, between San Luis Obispo and Atascadero, sleeping in Gary's other vehicle, with the murder weapon secreted in the tire well.  He was arrested for the murder and on April 18, 1970 he was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.  His sentence was commuted in 1972 to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole.

Beausoleil under arrest
(photo: thejuicyreport.com)

Over the years, it was speculated that the Tate-LaBianca murders, occurring on the evenings of August 8-9, 1969 and August 10, 1969, were committed in a haphazard attempt to free Beausoleil by showing copycat murders happening while he was in jail on charges for Gary's murder.  

Beausoleil himself would change details regarding the killing of Gary.  In 1981, he would claim that the murder was solely the result of a botched drug transaction, although a drug deal was never brought up during his trial.  He also claimed that he had unknowingly supplied members of the Straight Satans motorcycle gang with a bad batch of drugs and they had demanded their money back from Beausoleil.  In that interview, he denied that Manson had ever come to Gary's home and that it was Beausoleil himself who had cut Gary's face with a knife when the two were struggling over the gun.  

In 1998, Beausoleil reversed course again, saying that it was indeed Manson who had inflicted the facial wounds.  

Before her death in 2009, Susan Atkins said she had never heard mention that the trio went to Gary's home over drugs.  "In hindsight," she said, "the death of Gary is perhaps the hardest thing to understand or make sense of."  

Gary in life 
(screenshots from Helter Skelter: An American Myth)

Bobby Beausoleil remains incarcerated for taking the life of Gary Hinman.  He was recommended for parole on his 19th suitability hearing, in January of 2019, although the governor of California reversed that decision in April that same year.  Today, he claims to regret what he did to Gary Hinman, a man he considered a friend, and says he should have faced the music but "instead, I killed him."     

   

Gary's final resting place in Glenwood Springs, Colorado
(photo: findagrave.com) 

Marrying for Murder: Shannon Mohr and Dave Davis

Shannon Mohr and Dave Davis on their wedding day, September 24, 1979
(photo: au.news.yahoo.com)

Like many a good little Catholic girl, as a child Shannon Mohr thought she wanted to be a nun when she grew up.  A sweet and caring child who was both a daddy’s girl and a mommy’s best friend, she eventually decided that she wanted to marry and have a family.  Nursing suited her caring and compassionate nature and it was a natural fit for her. 

Shannon as a nurse (photo: imdb.com) 

By the summer of 1979, Shannon was 24 years old and while happy with her career choice, she was feeling down over her personal life.  She had recently broken up with a firefighter from her Toledo, Ohio hometown and was not looking forward to attending a friend’s August 4 wedding solo.  Her mother Lucille encouraged her to go, suggesting that perhaps she might meet someone at the wedding.  It was sadly prophetic for Shannon.

At the wedding, she met 35-year-old Dave Davis, a self-described millionaire who told Shannon he was an orphan who had recently lost his fiancée in a car wreck.  He said he owned farms all over the country.  He also claimed to be a Vietnam veteran who had been injured in the war, a football player for the University of Michigan who had played in the Rose Bowl and then graduated with a psychology degree.  Davis was so charismatic, he not only swept Shannon off her feet but charmed her parents, Lucille and Robert, as well.

David Richard Davis 
(photo: findagrave.com)

On September 1, 1979, Shannon turned 25.  Twenty-three days later, she and Dave eloped to Las Vegas, only eight weeks after meeting.  Eight days after the wedding, and two days after returning from their honeymoon, $220,000 in insurance was taken out on the new Mrs. Davis. 

Shannon left Toledo and moved to Dave’s 100-acre farm in Hillsdale County, Michigan, where he grew corn and soybeans.  She was able to find a nursing job at the nearby Flower Hospital in Sylvania.  Shannon’s salary was the only real income in the Davis household; it’s unknown what excuse Dave gave her for the lack of cash flow. 

On July 23, 1980, only 10 months into the marriage, Shannon and Dave took their Tennessee walking horses to visit their neighbor, Dick Britton.  Dave helped Dick repair some machinery and then he and Shannon trotted off for home.  Not long afterward, Dave returned alone, telling Dick that Shannon’s mare had bolted and she had hit her head on a rock.  Rushing back to the scene with Dave, Dick found Shannon lying on the ground on her back, shoes off and with her blouse unbuttoned.  A rock nearby – the only one in the area – was stained with blood.  Rushed to the nearest emergency room, Shannon was pronounced dead on arrival.      

When Lucille and Robert Mohr arrived at the hospital, they found Dave Davis in tears and with scratches on his arm.  Although apparently grief-stricken, he told his wife’s shocked parents that he wanted Shannon’s body cremated.  The Mohrs disagreed, wanting Shannon to buried back home in Toledo and Dave consented. 

The Davis farm in Michigan (photo: forensicfilesnow.com)

He told Lucille and Robert that he couldn’t afford to pay for a funeral for Shannon since his money was tied up in farm properties and he had no insurance on his wife.   

The Mohrs paid for Shannon’s funeral and were shocked when his mother and stepfather showed up for the service.  They would soon learn more about their son-in-law.  Not only was his mother still alive but so was his father. 

Shortly after Shannon’s death, Lucille and Robert were horrified to discover that Dave left for a Florida trip with a woman.  Dave would later claim that he needed to get away and regroup after his wife’s sudden death and the woman was just a friend who had invited herself along.  While he was gone, he asked Dick Britton to forward his mail – he needed copies of Shannon’s death certificate for insurance purposes.

To the local authorities, Shannon’s death looked like an accident and they closed the case. 

The Mohrs, however, weren’t so sure.  They began a letter-writing campaign to ask Michigan’s attorney general to look further into Shannon’s case.  Dick Britton also asked the authorities to take a new look at the evidence against Davis, his neighbor. 

In August of 1980, a month after Shannon died, her body was exhumed and autopsied.  A severe gash on her head was discovered, along with various bruises on her face, hand, and arm. 

Despite this, the case remained closed.

A Detroit Free Press reporter by the name of Billy Bowles entered the picture.  Having heard of the case, he began poking around David Davis.  He found that Davis wasn’t a millionaire; in fact, the only farm property he owned was the one in Hillsdale County, Michigan.  Furthermore, he hadn’t played college football (in the Rose Bowl or anywhere else), hadn’t graduated college and had never served in Vietnam.  Davis had also never told Shannon that he had been married once before and was the father of two daughters.  Dave’s first wife had resided with him on the same farm property that would be Shannon’s final home until she filed for a court protective order, alleging physical abuse. 

Bowles also discovered that Davis had profited from two separate fire incidents on his farm, as well as a workers’ compensation case in which he sustained a suspicious injury while working for a car manufacturer. 

He also found out that Davis had taken advanced courses in pharmacology at the University of Michigan.  Sharing the information with investigators, the investigators began to wonder if Davis could have used some type of drug to cause Shannon’s death.  The state finally reopened Shannon’s case.

Davis, meanwhile, sold his Michigan property and collected several smaller life insurance policies on Shannon’s life that netted him five figures.  Currently living in the Bahamas on a boat with a new girlfriend, he was awaiting the results of a second autopsy on Shannon in order to collect from the larger life insurance policies.

Shannon, during the last year of her life
(photo: au.news.yahoo.com)

It would take a third autopsy before investigators sent their findings out to a Swedish lab who found high concentrations of succinylcholine in Shannon’s body.  Succinylcholine is a medication used to cause short-term paralysis, or a skeletal muscular relaxant, during anesthesia.  It paralyzes every muscle but the heart and makes it impossible to breathe without use of a ventilator.  The drug is often used for medical procedures with horses. 

With this information, investigators determined that Davis gave Shannon two injections of succinylcholine and it was the succinylcholine that caused her death and not the blow to the head. 

The Attorney General’s office took the evidence before a grand jury in October of 1981.  The grand jury returned with a first-degree murder warrant.  Authorities moved in to arrest Dave Davis on Christmas of 1981 in Port au Prince, Haiti but he had already fled, leaving behind his sailboat.   

(Photo: shannonmohrmovie.blogspot.com)

Eight long years would pass by for Shannon’s parents, who wanted justice for their daughter.  Salvation came in the form of the television show Unsolved Mysteries.  Hosted by Robert Stack, the documentary-style show, complete with reenactments, featured cold cases, unsolved crimes, missing persons, and the paranormal.  The first episode, part of a seven-episode special, premiered on January 20, 1987; on October 5, 1988 it officially became a weekly series.  The program featured Shannon’s case on its November 29, 1987 episode.  One viewer, a Beverly Hills dentist by the name of Cheri Lewis, thought the David Richard Davis on the program resembled a man she had dated.  That man, according to Lewis, claimed his wife Shannon had drowned.  A Hollywood stuntman by the name of Beau Gibson had also caught Unsolved Mysteries and noticed an eerie resemblance between David Richard Davis and a man he knew as Rip Bell.  Bell was not only his “best buddy” but had also given Gibson flying lessons.

However, it would take a second airing of the episode, on December 28, 1988, to get the tip that would lead to the capture of David Davis.  A female viewer claimed she knew her from her visits to American Samoa and gave authorities information on where to find the man who was now going by the name of David Myer Bell. 

Under arrest (photo: mlive.com)

On January 6, 1989, Davis was arrested at Tafuna International Airport in Pago Pago by four FBI agents.  Davis was not only working as a pilot for Pacific Island Airways, he also had a 23-year-old wife whom he had met through his job as a pilot.  When asked if he was David Richard Davis, he admitted he was and surrendered. 

Davis had apparently been living in American Samoa since 1985, after stints in Florida, the Caribbean, Alaska, and Hawaii.  He had posed as a doctor, a nurse, and a harpsichord player but he was indeed an actual pilot, as he had earned his FAA certification while on the run.  He and his Samoan wife had been living in a tin-roofed shack in Tafuna.

Returned to Michigan via Hawaii, Davis’ murder trial began in November of 1989.  The formerly blond, charismatic Dave Davis that Shannon Mohr had met and married was now an overweight, gray-bearded, even slovenly, man.  His appearance had changed so much that by the time of his trial, many witnesses failed to identify him in the courtroom. 

The prosecution presented their case, theorizing that while taking the horses back to their property, Davis suggested that he and Shannon stop to have an intimate moment.  Shannon took off her shoes and began to take off her blouse and it was then that he injected her with one or two shots of the succinylcholine.  Before the drug could fully take effect, Shannon fought back, scratching him the process (he blamed those scratches on tree branches as he was desperately seeking helping for his wife).  He then staged the scene to look like an accident by striking her in the head with a rock. 

Prosecutors also showcased the character of Dave Davis by introducing evidence of his con jobs and scams.  He had been wife shopping before meeting Shannon, asking a series of women to marry him only weeks after introductions.  Kay Kendall took the stand and said that she had been briefly engaged to Davis, whom she believed to be a CIA agent but she soon backed out of their engagement.  Barbara Matthews had been another candidate for murder and had also believed that Davis worked for the government, even after learning of Shannon’s death. 

A girlfriend by the name of Jeanne Hohlman testified that Davis told her he was a CIA agent assigned to protect Shannon; after Shannon’s death, Jeanne was informed that Davis’ “mission” was over and they could resume their dating relationship. 

Cheryl Nicholaidis testified that following Shannon’s funeral, Davis had told her “you’re the most beautiful woman in my life now.”

Shannon’s cousin, Tori Abrams, testified for the prosecution that she recalled seeing drug vials in the freezer of their farm while visiting. 

Davis chose not to take the stand during his trial and the jury took only two and a half hours to find him guilty of first-degree murder.  Judge Harvey Moes, stating that Shannon’s terrifying death by suffocation was “more despicable than a contract murder”, sentenced Davis to life without parole. 

Lucille Mohr publicly said she wished that Michigan still had the death penalty while Robert Mohr believed that Davis being locked up in a cage was “100 times worse.” 

Sent to Marquette Branch Prison, Davis continued to proclaim his innocence.  In 2001, he told the Toledo Blade, “I could never have hurt her,” maintaining, still, that Shannon had fallen from her horse and hit her head. 

Incarcerated for life
(photo: mylifeofcrime.wordpress.com)

That same year of 2001, he filed an appeal with a federal court, citing the controversy over the lab work that revealed the presence of succinylcholine; a number of scientists believed the tests were “junk science.”  Not that their beliefs helped Dave Davis.  Added to the life insurance policies, which he lied about, his life, which he lied about, and the staged murder scene, he expectedly lost the appeal. 

Other than a 1993 made for television movie about the case, called Victim of Love: The Shannon Mohr Story, David Richard Davis faded into prison obscurity.

Lucille and Robert Mohr visit Shannon's gravesite
(photo: findagrave.com)

Lucille Mohr died in 2008; Robert Mohr died in 2012. 

Two years later, on November 9, 2014, David Richard Davis, who somewhat ironically acquired a neuromuscular disease, died in a prison healthcare facility at the age of 70. 

Billy Bowles, the Detroit Free Press reporter, who had started the real investigation into Davis, died the same year Davis did.

As for the insurance money that Shannon Mohr was married for and killed for?  The bulk of the payout, some $300,000, went to her parents.

Shannon's final resting place.  Her parents removed her married name from her grave marker when it was determined Dave killed her. (photo: findagrave.com)