The Short Life and Tragic Death of Steven Parent

(photo source: Find A Grave) 

Other than Sharon Tate's unborn child, Steven Parent was the youngest victim of the Manson Family's August 8-9, 1969 slaughter and undisputedly the least known.  Up until his connection with the notorious crimes, he had a very ordinary, middle class upbringing. 

Steven Earl Parent was born on February 12, 1951, the firstborn child of Wilfred and Juanita Parent.  The Parent family moved to the Los Angeles suburb of El Monte - known as "Friendly El Monte" and "The End of the Santa Fe Trail" - roughly thirty miles from Beverly Hills but a world away around 1958.  Their three bedroom, two bath rambler on East Bryant Street, built in 1956, was soon bursting as Steven was joined by a sister, Janet, and two brothers, Greg and Dale.  

Steven attended high school at Arroyo High, beginning in 1965.  It was in 1966, halfway through his freshman year, that he was arrested for petty theft.  It's generally accepted that he stole several radios  - he was known to be a hi-fi bug and enthusiast and reportedly took those items apart to see how they operated.  There is, however, a February 2, 1966 Los Angeles Times article that mentions a 14-year-old El Monte teen who was arrested for committing one to six burglaries at area schools.  As the offender was a juvenile, no name was given.  Whether the teen mentioned in the Times article was Steven or not, he spent the next two years in juvenile detention.  While there, he was reportedly tested at near-genius level for electronics.  

(photo source: charlesmanson.com)

By the time he graduated from Arroyo in June of 1969, Steven stood just a whisper over six feet tall, with red hair that earned him the nickname "Carrot Top."  According to Vincent Bugliosi, the author of Helter Skelter and prosecutor of Steven's killer(s), Steven had dated a few girls in school but no one in particular.   He enjoyed listening to folk music and playing the guitar but his main passion continued to be electronics.  Planning to attend Citrus Junior College in Azusa, to the north of El Monte, in September, he was holding down two jobs to save up money for his tuition.    During the day he worked as a delivery boy for Valley Cities Plumbing Company on Rush Street in South El Monte.  In the evenings, he was a salesman at Jonas Miller Stereo on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. 

In late July, Steven picked up a hitchhiker named William Garretson.  This seemingly innocuous act would set the wheels in motion to alter the course of his life.  Garretson, an Ohio native, was the summer caretaker for the property located at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon.  The home, owned by Rudi Altobelli, a manager and producer, was being rented out to director Roman Polanski and his wife, actress Sharon Tate.  Altobelli normally resided in the guesthouse but had hired Garretson on during the months he was in Europe.   After dropping Garretson off at the property, the caretaker told Steven to feel free to drop by anytime he should be in the area.

On Friday, August 8, 1969, Steven left home around 7:50 in the morning to begin work at Valley City Plumbing.  He came home for lunch and asked his mother Juanita to iron and lay out clothing for him so when he returned home after finishing his day at Valley City, he could quickly change and be on the way to Jonas Miller Stereo.  The day progressed normally, with Steven working his shift at Valley City, followed by Jonas Miller.  After clocking out at the stereo store, he stopped by Dales (a service station) in El Monte around 11 p.m. to chat with the brother of a girl he dated.  He asked the boy if he wanted to go for a ride; the boy declined.  From there, he made an innocent decision that would result in tragic consequences for him - he headed to 10050 Cielo Drive.  

Steve had a Sony AM-FM Digimatic clock radio he wanted to try to sell to William Garretson.  He arrived on the property around 11:45 p.m., noticing Abigail Folger and Sharon Tate in the main house as he made his way to the guesthouse.  Upon arrival, he asked Garretson who the pretty ladies were in the house and then showed Garretson the radio.  Garretson passed on the purchase but offered his guest a can of beer, which Steven accepted.  Steven also used the guesthouse phone to call a UCLA student by the name of John Friedman - he was building Friedman a stereo.  It was roughly around 12:15 a.m. when Steven bid Garretson farewell and left the guesthouse, headed for his car, his father's white 1966 Nash Ambassador, in the driveway.

Just over eight hours later, his body was found behind the steering wheel, slumped over toward the front passenger side, the clock radio beside him.  

The official story was that as Steven was leaving the property and had rolled his window down to access the button to open the gate, he was accosted by Charles "Tex" Watson, who, with Patricia "Katie" Krenwinkel, Susan "Sadie" Atkins, and Linda Kasabian, were entering the property to slaughter everyone present as part of Charles Manson's ludicrous Helter Skelter motive.  As Tex ordered the boy to stop, Steven pleaded with him, "Please don't hurt me.  I won't say anything."  Armed with a bayonet and a gun, Watson at first slashed at Steven, who instinctively held up his left hand to protect himself, causing a gash on his wrist that severed his wristband and caused it to fly into the backseat, where it was found later that morning by police.  Watson then took out his gun and fired three times, hitting Steven in the left cheek and twice in the chest, the latter two wounds of which were fatal.  Watson then pushed the car back up the drive, away from the gate.  This recounting has Steven Parent being the first victim of the Manson Family that night.

Recently, however, there have been theories that Steven was not the first victim and may have been the last, or nearly so.  In these theories, Steven was walking back to his car from the guesthouse and came upon the horrific slaughter going down at the main house.  Panicked, he literally ran for his life, with a hopped up Tex Watson in pursuit, reaching his car and attempting to tear out of the property.  In his desperation, Steve backed into the split rail fence and Watson caught up to him.  It was then that Steven pleaded for his life and that Watson went after him with the knife.  Finding that it was difficult to achieve his goal with the knife while his victim was seated behind the wheel, Tex unloaded his gun three times into the boy.  

Whichever version is the correct one, the split rail fence was broken with chips of paint from the Parent car found on the fence and pieces of the wood found under the back bumper of the car.  It was agreed by the Manson Family members present that Steven did plead for his life with those exact words, leading anyone to wonder what he meant when he said "I won't say anything" if he didn't see anything, as he wouldn't if he had been the first victim. 

For Wilfred and Juanita Parent, that Friday night was long and unnerving for them.  Steven had never stayed out all night and not come home.  The police, upon finding Steven on Saturday morning, did not locate his wallet or driver's license and so he was dubbed John Doe.  A reporter on the scene managed to make out the license plate of the car and had it run, finding out it belonged to a Wilfred Parent in Elm Monte.  That reporter managed to track down the Parents' parish priest and notify him that the dead John Doe might be Steven Parent.  While the priest was headed to the morgue on Saturday evening to possibly make an identification that would spare Wilfred and Juanita, the Parent family headed out to dinner, hoping that Steven would be home when they returned.  Instead, an El Monte police officer appeared and handed Wilfred a business card with a phone number on it and instructed him to call.  Wilfred called the unidentified number and was stunned when he was connected to the L.A. County Morgue.  He was told the morgue had a body they believed was Wilfred's son.  The physical characters and clothing matched; the priest was also able to positively identify the Parents' oldest son.  That night, the Parent family, minus Steven, crawled into one bed and cried until the early hours.

Steven's funeral (photo source: RXSTR) 

Steven Parent was buried at the Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Rowland Heights on Wednesday, August 13.  

Arroyo High School dedicated its 1970 yearbook to four students and a teacher, with Steven being one of the students.  Part of the memorial stated: "Life goes on with all its joy, sorrow, love, pain, and laughter . . . yet death continues."  

His family eventually left California, finding the memories and publicity of the notorious killings too painful.  They relocated in Texas, where Juanita had lived during her later childhood and before her marriage to Wilfred.  

In 1972, the UCLA student Steven had spoken to before leaving the Cielo guesthouse published a sci-fi book under the name David Gerrold.  He dedicated the book to Steven.    

In 2009, Linda Kasabian participated in a documentary where she admitted for the first time that, on Tex Watson's orders, she crawled over Steven's dead body, searching for a wallet and/or money.  This explains why no wallet or identification was found on him (and also further supports a burglary angle or motive.)  

In the decades since his untimely and terrifying death, people who once knew Steven leave memorials for him on the Find a Grave website.  They mention summers past, of swimming together, of playing in fields behind homes, and pretending to be radio announcers and that Steven was always thrilled to share a birthday with Abraham Lincoln.  The girl named Tina - now a woman in her sixties - who had Steven as her prom date only months before he was killed still muses on whether they would have eventually married, had children and grandchildren together.  It can never be known.  

 

Steven's final resting place (photo source: Find a Grave) 

    

 

Remembering Jay Sebring

 

A smiling Jay (source: Tumblr)

Fifty-one years ago tonight, Jay Sebring became one of six people (if you include an unborn baby) who lost their lives in one of the most violent, gruesome, and senseless murders in U.S. history. But Jay was so much more than just a victim.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama as the fourth and final child of an accountant and housewife, he was raised in a very average middle-class existence in Southfield, Michigan. Following graduation from Detroit Catholic Central High School, he enlisted for what would turn out to be a four-year stint in the Navy. That enlistment changed the course of his life, as he found a passion for cutting hair — which he did for the enlisted men during the Korean War.

Finding his calling, he journeyed to Los Angeles, where he changed his name from Thomas John Kummer to the more stylish and sexy Jay Sebring. Following barber school, he spent three years in tutelage at women’s beauty parlors before striking out on his own. His Sebring salon, one of the first salons for men in the United States, became as trendy as its location — the corner of Fairfax and Melrose in West Hollywood. Sleek and modern, with masculine wood paneling in the main salon, Sebring catered to his celebrity clientele, which began flooding the salon, by having a private entrance for them, as well as a VIP room. At a time when barbers charged $1.50 for a haircut, he could command $25 and up, thanks to his revolutionary Sebring Method, which involved using scissors rather than clippers and cutting the hair to the style of the head and in the direction of the hair growth. Sebring also encouraged daily washing of the hair before styling and using hair spray rather than Brylcreem or pomade, which was the standard (along with infrequent washings.)

A kind, deep-thinking and stylishly sophisticated man, Jay became the first male celebrity stylist to such stars as Warren Beatty, Marlon Brando, Henry Fonda, Paul Newman, and many others. He designed Jim Morrison’s famous shaggy ‘do and flew to Las Vegas every three weeks to tend to the locks of Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. Wealthy oilman Saul West paid him $500 (plus expenses) to fly to Dallas to cut his hair.

His success and popularity led him to going directly to the set of 1960’s Spartacus to personally tend to star Kirk Douglas’ hair and to be the lead hair stylist for The Thomas Crown Affair in 1968 and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in 1969.

Jay was instrumental in the film career of Bruce Lee, who he met in 1964 in Long Beach at the International Karate Championships. Jay introduced Lee to Bill Dozier, a television producer who cast Lee in The Green Hornet.

Although he had no acting aspirations himself, Jay appeared in a December 1966 episode of Batman (also produced by Dozier) playing a character called Mr. Oceanbring, a clever take on his own name. He also played a frontier barber in a 1967 episode of The Virginian.

In 1967, he founded Sebring International, as a means to franchise his salons internationally, teach his hair cutting method, and sell his haircare products. In addition to his flagship salon in Los Angeles, he opened salons in New York, London, and San Francisco. His San Francisco salon opened less than three months before his death; he was due to be in San Francisco the day after his death.

Although married in 1960 to a model, most of Jay’s acquaintances agreed that the love of his life was Sharon Tate, whom he met in 1964, after he and his wife separated and their divorce was pending. He and Sharon dated for three years, the relationship only floundering when she met director Roman Polanski on a film set and fell in love with him. Despite this, Jay and Sharon remained the best of friends. Sharon’s last home, the one on Cielo Drive that she shared with Roman, was only a mile from Jay’s Easton Drive residence.

That night of Friday, August 8, 1969, Jay drove his black Porsche up the hill to Cielo Drive where he, Sharon, and the Polanskis' two houseguests, Voytek Frykowski and Abigail Folger, went to dinner at El Coyote restaurant.  Returning home around 10:30, he and Sharon went to the master bedroom, where she could rest and he could sit and talk to her. Frykowski took a nap on the sofa in the living room and Folger changed into a nightgown and read “Madame Bovary” in her bedroom. They had less than two hours to live.

Jay, who had trained in karate with Bruce Lee, was no match against the knife and gun-wielding Tex Watson, who was high on speed and stood a good half-foot taller than the stylist. He was reportedly defending Sharon when he was shot, stabbed seven times, and kicked repeatedly in the face by the boot-wearing and blood lusting Watson. When he was found the next day, only feet away from the body of Sharon, Jay was still wearing her high school graduation ring, which she had given him during their courtship, on a chain around his neck.

In the half-century since his death, Jay has been remembered primarily as a murder victim; a famous one, thanks to the grisly nature of the crimes and the celebrity connection. But he was so much more than that. He was a revolutionary genius in his industry, a person that changed it so much his hair cutting method is still used today and is considered an industry standard. Sebring International survives today, although had Jay lived it’s hard to know how many salons and products he would have today.

Jay is remembered by those who knew him as a kind, thoughtful man who was unfailingly loyal. His last actions in life were those of being thoughtful and loyal to Sharon Tate, whom he defended until the very last.

Jay Sebring, October 10, 1933 — August 9, 1969 

(source: Hollywood Reporter)

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) 

Leslie Van Houten: Denied!

In a stunning case of good sense and forethought, California Governor Jerry Brown has gone against the recommendations of the parole board and denied Manson Family killer Leslie Van Houten parole.

Last September, a California Board of Parole panel found her "suitable" for release but Brown, on January 19, denied her that privilege, believing that she should remain incarcerated due to the "aggravated nature of the crime" and Van Houten's reluctance to wholly take responsibility.

This is who counts - Leno and Rosemary

I absolutely agree with Governor Brown's decision.  As he said, "The devastation and loss experienced by the LaBianca family and all the victims' families continues today."  What Van Houten did - - regardless of her age - - cannot be righted. Ever.  I have read where people say that she was young, she made a mistake . . . she was nineteen or twenty at the time.  Old enough. Making a mistake is dropping out of school or quitting a job or settling for a poor boyfriend.  Not stabbing a woman in the back with a knife, to the hilt.

What I find interesting is that while some want to give Leslie Van Houten mercy, claiming her age at the time or her small victim count compared to the other killers, they were never merciful toward Charles Manson, who didn't put a knife in any of the victims.  Yes, he at the very least suggested his merry little band of murderers where to go and what to do and he did initially tie up Rosemary and Leno LaBianca but he did less in action than Van Houten did.  So why the push to grant her parole?

A joyful Leslie (right) during the trial

I've said this in other posts and I'll say it again.  Leslie Van Houten was considered the least devoted of Manson's minions.  The least.  Let that sink in.  Yet she still willingly and happily accompanied the group that night back in 1969, knowing full well what their bloody mission would be, and partook in the violence.  She had zero sympathy for Rosemary LaBianca, fighting for her life, as she helped to put a pillowcase over her head and a lamp cord around her neck and then took a knife to her. She had zero sympathy for her, or any other victim, when she sang and giggled in court.

Leslie Van Houten wasn't a child, she was a legal adult.  I don't care what kind of drugs you are doing, or what kind of alcohol you are drinking, or if your mother forced you to get an abortion or your parents were mean or you weren't popular in school or whatever else.  It's no excuse for murder. None.   And blaming Manson, at least in part, seems to be the modus operandi for those left, as both Patricia Krenwinkel and Tex Watson have done the same.

Governor Brown previously denied Van Houten parole in 2016.

A New Book on Sharon Tate

I hate to say that I'm a Tate-LaBianca or Helter Skelter junkie but I've read Vincent Bugliosi's book many times, as well as various other books and articles on the case.  Eventually I became a fan of Sharon Tate's - - her sister Debra's book  (Sharon Tate: Recollection) is a gorgeous collection of photos and remembrances.

When I heard that Ed Sanders, author of The Family, was releasing a new book, and on Sharon Tate, I was excited and decided that I most definitely needed to read the book.  That excitement quickly fizzled out when I read excerpts through The Daily Mail.

Among other things claimed, Sanders writes in Sharon Tate: A Life that Sharon participated in threesomes with her husband, Roman Polanski; that she participated in orgies with other famous Hollywood folk that was captured on video; that Polanski showed these videos to his friends; that Sharon was initiated into witchcraft in 1965 following filming of Eye of the Devil and pictures of her inside a consecrated magic circle were taken.   There are also quite a few allegations that in an effort to hold on to Polanski, Sharon got caught up his drug-fueled and sexual decadence, that Polanski wanted Sharon to have an abortion and when she refused, he refused to have sex with her and began an affair with her friend Michelle Phillips, and that during that last summer of her life, Polanski was dismissive of Sharon, calling her a "dumb hag." 

I'll start with the Polanski allegations first.  I think it's fairly well known that Polanski had no desire for children; I believe he admitted that himself in his autobiography.   It's also well known that he was less than faithful to Sharon during their courtship and marriage and despite what may have been said immediately following the murders, Sharon was well aware and it was a source of unhappiness for her.  She was considering leaving Polanski and the marriage after her baby was born (sadly, she did not get that chance.)

As far as the drugs go, Sharon was no saint.  She had experimented with drugs before meeting Roman so I'm not sure it's fair to claim that he got her into that lifestyle.  He told the LAPD (and may have mentioned in his book) that the first time he dropped acid, he had done so with Sharon and it was her fifteenth or sixteenth trip.  She also appeared to be a recreational marijuana smoker before she met the director so I'll take the drug related stories with a relatively small grain of salt, at least.

After the murders, when the LAPD was searching the residence on Cielo for evidence, they found a tape of Sharon and Roman having sex.  If there were other videotapes on the property, as Sanders alleges, don't you think the LAPD would have booked them into evidence?  It's not like anyone would have had time to search the property and get rid of them - - the home was locked down once the bodies were discovered.  If the tapes existed, the other parties on the film would have a possible motive for murder.  Because of this, I don't think these videos ever existed . . . just another rumor out of many in this case.

The allegation that Sharon was participating in orgies goes against what everyone has said about her since 1969.  She was said to be sweet, almost naïve, and a homebody at heart who only wanted a home, husband and baby.  If Sharon did indeed participate in these acts, where were these people in 1969 or 1970? 

The witchcraft initiation rumor - -and it's just that, a rumor - - has been around for years.  There is no proof or substance to it.  Again, if there were indeed pictures of Sharon being initiated, where are they?  Surely in this age of eBay and internet, they would have surfaced by now. 

Sanders also got the facts glaringly wrong.  He claims that Terry Melcher was the owner of the house at 10050 Cielo Drive but the owner was actually Rudy Altobelli.  Melcher was the tenant at the house prior to the Polanskis moving in.  It may not seem that large of a mistake but it certainly makes you call Sanders' other so-called facts into question.

Perhaps most amazingly is that Sanders claims that Manson was paid $25,000 by a Satanic group to off Sharon because of something relative to the Robert Kennedy assassination she overheard.  This is so ridiculous it's almost not worthy of comment.  But let's address it anyhow, for argument's sake.  $25,000 was a large bit of money in 1969 (and would equate to over $650,000 today.)  If Manson had collected that sum, where was it?  Did he have some secret bank account that Bugliosi never found?  And if Manson was paid to knock off Sharon Tate, why would he send a vagabond band of killers to her home, with others present, and with such unwieldy weapons as a bayonet and 40 plus feet of rope?  Why would they commit such overkill?  Why butcher Rosemary and Leno LaBianca the next night?  None of it makes sense.   Never mind that Sharon supposedly knew something about the RFK assassination that was kill worthy.  If she knew something, don't you think she would have told Roman Polanski?  And wouldn't he have mentioned it to the LAPD when they were attempting to find a motive? 

Despite how good The Family was, Sanders failed miserably on this one.  Who was his source, Manson?  I think Sanders was trying to find the most salacious and juicy gossip in order to sell his book.  Shame on him - - just another person who has no difficulty in murdering Sharon's memory.

The Daily Mail article - - big grain of salt, folks - - can be found here.