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Charles Manson
Serial Killers and Mass Murderers: A Researched Approach

ROUGH DRAFT
 Lacey LeBleu
: 01-03-04
 Composition II
Research Paper 1
Word Count: 1,177

Charles Manson

        Charles Manson was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 12, 1934. He was the son of Kathleen Maddox: a sixteen year old prostitute. His mother was sentenced to prison for five years for robbing a West Virginia gas station. Therefore, Charles was shipped to live with his religious aunt and her husband, who both teased Charles as being a "sissy". (qt. in Newton p.149) They dressed him in girls clothes on his first day of school, thinking it would help him "act as a man."(qt. in Newton p.149) Charles' mother paroled in 1942 and claimed him again as her son, but she often left Charles for days, weeks, and even months with his neighbors, leaving his family to come look for him. Charles' mother once gave him to a barmaid as a payment for a pitcher of beer. Finally, in 1947 they looked for a foster home, but there were none available so Charles went to Gibautt School for Boys in Terre Haute, Indiana. He escaped from the school after ten months to be with his mother, but, once again, she did not want him so Charles began living on the streets, being a thief to get by.
Charles was arrested in Indiana. He escaped after one day, but was soon caught and sent to Father Flannigan's Boy Town: which lasted for four days before he escaped and stole a car to visit relatives in Illinois.
At the age of thirteen, Manson was busted again. This time he was centered in a reform school at Plainfield, Indiana. At this school, Charles has the memory of being raped and tormented by the other boys, while the officer watched and masturbated. On February 1951, Charles escaped again.
Charles continues the trouble by stealing more cars and assaulting a few people. This continuous, disturbing behavior caused Charles to be moved to a more confined, strict reformatory, and, all of a sudden, he became a "model" (qt. in Newton p.150) prisoner within a day. Because of this miraculous behavior, Charles was paroled in May of 1954.
Being twenty years of age, out on parole, and free once again, many would have expected Manson to learn his lesson, but once again, he is arrested for driving hot cars, forging and cashing stolen US Travelers checks, and pimping and transporting whores on the interstate. After all of this nonsense, the last place that Manson was on lockdown before he got in too deep was at McNeil Island. Here Manson listed that he was of the "Scientologist" (qt. in Newton p.150) religion, and his IQ was 121. Manson paroled from McNeil Island on March 21, 1967, and fled to San Francisco.
San Francisco is where the nightmare began. Manson began gathering people, such as young dropouts and college graduates of both sexes, and he also attracted satanic cult members to believe in him as a father figure. Manson gathered a group of about fifty people, and he thought of them as his family. They traveled from Mendocino and the Haight to Hollywood, Los Angeles, and Death Valley. During this trip, Manson and his followers went to the Church of Satan, the Process Church of Final Judgment, and the Circe order of Dog Blood. They worshiped Satan, Lucifer, and Jehovah. Manson became obsessed with death and the song "Helter Skelter" by the Beatles. He interpreted the song as being a race war in America.
Come to find out, on October 13, 1968, two women, pregnant Nancy Warren and her grandma Clida Delaney, were found strangled and beaten to death with thirty-six leather thongs wrapped around each of their throats. Evidence reveals that many of Manson's family were visiting Ukiah at the time of this murder incident.
Two months later, on December 30, seventeen year old Marina Habe was abducted outside her home in Hollywood. Her body was found with multiple stab wounds in her chest and neck area. Habe was kind and friendly to some of the family members of Manson. Police believe this may be the cause of Habe's death.
May 27, 1969, sixty-four year old Darwin Scott, Manson's uncle, was slaughtered to death in his apartment in Ashland, Kentucky. He was found pinned to his own floor with a long butcher knife.
July 17, 1969, sixteen year old Mark Walts vanished while he was hitchhiking so he could go fishing. Walts hitchhiked from Chatsworth, California to pier at Santa Monica. Walts was found with three bullet holes and was possibly run over by a car the next morning in Topanga Canyon. Walts brother knew that Walts had commuted with the Manson family and had accused Manson of his brothers murder, but no charge was ever filed.
Around the time of Walts' death, a corpse was discovered. It was identified to be Susan Scott. Scott was a "family" member of Manson, and she had been arrested with some of the girls in Mendocino.
In the month between July 27 and August 27, 1969, Manson's tribe slaughtered at least nine people in South California. Musician, Gary Hinman was killed and the family used his own blood to write graffiti on the walls. He was killed because a drug deal went bad. August 9, Roman Polanski was raided, and his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, was killed along with her four guests: Abigail Folger, Jay Sebring, Voytek Frykowski, and Steven Parent, and the next night the Manson family mutilated Rosemary and Leno LaBianca in their Los Angeles home.
        Finally, in August of 1969, Manson was caught in California. The crime scene took place at LaBianca. It took one and a half years to complete this case. During the trial, Mansons control over his family was obvious. If Manson shaved his head and carved an X on his forehead, his family would do the same, but in the courtroom, Manson would make outbursts and his followers would repeat what Manson had said in a chant-like manner.
        In conclusion, investigations showed that Manson was never actually present at the murder scene. He was there long enough to tie up the victims, walk outside, and tell his members, Kill them. Manson and his defendants were sentenced to death until Californias laws changed. Now they are sentenced to life. Mansons family had gotten up to one-hundred or more, but most of them drifted away. Fortunately, the investigation convicted all that were involved to life sentences. Manson has been denied parole ten times now. His last denial was in April of 2002. His next parole hearing will be in 2007, and Manson will be 72. As of right now, Charles Manson still waits in prison.


Work cited:

Newton, Michael. The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers. 1951.

Bugliosi, Vincent. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders. New York: 1994

"E" Entertainment Television. The Story of Charles Manson- AKA: Helter Skelter. .

Linder, Douglas. The Trial of Charles Manson. 2002

Bardsley, Marilyn. Court TVs Crime Library: Criminal minds and methods. 2004