How many Manson family murders are still unsolved, 50 years on?
- Charles Manson and his cult followers infamously killed actress Sharon Tate, as well as butchering Leon and Rosemary LaBianca in Los Angeles in 1969
- But cold-case investigators and others have long believed that the serial killer’s so-called the family were responsible for many more deaths
The Manson murders are mostly remembered as two events that occurred 50 years ago this month: the killing of actress Sharon Tate and four others in the Los Angeles neighbourhood of Bel-Air and then the butchering of Leon and Rosemary LaBianca in nearby Los Feliz.
But cold-case investigators and others have long believed that Charles Manson and his cult followers were responsible for many more deaths.
The Los Angeles Police Department officially has a dozen unsolved homicide cases linked to Manson. And there are additional slayings outside the jurisdiction that some believe to be the work of his “family”. Some of those ties seem more plausible than others, but all have been extensively examined and theorised – as are all things involving Manson.
The supposed suicide of one Manson follower’s boyfriend in England. The drowning of a lawyer whom Manson declared during the middle of his trial he never wanted to see again. A young man killed during a game of Russian roulette with family members present. Two young women stabbed to death off Mulholland Drive and a couple of young Scientology followers who met a similar fate.
“Manson repeatedly told others they murdered many others. We may never know or identify all their victims,” said Cliff Shepard, a former detective with the LAPD’s robbery and homicide division who worked some of those cold cases.
In all, Manson and his followers were convicted of nine murders – the Tate and LaBianca attacks plus the slayings of musician Gary Hinman and stuntman and ranch hand Donald “Shorty” Shea.