Crimes and Punishments

Charles Manson and seven of his 1969 followers are in prison. Five were sentenced in connection with the Tate-LaBianca murders. A sixth, Bruce Davis, was convicted in the murder of cowboy Shorty Shea, and Squeaky Fromme was convicted of attempted assassination. Ten more followers are free after serving time for various offenses. Some of the better-known “family” members, and others connected with the story:

Susan Atkins

Jailed in the murder of musician Gary Hinman, to which she pleaded guilty, Atkins, now 41, told cellmates that the Manson group had committed the Tate-LaBianca murders, saying she had attacked Sharon Tate and “kept stabbing her till she stopped screaming.” Told her story--modified to Tex Watson killing Tate while Atkins held her--to a grand jury on a grant of immunity and got the defendants indicted. Tried and convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit murder, seven counts of first degree murder; serving a life term at the California Institution for Women at Frontera. Next parole hearing: December.

Robert Kenneth (Bobby) Beausoleil

Beausoleil, now 41, had his own family of followers when he merged his group with Manson’s. Was arrested for the murder of Gary Hinman three days before the Tate-LaBianca murders. Serving a life sentence. Is aligned with the white supremacist Aryan Brotherhood at San Quentin. Currently doing a “regular work assignment” at the medium-security California Men’s Colony at San Luis Obispo, along with Watson and Davis. Parole hearing planned for later this year.

Lynette Alice (Squeaky) Fromme

Fromme, now 40, aimed a .45 pistol at President Ford in a Sacramento park in 1975 to call attention to Manson’s imprisonment and her views on environmental pollution. Convicted of attempted assassination. Has shuttled around the federal prison system. Transferred to a two-person cell at the Marianna (Fla.) Federal Correction Institution last August, eight months after an escape from the Alderson (W. Va.) penitentiary. Serving a life sentence. Eligible for parole since 1986.

Sandra Good

Good was convicted in 1976 of conspiring to send death threats to corporate and government leaders she accused of environmental abuses. Served nearly 10 years of a 15-year federal term before being paroled in 1986. Now 44, she lives in St. George, Vt., forbidden to return to California until her parole period ends in 1991. Still speaks worshipfully of Manson and bears the X she carved in her forehead during his trial.

Linda Kasabian

Kasabian, the state’s star witness in the Tate-LaBianca case, secured immunity in exchange for her crucial testimony that she kept watch outside the Tate residence during those murders, then rode with Manson the following night as he sought new victims at random. Testified at Van Houten’s 1976 retrial as well. Arrested in 1976 for rioting in Litchfield, N.H., but otherwise has lived quietly in the Milford, N.H., area, raising four children. Now 40, she has changed her last name to Christian.

Patricia Krenwinkel

Krenwinkel’s fingerprint was found on a door leading from Sharon Tate’s bedroom to the swimming pool area, and Linda Kasabian testified at the trial that she had seen Krenwinkel chasing Abigail Folger across the lawn with an upraised knife. The next night, she stabbed Rosemary LaBianca and carved WAR into the stomach of the dead Leno LaBianca. Convicted on same counts as Atkins; serving a life term at Frontera. Next parole hearing: November. She is 41.

Dianne Elizabeth Lake

Lake known to Manson’s “family” as Snake, was only 17 when she backed up Kasabian’s testimony on the witness stand. Became what Stephen Kay calls the “success story” of the Manson group, completing college with sterling grades. At last report, Lake, now 37, had a corporate job in Southern California.

Leslie Van Houten

Convicted in 1971 and in a 1978 retrial of two counts of murder and one of conspiracy in the LaBianca deaths. “I stabbed Mrs. LaBianca in the back . . . I don’t know how many times,” she testified at the second trial, maintaining that she had stabbed LaBianca only after she was dead. Now 39, she is serving a life term at Frontera facility. Next parole hearing: July, 1990.

Charles (Tex) Watson

On Manson’s orders, believing that the world would end shortly, Watson, now 44, shot Steven Parent four times, then told Voytek Frykowski, “I am the devil, come to do the devil’s work.” Shot and stabbed Jay Sebring, strung up Sebring, Tate and Folger from a living-room ceiling beam, clubbed and stabbed Frykowski, stabbed Folger. On the following night, he fatally stabbed Leno LaBianca. Convicted on same counts as Atkins; serving life term at the California Men’s Colony, San Luis Obispo. Next parole hearing: April, 1990, unless his federal lawsuit brings him an earlier one.