Category Archives: Archived News

Message In A Shampoo Bottle

A cut above: Jay Sebring, who invented a new way of styling men’s hair, with Paul Newman on the “Harper” set in 1965. Fall 2002 – I have interviewed many celebrity hairstylists in my day, but this would be my […]

Susan Atkins Claims She Didn’t Commit Any Of The Manson Murders

FRONTERA, Calif., Jan. 21 — Charles Manson follower Susan Atkins was refused parole Wednesday after an emotional hearing in which she claimed she didn’t kill Sharon Tate or anyone else. Ms. Atkins, who is serving a life sentence for the […]

Psychiatric Testing Ordered for Ex-Manson Lawyer After Outburst

Nov. 7 – Charles Manson’s one-time defense attorney was ordered to undergo psychiatric evaluation Monday after he burst through a security door into a deputy district attorney’s office in Torrance and resisted police officers who tried to remove him, authorities […]

The Stuff of Crime: Evidence Piles Up in Police Property Division Warehouses 

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 10 — They had seen it all, they thought: evidence from jewelry heists, blood-stained clothing and hold-up guns, narcotics and urine samples. Into the Los Angeles Police Department’s massive property division had come hara-kiri knives and ransom […]

Malibu Judge Leaves Bench After 22 Years

Nov. 15 – John J. Merrick did not have the typical background for a judge, but he was not judging typical people. Merrick was a comedy gag writer before he became the no-nonsense judge of a sleepy community that was […]

Release of Good Delayed

ALDERSON, W.Va., Nov. 22 — Sandra Good, a Charles Manson follower who was to be released here Friday from the federal prison for women, will not be paroled until at least Dec. 2 because the parole board has not completed […]

Charges Dismissed Against Manson’s Attacker

VACAVILLE, Calif., Jan. 17 — Authorities dismissed assault charges Wednesday against a state prison inmate who allegedly splashed convicted mass killer Charles Manson with paint thinner and set him ablaze. Inmate Jan Holmstrom apparently acted in self-defense, said James Highsmith, […]

Inmate Sets Fire to Charles Manson

SACRAMENTO, Sept. 26 — Multiple killer Charles Manson is expected to live after being severely burned Tuesday when a fellow inmate set him on fire at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville. Manson, convicted in the killings of actress Sharon […]

Manson Plot to Escape Thwarted?

VACAVILLE, Nov. 2 — Mass slayer Charles Manson was lodged in a maximum security cell Monday after state prison guards discovered a hacksaw blade and other contraband that may link him to an escape attempt, authorities said. One of the […]

Parole Unit Refuses to Free Manson

VACAVILLE, Calif., Nov. 5 — Mass murderer Charles Manson, saying “I ain’t got no mind” after eight years in “the nut ward,” was refused parole Wednesday by a state parole. The three-man panel from the state Board of Prison Terms […]

Leslie Van Houten: ‘In Touch’ With the Guilt She’ll Always Feel

Dec. 14 – Leslie Van Houten, 31, and looking like a schoolgirl in jeans, plaid shirt, red V-necked sweater, short brown curls and bangs, reached for her pack of cigarettes, lit up and grinned: “I keep telling myself, ‘When this […]

FBI Seeking for Motives in Psychology of Killers

QUANTICO, Va., Nov. 9 — The FBI has entered the world of psycholinguistics and interviews with notorious killers to help solve seemingly senseless crimes. The purpose of the studies by the Behavior Science Unit, which is housed in the basement […]

Manson Follower Discovered Shot in Burning Car

SACRAMENTO, Nov. 16 — James T. Craig, who was convicted of a 1972 Charles Manson family murder, was discovered today shot and stuffed into the trunk of a burning car with a corpse. Fire fighters put out the blaze and […]

Couple Meet, Forgive Slayer of Daughter, 20

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Jan. 16 — “We love this special person from the bottom of our hearts,” said Golden Bristol of the man who murdered her daughter. The tiny housewife from Dearborn, Mich., confessed to a little nervousness as she […]

‘Manson’ Film Producer Slain

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 27 – Producer-director Laurence Merrick, maker of the film “Manson,” was shot to death Wednesday at his Hollywood film school, police said. His unidentified slayer, described as a young man in his 20s, escaped after the noontime […]

Leslie Van Houten Retrial to Stay in L.A., Judge Rules

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 20 – The retrial of former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten will stay in Los Angeles, a judge here ruled today after both defense and prosecution attorneys agreed that the entire state was “saturated” with publicity […]

Woman in Manson Family Arrested

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 18 — A member of the Charles Manson family was arrested Monday at her home in Petaluma on a charge of sending two threatening letters through the mail. Patricia Maureen Gillum, also known as Misty Hay, was […]

Deputy D.A.’s a Bit of TV’s Columbo, With Just a Dash of Perry Mason

Nov. 14 – In stature and appearance (dark, wavy hair) there is a suggestion of television’s insouciant detective Columbo (Peter Falk, if you prefer). It would come as no surprise if he ambled up to the witness stand wearing a […]

Two Devotees of Manson Guilty of Death Threats

SACRAMENTO, Mar. 17 — Manson cultist Sandra Good and her friend, Susan Murphy, were convicted by a jury Tuesday of conspiring to send death threats to business and government leaders. The jury deliberated a little more than 1 1/2 hours […]

Sandra Good and Susan Murphy Plead Innocence

SACRAMENTO, Jan. 27 — Charles Manson cultist Sandra Good and another former roommate of Lynette (Squeaky) Fromme pleaded innocent today to charges of conspiring to mail threatening letters to business and government leaders. “I’m guilty for saying the mean truth […]