The Manson family and their crimes raise many sociological questions? With the varying stories and the many people involved, questions like why were these murders committed? don't always yield clear answers. There are a number of motives, some believable and others with little or no evidence to back them up. Was there one true motive? Or were the murders the result of a combination of events? Who knows? Everyone seems to have his or her own theory.

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Hinman Motive

There seems to be some confusion as to why Gary Hinman was killed. One story goes; Manson was under the impression that Gary had inherited a large sum of money. He told Bobby Beausoleil, Mary Brunner, and Susan Atkins to go over to Hinman's and get the money and Gary was subsequently killed after he refused to give them anything.

The other story, which Beausoleil himself never brought up in either of his two trials, was that Hinman had sold him some mescaline, which Bobby sold to some bikers that hung around Spahn's Movie Ranch. A day later the bikers returned claiming the mescaline was bogus and demanded a refund. So Beausoleil went over to Hinman's to get his money back.

In an OUI magazine interview Bobby recalled, "I didn't go there with the intention of killing Gary. If I was going to kill him, I wouldn't have taken the girls. I was going there for one purpose only, which was to collect $1000 that I had already turned over to him, that didn't belong to me."

When Hinman refused the group his money and car titles a three-day conflict began. During which time Manson himself came over and took his sword to the side of Gary's face, slicing up his ear.

On the third day, Susan remembered, "Mary and I were in the kitchen. Bobby walked in and said quietly, "You two stay in here. I'm going to have to kill him."

"I couldn't stop myself. I ran into the room. Gary was standing, holding his stomach, and Bobby clutched a knife."

At one of his trials, Beausoleil stated that he hadn't killed Hinman, Manson had. But in the OUI interview he said Manson wasn't even there. "You see the Sheriff's Homicide Department wanted to get Manson involved in my case, which was very difficult because Manson was not involved." Beausoleil continued and said that Hinman was killed because "he told me that he was going to the police (and tell them) that I had come and assaulted him to get money from him. I had my back against the wall."