Author Archives: cielodrive.com

SACRAMENTO, Jul. 16 — For more than an hour and a half, supporters of Manson family killer Susan Atkins had the floor to themselves, painting for parole board members a picture of a remorseful, changed woman who should be released […]

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 […]

CHATSWORTH, Jun. 26 — If the rocky outcroppings around Stoney Point could speak, they’d spin plenty of tales about mountain lions, the Lone Ranger, even Charles Manson. History and nature abound in these rugged peaks, from the trail that retraces […]

CORCORAN, Calif., Jun. 11 – Charles Manson had his visitation, day room and commissary privileges restricted after being found guilty of trafficking drugs in prison, a corrections official said. After a hearing Monday, Manson was ordered into administrative isolation, said […]

LOS ANGELES, Jun. 25 – The murder scene at Nicole Brown Simpson’s condominium, said Los Angeles Police Officer William Richard Walley, one of the first officers to arrive, was as gruesome as any he has ever seen: The former wife […]

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 […]

LOS ANGELES, Jun. 21 — A Charles Manson follower is moving back to California to be near the imprisoned cult leader, according to a prosecutor. Sandra Collins, also known as Sandra Good, plans to live near Corcoran State Prison south […]

Jun. 13 – In the preface to his book on Manson family member Charles (Tex) Watson, Anaheim author Bill Nelson promises that “you will peer into the very soul of one of America’s most dreadful personalities.” “Tex Watson: The Man, […]

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 […]

Aug. 8 – There’s nobody home now at Barker Ranch, in the jaws of Death Valley just north of the San Bernardino County line. It’s deserted. A ghost house. A lot of bad things happened there once, and a number […]

LOS ANGELES, Jul. 30 — It has been years since Doris Tate and Roman Polanski saw each other. “For a while, I couldn’t bear to see him because in my state of denial I would always expect to see Sharon […]

LOS ANGELES, Jul. 2 – The Los Angeles bungalow where four members of the Manson family murdered Rosemary and Leno LaBianca in 1969 is for sale for $599,000, but the place is a mess, one of the listing agents and […]

Jun 1 – On the night of June 4, 1968, Detective Frank J. Patchett was at home with his family. But it was not an evening destined for tranquility. Shortly after midnight the phone rang. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy had […]

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 6 – It has been 19 years now, but people still come around once in a while to stare, take snapshots, ask questions. They haven’t forgotten the Tate-LaBianca murders, or the other Manson family killings, or the […]

CHARLESTON, W. Va., Aug. 25 — Would-be presidential assassin Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme and several other prisoners have been transferred in a major shuffling of female in-mates at federal prisons, officials said yesterday. Among the most affected was the federal prison […]

CHARLESTON, W.Va., Jun. 5 — Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, the Charles Manson follower serving a life term for trying to kill then-President Gerald Ford, has been transferred from a prison where she escaped last year to one in Kentucky with better […]

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 […]

SAN LUIS OBISPO, May 15 – A member of cult leader Charles Manson’s murderous “family” was denied parole for the seventh time, but the parole board told him he’s close to getting a release date. Bruce Davis, 44, who appeared […]

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 […]

LOS ANGELES, May 9 – A former Charles Manson follower was paroled and is working as a house painter after serving 14 years in prison for fatally stabbing a Hollywood stuntman. Steve “Clem” Grogran, 34, was released Nov. 19 from […]