• Patricia Krenwinkel Documentary, Life After Manson Debuts At Tribeca Today

Patricia Krenwinkel Documentary, Life After Manson Debuts At Tribeca Today

Friday, April 18th, 2014

olivia-klaus-patricia-krenwinkel

Olivia Klaus and Patricia Krenwinkel at the California Institue for Women while filming Life After Manson
Photo Credit: Quiet Little Place / Misty Dameron Photography

April 18 – A new documentary, Life After Manson, featuring Patricia Krenwinkel’s first on-camera interview in over two decades, is set to premiere today at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival. The film, which profiles Krenwinkel life, is directed by Olivia Klaus, whose previous documentary, Sin by Silence, told the stories of a group of battered women all convicted of killing their abusive lovers.

It was during the filming of Sin by Silence that Klaus came to find out one of the members of the group she volunteered in was Patricia Krenwinkel. According to Klaus, Krenwinkel approached her with the idea of doing the interview and because they were already filming the support group, they were able to get around a law that traditionally gives the department of corrections the right to prevent on-camera interviews with high profile inmates.

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Bruce Davis Granted Parole For The Third Time

Wednesday, March 12th, 2014

Mar. 12 – Despite efforts from the Los Angeles County District Attorney, Sharon Tate’s sister Debra Tate, and former Manson family member Barbara Hoyt, a California parole board has for the third consecutive time, recommended Bruce Davis for parole.

The parole board’s decision will undergo a 120-day review, after which the Governor will have 30 days to reverse, modify, affirm or decline to review the decision.

Davis, serving a life term for the murders of Gary Hinman and Donald “Shorty” Shea, appeared before the parole board for the 28th time today. It was the second consecutive hearing attended by Debra Tate and Barbara Hoyt, both of whom spoke on behalf of the Shea and Hinman families.

“The public needs to know this man is very dangerous now as he was in 1969,” Tate told CNN before Davis’ last hearing.

Hoyt, a former member of the Manson family who has opposed Davis’ release for years, has described Bruce as a leader within the group whom the girls all feared.

However, according to attorney Michael Beckman, Davis is a rehabilitated man and has been for decades.

“By no conceivable stretch of anyone’s imagination has Bruce Davis not rehabilitated himself,” Beckman told the board in 2012. “No one, not even the District Attorney from Los Angeles County said anything negative about his prison program.”

Davis has only two rules infractions in over four decades of incarceration, the last one occurring over 25 parole hearings ago. Davis has received a Master’s degree from Borean School of the Bible and a Doctorate degree in philosophy and religion from Bethany Seminary, graduating summa cum laude.

Davis was recommended for parole in 2010, but was later denied by then-governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In October of 2012, a California Parole Board recommended Davis for parole for the second consecutive time. After the decision passed its initial review District Attorney Jackie Lacey pleaded to California Governor Jerry Brown to reverse the decision.

“Davis has been diagnosed with narcissistic and antisocial personality traits. He consistently blames everyone but himself for his criminal and antisocial behavior,” wrote Lacey. “It is evident that Davis lacks insight, genuine remorse and understanding of the gravity of his crimes.”

On March 1, 2013, Governor Brown reversed the parole board’s decision stating Davis was still unsuitable for release into society because of the heinous nature of the crimes. Brown’s reversal highlighted areas where, over the years, he felt Davis had minimized his role in both the Manson family and their crimes. The governor also questioned how truthful Davis had been, stating as an example, that Davis hadn’t mentioned Larry Jones being present during the Shea murder until his 2010 parole hearing.

“Davis’s choice to withhold information regarding the crimes and the identity of a potential crime partner indicates to me that his commitment to the Manson Family still exceeds his commitment to the community,” wrote Brown.

Following the reversal, Davis unsuccessfully challenged Governor Brown’s decision in court and according to Beckman, they are waiting to be heard by the Circuit Court of Appeals.

In July, Governor Brown will once again have to make the final call on whether or not the board’s decision will stand.

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The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Shorty Shea Files

Friday, February 21st, 2014

Feb. 21 – Donald Jerome Shea, aka Shorty (born 9/18/33 in Massachusetts, male Caucasian, 5-11, 190 pounds, brown hair and brown eyes) grew up in the Boston area. Shorty is the son of John and Elizabeth Shea. Records indicate that Shorty has four other brothers, John J. (1927), Robert L. (1929), Dennis G. (1935) and Francis (1937)

Shea enters the service and is sent to Korea where his military career is cut short after a parachute accident in 1951 crushes his pelvis and hips.

Back in the States, Shea, 25, marries Phyllis Gaston, 19, in Los Angeles County in May of 1959. In November of the same year, Shorty becomes a first time father when Phyllis gives birth to their daughter, Karen Arline Shea. The marriage, however, ends shortly thereafter.

In February of 1961, Shea now 27, marries Sandra L. Adams, 16, again in Los Angeles County. In September of the same year, the couple has their first child, Elizabet M. Shea.

In October of 1962, Sandra gives birth to Shorty’s first son, William J. Shea. Around this time, Shea and his family move to the Spahn Ranch where they live and work training horses. Sandra gives birth to the couple’s third child, another daughter.

In 1965, Donald moves his family to Massachusetts, moving in with his youngest brother, Francis. The following year, Sandra divorces Donald and moves to Ohio with the couple’s three children.

Shorty moves back west, and in March of 1969, takes a job at the Cab Inn Beer Bar in Carson, California. There he meets, Magdalene Velma Fuery, a topless dancer also known as Nicki. The two marry in Las Vegas in July.

In the early morning hours of August 16, 1969, Shorty and Magdalene have a fight and he leaves their Hollywood apartment. He calls her later that day to tell her that everyone at Spahn Ranch has been arrested and he needs to look after it for George. Magdalene never sees Shorty again.

That summer, Shorty, is reportedly hired by Frank Retz to run the Manson family off of the Spahn Ranch property. Retz owns the neighboring property and is in negotiations to purchase a portion of Spahn Ranch. Retz doesn’t like the family on either of the properties and calls the police on them on several occasions. Charles Manson reportedly places blame on Shorty and is convinced he has been working with the police.

Sometime around the end of August, or early September, Charles “Tex” Watson, along with Manson family members Bruce Davis and Steve Grogan, take a ride with Donald Shea. Shea is driving, with Watson sitting beside him. Watson instructs him to pull over, but Shea refuses. Watson stabs Shea and he finally pulls over. From the backseat, Grogan strikes Shea with a pipe wrench. Another car containing Bill Vance, Larry Bailey, and Charles Manson pulls up behind them. The group takes Shorty out of the car, bring him down a hill behind Spahn’s Ranch and stab him to death.

During the course of investigating the murder of Gary Hinman, witnesses tell homicide detectives from the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department that several persons within the Manson family have spoken about the murder of Shorty.

After the Tate-LaBianca murders are connected to the Manson family in December of 1969, Magdalene Shea officially files a missing person report on Shorty.

In December, authorities begin conducting searches at Spahn Ranch, trying to find Shorty’s remains. Although their searches are unsuccessful, the county charges and successfully convicts Bruce Davis, Steve Grogan and Charles Manson on first degree murder counts for Shorty’s slaying.

Donald Jerome Shea’s body isn’t found until December of 1977. From prison, Steve Grogan draws a map leading authorities to Shortys remains in an effort to prove to them that Shea hadn’t been, as previously rumored, cut into nine pieces.

12/09/69Car Photographed
12/12/69Latent Prints Check
01/22/70Prints Matched to Bruce Davis
10/21/70Suspicious Circumstances – Possible Homicide
11/07/70Evidence held; Investigation made
11/09/70Laboratory Examination
12/19/70Grand Jury Indictment; Suspect Arraigned

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LAPD Interview Transcript of Virginia Graham, November 26, 1969

Tuesday, January 28th, 2014

Jan. 28 – On Wednesday, November 26, 1969, the Homicide division of LAPD received a phone call from prison officials in Corona, after an inmate, Virginia Graham, had informed them she had information about the Tate murders.

Graham, who had been recently transferred from the Sybil Brand Institute, told authorities that her former dorm mate, Sadie Glutz, had told her she was among a group of people who had committed the Tate-LaBianca murders. In response, LAPD sent Sergeant Michael Nielsen, one of the homicide detectives investigating the LaBianca murders.

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Audio Archives, Danny DeCarlo interviewed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department – Part Two

Tuesday, January 14th, 2014

Jan. 14 – Part two of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Homicide Bureau interview of Straight Satans motorcycle club member Danny DeCarlo, regarding the murder of Gary Hinman. This interview was conducted at the Hall of Justice on November 19, 1969.

(Unintelligible)

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Were you there when Bobby called?

DANNY DeCARLO: No.

I wasn’t there but he called the ranch and he asked to go down to a pay phone. Gary said – Charlie said, pay phone.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Mmm hmm.

DANNY DeCARLO: That fella called (unintelligible)

Alright, Charlie gets on the phone and Bobby ran it down to him, “Gary ain’t cooperating.”

Charlie says, “Alright, I’ll be up there.”

So him and Bruce, went up to Gary’s house. And Charlie brought that big long sabre, that I gave to Sergeant Gutierrez, Big long cutlass. And so he walked in the house. And uh, right away Gary ran out to Charlie, “Charlie,” said “I don’t want no trouble. I just want you to leave and take everybody with you. And get out of my house. I’m not gonna tell the police about nothing. Just get out of here.” Charlie didn’t say a word. Smack, cut his ear off.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Charlie now —

DANNY DeCARLO: Charlie —

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: — hit Gary.

DANNY DeCARLO: — cut Gary’s ear with this knife. And Bobby – the way Bobby ran it down, he said blood was pouring from the side he chopped his ear right off. Gary hit the ground.

Charlie says, “Listen here little partner, I ain’t bullshitting with you, I’ll kill you. I want your money. I want your house, I want everything.”

And that was the idea. Get everything he owned. ‘Cause they talked about him before, as being a Political Piggy. See, a political fuck up. “Gary’s fucked up in his head, he’s a pig, he’s gotta go. He’s just like society, part of society, so let’s get rid of him. First lets get his money.” They wanted money. To get to the desert they needed money to get out to the desert. He needed money to buy his dune buggies, and buy all his supplies, and walkie talkies and radios, anything he wants, with that 20 grand would set them off on the road. And he knew that he had it, I don’t know how he knew that he had it. And I don’t know for sure whether he had it. I’m going by what he told me.

Then after Charlie hit him with the sword, he and Bruce immediately left. Came back down to the ranch. I didn’t see them come down to the ranch. Or uh, I don’t know when they left to go up there and I didn’t see them when they came back. These are all conversations that Bobby told me.

Alright, so, Bobby started, telling Gary, ya know, they were there for two days. Gary Hinman and his house, two fucking days, man, with this guy.They were just beating the living shit out of him. (unintelligible)

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Bobby’s told you —

DANNY DeCARLO: Bobby’s telling me this right from the horse’s mouth.

So, a little bit while goes on, a little bit, like 37 hours, half a day or whatever the fuck it is. Bobby calls Charlie up at the ranch.

Says, “Charlie, I don’t know what to do about Gary.”

so he says he wants to get out of his house, he guy isn’t gonna give us nothing.

Then Charlie told Bobby, “Well, you know what to do, brother.”

And then he — “you know what to do,” his exact words.

So uh, Bobby says to him, “You want me to kill him?”

Charles goes, “Yeah, brother, that’s the only way to do it, you got to do it. Don’t think much about it.”

So Bobby hung up the phone. Went over to Gary and pulled out his little knife, and hit him with it. He hit him about four – he hit him more than once. From what I understand, three or four, five or six, maybe ten. But, the first three or four times didn’t do him in, he didn’t die. He kept struggling, he uh, kept on breathing. He says, the more times he hit him, the more he wanted – he kept having a desire to live. And Bobby wouldn’t die on him. Bobby says, when he finally went, well, he’s laying on the ground and Bobby knelt beside him and, told him, “Gary,” ya know, “sorry, but,” uh, “it’s a lot better that you go this way.” And uh, tell him he loved him. “I’m your brother, you’re nothing but a pig, and this is the best thing I can do for you.” And he said, he was right I’m going to meet with Bruce. He said, he was going out to lunch. So as he was dead, the plan was, take his blood and smear piggy on the wall, and put a Black Panther paw, in his own blood, on there. Alright, he did that, now this is. Now after — he had actually told me this. After he had told me what he had done, they went back to the house. To wipe all that stuff off of the wall. Cus they decided, for some strange reason, I don’t know why, they didn’t want it to be charged to a Black Panther. I, I don’t know the trip behind it. But they went back there to wipe it off. This is Bobby told me, he went back there and he could hear, he could hear the maggots eating away at his body. He said the place stunk like a motherfucker. So they went back there to really, double check and wipe the place down (unintelligible). And I’m not sure, I’m not positive, but I think Sadie went back with him, to the same house again. This is approximately a week later after he’s dead. I know he’s, he’s — I don’t know how long he was dead before you found him. But, uh, what he told me, it must’ve been four or five days after they killed him, they went back. So he said that it already been four or five days since he killed him, he still found him. And he went back and wiped all that shit off the wall. He dusted the house, wiped all the fingerprints off.

Alright, a Toyota, a white Toyota and that funny Volkswagen bus, show up at, the ranch. The same time, everybody was living down there at the back house. The back house was (unintelligible). If they brought the Volkswagen bus down there, well they can’t bust and run. In fact, (unintelligible) not knowing whose it was or is, as far as I was concerned. So, for driving around with that bloody car with the head out, a radiator. There was a radiator that didn’t belong, it wasn’t stock. It was another radiator that was put on there. (unintelligible)

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Do you remember, Danny, about what time this was, you know, what month, this all went down?

DANNY DeCARLO: It’s either the, the last of July or the first of August.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Ok.

DANNY DeCARLO: That —

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: And you said —

DANNY DeCARLO: — Let me —

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: — ok, go ahead.

DANNY DeCARLO: Let me tell you something. (unintelligible) Now you start asking me about time.There was no clocks.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: I know that.

DANNY DeCARLO: There was no calendars. All I know, it got light, it got dark, it got light and it got dark. I didn’t even know when Friday come around, so I’d go down to Venice for my meetings. I even forgot, I didn’t even know when Friday was. Like, so there’s no clocks, no calendars, so don’t, quote me on the time. I can be more honest —

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Sure, sure —

DANNY DeCARLO: — no clock.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: — you say roughly it was the last part of July.

DANNY DeCARLO: Last part of July, roughly.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Ok. Now, when you had this conversation with, with Beausoleil, did he say how long ago this had happened? That all of this went down?

DANNY DeCARLO: It was, it was the day before.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: He told you they had —

DANNY DeCARLO: the day after

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: the day after?

DANNY DeCARLO: Right, the day after he ran it down to me, cus he bragged about the —

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: You were in the bunkhouse, you say?

DANNY DeCARLO: The bunkhouse, I took you to a ride to.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Ok, and was anybody else in there, when he told the story?

DANNY DeCARLO: There might’ve been a few girls in and out of the place. But he directed the conversation like I’m directing to you.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Just between the two of you?

DANNY DeCARLO: Just between the two of us.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Ok, was it daytime or night time.

DANNY DeCARLO: Day time, it was the afternoon. It was around four, five o’clock in the afternoon. He got back to the ranch about that time.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Did Sadie ever talk to you about what happened up there?

DANNY DeCARLO: Never.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Did uh, Mary ever talk to you about what happened?

DANNY DeCARLO: No, not ever.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Anytime that Beausoleil is talking, did he, tell you what they did? What each one of them participated in?

DANNY DeCARLO: He only told me what Sadie did. That’s when he went in the other room, he gave the gun to Sadie. The 9mm automatic, gave it to Sadie, to hold on Gary, who was sitting behind his desk. That’s all I knew, he was sitting behind his desk. And he got Sadie to hold the gun on Gary, while Bobby went searching around the house for shit to dig up. Bobby said he heard Sadie say, “Gary sit down. Gary stay there now, Gary. I’m telling you, Gary.” Then Bobby said he heard it and he ran back in there, about the same time, that Bobby got to Sadie.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Did he say how he wrote on the wall? What with?

DANNY DeCARLO: No. He just said, we took his, we took his blood and wrote on the wall. He didn’t say whether it was with a paint brush, whether it was with a rag, whether it was with his own bare hands, that he didn’t say.

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: Did he say what he wrote on the wall?

DANNY DeCARLO: He said he wrote, uh, you are a pig, kill the piggies, it had something to do with pigs. Then he put a panther paw. The panther paw I know he put, because he described it to me. Like a panther paw. Cus that was the idea, ??? the fact, that, to put this on the Panthers. See, cus Charlie, before that, had shot a Panther. And the police knew that the Panthers were after Charlie. So, he was trying to put shit on the Black Panthers, on Hinman’s death.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: While we’re speaking, did you ever have a conversation with Bobby, that Charlie Manson was present and heard Bobby relay these facts?

DANNY DeCARLO: No.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Did you ever Charlie Manson ever say to you, or did he ever say anything like, “I sent Bobby there to do a job,” or anything like that?

DANNY DeCARLO: No.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Did Bobby ever tell you that Charlie sent him?

DANNY DeCARLO: Yes.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: To get money?

DANNY DeCARLO: To get money, right.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: To get his cars, the pink slips?

DANNY DeCARLO: Why is it before they went up there – now this is Charlie’s plan.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Charlie made the plan then, before he went up there.

DANNY DeCARLO: Before he went up there, to get twenty-thousand dollars.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: And included in that plan, he also sent up there to get what else?

DANNY DeCARLO: Anything they could get their hands on.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Why is it he needs the property?

DANNY DeCARLO: But, he didn’t have it. Now, when Bobby came back, the only thing he brought back was that (unintelligible) Corolla and that Volkswagen bus. Let me tell you another thing. There was a tape player taken out of that Toy- I mean that Volkswagen bus, that the Malibu Sheriffs had. It was taken out of his bus. Now, when I was, busted up there out on the ranch, that particular tape player was there. Now, it came out of that bus. Now, the bus belonged to Hinman and that tape player came out of that bus.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Now, when Bobby was talking to you, Danny, did he use the name, Gary Hinman?

DANNY DeCARLO: Right, Gary.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: So you have no doubt in your mind that he was talking about Gary Hinman? You don’t know Gary Hinman?

DANNY DeCARLO: I don’t know Gary Hinman, no.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: So he had to be talking to you about Gary Hinman? I mean, he had to say that.

DANNY DeCARLO: Yes. Now, the name Gary Hinman was mentioned. That name was mentioned even before they went up there, Gary Hinman.

Now, when I read in the paper that Sadie Glutz had been arrested on suspision of murder of Gary Hinman, that when I really found out his last name. Other than that it was just Gary, as far as I knew, just Gary.

But, apparently they (unintelligible), This is the same Gary.

Now, he came back and says, “Yeah,” and he pulled the knife out of the sheath, and he says, “I did it with this knife, right here.”

I said, if you did it, then you’re an idiot. If you carry that son-of-a-bitch around with you, if you did do it.

But he says, attitude was so carefree, so, like he was telling me again, I just had to go out of the trailer. It was, just a casual conversation.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: He was trying to be a big wheel, like Bruce.

DANNY DeCARLO: That’s what I thought it was. I figured he was just bullshitting, he’s trying to play on me because I’m a motorcycle rider.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Now, after Bobby got done telling you these things, Danny. Did he ever say that he planned on leaving town or —

DANNY DeCARLO: No.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: As far as you knew he intended to stay right there at the ranch

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: As far as you knew he intended to stay right there at the ranch?

DANNY DeCARLO: (Indistinguishable)

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: Did he tell ya– Did he tell you, about, that he had the car? That he got the cars out of the deal?

DANNY DeCARLO: (Inaudible)

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: Did he tell you how they left the location?

DANNY DeCARLO: No. He didn’t say how he left the location, no. But, for what I understand, the cars, not the car (unintelligible)later on, when, when he got busted in that Toyota. Then I found out, that that Toyota and the Volkswagen bus, belonged to Gary Hinman. Now they had found out that allow that was all they got out of the place, was the Toyota, and was the, uh, Volkswagen bus. And, Charlie told him to take that fucking Toyota down to the valley and dump it, get rid of it; wipe it down, clean; for Bobby to do that. For some strange reason, he drove up north with it. And when he got busted, well Charlie says, “it was his own fucking fault. I told him to drop it off down at the (unintelligible).,” he says. “I didn’t tell anybody,” he says, “so Bobby got busted by himself. It was his own fucking fault.” Now when he did, he had the knife on him. That’s the knife that he killed Hinman with.

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: He took the knife —

DANNY DeCARLO: I think it was this knife right here.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Would you recognize the knife

(Unintelligible)

DANNY DeCARLO: little stubby knife,

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: You say it has mexican writing on it?

DANNY DeCARLO: Not mexican writing, it’s uh, mexican style knife, like a bowie knife.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Oh, oh, I thought you said it had mexican writing on it.

DANNY DeCARLO: No, it has —

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Let’s, take a break for just a minute. How about I go down and get a cigarette. What do you smoke?

DANNY DeCARLO: Uh, Marlboro.

SGT. PAUL WHITELEY: Want more coffee?

DANNY DeCARLO: Yeah, I better.

(Unintelligible)

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