Linda Kasabian

Linda Kasabian was the star witness in the Tate-LaBianca murders, for which Charles Manson and members of his "family" were convicted.

Life

Kasabian, born Linda Drouin in 1949, dropped out of high school and fled her New Hampshire home at 16 years old, disliking her stepfather. She headed West, looking for God. She fell into a hippie lifestyle, wandering from commune to commune, indulging in sex, drugs and rock and roll. She got married, divorced, married again, and gave birth to a daughter in 1968. During her second pregnancy, she left her husband and, in July of 1969, stumbled upon Spahn's Ranch in California where she met and soon fell in love with Charles Manson. She felt he could "see right through her."

On August 8 1969, Manson announced, "Now is the time for Helter Skelter", a term taken from a Beatles song that Manson mistakenly believed meant a race war prophecized in the Book of Revelation (it actually is the British term for a type of kiddie slide). Kasabian was directed by Manson to gather a knife, a change of clothing and her driver's license, then to drive three other members of the Manson Family (Charles "Tex" Watson, Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkel) to the Tate residence. There, she first witnessed Watson shoot and kill Steven Parent, a teenager who had unfortunately come to visit the caretaker at the wrong time. She remained a look-out in the car as Watson, Atkins, and Krenwinkel proceeded with the gruesome and brutal murders of Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Jay Sebring, and the 8 month pregnant actress Sharon Tate.

Kasabian said in her testimony she heard the screams and wanted them to stop. At one point she left her car and ran toward the house to try and "make them stop," and was met by one of the victims (Frykowski), running out the front door. Kasabian says in her testimony, "There was a man just coming out of the door and he had blood all over his face and he was standing by a post, and we looked into each other's eyes for a minute, and I said, 'Oh, God, I am so sorry. Please make it stop.' And then he just fell to the ground into the bushes." He was then descended upon by Watson, who repeatedly stabbed him and hit him in the head. She tried to get them to stop by lying and telling the murderers that she heard noises, but they claimed it was "too late."

The next night, Manson once again ordered the quartet to gather a change of clothing and get into the car, this time joining them to "show them how to do it," because he felt the deed the night before had been performed sloppily. They were joined by Leslie Van Houten and set off that night, eventually coming to the LaBianca residence, where again Kasabian waited in the car as Manson and his crew murdered Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. When asked why she went out again, this time knowingly to commit murder, Kasabian responded that when Manson asked her she was "afraid to say no."

The following night, Kasabian was asked by Manson to participate in the murder of an actor she knew, but she deliberately gave him the wrong apartment number and avoided the crime. Two days after the LaBianca murders, she managed to flee the Manson Family and eventually returned to her mother's home in New Hampshire.

On December 2 1969, Kasabian was indicted for the Tate-Labianca murders and turned state's evidence in exchange for immunity. Taking the stand, she was the star witness in the case and recounted the murders for the jury with brutal honesty, in a very matter-of-fact tone. Her testimony led to the conviction of Manson, Watson, Atkins, Krenwinkel and Van Houten. She escaped the public eye by going back to New Hampshire, changing her name, and moving to the Pacific North West. Disabled by a car accident, she was unable to work. She was arrested in 1996, along with one of her daughters, for possessing methamphetamine. Her daughter, also found possessing a gun and cocaine, was sentenced to one year in state prison. Kasabian again avoided jail by agreeing to attend drug-counseling classes.

External links

• http://charliesfamily.tripod.com/
• Charlie Manson website (http://www.atwa.info)