Template: Infobox civilian attack
| The killing of Sharon Tate | |
|---|---|
| Overview Information | |
| 34 ° 05′38 ″ N 118 ° 25′57 ″ W | |
| Place of attack | 10050 Cielo Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Attack target | Invasion |
| date | August 8-9, 1969 |
| Attack method | Massacre, stabs |
| Weapon | .22 caliber revolver, folding knife |
| Dead | 5 adults and an unborn baby |
| The killers | Susan Atkins, Patricia Crenwinkel, Charles "Tex" Watson |
The murder of Sharon Tate - the massacre of six people, committed by members of the Manson family from 8 to 9 August 1969. Four members of the Manson family invaded a house rented by a married couple of celebrities , actress Sharon Tate and director Roman Polanski at 10050 Cielo Drive in Los Angeles . They killed Tate, who was 8.5 months pregnant, along with her three friends who were visiting at that time, and an 18-year-old visitor who was killed at the exit of the house. Polanski was not at home since he was working on a film in Europe.
The killings were committed by Tex Watson , Susan Atkins and Patricia Crenwinkel at the request of Charles Manson . Watson drove Atkins, Crenwinkel and Linda Casabian from the Span Ranch to the residence on Cielo Drive. Manson, a future musician, previously tried to sign a recording contract with producer Terry Melcher , who was the previous tenant (from May 1966 to January 1969) at home with musician Mark Lindsay and Melcher's then girlfriend, actress Candice Bergen . Melcher did not satisfy Manson's request, leaving him extremely unhappy.
Murder
On the night of August 8, 1969, Tex Watson drove Susan Atkins , Linda Casabian, and Patricia Crenwinkel to the "house where Melcher used to live," since Manson ordered him to "completely destroy everyone [in the house] as brutally as possible." [ 1] [2] Manson told the women to obey Watson [1] Crenwinkel was one of the first family members and was allegedly picked up by Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys during the hitchhiking. [1]
That evening at 10050 Cielo Drive there were: film actress and model Sharon Tate , pregnant wife of director Roman Polanski ; her friend and former lover Jay Sebring , a famous hairdresser; Polanski's friend and budding screenwriter Wojciech Frikowski; and Frickowski's mistress Abigail Folger, heir to the Folgers and daughter of Peter Folger. None of them were familiar to Manson's followers. [1] Polanski worked on a film project in Europe; Tate accompanied him, but returned home three weeks earlier. Music producer Quincy Jones , a friend of Sebring, planned to join him in the evening, but did not come. [3] Sebring invited Steve McQueen to a party at Tate's house that night; according to McQueen, he invited the girl, but instead she offered to spend the night together. [four]
When the group arrived at the entrance to the house, Watson, who had already been there before, climbed onto the telephone pole near the entrance gate and cut the telephone line. [five]
The group parked their car on the side of a hill that led to the estate, parked, and walked back to the house. Thinking that the gate could be electrified or equipped with an alarm, they crossed the embankment to the right of the gate and entered the territory. [1]
At that moment they saw car headlights around the corner. Watson ordered the women to hide in the bushes. He got out and ordered the approaching driver to stop. An eighteen-year-old student, Stephen Parent, visited William Garretson, a temporary resident of the guesthouse. When Watson aimed a .22 caliber revolver at Parent, a frightened youth begged Watson not to kill him, claiming he would not say anything. Watson threw himself at Parent with a knife, stabbing him in the palm of his hand (cutting the tendons and watchband), then shot him four times in the chest and stomach, killing him. Watson ordered the women to help push the car further down the road. [1] [2]
After walking through the front lawn and telling Casabian to find an open window in the main room, Watson cut the glass from the window. Watson told Casabian to keep an eye on the gate; she went to Parent's AMC Ambassador and waited. [1] [1] [2] Watson removed the glass, entered through the window and let Atkins and Crenwinkel through the front door. [1]
From the whispers of Watson, Frikovsky awoke, sleeping on a sofa in the living room; Watson kicked him on the head. [2] When Frikovsky asked him who he was and what he was doing here, Watson replied: "I am the devil , and I am doing the work of the devil." [1] [2]
At Watson's direction, Atkins found three other visitors to the house and, with the help of Crenwinkel [1] , forced them into the living room. Watson began to tie Tate and Sebring neck to neck with a rope, which he brought and threw over the ceiling beam in the living room. Sebring's protest — the second — about Tate’s mistreatment, prompted Watson to shoot him. Folger was taken back to her bedroom for a handbag, from which she gave the attackers $ 70. After that, Watson stabbed a groaning Sebring seven times. [1] [2]
Frikovsky’s hands were tied with a towel. Freed, Frikovsky began to fight with Atkins, who at that time hit him in the legs with a knife, with which she guarded him. [2] While he made his way to the front door, Watson caught up with Frikovsky, hit him on the head several times with a pistol, hit him several times with a knife, and fired twice. [2]
Around the same time, Casabian left the road due to "terrifying sounds." She went to the door. In a futile attempt to stop the massacre, she lied to Atkins that someone was coming. [1] [2]
Inside the house, Folger burst out from Crenwinkel and ran out through the bedroom door to the pool. [1] Folger was running away from Crenwinkel, but she caught her on the front lawn, stabbed her and knocked her to the ground. She was killed by Watson, who stabbed her 28 times. [1] [2] While Frickowski was fighting on the lawn, Watson killed him with a hail of punches. Frikowski suffered a total of 51 stab wounds. [1] [2]
At home, Tate begged to extend her life at least until childbirth, and offered herself as a hostage in an attempt to save the life inside her. At this point, either Atkins, Watson, or both killed Tate, injuring her 16 times. [1] Later, Watson wrote that when she was killed, Tate shouted: “Mom ... mom ...” [2]
Earlier, when four family members were getting together, Manson told the women "to leave a mark ... something witchcraft." [2] Using a towel that had previously bound Frikovsky’s hands, Atkins wrote “pig” on the front door of the house with Tate’s blood. On the way home, the killers changed into clean clothes, and they threw the bloodied one with their weapons in the hills. [1] [2]
Interrogations
In initial confessions to her cellmates at the Sybil Institute, Brand Atkins stated that she killed Tate. [1] In later statements to her attorney, Attorney Vincent Bulosi and before the grand jury, Atkins said that Tate had been stabbed to death by Tex Watson. [1]
In his 1978 autobiography, Watson said he stabbed Tate and Atkins did not touch her. [2] Since he knew that the prosecutor, Bulosi, and the jury, who tried the other defendants in the Tate and LaBianca cases, were convinced that Atkins had stabbed Tate, he gave false evidence that he had not beaten her. [6]
In popular culture
Quentin Tarantino 's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (with Margot Robbie as Tate) presents an alternative murder story. [7]
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Bugliosi, Vincent with Gentry, Curt. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders 25th Anniversary Edition , WW Norton & Company, 1994.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Watson, Ch. 14 . Aboundinglove.org. Date of treatment November 28, 2010. Archived November 19, 2010.
- ↑ “Quincy Jones Has a Story About That” . Gq . Date accessed 4 February 2018 .
- ↑ Steve McQueen: A Biography. - Crown Publishing Group .
- ↑ Watson, Charles as told to Ray Hoekstra. Will You Die for Me? . aboundinglove.org . Date of treatment May 3, 2007. Archived on April 5, 2007.
- ↑ Watson, Ch. 19 . Aboundinglove.org. Date of treatment November 28, 2010. Archived November 19, 2010.
- ↑ Jessica Lindsay. The real people of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood - from Sharon Tate to Charles Manson . Metro Entertainment (August 17, 2019). Date of treatment August 18, 2019.