Photos: Charles Manson murders, 50 years later

Nation & World News

It has been 50 years since Charles Manson urged his followers to commit murder spree in Los Angeles. Take a look back at the heinous crime.

FILE - In this 1969 file photo, Charles Manson is escorted to his arraignment on conspiracy-murder charges in connection with the Sharon Tate murder case in Los Angeles. Fifty years ago Charles Manson dispatched a group of disaffected young hippie followers on a two-night killing spree that terrorized Los Angeles and in the years since has come to represent the face of evil. On successive nights in August 1969, the so-called Manson family murdered seven people. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - This file combination of images shows the five victims slain the night of Aug. 9, 1969 at the Benedict Canyon Estate of Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate. From left, Wojciech Frykowski, Sharon Tate, Stephen Parent, Jay Sebring, and Abigail Folger. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this Jan. 25, 1971, file photo, three members of Charles Manson's hippie style clan leave a Los Angeles courtroom just after being found guilty, along with Manson of first degree murder, in Los Angeles. From left are Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins and Leslie Van Houten. (AP Photo/Pool, File)

FILE - This combination of file photos shows Charles Manson on Aug. 14, 2017, left, in a photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and on Dec. 22, 1969, right, leaving a Los Angeles courtroom. Fifty years ago, Manson dispatched a group of disaffected young hippie followers on a two-night killing spree that terrorized Los Angeles. On successive nights in August 1969, the so-called Manson family murdered seven people. Manson died in prison on Nov. 19, 2017. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, left, and Wally Fong, right, via AP, File)

FILE - This combination of file photos shows Susan Atkins, left, during a parole hearing at the California Institution for Women in Corona, Calif., on Dec. 20, 1989, and at right leaving the Los Angeles County Mens' Central Jail after meeting with co-defendant Charles Manson on March 6, 1970. Atkins, convicted of the Tate, LaBianca and Hinman murders, was a teenage runaway working as a topless dancer in a San Francisco bar when she met Manson in 1967. At trial, she testified she was "stoned on acid" and didn't know how many times she stabbed Tate as the actress begged for her life. Atkins, who became a born-again Christian in prison and denounced Manson, died in prison of cancer at age 61 in 2009. (AP Photo/Files)

FILE - This combination of file photos shows former Charles Manson follower Charles "Tex" Watson, left, appearing during is parole hearing at Mule Creek State Prison in Lone, Calif., in Nov. 16, 2011, and Watson in a courtroom at an extradition hearing in McKinney, Texas, on Feb. 16, 1970. Watson led the Manson Family killers to the Tate estate, shot to death Steven Parent as he was attempting to leave and took part in the killings that night and the next at the LaBianca home. He became a born-again Christian in prison and formed a prison ministry in 1980 that he continues to lead. Watson, now 73, has repeatedly been denied parole. (AP Photo/Files)

FILE - This combination of file shows Bruce Davis, left, in a March 12, 2014 photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and at right in a 1970 photo. Davis was convicted of taking part in the Hinman and Shea murders but was not involved in the Tate-LaBianca killings. He testified at his 2014 parole hearing that he attacked Shea with a knife and held a gun on Hinman while Charles Manson cut Hinman's face with a sword. Parole panels have repeatedly recommended his release but the governor has blocked it. (Files via AP)

This combination of photos shows Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, left, in an undated photo provided by their daughter, Cory LaBianca, posing outside their home in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles and at right the same home on Aug. 11, 1969, a day after the couple were found murdered. They had no connection to Sharon Tate or her glamorous friends, but their home was chosen at random by Charles Manson, who tied them up and then, before leaving, ordered his followers to kill them on Aug. 9, 1969. (Cory LaBianca via AP)

FILE - In this combination of file photos Los Angeles prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, left, sits at his home in Pasadena, Calif., on March 7, 2013, and at right talks to reporters outside a Los Angeles courtroom on Jan. 26, 1971. Bugliosi was an ambitious but anonymous deputy district attorney when he was handed the Manson Family murder trial after a more experienced prosecutor was removed for mocking one of the defendants to reporters. (AP Photo/Files)

FILE - This combination of file photos shows Patricia Krenwinkel being led to superior court in Los Angeles on Feb. 24, 1970, right, and years later at a parole hearing at the California Institution for Women in Corona, Calif., on Jan. 20, 2011. Krenwinkel testified at a 2016 parole hearing that at the direction of Charles Manson she repeatedly stabbed Abigail Folger, then stabbed Leno LaBianca in the abdomen the following night and wrote "Helter Skelter," "Rise" and "Death to Pigs" on the walls with his blood. Krenwinkel, 71, remains in prison. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, left, and George Brich, right, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 9, 1989 file photo, Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney Stephen Kay holds up a magazine profiling convicted murderer Charles Manson while delivering his closing statement at Manson's parole hearing at San Quentin Prison, Calif. Manson was denied parole for the seventh time. Kay was a 27-year-old deputy district attorney just three years out of law school when he joined the prosecution team two months into the Manson Family murders trial. In subsequent years he would attend some 60 parole hearings to argue that the killers never be released from prison, a position that Kay, now in his 70s, still maintains. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

FILE - In this August 11, 1969 file photo the Hilltop home in Los Angeles' Los Feliz district, about five miles northwest of the downtown section where Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were found murdered. One of the Los Angeles houses where followers of Charles Manson committed notorious murders in 1969 is for sale. The home in the hilly Los Feliz district is where Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were slain the night after actress Sharon Tate and four others were murdered were murdered by Manson followers in Benedict Canyon. (AP PhotoFile)

FILE - This combination of file photos shows Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme being led away after she pointed a gun at President Gerald Ford in Sacramento, Calif., on Sept. 5, 1975, left, and five years earlier at a pretrial hearing in 1970 for Charles Manson in Los Angeles. Fromme, a Manson Family member who was not implicated in the Tate-LaBianca murders, was sentenced to prison for pointing the handgun at President Ford. Since her release in 2009, she has lived quietly in Upstate New York. (AP Photo/Files)

FILE - In this Jan. 26, 1971, file photo, Manson trial chief prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi talks with reporters outside a Los Angeles courtroom. Bugliosi was an ambitious but anonymous deputy district attorney when he was handed the Manson Family murder trial after a more experienced prosecutor was removed for mocking one of the defendants to reporters. He denounced Manson as the "dictatorial maharajah of a tribe of bootlicking slaves," calling Manson's followers "robots" and "zombies." After their convictions, he recounted the case in "Helter Skelter," one of history's best-selling true-crime books. He died of cancer at age 80 in 2015. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this March 7, 2013 file photo, former Los Angeles prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi sits next to his book: "Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy" at his home in Pasadena, Calif. Bugliosi was an ambitious but anonymous deputy district attorney when he was handed the Manson Family murder trial after a more experienced prosecutor was removed for mocking one of the defendants to reporters. He denounced Manson as the "dictatorial maharajah of a tribe of bootlicking slaves," calling Manson's followers "robots" and "zombies." After their convictions, he recounted the case in "Helter Skelter," one of history's best-selling true-crime books. He died of cancer at age 80 in 2015. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)

FILE - Actress Sharon Tate is shown in this undated file photo. Tate was a model and rising film star after her breakout role in the 1966 film, "Valley of the Dolls." She was 8-1/2 months pregnant when she was attacked as she pleaded with her Manson Family killers to spare the life of her unborn son on Aug. 9, 1969. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this Jan. 20, 1968 file photo, American actress Sharon Tate and Polish born film director Roman Polanski skip downstairs after their wedding at Chelsea Register Office in London. Tate was a model and rising film star after her breakout role in the 1966 film, "Valley of the Dolls." She was 8-1/2 months pregnant when she was attacked as she pleaded with her Manson Family killers to spare the life of her unborn son as they killed five people at the home she and Polanski shared in the Bel-Air area of Los Angeles on Aug. 8-9, 1969. (AP Photo/Eddie Worth, File)

FILE - This Dec. 3, 1969, file photo shows Charles Manson en route to court in Independence, Calif., following his arrest at nearby Barker Ranch. Fifty years ago Charles Manson dispatched a group of disaffected young hippie followers on a two-night killing spree that terrorized Los Angeles and in the years since has come to represent the face of evil. On successive nights in August 1969, the so-called Manson family murdered seven people. (AP Photo/Harold Filan, File)

FILE - In this June 25, 1970, file photo, Charles Manson sticks his tongue out at photographers as he appears in a Santa Monica, Calif., courtroom on, charged with the slaying of musician Gary Hinman. Fifty years ago Charles Manson dispatched a group of disaffected young hippie followers on a two-night killing spree that terrorized Los Angeles and in the years since has come to represent the face of evil. On successive nights in August 1969, the so-called Manson family murdered seven people. (AP Photo/George Brich, File)

FILE - This Aug. 14, 2017 file photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Charles Manson. Fifty years ago Charles Manson dispatched a group of disaffected young hippie followers on a two-night killing spree that terrorized Los Angeles and in the years since has come to represent the face of evil. On successive nights in August 1969, the so-called Manson family murdered seven people. Manson died in prison on Nov. 19, 2017. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 20, 1970, file photo, Charles Manson followers, from left, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten walk to court to appear for their roles in the 1969 cult killings of seven people in Los Angeles. Atkins estified she was "stoned on acid" and didn't know how many times she stabbed Tate as the actress begged for her life. She died in prison of cancer at age 61 in 2009. Krenwinkel testified at a 2016 parole hearing that she repeatedly stabbed Abigail Folger, then stabbed Leno LaBianca in the abdomen the following night and wrote "Helter Skelter," â³Rise" and "Death to Pigs" on the walls with his blood. Krenwinkel, 71, remains in prison. She didn't take part in the Tate killings but accompanied Manson and others to the LaBianca home the next night where she held Rosemary LaBianca down with a pillowcase over her head as others stabbed her dozens of times. She has been recommended for parole three times but former Gov. Jerry Brown blocked her release each time.(AP Photo/George Brich, File)

FILE - This March 29, 1971, file photo shows Leslie Van Houten in a Los Angeles lockup. She didn't take part in the Tate killings but accompanied Charles Manson and others to the LaBianca home the next night where she held Rosemary LaBianca down with a pillowcase over her head as she and others stabbed her dozens of times. Van Houten, 69, has earned bachelor's and master's degrees in counseling while in prison and leads several prison programs to help rehabilitate fellow inmates. She has been recommended for parole three times but former Gov. Jerry Brown blocked her release each time. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this Aug. 19, 1970, file photo, Linda Kasabian speaks at a news conference she held at end of her 18 days on stand as a prosecution witness in the Manson Family murder trials in Los Angeles. Attorneys are Roland Goldman at her left, and Gary Fleischman at her right. Kasabian, the trial's key prosecution witness, was granted immunity from prosecution. She drove the killers to the Tate and LaBianca houses but didn't take part in the killings. Kasabian later changed her name and has for the most part lived out of sight for the past 50 years. (AP Photo/David F. Smith, File)

FILE - This Dec. 22, 1970 file photo shows Charles Manson family members, Bruce Davis, left, and Steve Grogan, leaving court after a hearing in Los Angeles. Fifty years ago Charles Manson dispatched a group of disaffected young hippie followers on a two-night killing spree that terrorized Los Angeles and in the years since has come to represent the face of evil. On successive nights in August 1969, the so-called Manson family murdered seven people. (AP Photo/Harold Filan, File)

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 25, 1971, file photo, news media gather outside court before the Charles Manson verdict in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Wally Fong, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 13, 1969 file photo an aerial view of the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles. The home, which is one of the Los Angeles houses where followers of Charles Manson committed notorious murders in 1969, is for sale. (AP Photo, File)

1/26

FILE - In this 1969 file photo, Charles Manson is escorted to his arraignment on conspiracy-murder charges in connection with the Sharon Tate murder case in Los Angeles. Fifty years ago Charles Manson dispatched a group of disaffected young hippie followers on a two-night killing spree that terrorized Los Angeles and in the years since has come to represent the face of evil. On successive nights in August 1969, the so-called Manson family murdered seven people. (AP Photo/File)

Today's Gallery Headlines

Alerts

PHOTOS: Georgia Tech battles BYU in Pop-Tarts Bowl

PHOTOS: 2025 AJC Photos of the Year

PHOTOS: Coca-Cola ads over time

PHOTOS: Philanthropists leave mark on Atlanta