Charles Manson dead - Murderous cult leader dies serving nine life sentences
SICK cult leader Charles Manson, 83, has died following intestinal bleeding, reports claim.
Manson who was serving his sentence in Corcoran State Prison was taken to hospital in January for intestinal bleeding but it was deemed too risky to operate.
After he was taken ill a source said: "It's just a matter of time."
The news of his death was confirmed by the sister of one of his victims, Debra Tate, who was told on the phone of his death by authorities.
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The call was made at 8.13pm local time 04.13am UK time.
His death follows months of declining health which saw him taken to hospital where he originally refused surgery.
Manson later changed his mind and agreed to the operation but it was by this time it was deemed too late to operate.
He led the “Manson Family” as they committed gruesome murders, shattering the peace-and-love ethos of the 1960s hippie era in California.
It's just a matter of time
In the summer of 1969, he directed his mostly young, female followers to murder seven people in what prosecutors said was part of a plan to incite a race war.
Among the victims was actress Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of filmmaker Roman Polanski. She was stabbed 16 times by cult members.
He had been in prison since 1969 following the conviction for his part in the murderers.
Although he was not present during the gruesome murders he was revealed as the mastermind behind them and the father of the sick murder cult.
In court, Manson said: “These children that come at you with knives, they are your children. You taught them; I didn’t teach them. I just tried to help them stand up.”
The murders he ordered saw a group of his young followers break into Tate’s home and stab to death her, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring, Polish movie director Voityck Frykowski and Steven Parent, a friend of the estate’s caretaker.
Tate was eight and a half months pregnant at the time. Her husband, filmmaker Roman Polanski, was out of the country at the time.
The next night, a wealthy grocer and his wife, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, were stabbed to death in their home.
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The words “Pigs” and “Helter Skelter” were written on the wall in blood at the crime scenes.
Manson claimed he got the idea for the murderers from the Beatles song Helter Skelter which he believed to be a coded message from the band.
He was jailed three months after the crimes which shook the US on a different charge but admitted to his part in the killings to his cellmate.
He carved an “X” into his forehead, which he later turned into a swastika.
