A Hollywood hairdresser, the heiress to a coffee fortune, a 37-year-old Pole and another man died with her in what appeared to be a ritual murder in the luxury house rented by Miss Tate and her Polish husband, film director Roman Polanski.

Polanski directed the witchcraft film, “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Knife in the Water,” an award-winning Polish film.

He broke down and cried when told of his wife’s murder in London today.

Red-haired Miss Tate, eight months pregnant, was found tied to hair stylist Jay Sebring, hanging from a beam in an upstairs room. Sebring’s head was covered by a black hood, police said.

White noose

Miss Tate and Sebring, her former fiancé, each had a white nylon noose round their necks.

Police arrested a 19-year-old houseboy, William Garretson, living in the guest house behind the $200,000 hilltop house.

Outside the house were the bodies of the Pole, Voytek Frykowski, and Abigail Folger, 26, of the Folger coffee family of Palo Alto (California).

An unidentified man aged about 20, apparently trying to escape from the scene, was found dead in the front seat of his car.

The victims died from multiple stab wounds.

Miss Tate, 27, was clad in a bikini nightgown and brassiere. Sebring was fully clothed.

Police said they arrived too late to have any chance of saving Miss Tate’s baby.

According to neighbours, Miss Tate’s husband telephoned her every day from Europe to see if she was all right and had called on Friday morning.

Anonymous

An anonymous caller rang police early yesterday to report seeing the bloody body of a man on the front lawn.

Police found the tall iron gates locked and telephone and power lines to the house cut.

Blood was smeared around the bodies and the word “pig” was scrawled on the front door in blood.