Battle brewing over notorious killer’s remains
Charles Manson, the wildeyed leader of a murderous gang responsible for one of the most infamous killing sprees of the 20th century, is proving no easier to deal with in death than he was in life.
A battle is brewing on many fronts in California over who will get the notorious killer’s remains and any belongings he left behind when he died in November.
At least four people from three states have lined up to claim Manson’s body, his property or both in the weeks since he died at 83, according to court documents and interviews with some of those involved. A California court will take up the matter next week.
The interested parties include a Florida man who says he is a grandson; a purported friend of Manson’s who has filed what he says is Manson’s will in court; and two men — including one who claims to be Manson’s son — who also have presented a purported will entitling them to dispose of the remains.
California officials have said Manson had repeatedly indicated that he had no will or relatives, so they assumed that dealing with his affairs would be relatively straightforward.
“It hasn’t gone as smoothly as we might have hoped,” conceded Bryan Walters, a lawyer for the Kern County coroner’s office, which accepted Manson’s body from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Manson, who died on Nov. 19, became notorious in the late 1960s as the leader of the Manson family — a murderous group of young drifters who fell under his influence. He would eventually be convicted of nine murders, and he became known in particular for seven brutal killings collectively called the Tate-LaBianca murders, which his followers committed on two consecutive August nights in 1969.
The Tate-LaBianca killings and the seven-month trial that followed carved out a dark place for Manson in American culture.
Over the decades, his bizarre celebrity status has helped foster an online market for his art, music and even locks of his hair. So, to Andy Kahan, a victim advocate for the city of Houston who has long served as a watchdog over the sale of what he calls “murderabilia,” it is no surprise that several people are jockeying for whatever is left to be had.
“Capitalism at its worst,” he said, as he ticked off items he was finding online. One website was selling a voodoo doll made by Manson for $4,000; a necklace he signed was listed at $10,000; his “prison owned” dentures — which Kahan conceded were “one of a kind!” — required $100,000.
California courts will begin trying to sort out who gets what at a hearing scheduled for Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court. A lawyer has filed a probate petition there on behalf of the purported grandson, Jason Freeman.
Others making competing claims include Michael Channels, Benjamin Gurecki, and Matthew Robert Lentz, who claims to be Manson’s son.