Manson Committed Murder From Behind Bars

It’s been 46 years since notorious killer Charles Manson was sent to prison for life — but the nightmare is far from over

He’s the most notorious mass murderer in American history. In August 1969, ex-convict–turned– charismatic cult leader Charles Manson incited his followers, known as the Manson Family, to take part in a gruesome two-day massacre that claimed seven innocent lives. “The whole city was terrorized because it was so random,” late LA prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi said of the killings, in which Family members showed up at the Benedict Canyon home of film director Roman Polanski (who was out of town) and butchered his eight-anda-half-months-pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate, and four others. The next night, they slaughtered supermarket executive Leno Labianca and his wife, Rosemary, inside their LA home. When Manson was found guilty of first-degree murder in 1971, people thought they were finally safe.

They were wrong. Just days after an 82-year-old Manson was taken from his cell at California State Prison, Corcoran and admitted to a nearby hospital suffering from severe gastrointestinal issues, an author has come forward with a bombshell claim: Manson has been orchestrating deaths from behind bars for years. “There were at least 30 more murders after Manson went into prison,” Dary Matera, co-author of Taming the Beast: Charles Manson’s Life Behind Bars, tells In Touch exclusively. “He just kept doing it and doing it.” Even more frightening, Debra Tate, Sharon’s younger sister, suspects that in the months after Manson’s death, there will be even more homicides carried out. “I think we could have a murder spree again,” she tells In Touch. “I’m very concerned that there could be significant backlash from his passing. He has thousands of followers now, and every one of them is evil.”

Some have already proved that. While locked up for the past 46 years, Manson has received letters from “all these young kids who wanted to kill for him. He orchestrated the murders for them,” says Matera, noting that the letters were often written in code to pass

security screenings. After reading the letter, Manson would track down a fellow prisoner set for release and begin communicating. “He’d ask them to contact certain people, and then those people would carry out his wishes,” adds Matera. “Manson would also give verbal orders through his visitors.”

There’s no telling when it will stop. “Manson was always talking about a death list,” says Matera, who believes that his own name is on that list. “It’s very possible that he has left instructions behind for his followers after his death. The murders will continue.”

Manson has already been linked to many deaths. Those include at least 12 unsolved homicides in the LA area. In 1970, during a recess from the TateLabianca murder trial, attorney Ronald Hughes — who was representing Family member Leslie Van Houten — went missing. Hughes had argued that Van Houten’s actions were controlled by Manson, which reportedly angered the madman. Hughes’ decomposed

body was found in a remote area four months later, and his cause of death was never determined. “No one wanted to announce it was another Manson murder,” claims Matera. Manson was also rumored to have been involved in the brutal 1969 stabbing death of Jane Doe No. 59 (who was finally identified in 2015 as Canadian Reet Jurvetson). Bugliosi suggested in his 1974 book, Helter Skelter, that the 19-year-old may have been present for the murder of another suspected Manson Family victim and was “killed so she wouldn’t talk.”

None of the claims shock Debra, whose pregnant sister’s life was stolen by Manson’s followers. “I absolutely believe he’s murdered more people than what the public knows. He has a need to kill,” warns Debra. While America’s bogeyman didn’t physically harm Sharon or any of the seven victims whose murders he was changed with — and he has always maintained his innocence — “I think he’s criminally crazy,” she adds. “The public should be afraid.” ◼