Everything about Susan Atkins totally explained
Susan Denise Atkins (born
May 7,
1948) is an
American convicted murderer who remains in prison in the State of
California for her participation, along with
Charles Manson and other members of the so-called "
Manson family", in a series of murders, often called the "Manson murders", among which the most notorious are the "
Sharon Tate/LaBianca" murders. In the space of five weeks in the summer of 1969, nine people were murdered at four locations. She was convicted of involvement in eight of these killings. Atkins' sentence is seven years to
life (she is eligible to apply for release on
parole). She has been incarcerated since October 1, 1969, longer than any other woman in California history.
Early life
Born in
San Gabriel, California (greater
Los Angeles), the middle child between two brothers, Atkins grew up in northern California, where she'd a difficult childhood. Both of her parents, Edward and Jeanette, were
alcoholics. Her mother died of
cancer in 1962. Over the next three years, Atkins' life was disrupted by the drawn out breakup of her family, frequent moves, and her leaving home to live independently.
Up to the age of 14, Atkins and her family lived in a
middle class home in the Cambrian Park area of
San Jose, California. She has been remembered as a self-conscious, quiet girl, a member of her school glee club and the local church choir.
In 1962 her mother became ill with terminal cancer. Two weeks before the mother went to the hospital for the final time, Atkins arranged for members of the church choir to sing
Christmas carols under her bedroom window. After Jeanette Atkins' death, relatives were asked to help look after Susan and her two brothers. His wife's long illness was financially ruinous to Edward Atkins; he was left with huge bills and no money to meet them.
Atkins' father started drinking more heavily, and their relationship deteriorated. Her father has told a different story, one of a stable home, loving environment and a happy family life. But friends, neighbors, ministers, and teachers have concurred that she was constantly uprooted, frequently changing homes, schools, and friends as Mr. Atkins roamed around looking for work.
Mr. Atkins eventually moved to
Los Banos, California with Susan and her younger brother Steven. He found work on the
San Luis Dam construction project, leaving the two children behind. She was forced to take a job during her junior year in school to support herself and Steven. A next door neighbor later said "Susan was a good kid who just needed some direction and someone who cared. She was left alone. There was no place to turn for help. We never had any trouble with her, although she'd get despondent and break down and cry in my house."
Atkins had been an average student in Leigh High School in San Jose, but her grades deteriorated when she entered Los Banos High. During this time, she lived with various relatives.
Her older brother Michael had previously left home to join the
Navy. She dropped out of high school at 18 and went to
San Francisco, where she supported herself as a secretary, an office gofer, and a topless dancer. During her time as a dancer, Atkins met
Church of Satan founder
Anton Szandor LaVey when she was hired for a stage production which featured her as a
vampire.
During this time, she also had contact with local law enforcement authorities. For example, she was arrested in 1966 and charged with possession of a concealed weapon and receiving stolen property.
In 1967, Atkins met
Charles Manson when he played guitar at the house where she was living with several friends. When the house was raided several weeks later by the police and she was left
homeless, Manson invited her to join his group, who were embarking on a summer road trip in a converted school bus painted all black. She was given the nickname "Sadie Mae Glutz" by Manson and a man who was creating a fake ID for her at the time. Atkins later claimed to have believed Manson to be
Jesus. The growing "Manson Family" settled at the
Spahn Ranch in the San Fernando Valley in
Southern California, where on
October 7,
1968, she bore a son whom Manson (who wasn't the father) named Zezozece Zadfrack. Atkins' parental rights were terminated once she was convicted of the murders and no one in her family would take the child in. She has had no contact with her son since her incarceration in 1969. Her son was adopted by a couple and renamed "Paul".
The Gary Hinman murder
During the summer of 1969, Manson and his
commune at Spahn’s Ranch were attracting the attention of the police, who suspected them of auto thefts and were suspicious of the high number of underage runaways. In an attempt to raise money to move away to the desert, Manson encouraged
drug dealing. Purportedly, a botched drug scam by Manson "Family" member
Charles "Tex" Watson led Manson to confront and shoot a man by the name of Bernard "Lotsapapa" Crowe. Manson believed he'd killed Crowe, and he further believed Crowe to be a
Black Panther. Neither was true. Nonetheless, Manson feared retaliation from the Black Panthers and pressured his followers for more money. During this time someone suggested that an old friend, Gary Hinman, had just inherited a large sum of money. Manson hoped Hinman could be induced into joining the commune and contributing his purported new inheritance.
Manson sent three people to Hinman's home on July 25, 1969: Atkins,
Bobby Beausoleil, and
Mary Brunner. Atkins claimed she didn’t know a crime was going to take place, a claim she made when she pleaded guilty to the murder., although she wrote in her 1977 book that she went to Hinman's home to get money and knew that it was possible they were to kill Hinman.
When Hinman insisted he hadn’t inherited any money (records confirm he hadn't), Beausoleil (apparently on Manson’s orders) beat him severely. When even this didn’t change Hinman's story, Manson himself showed up, and swung at his head with a sword, slicing his face and severely cutting his ear. Manson directed Atkins and Brunner to stay behind and tend to Hinman's wounds. Two days later, and after a phone call from Manson, Beausoleil had Hinman sign over the registrations to his cars and then killed him. Beausoleil left a bloody handprint on the wall along with vaguely revolutionary words the culprits supposed would implicate the Black Panthers.
Beausoleil was arrested on August 7, 1969, when he was found asleep in one of Hinman's vehicles, still wearing the blood stained clothing he wore during the crime and with the murder weapon hidden in the tire well of the car's trunk.
The Tate/LaBianca murders
On the evening of
August 8,
1969, Manson gathered Atkins,
Linda Kasabian, and
Patricia Krenwinkel in front of Spahn’s Ranch and told them to go with Watson and do as they were told. . In Atkins'
grand jury testimony, she stated that while in the car, Watson told the group they were going to a home to get money from the people who lived there and to kill them. (Regarding Manson's real motive for the killings, see section below entitled "Motivation".)
Five people were murdered at the
Beverly Hills home belonging to
Roman Polanski and
Sharon Tate: Tate (who was eight months
pregnant),
Steven Parent,
Jay Sebring,
Wojciech Frykowski, and coffee heiress
Abigail Folger. Polanksi, Tate's husband, was in Europe finishing work on a film project
Forensic evidence indicated that the murders were quite brutal. Atkins wrote "Pig" on the front door in Sharon Tate's blood.
The following night, August 9, Manson commented that the murders at the Tate residence had been too messy, and announced he’d have to take his followers out and "show them how it’s done." Manson called together Atkins, Krenwinkel, Watson, Kasabian,
Leslie Van Houten, and
Steve Grogan, and they left Spahn’s Ranch. Driving most of the night, he eventually found the home of grocery store owner
Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary in
Los Feliz, an older section of
Los Angeles. Manson and Watson entered the home and tied the couple up at gunpoint, winning their compliance by convincing them they were only going to be robbed. He then went back to the car and sent Krenwinkel and Van Houten inside to do as Tex said, once again directing them to leave writings in blood, and to hitchhike back to Spahn's Ranch. Manson then drove Atkins, Kasabian, and Grogan to Venice Beach where Kasabian said she knew a foreign actor (Saladin Nader). Manson dropped them off and told them to kill the actor and hitchhike back to the ranch. But when Kasabian deliberately went to the wrong apartment, the three didn't follow the plan. Grogan threw the gun away.
Motivation
At trial, the prosecution stated Manson's desire to start "
Helter Skelter" (an
apocalyptic race war) was the motive for the crimes. Initially, Manson told the group that during this war, they'd hide in a hole in the desert, and would emerge when the war was over. He said the blacks would win the war, but would be unable to govern and would turn to Manson. In the weeks prior to the murders, Manson began to say that the war wasn't starting fast enough and the group would have to start it by murdering wealthy white people. As evidence for this motive, several witnesses testified to Manson's statements regarding "Helter Skelter" and his obsession with the
Beatles' music, and the individuals convicted for the murders have testified at various parole hearings that this was the motive (for example, Leslie Van Houten testified to this at her 1993 parole hearing).
During Beausoleil's trial for the murder of Hinman, the defense, in order to discredit the prosecution’s case, argued that the crimes were copycat murders made to misdirect police suspicion away from Beausoleil. The prosecution discounted this claim.
In later years, prosecutor
Vincent Bugliosi stated that he believed the murders had numerous, disparate motives, all of which served to benefit Manson.
The home where Tate and Polanski were living with friends was known to Manson and Watson, who had been there once and knew where it was, and Manson knew that wealthy, famous people resided in the home. A former tenant of the home was
Terry Melcher, a record producer who Manson believed had made promises to him which had never materialized. The prosecutor suggested Manson may have very briefly encountered the residents who were later murdered when he went to the home looking for Melcher and was brusquely turned away by Sharon Tate's photographer.
Arrest and grand jury testimony
On August 16, 1969, Spahn’s Ranch was raided by the police in connection with auto thefts. The charges were later dropped and everyone was released. Soon after their release, Manson and his followers left Spahn Ranch for
Barker Ranch, another isolated location. However, the authorities were still suspicious of the group and the new location was raided and the group was arrested again on auto theft charges. It would be the last time many of them would be free. Just after this arrest, another member of the group implicated Atkins in the Hinman murder and she was charged with that crime.
While in jail, Atkins befriended two middle-aged career criminals, Virginia Graham and Veronica "Ronnie" Howard, to whom she confessed her participation in the Tate/LaBianca murders, for example telling the women that she stabbed Tate and that she'd tasted Tate's blood. They subsequently reported her statements to the authorities. This, combined with information from other sources, led to the arrest of Atkins and others involved in the Tate/LaBianca murders (Van Houten, Krenwinkel, Kasabian and Watson).
Atkins agreed to testify for the prosecution in exchange for the prosecution not seeking the
death penalty, and she then testified before the grand jury as to what had transpired on the nights of August 8 and 9, 1969..
Atkins told the grand jury that she stabbed Frykowski in the legs and that she held Tate down while Watson stabbed her. She also testified that Tate had pleaded for her life and that of her unborn child, to which Atkins replied, "Woman, I've no mercy for you." She also denied her earlier statement to Howard and Graham that she'd tasted Tate's blood.
Prior to the trial, Atkins discontinued her cooperation with the prosecution and repudiated her grand jury testimony, although years later she'd state that this testimony was truthful and accurate as to what transpired in the Tate home.
Atkins has claimed over the years that her participation in the crimes led by Manson was passive and that she didn't actually kill anyone. However, in her grand jury testimony she admits to active participation in the crimes.
Tate/LaBianca trial
Manson, Krenwinkel, Van Houten and Atkins were sent to trial on
June 15,
1970. Watson was later tried separately as he was at the time in
Texas fighting
extradition.
Kasabian was offered, and accepted,
immunity in exchange for testimony. As Kasabian hadn't played a direct part in any of the murders and never entered either residence, and by several accounts had challenged Manson over the killings, the offer of immunity to her was seen as more acceptable, particularly by the prosecutor
Vincent Bugliosi who commented that he was relieved the offer was withdrawn from Atkins.
During the sentencing phase of the trial, Atkins testified that she stabbed Tate. She candidly stated that she'd stabbed Tate because she was "sick of listening to her, pleading and begging, begging and pleading". She also denied that Manson had any role in orchestrating the murders.
Throughout the trial, Atkins and her co-defendants attempted to disrupt proceedings and were noted for both their lack of
remorse for their victims and lack of concern for their own
fates. They typically smiled and sang Manson-penned songs while being led to the courtroom. Prosecutors stated that Manson was orchestrating the defense and Atkins' behavior and testimony. All four defendants were sentenced to
death on
March 29,
1971. Atkins was transferred to California's new women’s death row on April 1971.
The Hinman trial
After the Tate/LaBianca, Atkins was tried for the Hinman murder. However, she pleaded guilty to the charges against her. She testified she hadn’t known Hinman was going to be robbed or killed, although she subsequently stated she'd known in her 1977 book,
Child of Satan, Child of God.
Imprisonment
Atkins' death sentence was automatically
commuted to life in prison the following year after the
California Supreme Court's
People v. Anderson decision invalidated all death sentences imposed in California prior to 1972.
In 1977, Atkins published her autobiography,
Child of Satan, Child of God, in which she recounted the time she spent with Manson and the family, her religious conversion, and her prison experiences.
Since 1974, Atkins has been a
born-again Christian, and over the course of her imprisonment has been involved in prison programs. She has also been given two commendations for helping save the life of other inmates. She was married in 1980 to a man claiming to be a multi-millionaire who would use his resources to help secure her freedom, but Atkins ended the marriage when it was revealed that much of his claims were false. She married a second time in 1987. Her husband received a law degree from
Harvard in 1997, and represented her at her 2000 and 2005 parole hearings. He maintains a website dedicated to her legal representation.
During her 2000 hearing, Tate's sister Debra, read a statement written by their father, Paul, which said in part, "Thirty one years ago I sat in a courtroom with a jury and watched with others. I saw a young woman who giggled, snickered and shouted out insults, even while testifying about my daughter's last breath, she laughed. My family was ripped apart. If Susan Atkins is released to rejoin her family, where is the justice?" Parole was denied.
In 2002, Atkins filed a lawsuit in federal court claiming that she's a "political prisoner" due to the repeated denials of her parole requests regardless of her suitability.
On
June 1,
2005, Atkins had her 17th parole hearing. This hearing was attended by various victims' family members, such as Debra Tate and members of the Sebring family, and they requested that her parole be denied. She received a four-year denial (out of a maximum of five years). Her next hearing is scheduled for 2009.
In April 2008, it was revealed that Atkins had been hospitalized for more than a month with an undisclosed illness, which was subsequently reported to be terminal brain cancer. She has been given only several weeks to live.
Notes and references
Bibliography
- Bugliosi, Vincent and Gentry, Curt. 1974. Helter Skelter. Arrow Books Limited. ISBN 0-09-997500-9
- The Bertice Berry Show, Feb., 18, 1994, television broadcast featuring an interview with prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi.
- King, Greg. 2000. Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders. Barricade Books. ISBN 1-56980-157-6
- Deutsch, Linda. 2001. Atkins Denied Parole Again
Associated Press article republished by the Rick A. Ross Institute for the Study of Destructive Cults, Controversial Groups and Movements
- Associated Press. June 1, 2005. Article available at SFGate.com. Retrieved Feb. 18, 2007.
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