Tex Watson

Last updated

Tex Watson
Tex Watson.jpg
Watson in an undated prison photograph
Born
Charles Denton Watson

(1945-12-02) December 2, 1945 (age 78)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Other names
  • Charles Montgomery
  • Texas Charlie ("Tex") [1] : xvii 
Criminal statusIncarcerated
Spouse
Kristin Joan Svege
​
​
(m. 1979;div. 2003)​
Children4
Allegiance Manson Family
Conviction(s) First degree murder
Conspiracy to commit murder
Criminal penalty Death; commuted to life imprisonment
Details
DateAugust 9–10, 1969
Date apprehended
November 30, 1969
Imprisoned atRichard J. Donovan Correctional Facility [2]

Charles Denton "Tex" Watson (born December 2, 1945) is an American murderer who was a central member of the "Manson Family" led by Charles Manson. [3] On August 9, 1969, Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins murdered pregnant actress Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger, and Steven Parent at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles. The next night, Watson traveled to Los Feliz, Los Angeles, and participated in the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Watson was convicted of murder in 1971 and sentenced to death. As a result of a 1972 California Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality in the state of the death penalty, he avoided execution but has remained incarcerated ever since.

Contents

Early life

Watson was born in Dallas, Texas, on December 2, 1945, [4] and grew up in nearby Copeville. He was the youngest of three children. [5] Watson grew up attending church locally, and was an honor student, editor on the school paper, and captain of the football team, and set a record for the high hurdles at Farmersville High School. [5] [6] In September 1964, Watson moved to Denton, Texas, to attend the University of North Texas, where he became a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. [5]

Introduction to Manson Family

In January 1967, Watson began working at Braniff International as a baggage handler. Using free airline tickets to travel, he visited a fraternity brother in Los Angeles; there he became interested in the psychedelic and music lifestyle of the late 1960s. While driving one day, Watson picked up a hitchhiker, Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys, and drove him to Wilson's house. There he was first introduced to the Manson Family who lived with Wilson.

Drug dealing and Bernard Crowe

In December 1968, Watson left the Manson Family. He moved in with a woman who sold small quantities of marijuana and LSD to his friends, [7] and became her lover. The two lived in Hollywood for a few months, improving their illegal activity, until Watson became restless and rejoined the Family. [7]

Following Manson's orders to "find money for Helter Skelter", Watson contrived to steal money from his lover's friend, Bernard Crowe. [5] Crowe called the ranch, spoke to Charles Manson and told him he would come to the ranch and kill everyone if he did not get his money back. In response, Manson shot Crowe in the stomach [8] using the same pistol that Watson would use in the Tate murders. [7]

The two encountered one another in the California Men's Colony in the early '80s. Following a long conversation about the past and religion Crowe forgave Watson for his role in the theft and the shooting. [9]

Tate–LaBianca murders

Tate murders

On August 9, 1969, as a member of the Manson Family, Watson led Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel to 10050 Cielo Drive, the home of Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate. They murdered all four people inside the house, and also Steven Parent in the driveway. Watson and his crime partners inflicted 28 stab wounds to one victim, Abigail Folger, alone. [10]

LaBianca murders

The following night, Watson and six others went to the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Manson and Watson entered the home. According to Watson's book Will You Die For Me?, [7] Manson held the occupants at gunpoint while Watson tied them up, before the gang killed them.

Conviction

On October 2, 1969, Watson fled the Spahn Ranch and headed back to his native state of Texas. On November 30, 1969, he was arrested in Texas for the Tate–LaBianca murders. He and his lawyers fought extradition to California for nine months. Upon arriving in California, he stopped talking and eating, losing 55 pounds, and began regressing to a catatonic state. He was admitted to Atascadero State Hospital for a 90‑day evaluation period to determine if he was fit to stand trial. He stayed there until February 1971, when he was deemed able to stand trial. [1] : 514–515 

On October 12, 1971, Watson was convicted on seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder. [11] One week later, the same jury took only two and a half hours to determine that he was sane. [12] On October 21, 1971, he was sentenced to death. He arrived on California's death row on November 17, 1971, but avoided execution when the California Supreme Court's People v. Anderson decision resulted in the invalidation of all death sentences imposed in California prior to 1972. [1] : 661–662  He was found guilty of the murders of seven people: Abigail Folger; Wojciech Frykowski; Steven Parent; Sharon Tate Polanski, who was eight months pregnant; Jay Sebring; Leno LaBianca; and Rosemary LaBianca.

Incarceration

According to his prisoner outreach website, Watson converted to Christianity in 1975. [13] Will You Die for Me?, Watson's autobiography, as told to Raymond "Chaplain Ray" Hoekstra, was published in 1978. [14] In 1979, he married Kristin Joan Svege, and together they founded Abounding Love Ministries, Inc. in 1980. [15] Through conjugal visits they were able to have four children (three boys, one girl), but those visits for life prisoners were banned in October 1996. After 24 years of marriage, Svege divorced Watson after meeting another man in 2003. Svege and Watson remain friends. He had become an ordained minister in 1981 and received a B.S. in Business Management in 2009 from California Coast University, a distance-learning college. [16] [17]

In August 1982, a Southern California‑based group, Citizens for Truth, submitted some 80,000 petition signatures and several thousand letters opposing Watson's parole. The group received support from Doris Tate, the mother of victim Sharon Tate. In later years the group, with Doris Tate and her daughters Patricia and Debra, submitted petitions with more than two million signatures. [18] [19]

In May 2023, he started the Abounding Love Podcast, consisting of sermons given from 1977 to 1984 in the chapel of the California Men's Colony, San Luis Obispo, California. [20]

In 2012, Watson disputed a request to release recordings made in 1969 with his defense attorney Bill Boyd. The recordings became part of a bankruptcy proceeding involving the deceased attorney's law firm. Members of the Los Angeles Police Department said they believed the recordings might contain clues about unsolved murder cases involving the Manson Family. Watson asked the presiding judge to allow police to listen to the tapes but not take possession of them. [21] [22] Judge Richard A. Schell ruled Watson had waived attorney-client privilege for the tapes after he allowed the co-author of his 1978 memoir to hear the recordings. The LAPD acquired the tapes, which allegedly contained Watson confessing to other murders, but reportedly no new information. [23] In September 2014, Richard Pfeiffer, an attorney for Leslie Van Houten, said that he was considering subpoenaing the tapes to look for information that might help Van Houten in her next parole hearing. [24]

Watson's own minimum eligible parole date was November 26, 1976; he has been denied parole 18 times since then, including two stipulations. He was most recently given a five-year denial of parole at a board hearing in October 2021. [25] He remains incarcerated at Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County, California. [26]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Manson</span> American criminal and cult leader (1934–2017)

Charles Milles Manson was an American criminal, cult leader and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of at least nine murders at four locations in July and August 1969. In 1971, Manson was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the deaths of seven people, including the film actress Sharon Tate. The prosecution contended that, while Manson never directly ordered the murders, his ideology constituted an overt act of conspiracy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sharon Tate</span> American actress and model (1943–1969)

Sharon Marie Tate Polanski was an American actress and model. During the 1960s, she appeared in advertisements and small television roles before appearing in films as well as working as a model. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic and dramatic acting performances, Tate was hailed as one of Hollywood's most promising newcomers, being compared favorably with the late Marilyn Monroe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patricia Krenwinkel</span> American mass murderer (born 1947)

Patricia Dianne Krenwinkel is an American convicted murderer and former member of the Manson Family. During her time with Manson's group, she was known by various aliases such as Big Patty, Yellow, Marnie Reeves and Mary Ann Scott, but to The Family, she was most commonly known as Katie.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Atkins</span> Convicted murderer and member of the "Manson family" (1948–2009)

Susan Denise Atkins was an American convicted murderer who was a member of Charles Manson's "Family". Manson's followers committed a series of nine murders at four locations in California over a period of five weeks in the summer of 1969. Known within the Manson family as Sadie Mae Glutz or Sexy Sadie, Atkins was convicted for her participation in eight of these killings, including the most notorious, the Tate murders in 1969. She was sentenced to death, which was subsequently commuted to life imprisonment when the California Supreme Court invalidated all death sentences issued prior to 1972. Atkins was incarcerated until her death in 2009. At the time of her death, she was California's longest-serving female inmate, long since surpassed by fellow Manson family members Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie Van Houten</span> American convicted murderer (born 1949)

Leslie Louise Van Houten is an American convicted murderer and former member of the Manson Family. During her time with Manson's group, she was known by aliases such as Louella Alexandria, Leslie Marie Sankston, Linda Sue Owens and Lulu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manson Family</span> Commune and cult in California led by Charles Manson

The Manson Family was a commune, gang, and cult led by criminal Charles Manson that was active in California in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The group at its peak consisted of approximately 100 followers, who lived an unconventional lifestyle, frequently using psychoactive drugs, including amphetamine and hallucinogens such as LSD. Most were young women from middle-class backgrounds, many of whom were attracted by hippie culture and communal living and then radicalized by Manson's teachings. The group is confirmed to have murdered 9 people, though they potentially killed up to 24.

<i>Helter Skelter</i> (1976 film) 1976 American television film by Tom Gries

Helter Skelter is a 1976 television film based on the 1974 book by prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry. In the United States, it aired over two nights. In some countries it was shown in cinemas, with additional footage including nudity, foul language, and more violence.

Linda Darlene Kasabian was an American woman known for being a member of the Manson Family, a cult led by Charles Manson in late-1960s–early-1970s California. She was present at both the Tate and LaBianca murders committed by the cult in 1969, but received immunity for her testimony as a key witness in District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi's prosecution of Manson and his followers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald Hughes</span> American lawyer who represented Leslie Van Houten

Ronald W. Hughes was an American attorney who represented Leslie Van Houten, a member of the Manson Family. Hughes disappeared while on a camping trip during a ten-day recess from the Tate-LaBianca murder trial in November 1970. His body was found in March 1971, but his cause of death could not be determined. At least one Manson Family member has claimed that Hughes was murdered by the family in an act of retaliation. No one has been charged in connection with his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doris Tate</span> American crime victim rights activist (1924–1992)

Doris Gwendolyn Tate was an American activist for the rights of crime victims, and the mother of actress Sharon Tate. After Sharon Tate and several others were murdered by members of the Manson Family in 1969, Doris Tate began working to raise public awareness about the U.S. corrections system. She was influential in a court decision that amended California criminal laws relating to the rights of victims of violent crime.

<i>The Manson Family</i> (film) 1997 American horror film directed by Jim Van Bebber

The Manson Family is a 1997 American true crime exploitation horror film directed by Jim Van Bebber. The film covers the lives of Charles Manson and his family of followers.

The Helter Skelter scenario is an apocalyptic vision that was supposedly embraced by Charles Manson and members of his so-called Family. At the trial of Manson and three others for the Tate–LaBianca murders, the prosecution presented it as motivating the crimes and as an aspect of the case for conspiracy. Via interviews and autobiographies, former Family members related what they had witnessed and experienced of it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clem Grogan</span> American convicted murderer

Steven Dennis "Clem" Grogan is an American convicted murderer and former member of the Manson Family. He was released from prison in 1985.

Donald Jerome Shea, also known as "Shorty", was a Hollywood stuntman, actor and murder victim. The location of his body was discovered in 1977, eight years after his death. Manson Family leader Charles Manson and members "Clem" Grogan and Bruce M. Davis were eventually convicted of murdering Shea. Tex Watson was a possible participant in the murder, but was never charged.

<i>Helter Skelter</i> (2004 film) 2004 American television film

Helter Skelter is a 2004 television film written and directed by John Gray, based on the 1974 non-fiction book by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry about the murders of the Manson Family. The film is the second film to be based on the Charles Manson murders, following the 1976 two-part TV movie of the same name. Unlike the 1976 version, which focused mainly on the police investigation and the murder trial, this version focused mainly on Linda Kasabian's involvement with the Manson Family and their development.

The Tate–LaBianca murders were a series of murders perpetrated by members of the Manson Family during August 9–10, 1969, in Los Angeles, California, United States, under the direction of Tex Watson and Charles Manson. The perpetrators killed five people on the night of August 8–9: pregnant actress Sharon Tate and her companions Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, and Wojciech Frykowski, along with Steven Parent. The following evening, the Family also murdered supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, at their home in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles.

Bruce McGregor Davis is an American criminal and former member of the Manson Family who has been described as Charles Manson's "right-hand man".

<i>House of Manson</i> 2014 American film

House of Manson is a 2014 biographical film that was written and directed by Brandon Slagle. It had its world premiere on October 18, 2014 at the Twin Cities Film Festival and stars Ryan Kiser as Charles Manson.

<i>Charlie Says</i> (2018 film) 2018 American biographical drama film by Mary Harron

Charlie Says is a 2018 American biographical drama film directed by Mary Harron and starring Hannah Murray as Leslie Van Houten and Matt Smith as infamous cult leader Charles Manson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthony DiMaria</span> American actor, director, and producer

Anthony DiMaria is an American actor, producer, and director. He is also known for preserving the legacy of his uncle, Jay Sebring, a pioneering stylist who was killed by members of the Manson Family in 1969, during what is now known as the Tate murders.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Bugliosi, Vincent; Gentry, Curt (1994) [1st pub. 1974]. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN   978-0-393-08700-0. LCCN   94-20957. OCLC   30624822. OL   1096365M. Archived from the original on December 15, 2019. Retrieved April 4, 2016.
  2. ↑ (CDCR), California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. "State of California Inmate Locator". inmatelocator.cdcr.ca.gov. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved March 15, 2024.
  3. ↑ Linder, Doug (2014). "The Charles Manson (Tate–LaBianca Murder) Trial". University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
  4. ↑ Watson, Charles. "FAQs". Abounding Love Ministries. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Watson, Charles. "Will You Die For Me". Abounding Love Ministries. Archived from the original on April 5, 2007. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
  6. ↑ Neiswender, Mary (June 13, 1971). "'Tex' Watson, Honor Student, Athlete: Accused Mass Killer's Profile". cielodrive. Archived from the original on August 4, 2020. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Watson, Charles; Hoekstra, Ray (1978). Will You Die For Me?. Archived from the original on April 5, 2007. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
  8. ↑ Waxman, Olivia B. (July 26, 2019). "Why Did the Manson Family Kill Sharon Tate? Here's the Story Charles Manson Told the Last Man Who Interviewed Him". Time magazine . Archived from the original on September 24, 2020. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  9. ↑ "Episode 247 "Who Are You?"". Abounding Love Podcast. Podbean. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Parole Hearing: Charles Manson 2012". www.cielodrive.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Charles 'Tex' Watson 1978 Parole Hearing Transcript". www.cielodrive.com. Archived from the original on August 7, 2017. Retrieved June 23, 2017.
  12. ↑ Watson, Charles. "Will You Die For Me". Abounding Love Ministries. p. 96. Archived from the original on April 5, 2007. Retrieved July 13, 2019.
  13. ↑ Broughton, Ashley (March 30, 2009). "Aging Manson 'Family' members long for freedom". CNN. Archived from the original on March 31, 2009. Retrieved March 31, 2009.
  14. ↑ Library of Congress catalog record on Will you die for me?. F. H. Revell. 1978. ISBN   9780800709129. Archived from the original on August 19, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2009.
  15. ↑ "Secretary of State". CA Secretary of State Official Site. Retrieved November 14, 2023.
  16. ↑ Parole Board Hearing Transcript 2011.
  17. ↑ Watson, Charles. "About Charles". Aboundinglove.org. Abounding Love Ministries. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  18. ↑ Childress, Deirdre M. (April 30, 1984). "Slain actress Sharon Tate's mother – with tears rolling..." upi.com. UPI. Archived from the original on August 19, 2021. Retrieved March 9, 2019.
  19. ↑ Mancino, John (November 20, 2017). "The Charles Manson legacy: Leslie Van Houten". speroforum.com. Archived from the original on February 4, 2018.
  20. ↑ Official page for the Abounding Love Podcast (Podbean). Podbean https://aboundinglove.podbean.com/ . Retrieved November 14, 2023.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  21. ↑ Martinez, Michael; Cary, Michael (June 13, 2012). "Judge declines to reverse order giving Manson follower tapes to police". CNN. Archived from the original on October 27, 2012. Retrieved October 21, 2012.
  22. ↑ Esposito, Richard (October 19, 2012). "Manson Possibly Tied to Homicides". Good Morning America. Archived from the original on October 20, 2012. Retrieved October 19, 2012– via yahoo.com.
  23. ↑ O'Neill, Tom (2019). Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties. Little, Brown. ISBN   978-0-316-47757-4. Archived from the original on June 6, 2021. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  24. ↑ Healey, Patrick (September 19, 2014). "Attorney May Try Subpoena To Pry Open Recording by Convict Who Killed for Charles Manson". NBC Los Angeles. Archived from the original on December 14, 2014. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  25. ↑ Hamilton, Matt (October 16, 2021). "Manson follower Tex Watson denied parole for Tate/La Bianca killings". The Mercury News . Archived from the original on October 19, 2021. Retrieved March 5, 2022.
  26. ↑ (CDCR), California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. "State of California Inmate Locator". inmatelocator.cdcr.ca.gov. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.