Linda Kasabian
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Linda Darlene Kasabian (born Drouin; June 21, 1949) is a former member of the Manson Family. Even though she was present at both the Tate and LaBianca murders, because she was the key witness in District Attorney
Vincent Bugliosi Vincent T. Bugliosi Jr. (; August 18, 1934 – June 6, 2015) was an American prosecutor and author who served as Deputy District Attorney for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office between 1964 and 1972. He became best known for s ...
's prosecution of
Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson (; November 12, 1934November 19, 2017) was an American criminal and musician who led the Manson Family, a cult based in California, in the late 1960s. Some of the members committed a series of nine murders at four loca ...
and his followers for the 1969 killings, Kasabian received immunity.


Early life

Linda Darlene Drouin was born on June 21, 1949 in
Biddeford, Maine Biddeford is a city in York County, Maine, United States. It is the principal commercial center of York County. Its population was 22,552 at the 2020 census. The twin cities of Saco and Biddeford include the resort communities of Biddeford Poo ...
, and raised in the New England town of
Milford, New Hampshire Milford is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States, on the Souhegan River. The population was 16,131 at the 2020 census, up from 15,115 at the 2010 census.United States Census BureauU.S. Census website 2010 Census figures. Re ...
. Her father, Rosaire Drouin, was a construction worker of French-Canadian ancestry. Her mother, Joyce Taylor, was a homemaker. They struggled financially in a working-class home. Her parents often did not get along, and her father eventually left when she was still a young child. Both of her parents remarried a short time later, and her father moved to
Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
. She was the eldest child, and her mother Joyce has remarked that with so many younger children and stepchildren to care for, she was not able to devote the necessary attention to her teenage daughter. "I didn't have time to listen to her problems. A lot of what has happened to Linda is my fault," she has admitted. As a child, Kasabian was described by friends, neighbors, and teachers as intelligent, a good student, but a "starry-eyed romantic". Gimore. She was regarded as kind and shy, but "forced to grow up too soon". She dropped out of
high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
and ran away from home at the age of sixteen due to conflict with her stepfather, Jake Byrd, whom she claimed mistreated both her and her mother. Kasabian traveled to the west coast, "looking for God". At the age of 16, she married Robert Peasley, but divorced a short time later. She briefly moved to Miami and tried to reconnect with her father, who was working as a
bartender A bartender (also known as a barkeep, barman, barmaid, or a mixologist) is a person who formulates and serves alcoholic or soft drink beverages behind the bar, usually in a licensed establishment as well as in restaurants and nightclubs, but a ...
, but they again drifted apart before long. She then traveled to Boston and remarried, and gave birth to a daughter in 1968. When her second marriage, to Robert Kasabian, began to sour, Linda and her baby daughter Tanya returned to
New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
to live with her mother. Later, Robert Kasabian contacted Linda and invited her to meet him in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. He wanted her to join him and a friend, Charles "Blackbeard" Melton, on a sailing trip to
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
. Linda, who was hoping for a reconciliation with Robert, Kasabian court testimony. returned to Los Angeles to live with him in
Topanga Canyon Topanga () (Tongva: ''Topaa'nga'') is a census-designated place (CDP) in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located in the Santa Monica Mountains, the community exists in Topanga Canyon and the surrounding hills. The narrow s ...
.


Introduction to the Manson family

By the time she became pregnant with her second child, Kasabian was feeling neglected by her husband Robert Kasabian, who had ultimately left her behind for the South American sailing trip. Sanders. Through Melton she met
Catherine Share Catherine Louise "Gypsy" Share (born December 10, 1942) is known as a former member of the Manson Family; she was convicted of witness intimidation in relation to the 1970 trial of the Tate-LaBianca murders. In 1971 she was convicted of armed r ...
, who told Kasabian about an
idyl An idyll (, ; from Greek , ''eidullion'', "short poem"; occasionally spelt ''idyl'' in American English) is a short poem, descriptive of rustic life, written in the style of Theocritus' short pastoral poems, the ''Idylls'' (Εἰδύλλια). ...
lic ranch outside Los Angeles where a group of hippies were establishing a "hole in the earth"
paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in paradis ...
to escape an anticipated
race war An ethnic conflict is a conflict between two or more contending ethnic groups. While the source of the conflict may be political, social, economic or religious, the individuals in conflict must expressly fight for their ethnic group's positio ...
which they referred to as " Helter Skelter". To Kasabian, the ranch situation sounded like the
Hopi The Hopi are a Native American ethnic group who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona, United States. As of the 2010 census, there are 19,338 Hopi in the country. The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation within the Unite ...
legends that she had read about as a girl, and she was intrigued. In early summer, 1969, she decided against attending a July 4 Malibu “love-in” and instead—daughter Tanya in tow—joined Share and traveled to the
Spahn Ranch Spahn Ranch, also known as the Spahn Movie Ranch, was a 55-acre (22.3 ha) movie ranch in Los Angeles, California. For a period it was used as a ranch, dairy farm and later movie set during the era of westerns. After a decline in use for filming b ...
in the Chatsworth area outside Los Angeles, where she met Manson and soon became a member of his "Family". Kasabian was welcomed by group members, who greeted her with professions of peace and love and assurances that she and her daughter would be cared for, provided she proved loyal. Kasabian became privy to various events and statements that later proved to be important to the criminal case. During her first night with the family, she met and had sexual relations with the high-ranking Manson follower
Tex Watson 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. On August 9, 1969, Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins murdered pregnant actress Sharon ...
. Both of them have described their initial encounter as very intense. Watson persuaded Kasabian to steal a sum of money from her ex-husband's friend, Charles Melton. Kasabian was then introduced to Manson. According to Kasabian, she thought he looked magnificent in his buckskin clothing, and that he seemed to be
Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...
-like. Manson talked with her about why she had come to the ranch, and after feeling her legs, he accepted her. That night, Manson and Kasabian had sex in a Spahn Ranch cave. She thought that Manson could "see right through her" and that he was perceptive of her issues with her stepfather and her feelings of being "disposable" to the people in her life and to the world in general, as recorded in her trial testimony; Kasabian claimed she adopted the attitude toward Manson that the other ranch girls held: "We always wanted to do anything and everything for him." She began joining family members on their "creepy crawls", quietly sneaking into random homes in Los Angeles to steal money while the occupants slept. These and other criminal activities were the means by which the members of the family supported themselves, and Kasabian was willing to participate.


Involvement with murders

On August 8, 1969, Kasabian claimed Manson directed her to gather a knife, a change of clothing and her driver's license, then to accompany three other members of the family,
Tex Watson 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. On August 9, 1969, Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins murdered pregnant actress Sharon ...
,
Susan Atkins Susan Denise Atkins (May 7, 1948 – September 24, 2009) 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 perio ...
, and
Patricia Krenwinkel Patricia Dianne Krenwinkel (born December 3, 1947) is an American murderer and a 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 Sco ...
and do what Watson told her to. They drove to
10050 Cielo Drive 10050 Cielo Drive was the street address of a former luxury home in Benedict Canyon, in the west-central part of the Beverly Crest neighborhood of Los Angeles, bordering Beverly Hills, where three members of the Manson Family committed the Tate ...
. Kasabian claimed she saw Watson shoot and kill Steven Parent, a teenager who had come to visit the caretaker, William Garettson. Watson then ordered Kasabian to remain outside the residence, and she stood by the car while Watson, Atkins, and Krenwinkel entered the house and killed
Jay Sebring Thomas John Kummer (October 10, 1933 – August 9, 1969), known professionally as Jay Sebring, was an American celebrity hair stylist, and the founder of the hairstyling corporation Sebring International. Sebring was murdered by members of the M ...
,
Wojciech Frykowski Wojciech () is a Polish name, equivalent to Czech Vojtěch , Slovak Vojtech, and German Woitke. The name is formed from two components in archaic Polish: * ''wój'' (Slavic: ''voj''), a root pertaining to war. It also forms words like ''wojownik ...
,
Abigail Folger Abigail () was an Israelite woman in the Hebrew Bible married to Nabal; she married the future King David after Nabal's death (1 Samuel ). Abigail was David's second wife, after Saul and Ahinoam's daughter, Michal, whom Saul later married ...
, and the eight-months pregnant
Sharon Tate Sharon Marie Tate Polanski (January 24, 1943 – August 9, 1969) was an American actress and model. During the 1960s, she played small television roles before appearing in films and was regularly featured in fashion magazines as a model and cover ...
. Kasabian testified that at one point she heard the "horrible screams" of the victims and left the car. "I started to run toward the house, I wanted them to stop. I knew what they had done to that man
arent Arent can refer to *Arent (given name) *Arent (surname) Arend and Arent are primarily Low German patronymic surnames from the given name Arend. The Dutch surnames "Van den Arend" and "Den Arend" means "(from) the eagle" and have a toponymic origin ...
that they were killing these people. I wanted them to stop." Approaching the house from the driveway, Kasabian was met by Frykowski, who was running out the front door. Kasabian said in her testimony, "There was a man just coming out of the door and he had blood all over his face and he was standing by a post, and we looked into each other's eyes for a minute, and I said, 'Oh, God, I am so sorry. Please make it stop.' But then he just fell to the ground into the bushes." Then Watson repeatedly stabbed Frykowski and hit him in the head with a gun butt. Kasabian tried to stop the murderers by claiming that she heard "people coming" onto the Tate property, but Atkins insisted that it was "too late". According to Watson and Atkins, Kasabian stood rooted to the front lawn, watching with a horrified expression as her companions committed murder. Kasabian testified that, while in a state of shock, she ran toward the car, started it up, and considered driving away to get help, but then became concerned for her daughter back at the
Spahn Ranch Spahn Ranch, also known as the Spahn Movie Ranch, was a 55-acre (22.3 ha) movie ranch in Los Angeles, California. For a period it was used as a ranch, dairy farm and later movie set during the era of westerns. After a decline in use for filming b ...
. The next night, Manson,
Leslie Van Houten Leslie Louise Van Houten (born August 23, 1949) 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 Louella Alexandria, Leslie Marie Sankston, Li ...
, and
Clem Grogan Steven Dennis "Clem" Grogan (born July 13, 1951) is an American convicted murderer and former member of the Manson Family. He was released from prison in 1985, the only person paroled after being convicted of murder in the killings committed by ...
joined the quartet because, according to Kasabian, Manson felt the deed the night before had been performed sloppily. They drove to the LaBianca residence. Inside, Watson, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten murdered Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. When asked why she went out with the group again, knowing this time that murders would occur, Kasabian claimed that when Manson asked her to go with them she was "afraid to say no".


Witness for the prosecution

Several members of the "family" were arrested following a raid on the Spahn Ranch in October for car theft. The police were not aware at that time that those who they were arresting for auto theft were the murderers of Sharon Tate and Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. The investigations of these were already in progress, along with the intensive news media coverage of the murders. After being informed that a warrant for her arrest had been issued, Kasabian turned herself in to New Hampshire authorities in early December. Kasabian was offered
immunity from prosecution Legal immunity, or immunity from prosecution, is a legal status wherein an individual or entity cannot be held liable for a violation of the law, in order to facilitate societal aims that outweigh the value of imposing liability in such cases. Su ...
in exchange for turning
state's evidence A criminal turns state's evidence by admitting guilt and testifying as a witness for the state against their associate(s) or accomplice(s), often in exchange for leniency in sentencing or immunity from prosecution.Howard Abadinsky, ''Organized C ...
. There have been reports that Kasabian wanted to tell her story to the prosecutors, with or without any kind of deal, to "get it out of my head", as chief prosecutor
Vincent Bugliosi Vincent T. Bugliosi Jr. (; August 18, 1934 – June 6, 2015) was an American prosecutor and author who served as Deputy District Attorney for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office between 1964 and 1972. He became best known for s ...
described it, but that her attorney, Gary Fleischman, insisted that she remain silent until the
district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...
made an offer of immunity. Kasabian, who was then pregnant with her second child, agreed to the immunity offer. The immunity agreement was seen at the time as a somewhat controversial option for the prosecution for a number of reasons. Some wanted her to be fully prosecuted for the crimes. However, though Kasabian had been an accomplice to the murders (their driver and lookout) and she had not prevented the crimes or contacted the police or the sheriff afterwards, she had not entered either residence and was not thought to have physically participated in any of the murders. She had been described as reluctant and extremely upset during the events of both nights, even challenging Manson ("I'm not you, Charlie. I can't kill anyone"), and she was the only member of the group to express remorse and sympathy for the victims. When taken back to the Tate residence to help reconstruct the crime there, Kasabian reportedly suffered an emotional breakdown. Taking the witness stand, Kasabian was the chief witness for the prosecution, and she tearfully recounted the murders in vivid detail. She related to the trial jury all that she had seen and heard during her stay with the "family" and during the commission of the murders. Her testimony was considered to be the most dramatic segment of the very long trial, and it received an unprecedented amount of news media coverage. During the trial, unjailed members of the Manson "family" led a campaign of intimidation against Kasabian in an effort to prevent her from testifying. The actual defendants in the crime constantly disrupted her testimony with a blizzard of dramatic courtroom theatrics. Manson ran a finger across his throat, glaring at Kasabian as she testified, an act he repeated during the testimony of other prosecution witnesses. Susan Atkins also repeatedly whispered to Kasabian across the courtroom "You're killing us!", to which Kasabian responded, "I am not killing you, you have killed yourselves". Manson notoriously interrupted Kasabian's testimony by holding up a copy of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' newspaper to the jury with the headline "Manson Guilty, Nixon Declares" referring to President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
's statements to the press about the pre-verdict trial. He apparently hoped that this stunt would result in a
mistrial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...
, which the defense argued for, but lost. Judge Charles H. Older refused to allow the defendants to legally benefit from the antics. During Kasabian's cross-examination, Manson's defense lawyer
Irving Kanarek Irving Allan Kanarek (May 12, 1920 – September 2, 2020) was an aerospace engineer and a criminal defense attorney, best known for representing defendants such as Charles Manson and Jimmy Lee Smith. Background Kanarek was born in Seattle. Hi ...
showed her large color crime-scene photographs of the Tate murders. Kasabian's emotional reaction was in stark contrast to the other "family" members. Manson and Krenwinkel's defense attorney Paul Fitzgerald later asserted that Kanarek's tactic—meant to discredit Kasabian—was a grave error that completely backfired and exonerated the state's primary witness. Composing herself enough to look up from the color photo of the dead, bloodied Sharon Tate, Kasabian shot a look across the courtroom to the defendants. "How could you do that?", she asked. The female defendants laughed. Manson's defense attorney Kanarek asked Kasabian how she could be so certain, considering her LSD use, that she had not participated in the gruesome act. "Because I don't have that kind of thing in me, to do something so animalistic", she replied. Although the Manson gang's murder trial lasted nine months, with testimony from numerous witnesses (including several other former "family" members), Kasabian's testimony, more than anything else, according to Bugliosi, led to the convictions of Manson, Watson, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten.


Penalty phase

On January 25, 1971, the defendants were found guilty on all counts by the jury, leading to the penalty phase of the trial, which decided the punishments of the convicted. Various female witnesses, including the defendants and other loyal "family" members (all of whom carved bloody Xs into their foreheads as a sign of their allegiance to Manson), testified that Kasabian, rather than Manson, had masterminded the crimes. The trial jury completely rejected their testimony. Over the years, these accusations have been publicly repudiated by many of the former "family" members who originally offered the tale, including Catherine Share (in 1997), Susan Atkins (in 1977), Atkins. and particularly Tex Watson, who in 1978 described those allegations as "patently ridiculous".


Life after trial

The news media coverage of the Manson trial had made Linda Kasabian a well-known figure by the time the sentences had been handed down, with opinions about her ranging from sympathetic to hostile. Kasabian shortly returned to New Hampshire with her husband and her children, seeking to escape the glare of the media, and to raise her children quietly. She lived on a hippie
commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...
for a time and later worked as a cook. Kasabian was called back to Los Angeles County several times after the first trial: she was a witness against Tex Watson in his separate trial in 1971, and also against Leslie Van Houten in her two retrials in 1977. Kasabian was later detained for numerous traffic violations, until an automobile accident left her partially disabled. Though she had severed all of her ties with the Manson "family", the
Secret Service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...
kept her under surveillance for a time after former Manson associate
Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme (born October 22, 1948) is an American criminal who was a member of the Manson family, a cult led by Charles Manson. Though not involved in the Tate–LaBianca murders for which the Manson family is best known, ...
attempted to assassinate President
Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
. Kasabian was the target of scorn from the few remaining Manson "family" members. Over the years, Kasabian has avoided and refused most news media attention. She appeared only once between 1969 and 2008, for an interview with the syndicated American television program ''
A Current Affair ''A Current Affair'' may refer to: * ''A Current Affair'' (Australian TV program), 1971–present Australian current affairs program that airs on Nine Network * ''A Current Affair'' (American TV program), a 1986–1998 American television news ...
'' in 1988. Later, Cineflix, a production company in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, produced a
docu-drama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typi ...
called ''Manson'', in which Kasabian appears, telling her story in complete detail for the first time. This program was broadcast in the UK on August 10, 2009, and also in the United States on September 7, 2009 and again on July 20, 2013, on the
History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
. In this interview, Kasabian recounts her four weeks spent with the Manson "family". In a September 2, 2009 live interview on
CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
's ''
Larry King Live ''Larry King Live'' was an American television talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was the channel's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly. Mainly aired from CNN's Los Angeles s ...
'', Kasabian recounted her memories of the murders at Sharon Tate's home. To help her maintain her now-quiet life, Kasabian wore a disguise provided by the program. She told
Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program ...
during the interview that after the trial she had been in need of, but had never obtained, "psychological counseling", and that during the previous 12 years, she had been "on a path of healing and rehabilitation." When asked about the degree of remorse she felt for her participation in the crimes, Kasabian said she felt as though she took on all the guilt that "no one else ho was involved in the crimesfelt guilt for". Since the late 1980s, Kasabian has been living in the Tacoma, Washington area and using the last name "Chiochios". In a 2016 ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' article on the current status of Manson Family members still living, it was said she had been "living in near poverty". In his 2016 book ''Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders'', author Greg King recounted an October 1996 police raid by the Tacoma, Washington police department where Kasabian and her daughter, Quanu, had been arrested after discovering "rock cocaine and a large bundle of cash in a dresser drawer" along with a semi-automatic handgun and ammunition. According to King, Kasabian's daughter was tried and found guilty of possession of controlled substances and sentenced to serve time in a Washington state prison.


Notes


References

* * Didion, Joan. ''The White Album''. Flamingo, New York, 1993. * * King, Greg. ''Sharon Tate and The Manson Murders''. Barricade Books. Fort Lee NJ, 2000. . * * Paul Watkins with Guillermo Soledad. ''My Life with Charles Manson''. Bantam, 1979. . * Watson, Charles as told to Ray Hoekstra
''Will You Die for Me?''
Cross Roads Publications, 1978. Chapter 13. . * * CNN, Larry King Live, September 2, 2009. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kasabian, Linda 1949 births Living people Manson Family Crime witnesses People from Biddeford, Maine People from Milford, New Hampshire