Charles Manson, whose brutality made him face of evil, dead

Charles Manson, the hippie cult leader who became the hypnotic-eyed face of evil across America after masterminding the gruesome murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others in Los Angeles during the summer of 1969, died Sunday night after nearly a half-century in prison. He was 83.

FILE- This Aug. 14, 2017 photo provided by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shows Charles Manson. (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation via AP, File)

Manson died of natural causes at a California hospital while serving a life sentence, his name synonymous to this day with unspeakable violence and depravity.

Michele Hanisee, president of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys for Los Angeles County, reacted to the death by quoting the late Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor who put Manson behind bars. Bugliosi said: "Manson was an evil, sophisticated con man with twisted and warped moral values."

FILE - In this 1969 file photo, Charles Manson is escorted to his arraignment on conspiracy-murder charges in connection with the Sharon Tate murder case. Authorities say Manson, cult leader and mastermind behind 1969 deaths of actress Sharon Tate and several others, died on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2017. He was 83. (AP Photo, File)

"Today, Manson's victims are the ones who should be remembered and mourned on the occasion of his death," Hanisee said.

A petty criminal who had been in and out of jail since childhood, the charismatic, guru-like Manson surrounded himself in the 1960s with runaways and other lost souls and then sent his disciples to butcher some of L.A.'s rich and famous in what prosecutors said was a bid to trigger a race war — an idea he got from a twisted reading of the Beatles song "Helter Skelter."

FILE - In this 1969 file photo, Charles Manson is escorted to court in Los Angeles during an arraignment phase. Authorities say Manson, cult leader and mastermind behind 1969 deaths of actress Sharon Tate and several others, died on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2017. He was 83. (AP Photo, File)

The slayings horrified the world and, together with the deadly violence that erupted later in 1969 during a Rolling Stones concert at California's Altamont Speedway, exposed the dangerous, drugged-out underside of the counterculture movement and seemed to mark the death of the era of peace and love.

Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, Manson maintained during his tumultuous trial in 1970 that he was innocent and that society itself was guilty.

"These children that come at you with knives, they are your children. You taught them; I didn't teach them. I just tried to help them stand up," he said in a courtroom soliloquy.

FILE - In this June 25, 1970 file photo, Charles Manson sticks his tongue out at photographers as he appears in a Santa Monica, Calif., courtroom, charged with the slaying of musician Gary Hinman.  (AP Photo, File)

Linda Deutsch, the longtime courts reporter for The Associated Press who covered the Manson case, said he "left a legacy of evil and hate and murder."

"He was able to take young people who were impressionable and convince them he had the answer to everything and he turned them into killers," she said. "It was beyond anything we had ever seen before in this country."

California Corrections Department spokeswoman Vicky Waters said it has yet to be determined what happens to Manson's body. It was also unclear if Manson requested funeral services of any sort.

FILE - In this Feb. 4, 1986, file photo, convicted mass murder Charles Manson reads a rambling statement at his parole hearing in San Quentin, Calif. Manson, who is serving life in prison for the murder of actress Sharon Tate and five others, said he would go to Libya, Iran, South America or France if released. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

Prison officials previously said Manson had no known next of kin, and state law says that if no relative or legal representative surfaces within 10 days, then it's up to the department to determine whether the body is cremated or buried.

The Manson Family, as his followers were called, slaughtered five of its victims on Aug. 9, 1969, at Tate's home: the actress, who was 8½ months pregnant, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring, Polish movie director Voityck Frykowski and Steven Parent, a friend of the estate's caretaker. Tate's husband, "Rosemary's Baby" director Roman Polanski, was out of the country at the time.

The next night, a wealthy grocer and his wife, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, were stabbed to death in their home across town.

FILE - In this Dec. 21, 1970 file photo, Charles Manson reacts to photographers as he goes to lunch after an outbreak in court that resulted in his ejection, along with three female co-defendants, in the Sharon Tate murder trial. Authorities say Manson, cult leader and mastermind behind 1969 deaths of Tate and several others, died on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/George Brich, File)

The killers scrawled such phrases as "Pigs" and a misspelled "Healter Skelter" in blood at the crime scenes.

Manson was arrested three months later. In the annals of American crime, he became the personification of evil, a short, shaggy-haired, bearded figure with a demonic stare and an "X'' — later turned into a swastika — carved into his forehead.

"Many people I know in Los Angeles believe that the Sixties ended abruptly on August 9, 1969," author Joan Didion wrote in her 1979 book "The White Album."

After a trial that lasted nearly a year, Manson and three followers — Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten — were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. Another defendant, Charles "Tex" Watson, was convicted later. All were spared execution and given life sentences after the California Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in 1972.

Atkins died behind bars in 2009. Krenwinkel, Van Houten and Watson remain in prison.

FILE - In this Feb. 4, 1986, file photo, convicted murderer Charles Manson looks towards the parole board in San Quentin, Calif. Authorities say Manson, cult leader and mastermind behind 1969 deaths of actress Sharon Tate and several others, died on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

Another Manson devotee, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975, but her gun jammed. She served 34 years in prison.

Manson was born in Cincinnati on Nov. 12, 1934, to a teenager, possibly a prostitute, and was in reform school by the time he was 8. After serving a 10-year sentence for check forgery in the 1960s, Manson was said to have pleaded with authorities not to release him because he considered prison home.

"My father is the jailhouse. My father is your system," he would later say in a monologue on the witness stand. "I am only what you made me. I am only a reflection of you."

FILE - In this June 10, 1981 file photo, convicted murderer Charles Manson is photographed during an interview with television talk show host Tom Snyder in a medical facility in Vacaville, Calif.  (AP Photo, File)

He was set free in San Francisco during the heyday of the hippie movement in the city's Haight-Ashbury section, and though he was in his mid-30s by then, he began collecting followers — mostly women — who likened him to Jesus Christ. Most were teenagers; many came from good homes but were at odds with their parents.

The "family" eventually established a commune-like base at the Spahn Ranch, a ramshackle former movie location outside Los Angeles, where Manson manipulated his followers with drugs, oversaw orgies and subjected them to bizarre lectures.

He had musical ambitions and befriended rock stars, including Beach Boy Dennis Wilson. He also met Terry Melcher, a music producer who had lived in the same house that Polanski and Tate later rented.

FILE - In this March 12, 1971 file photo, Charles Manson, with a swastika on his forehead, walks to court in Los Angeles, during the the penalty phase of the Sharon Tate trial after being convicted of murder in the deaths of Tate and six others. Authorities say Manson, cult leader and mastermind behind 1969 deaths of actress Sharon Tate and six others, died on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2017.  (AP Photo, File)

By the summer of 1969, Manson had failed to sell his songs, and the rejection was later seen as a trigger for the violence. He complained that Wilson took a Manson song called "Cease to Exist," revised it into "Never Learn Not to Love" and recorded it with the Beach Boys without giving Manson credit.

Manson was obsessed with Beatles music, particularly "Piggies" and "Helter Skelter," a hard-rocking song that he interpreted as forecasting the end of the world. He told his followers that "Helter Skelter is coming down" and predicted a race war would destroy the planet.

"Everybody attached themselves to us, whether it was our fault or not," the Beatles' George Harrison, who wrote "Piggies," later said of the murders. "It was upsetting to be associated with something so sleazy as Charles Manson."

According to testimony, Manson sent his devotees out on the night of Tate's murder with instructions to "do something witchy." The state's star witness, Linda Kasabian, who was granted immunity, testified that Manson tied up the LaBiancas, then ordered his followers to kill. But Manson insisted: "I have killed no one, and I have ordered no one to be killed."

His trial was nearly scuttled when President Richard Nixon said Manson was "guilty, directly or indirectly." Manson grabbed a newspaper and held up the front-page headline for jurors to read: "Manson Guilty, Nixon Declares." Attorneys demanded a mistrial but were turned down.

From then on, jurors, sequestered at a hotel for 10 months, traveled to and from the courtroom in buses with blacked-out windows so they could not read the headlines on newsstands.

Manson was also later convicted of the slayings of a musician and a stuntman.

Over the decades, Manson and his followers appeared sporadically at parole hearings, where their bids for freedom were repeatedly rejected. The women suggested they had been rehabilitated, but Manson himself stopped attending, saying prison had become his home.

The killings inspired movies and TV shows, and Bugliosi, the prosecutor, wrote a best-selling book about the murders, "Helter Skelter." The macabre rock star Marilyn Manson borrowed part of his stage name from the killer.

"The Manson case, to this day, remains one of the most chilling in crime history," veteran crime reporter Theo Wilson wrote in her 1998 memoir, "Headline Justice: Inside the Courtroom — The Country's Most Controversial Trials." ''Even people who were not yet born when the murders took place know the name Charles Manson, and shudder."

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — The New York architect accused of murdering multiple women and leaving their corpses scattered along the Long Island coast kept a “blueprint” of his crimes on his computer, prosecutors revealed Thursday as they brought charges against Rex Heuermann in two more killings.

Heuermann, 60, appeared before a judge to be arraigned in the deaths of Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla, two young women who were long suspected of being the victims of men preying on sex workers. He had previously been charged with murdering four other women in a string of deaths known as the Gilgo Beach serial killings.

Taylor disappeared in 2003. Costilla was killed 30 years ago, in 1993, and her inclusion in the case indicates that prosecutors now believe Heuermann was killing women for much longer than previously thought.

The new charges came after recent police searches of Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home and a wooded area on Long Island tied to the investigation.

In a court filing, prosecutors said they were able to use new forensic testing methods to match hairs found on or near the vicinity of both victims to a DNA profile that is a likely match to Heuermann. Additionally, prosecutors say they recovered a file on a hard drive in his basement used to “methodically blueprint” his killings.

The all-caps document features a series of checklists with tasks to complete before, during and after the killings, as well as practical lessons for “next time." Among the dozens of entries written are reminders to clean the bodies and destroy evidence, to “get sleep before hunt” and to “have story set."

One section, titled “things to remember,” appears to highlight lessons from previous killings, prosecutors said, such as using heavier rope and limiting noise in order to maximize “play time.” A “body prep” checklist includes, among other items, a note to “remove head and hands."

Prosecutors believe that entry may connect Heuermann to yet another victim, Valerie Mack, whose partial skeletal remains were discovered near the body of Taylor after her disappearance in 2000.

Heuermann has not been charged in the death of Mack. But asked during a news conference after Thursday's hearing if he was a suspect, District Attorney Ray Tierney replied, “That's fair to say.”

Tierney also acknowledged that the “blueprint” document, which Heuermann had attempted to delete, was a “significant impetus” for the renewed search across Long Island in recent weeks, as it was recovered in March from the more than 350 electronic devices seized from the suspect’s home.

Heuermann pleaded not guilty to killing Taylor and Costilla during the hearing and was ordered held without bail. His lawyer, Michael Brown, said outside court that Heuermann is “obviously in a bad place in terms of the new charges.”

Afterward, Tierney said the additional charges provide “some small measure of closure” for the victims' families.

Since late 2010, police have been investigating the deaths of at least 10 people — mostly female sex workers — whose remains were discovered along an isolated highway not far from Gilgo Beach on Long Island's south shore.

Those victims disappeared over a span of at least 14 years. Vexed detectives made only halting progress in identifying possible suspects. Investigators long said it was likely that not all of the deaths were the work of the same killer. Some of the victims vanished in the mid-1990s. Investigators concluded that an 11th person who disappeared in 2010 from the barrier island community of Oak Beach had accidentally drowned.

Heuermann, who lived across a bay from where the bodies were found, was arrested last July. Prosecutors said a new investigative task force used mobile phone location data and DNA samples to link the architect to some of the victims. He was charged with killing four of the women: Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello and Maureen Brainard-Barnes.

Investigators who searched Heuermann's home extensively and dug up his yard last summer returned to the house last month and spent nearly a week searching it again. They focused their efforts mostly in the basement, according to a lawyer for Heuermann’s wife.

That followed a search in April of a wooded area in Manorville, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Heuermann’s home, and in the Southampton hamlet of North Sea, where Costilla’s remains were discovered decades ago.

Tierney said the planning document was recovered in March, providing the impetus for the recent searches.

Prosecutors also said they found a book in Heuermann's possession by the retired FBI agent John Douglas, “The Cases That Haunt Us.” They say the planning document referenced specific pages in another work by Douglas, “Mind Hunter,” that allude to the personality types of serial killers and profiles of those who use mutilation and sexual violence.

Jessica Taylor, 20, vanished in 2003 while working as an escort in New York City. Some of her remains were discovered in Manorville that year. Other remains were found during a 2011 search of the beach scrub by the side of Ocean Parkway, the road where the other Gilgo Beach victims were found.

Taylor’s mother, Elizabeth Baczkiel, was at the courthouse for Thursday's hearing. She held up childhood photos of her daughter but didn't speak to reporters. Her lawyer, Gloria Allred, read a statement from Baczkiel in which she described her daughter as “loving, compassionate and so funny," and said she would have made a great mother.

“My darling daughter, you will never be forgotten,” the statement said. “You will forever be in our hearts."

Valerie Mack, 24, who had been working as an escort in Philadelphia, disappeared in 2000 and was last seen by her family in Port Republic, New Jersey, near Atlantic City. Some of her skeletal remains were discovered that year in the Manorville woods. More of her remains were found in 2011 during the search around Gilgo Beach.

Initially known as “Jane Doe No. 6,” Mack’s remains went unidentified until 2020, when genetic testing revealed her identity.

Costilla was 28 when she was killed and had lived in New York City.

A decade ago, Suffolk County prosecutors said publicly that they believed Costilla had been killed by John Bittrolff, an area carpenter who was convicted of murdering two other women whose bodies were found in the same part of Long Island.

But Bittrolff was never charged with Costilla’s death due to lack of evidence and has insisted he didn’t kill anyone.

“After today’s confirmation that John Bittrolff had nothing to do with the death of Sandra Costilla, I sincerely hope that the Gilgo Beach Task Force will conduct an actual, meaningful investigation into the murders of Rita Tangredi and Colleen McNamee to find their real killer,” his lawyer Jon Manley said Thursday, referring to the two women Bittrolff was convicted of killing.

Heuermann’s lawyer, Brown, said he planned to request the prosecution’s files on Bittrolff.

Offenhartz reported from New York City.

Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.

Attorney Gloria Allred speaks to reporters during a news conference in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June 6, 2024. Rex Heuermann, the New York architect accused of killing four women and leaving their bodies near Long Island's Gilgo Beach, has been accused in the deaths of two more women. Heuermann appeared at a hearing in court Thursday on charges that he killed Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Jessica Taylors' mother, Elizabeth Baczkiel, left, listens as attorney Gloria Allred, right, reads her statement during a news conference in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June 6, 2024. Rex Heuermann, previously accused of killing four women and leaving their corpses scattered along a coastal highway, was charged Thursday, in the deaths of two more, Taylor and Sandra Costil, after prosecutors said they gathered new DNA evidence and found a computer document he had used to "blueprint" his crimes. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, center, speaks to reporters during a news conference in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June 6, 2024. Rex Heuermann, the New York architect accused of killing four women and leaving their bodies near Long Island's Gilgo Beach, has been accused in the deaths of two more women. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Surrounded by law enforcement, victims' families, attorneys and others, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, center, pauses as he speaks to reporters during a news conference in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June 6, 2024. Rex Heuermann, the New York architect accused of killing four women and leaving their bodies near Long Island's Gilgo Beach, has been accused in the deaths of two more women. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Jessica Taylors' mother, Elizabeth Baczkiel, left, walks with attorney Gloria Allred, right, as they enter the courtroom in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June 6, 2024. Rex Heuermann, the New York architect accused of killing four women and leaving their bodies near Long Island's Gilgo Beach, has been accused in the deaths of two more women. Heuermann was appearing in court Thursday on charges that he killed Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Attorney Gloria Allred holds up a picture of Jessica Taylor during a news conference in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June 6, 2024. Rex Heuermann, previously accused of killing four women and leaving their corpses scattered along a coastal highway, was charged Thursday, in the deaths of two more, Taylor and Sandra Costil, after prosecutors said they gathered new DNA evidence and found a computer document he had used to "blueprint" his crimes. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney speaks to reporters during a news conference in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June 6, 2024. Rex Heuermann, the New York architect accused of killing four women and leaving their bodies near Long Island's Gilgo Beach, has been accused in the deaths of two more women. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

FILE - This photo provided by John Ray Law on July 14, 2023, shows Jessica Taylor, whose remains were found decades ago along on a highway along Gilgo Beach, on New York's Long Island. Rex Heuermann, previously accused of killing four women and leaving their corpses scattered along a coastal highway, was charged Thursday, June 6, 2024, in the deaths of two more, Taylor and Sandra Costil, after prosecutors said they gathered new DNA evidence and found a computer document he had used to "blueprint" his crimes. (John Ray Law via AP, File)

Rex Heuermann, center, charged in the Gilgo Beach serial killings on Long Island, appears for a hearing at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June. 6, 2024. Heuermann was charged Thursday in the deaths of two more, after prosecutors said they gathered new DNA evidence and found a computer document he had used to “blueprint” his crimes. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)

Rex Heuermann, center, charged in the Gilgo Beach serial killings on Long Island, appears for a hearing at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June. 6, 2024. Heuermann was charged Thursday in the deaths of two more, after prosecutors said they gathered new DNA evidence and found a computer document he had used to “blueprint” his crimes. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)

Rex Heuermann, second from right, charged in the Gilgo Beach serial killings on Long Island, appears for a hearing at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June. 6, 2024. Heuermann was charged Thursday in the deaths of two more, after prosecutors said they gathered new DNA evidence and found a computer document he had used to “blueprint” his crimes. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney reacts as new charges are read against Rex Heuermann, charged in the Gilgo Beach serial killings on Long Island, during a hearing at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June. 6, 2024. Heuermann was charged Thursday in the deaths of two more, after prosecutors said they gathered new DNA evidence and found a computer document he had used to “blueprint” his crimes. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)

Rex Heuermann, charged in the Gilgo Beach serial killings on Long Island, appears for a hearing at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June. 6, 2024. Heuermann was charged Thursday in the deaths of two more, after prosecutors said they gathered new DNA evidence and found a computer document he had used to “blueprint” his crimes. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)

Rex Heuermann, center, charged in the Gilgo Beach serial killings on Long Island, appears for a hearing at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June. 6, 2024. Heuermann was charged Thursday in the deaths of two more, after prosecutors said they gathered new DNA evidence and found a computer document he had used to “blueprint” his crimes. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)

Rex Heuermann, center, charged in the Gilgo Beach serial killings on Long Island, enters the courtrrom for a hearing at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June. 6, 2024. Heuermann was charged Thursday in the deaths of two more, after prosecutors said they gathered new DNA evidence and found a computer document he had used to “blueprint” his crimes. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)

Rex Heuermann, center, charged in the Gilgo Beach serial killings on Long Island, appears for a hearing at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June. 6, 2024. Heuermann was charged Thursday in the deaths of two more, after prosecutors said they gathered new DNA evidence and found a computer document he had used to “blueprint” his crimes. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)

Rex Heuermann's attorney Michael Brown, right, arrives to the courtroom in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June 6, 2024. Heuermann, the New York architect accused of killing four women and leaving their bodies near Long Island's Gilgo Beach, has been accused in the deaths of two more women. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney arrives to the courthouse in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June 6, 2024. Rex Heuermann, the New York architect accused of killing four women and leaving their bodies near Long Island's Gilgo Beach, has been accused in the deaths of two more women. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

FILE - Rex Heuermann appears next to his attorney Michael Brown at Suffolk County Court, April 17, 2024, in Riverhead, N.Y. Prosecutors are planning a major announcement in the Gilgo Beach serial killings as Heuermann, the prime suspect in the case, is set to appear in criminal court Thursday, June 6, on Long Island. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, File)

FILE - Alleged Gilgo serial killer Rex Heuermann appears inside Judge Tim Mazzei's courtroom on Feb. 6, 2024 in Riverhead, N.Y. Prosecutors are planning a major announcement in the case as Heuermann is set to appear in criminal court on Long Island on Thursday, June 6, 2024. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP)