Charles "Tex" Watson

Charles Denton Watson Jr. was born on December 2, 1945, in Dallas, Texas, and grew up in the small community of Copeville. His upbringing was markedly different from the criminal life for which he later became notorious. Watson came from a religious family, attended church, performed well at school and became a successful athlete, particularly in football and track. After graduating from high school, he attended North Texas State University.

Watson eventually left college and moved to California during the cultural upheaval of the late 1960s. He adopted the counterculture lifestyle and became increasingly involved with drugs. Through acquaintances in Los Angeles, Watson encountered Charles Manson and the communal group of followers who would become known as the Manson Family.

Watson gradually became deeply involved with the group and lived among its members at Spahn Ranch near Chatsworth. Manson's apocalyptic beliefs, drug use and psychological influence became increasingly central to Watson's life. Unlike some peripheral Family associates, Watson occupied an important position within the group and later became one of the primary participants in its most notorious crimes.

On the night of August 8, 1969, Manson instructed Watson to take Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Linda Kasabian to 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, the home of actress Sharon Tate and her husband, filmmaker Roman Polanski. Manson ordered Watson to kill the people at the residence. Polanski was overseas, but Tate was at the house with Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger and Wojciech Frykowski.

After arriving, Watson climbed a utility pole and cut the property's telephone line. Steven Parent, an 18-year-old who had been visiting the property's caretaker, encountered the group while driving away. Watson shot and killed him before proceeding toward the main residence. Watson, Krenwinkel and Atkins then entered the house while Kasabian remained primarily outside.

Watson assumed the leading role during the attack. Sebring was shot and stabbed, while Frykowski was repeatedly attacked after attempting to escape. Watson pursued him outside and continued the assault. Abigail Folger also escaped from the house but was pursued by Krenwinkel and attacked before Watson joined the assault. Sharon Tate was killed inside the residence. Five people had been murdered by the time the group left Cielo Drive.

The following night, Manson accompanied several followers as he searched for another location. He selected the Los Feliz home of supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary. Manson entered the residence and restrained the couple before leaving Watson, Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten to carry out the killings.

Watson attacked Leno LaBianca while Krenwinkel and Van Houten attacked Rosemary in another room. When the women struggled to overpower her, Watson entered and assisted them before returning to Leno. Both victims were killed, and messages associated with Manson's ideology were subsequently written in their blood throughout the house.

Watson committed the murders as part of a group operating under Manson's direction, but his role was substantially more active than that of a passive follower. During the Tate murders, Manson was not present, leaving Watson to direct the attack. Watson used a firearm and knife and personally participated in multiple killings while directing the other Family members at the scene.

The Tate residence was deliberately isolated before the attack when Watson cut its telephone connection. The occupants were then confronted and restrained before the murders began. When Frykowski and Folger attempted to escape, Watson and Krenwinkel pursued them and continued the attacks outside.

At the LaBianca residence, Manson selected the victims and initially restrained them, but Watson, Krenwinkel and Van Houten were responsible for the actual killings. The crimes were accompanied by messages written in blood, reflecting Manson's attempt to connect the murders with the racial conflict he believed was approaching.

After the murders, Watson separated from Manson and the Family and returned to Texas. As Los Angeles investigators gradually connected the Tate and LaBianca murders with Manson's followers, Watson was identified as one of the principal suspects.

In December 1969, Watson was indicted in California on murder and conspiracy charges alongside Manson, Atkins, Krenwinkel and other Family members. Authorities arrested him in Texas, but Watson fought extradition, delaying his return to California while Manson, Atkins, Krenwinkel and Van Houten proceeded to trial without him.

After the extradition dispute was resolved, Watson was returned to Los Angeles to face prosecution. Because the main Manson trial was already underway, his case proceeded separately. Linda Kasabian, who had accompanied the killers to Cielo Drive but received immunity for cooperating with prosecutors, provided important testimony concerning Watson's actions during the murders.

Watson went on trial in Los Angeles in 1971. His attorneys relied heavily on his mental condition and extensive drug use during his time with the Manson Family. The prosecution presented Watson as the principal physical perpetrator of the Tate-LaBianca murders, establishing his direct participation in the seven killings.

In October 1971, the jury found Watson guilty of seven counts of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He was subsequently sentenced to death. His convictions encompassed the murders of Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Steven Parent, Leno LaBianca and Rosemary LaBianca.

Watson did not remain under a death sentence. In 1972, the California Supreme Court invalidated the state's existing death-penalty system, resulting in capital sentences being converted to life imprisonment. Watson consequently became eligible for consideration by the state's parole system.

He has appeared repeatedly before California parole authorities and has consistently been denied release. Parole commissioners have acknowledged his lengthy period of positive institutional behaviour and rehabilitation while continuing to emphasise the extraordinary severity of the murders and concerns surrounding his insight into the crimes.

Watson underwent a substantial personal transformation during his imprisonment. He became a born-again Christian in the mid-1970s and later became an ordained minister, establishing a prison ministry. He has spent decades participating in religious activities and counselling other prisoners. Watson also pursued education while incarcerated, earning a bachelor's degree in business management. California corrections officials have documented an extended period without serious disciplinary problems.

While imprisoned, Watson married Kristin Joan Svege in 1979. The couple had four children while California permitted conjugal visits for prisoners serving life sentences. They eventually divorced, and changes to California regulations later eliminated conjugal visits for prisoners serving life terms without established release dates.

Watson has publicly rejected Manson and the beliefs he followed during 1969 and has repeatedly expressed remorse for the murders during parole proceedings. Despite his rehabilitation, parole boards have repeatedly concluded that release is inappropriate. His unusual combination of direct responsibility for some of the most notorious murders in American criminal history and decades of religious ministry has made his parole hearings a recurring subject of public attention.

Sources:

• California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
• California Board of Parole Hearings
• California court records
• Los Angeles Times
• Associated Press