(Another) Charles Manson Documentary

By David in TN

The latest TV documentary on the Manson murders premiered on the Investigative Discovery Channel's Twisted show this week.

They talk about the Helter Skelter theory and mention that Manson hoped it would be blamed on the Black Panthers.

Manson even tried to place Rosemary Labianca's purse with credit card in a service station rest room in a black area, hoping a black person would pick it up and use it. Eventually, he left it in a mainly white section of LA County. Nobody picked it up anyway.

The thing that nobody ever brings up is that law enforcement never suspected it to be a black on white crime. The LAPD decided drugs were the cause and that Sharon Tate, Sebring, and Frakowski knew the killers who were fellow druggies.

The LAPD and LASO thought the Labianca killings were unrelated.

There were some other theories before Susan Atkins boasted about it to a fellow inmate in the female section of the LA County jail. At no time were blacks ever suspected.

This ID program has new interviews but covers the same territory.

[N.S.: After I asked David for clarification about what Manson did with Rosemary Labianca's purse and credit card, he responded thusly:]

I went to my copy of "Helter Skelter" and reread the part where Vincent Buglisoi first interviewed Linda Kasabian. After Manson tied up the Labiancas, he left Watson, Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten to do the killing. He then drove the car which had Kasabian, Steve (Clem)Grogan, and Susan Atkins along with him.

On page 359:

"Manson again took over the driving. Linda was now on the passenger side, Susan and Clem in back. Manson told Linda that when they reached a predominantly colored area he wanted her to toss the wallet out onto a sidewalk, so a black person would find it, use the credit cards, and be arrested. This would make people think the Panthers had committed the murders, he explained."

"Manson drove along the freeway not far from where they dropped off Tex, Katie, and Leslie. After driving for a long time, he pulled off the freeway and stopped at a nearby service station. Apparently having changed his plans, Manson now told Linda to put the wallet in the women's rest room. Linda did, only she hid it too well, lifting the top of the toilet tank and placing it over the bulb, where it remained undiscovered for four months."

Manson changed his mind about dropping the wallet in a black area. The service station was in Sylmar, which was mainly white (especially in 1969).

On the show, they say that Manson wanted to start a race war. He hoped writing "Death to Pigs" and "Rise," would make people think the Black Panthers or black perps in general had done the killing. As it turned out, the LAPD and everyone else never at any time suspected the killers were black.