Charles Manson was serving nine life sentences. Photo / AP
Charles Manson was serving nine life sentences. Photo / AP
Charles Manson - one of America's most notorious killers and cult leaders - has died at the age of 83.
Manson was connected to the brutal slayings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate, the wife of filmmaker Roman Polanski, and other Hollywood residents, but was never found guilty of committing the murders himself.
TMZ states it has been told 83-year-old Manson died by his sister. Debra Tate told TMZ she received a call from the prison telling her Manson died 8:13pm local time Sunday.
Last week he was rushed to hospital and has been receiving treatment since - under the close supervision of five attending police officers.
TMZ cited a source as saying: "It's just a matter of time."
TMZ also reported that Manson was rushed from California's Corcoran State Prison to hospital to get treatment for gastrointestinal issues in January.
Manson and his followers, often referred to as the Manson Family, committed a series of nine murders at four locations over five weeks in the summer of 1969. In 1971, he was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the murders of seven people.
The most heinous killing is arguably that of Sharon Tate, who despite pleading for the life of her eight-month-old unborn child, was mercilessly stabbed in the stomach by Manson family member Susan Atkins.
She was one of four people who died on August 9, 1969, at Polanski's home in Benedict Canyon.
Actress Sharon Tate was as one of five victims found slain in her Benedict Canyon estate in 1969 in California. Photo / AP
One of Manson's followers, Linda Kasabian, told of Atkins' chilling last words to Tate before she stabbed her: "Look, b*tch, I have no mercy for you. You're going to die, and you'd better get used to it."
Atkins then used Tate's blood to write the word "pig" on the front door.
Atkins, already charged in the murder of Gary Hinman, tells inmate Virginia Castro that she killed Sharon Tate, "Because we wanted to do a crime that would shock the world, that the world would have to stand up and take notice."
Also killed on August 9 was writer Wojciech Frykowski and his partner, coffee bean heiress Abigail Folger, celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring and gardener Steven Parent.
Polanski was away in London shooting a film.
The Polanski house was targeted because it represented Manson's rejection by the celebrity world and society, according to one of the Family member's statements.
It's believed the Manson family carried out some 35 killings, however most were never tried due to lack of evidence or because the perpetrators were already sentenced to life for the Tate-La Bianca killings.
Manson was serving nine life sentences for conspiracy to commit the Manson Family murders in 1969 when he died.
Cult killer's early life
Charles Manson was born Charles Milles Maddox on November 12, 1934, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Kathleen Maddox, a 16-year-old girl who was an alcoholic and prostitute.
He lived on the streets and supported himself through petty crime when his mother turned her back on him and later spent time in and out of prison from 1951. He would eventually spend half of the first 32 years of his life behind bars.
In 1955, when he was 21, he met a 17-year-old girl and moved with her to California. She fell pregnant, however Manson resumed a life of crime stealing cars.
In 1956, his estranged wife left with their child and her new lover. Manson later had another child to a different woman while out on probation.
His 'Helter Skelter' obsession
Manson, who was pathologically deluded, considered himself the harbinger of doom regarding the planet's future.
He was influenced not only by drugs such as LSD, but by art works and music of the time such as The Beatles song, Helter Skelter, from their White Album.
He often spoke to members of his "Family" about Helter Skelter, which he believed signified an impending apocalyptic race war.
He preached that the black man would rise up and start killing members of the white establishment, turning the cities into an inferno of racial revenge.
Manson had also had a strong belief in the notion of Armageddon from the Book of Revelations and looked into obscure cult churches such as the Church of the Final Judgment.
His fiancee
Manson's fiancee, 27-year-old Afton Elaine Burton, known as "Star", sought to obtain sperm from the 82-year-old inmate after expressing a wish to father another child.
However officials have refused to allow Burton access to Manson's DNA, claiming that "just because he may pass away, (it) does not affect that position".
Burton met Manson on a prison visit when she was 19.
She moved from her home state of Illinois to the tiny Californian prison town of Corcoran 300km north of Los Angeles to be near Manson, who she planned to marry in 2013.
However the wedding was called off after it emerged Burton, who is 53 years Manson's junior, "just wanted his corpse for display".
Citing journalist Daniel Simone, The Independent reported Burton was hoping she would gain possession of Manson's corpse through marriage so she and a couple of friends could put it on display in a glass case in LA.
They apparently thought the Lenin's Tomb-esque attraction would draw a huge number of visitors and make them a lot of money.
It's believed that Manson decided to cancel the wedding when he got wind of her disturbing plan.
Burton appears to run Manson's websites and Facebook and Twitter accounts in his name and under ATWA, which stands for Air Trees Water Animals.
His cult following
Manson attracted disaffected young people, predominantly impressionable young women, Together, they lived in a commune, followed his orders and were ultimately turned into killers.
These followers shared his passion for an unconventional lifestyle and habitual use of hallucinogenic drugs, such as LSD and magic mushrooms.
"The Family", as they became know, moved from San Francisco to a deserted ranch in the San Fernando Valley.
The abandoned Barker Ranch house in the Panamint Mountains west of Death Valley National Park. Photo / AP
There were around 100 followers who believed Manson's bizarre claims that he was Jesus, and that there would be an imminent race war.
Manson told them he could reach paradise through a cave underneath Death Valley, where they could stay until black people relinquished their power.
By that time he reportedly estimated the Family would have grown to 144,000 strong and preached that when they all returned to Earth, he - as Jesus Christ - would lead them as the fifth angel (the other four angels being The Beatles).
In December, a two-member parole panel delayed making a decision on whether to release Patricia Krenwinkel, an accomplice of cult killer Charles Manson and the longest-serving female inmate in California, CBS reported.
Krenwinkel, now aged 69, has been denied parole 13 times since she was incarcerated. Krenwinkel helped kill pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six other people at the urging of Manson 47 years ago.
Krenwinkel contended at her previous parole hearing in 2011 that she is a changed woman. She has a clean disciplinary record, earned a bachelor's degree behind bars, taught illiterate inmates to read and trained service dogs for disabled people.
Leslie Van Houten, Manson's youngest follower, is serving a life sentence for the slaughter of a wealthy grocer and his wife more than 40 years ago.
The three Manson 'family' girls. From left: Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Houten, pictured in 1971 as they return to court to hear the penalty. Photo / AP
In April last year, a parole board said the now 66-year-old should be freed. However, the Independent reported California Governor Jerry Brown overturned the recommendation in July, saying Van Houten had failed to explain how she transformed from an upstanding teenager into a killer.
Mr Brown wrote: "Both her role in these extraordinarily brutal crimes and her inability to explain her willing participation in such horrific violence cannot be overlooked and lead me to believe she remains an unacceptable risk to society of released."
Susan Atkins, who served more than 38 years of a life sentence at the California Institution for Women in Chino, died at the age of 61 in 2009.
Atkins' brutal murder of pregnant actress Sharon Tate was arguably the most renown crime of the Manson family.
She was convicted of eight murders and was the longest-serving prisoner among women currently held in the state's penitentiaries, the LA Times reported.
Atkins was repeatedly denied parole despite prison staffers and clergy workers commending her behaviour during the decades she spent behind bars.
The bizarre life of Charles Manson:
1934: Charles Manson is born on November 12.
1947: At age 12, Charles Manson is sent to Gibault School for Boys in Terre Haute, Indiana, for stealing.
1967: Manson tells officials he isn't ready to be released from prison but is freed anyway. After his release, he moves to San Francisco.
1967-68: Manson meets Gary Hinman, a music teacher who introduces him to Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys.
July 1969: Hinman is killed by Manson follower Bobby Beausoleil, accompanied by Manson Family members Mary Brunner and Susan Atkins, over money and property that Manson claimed Hinman owed to the Family.
August 8-9, 1969: At his command, a small group of Manson's most devoted followers brutally murder five people at Roman Polanski's home. The victims are Polanski's pregnant wife, actress Sharon Tate, writer Wojciech Frykowski, coffee heiress Abigail Folger and celebrity hair stylist Jay Sebring. Also killed is Steven Parent, who was a friend of the family's gardener.
August 9-10, 1969: Displeased at the sloppiness of the previous night's murders, Manson accompanies a group of followers on a hunt for victims. They murder supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary.
November 1969: Manson Family member Susan Atkins, charged in the murder of Gary Hinman, famously tells inmate Virginia Castro that she killed Sharon Tate, "Because we wanted to do a crime that would shock the world, that the world would have to stand up and take notice."
December 1969: Manson, Watson, Atkins, Krenwinkel and Kasabian are indicted for the murders of Sharon Tate and her friends. The grand jury also indicts the five, plus Van Houten, for the LaBianca murders.
June 1970: Manson's trial begins along with followers Atkins, Krenwinkel and Van Houten.
1971: After a seven month trial, jury deliberations begin. The jury finds all the defendants guilty on January 25. Manson, Krenwinkel, Atkins and Van Houten are to receive the death penalty.
1972: The death penalty is abolished in California. The sentences for all Manson Family members are commuted to life in prison.
