The maid ran over to one of Sharon’s neighbors. The neighbors were the ones who placed the call to the police, who came out immediately to investigate the crime scene.
Roman was later called to be informed of the news. “He literally unraveled in front of my eyes,” Andy Braunsberg, a friend of Roman’s who was right there beside him as he got that fateful phone call, later told Ed Sanders, author of Sharon Tate: A Life. “He disintegrated.”
Initially, police had absolutely no idea who had done this. They had no leads. They had no witnesses. Nobody had seen anything.
Twitter; Sharon is pictured in two black and white photos, above
Months went by, and still, there were no developments in the case.
And then, Susan Atkins got arrested along with Charles Manson and some of their other followers for stealing a car. While in jail, Susan made a surprising confession to her cellmate.
Twitter; Sharon sits at a table with Roman and friends in London, in the photo above
Susan told her cellmate that stealing a car was hardly the worst of their crimes. Her cellmate told the police, and they began to dig into what Susan was talking about.
Due to Susan running her mouth, police were able to make the connection to what happened that night in Sharon’s home, and who was responsible for the carnage.
In 1971, on January 25th, Charles Manson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins were convicted for their role in the murders (and several others). All three of them were sentenced to death. Tex Wilson was convicted not long after them, and also sentenced to death.
As for Linda Kasabian, she agreed to testify against her fellow followers, and for that, she was granted immunity and never punished for her role that evening.
In 1972, the state of California banned the death penalty.
Twitter; Sharon is pictured above in several photos while starring in the film The Wrecking Crew
So, Charles Manson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins, and Tex Wilson had their sentences converted to life in prison. Susan Atkins died on September 24th in 2009 of brain cancer.
Charles Manson died on November 19th in 2017. His offical cause of death was cardiac arrest, and he had colon cancer and respiratory failure.
Up until the day he died, Charles Manson maintained his innocence and said he played no role in Sharon Tate’s murder. While it’s true he didn’t stab Sharon himself, he did tell his followers to go to the home she was living in and kill everyone inside.
Twitter; Sharon is pictured above looking gorgeous in all four photos
Sharon’s sister Debra has made it her mission to attend every single parole hearing for the rest of the surviving members of the Manson Family, to ensure that they stay behind bars for life and pay for their crimes.
