Los Angeles Times - 09.08.2019

B2 FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 2019 S LATIMES.COM

hair salon of Jay Sebring’s
protege, Cami Sebring re-
members her wedding day
vividly. After a two-week
whirlwind romance in 1960,
she and Jay Sebring married
in Las Vegas.
Crooner Vic Damone was
the best man and the mem-
bers of the Rat Pack were
among the guests. Sammy
Davis Jr. doled out stuffed
animals to partygoers, a
giant ram going to his styl-
ist’s new wife.
Cami Sebring was young
when she married — just 17
—and separated three years
later. But she and Jay re-
mained friends. “Even
though we weren’t together,
he was part of me. He was in
my heart,” she said. “We
were spiritually connected.”
She hasn’t been able to
talk about her former hus-
band’s killing, too upset by
the life and goals that were
cut short by what she
calls “demonic, manic,
sociopaths.”
Jay Sebring had plans to
help style men beyond Steve
McQueen, Tony Bennett
and Bruce Lee and his client
roster of Hollywood’s up-
and-coming stars. The 35-
year-old had a creative flair
and a knack for identifying
features that should be ac-
centuated, which helped
him elevate men’s style at a
time when fashion and ap-
pearance were deemed
women’s priorities.
“He created an industry
that never existed,” said Jay
Sebring’s nephew Anthony
DiMaria. “That industry is a
nearly $20-billion industry
today.”
DiMaria was only 3 when
his uncle died. He remem-
bers witnessing pain in his
mother’s eyes when she ex-
plained to him the concept
of heaven, and that her
brother — his uncle — would
not come back. The knowl-
edge that someone who had
meant so much to his
mother was no longer alive
was like a vortex that con-
sumed him, he said. He
wanted to know everything
about the man he remem-
bered as “the cool guy.”
As DiMaria got older, he
read anything and every-

thing he could find on Jay

Sebring’s life, including

what he says were disturb-

ingly false characterizations

about him that were told af-

ter the murders.

In the days and months

following the deaths of Se-

bring and the others, police

searched for a motive that

aligned the lives of the vic-

tims and the killers.

“People were desperate

to get the facts,” DiMaria

said. “But reporting gave

way to speculation, specu-

lation gave way to narrative,

narrative gave way to titilla-

tion and salaciousness. Ulti-

mately, it manifested today

as the ‘Charlie Manson

industry.’”

Headlines connected the

victims to drugs and indis-

cretion before the facts ulti-

mately revealed that

Charles Manson and his ac-

complices killed a group of

innocent people to try to

start a race war. But the vic-

tims had already been trans-

ported to an alternative real-

ity, one that many have held

onto as truth.

Jay Sebring wasn’t a drug

dealer, a gambler or a cow-

ard. “He’s an unknown

hero,” DiMaria said.

For years, DiMaria has

been working on a documen-

tary about his uncle to set

the record straight and pre-

serve a legacy once

tarnished. Early testimonies

from the killers and reports

that followed implied that

the victims ran around fran-

tically in the moments be-

fore their lives ended. But

DiMaria’s research has dis-

proved that idea. “The point

of the documentary is to re-

store the face to a culturally,

historically relevant individ-

ual whose identity and lega-

cy has been stolen from him

in the sensationalism of his

murder.”

Janet Parent witnessed

that sensationalism up

close. Barely 16 at the time of

her brother’s death, she re-

members photographers

trying to capture images of

her family in the midst of

their grief. Friends would try

to scare her and her brothers

when they were home alone

following the murders.

“People were just cruel,”

she said.

Steven Parent, the

youngest victim at 18, was

killed in his car while leaving

the Cielo Drive property of

Sharon Tate and Roman Po-

lanski. He had stopped by to

sell a clock radio to the

groundskeeper, as Sebring,

81 ⁄ 2 -month-pregnant Tate,

Abigail Folger — heir to the

Folgers coffee fortune — and

her boyfriend, Voytek

Frykowski, remained inside

the large residence.

Parent, a recent high

school graduate, belonged

to a tightknit family. His ab-

sence left a hole that

couldn’t be replaced.

Janet Parent departed

California first. She moved

to Texas three years after

her brother’s death. Her

family followed soon after. In

1984, her mother died at 59.

“My mom died very

young of cancer — she died

of a broken heart. She never

was the same,” Parent said.

“I always heard you never

want to bury a child.”

In the time since she

moved to Texas, she’s come

back to California only once

—for a parole hearing of one

of the convicted killers, Su-

san Atkins, who died in pris-

on in 2009.

The parole hearings have

been a constant for decades.

In 1972, a California

Supreme Court ruling found

the state’s death penalty law

at the time unconstitu-

tional. The sentences of the

convicted killers were

changed to life in prison with

the possibility of parole.

At the time, the victims’

families were assured that

the change was just a techni-

cality. But in the years since,

they’ve come to learn that

release is not out of the

realm of possibility. In Janu-

ary, Gov. Gavin Newsom de-

nied the parole board’s re-

quest to release Leslie Van

Houten.

Today, Van Houten, 69;

Patricia Krenwinkel, 71;

Bobby Beausoleil, 71;

Charles “Tex” Watson, 73;

and Bruce Davis, 76; remain

in prison. Davis was recently

cleared for parole. His pend-

ing release could still be

blocked by Newsom. Man-

son died in 2017.

The victims’ families

have sat through dozens of

parole hearings, where the

details of the murders are re-

gurgitated.

Kay Hinman Martley and

Debra Tate have a website

dedicated to the status of

the so-called Manson family

behind bars. Tate is the sis-

ter of Sharon, a 26-year-old

actress who was the most

recognizable of the victims.

Martley is the cousin of Gary

Hinman, the first Manson

victim, killed weeks before

the August rampage and the

one she believes most have

forgotten.

Hinman, 34, was a musi-

cian who would regale Mart-

ley’s family on the grand pia-

no. Before he was robbed

and killed, he had offered

some of those connected to

Manson a place to stay.

“Gary was a kind, sweet

person. He was Buddhist.

He begged for his life over

and over again to no avail,”

Martley said. “He was tor-

tured for three days —

there’s no doubt about it. He

was left to rot.”

For years, Martley has

dedicated time to ensuring

that the public remember

how her cousin died and that

the people who committed

those crimes years ago are

still the same people fighting

for release. “They’re still the

same personalities they

were 50 years ago.”

She and her family have

tried not to fixate on Hin-

man’s death. This year, she

will remember with a quiet

prayer.

“I will pray for peace for

all the victims’ families be-

cause that’s who is hurt by

all of this.”

Tate did not respond to

interview requests for this

story. In 2017, she told The

Times that when she and her

mother learned that one of

Sharon’s killers was up for

parole, the pair stood on

street corners and in front of

eateries, telling the story of

the murder to strangers, and

gathered thousands of sig-

natures against the inmate’s

release.

Doris Gwendolyn Tate,

Sharon and Debra’s mother,

went on to advocate for leg-

islation that would assist

crime victims. And Debra

Tate often takes phone calls

from violent-crime victims

in need of help.

“It makes me feel as it did

my mother, that there is

some kind of good that can

come out of all this ugliness,”

Debra Tate said. “By helping

someone else recognize and

be able to process their pain,

you’re actually helping your-

self.”

Over time, the murders

have been parodied and glo-

rified in pop culture. When

DiMaria learned that

Quentin Tarantino was

making a movie that would

portray his uncle, he con-

tacted the director and pro-

ducer Shannon McIntosh to

advise against exploitation.

He was grateful that the film

did not. “They showed a

tremendous amount of con-

sideration and care,” he

said.

The image of Sharon

Tate, as depicted by actress

Margot Robbie, smiles at on-

lookers from movie posters

for Tarantino’s “Once Upon

a Time ... In Hollywood”

throughout the city where

she died.

There’s a poster near the

corner of Franklin and Hill-

hurst, where Rosemary and

Leno LaBianca, owners of a

chain of Los Angeles grocery

stores, reportedly stopped

to pick up a newspaper be-

fore heading to their home

on Waverly Drive. There,

they would meet the same

torture that Tate, Sebring,

Parent, Folger and

Frykowski had faced hours

before. The same fate that

Hinman faced weeks earlier,

and what Donald “Shorty”

Shea — a horse wrangler at

Spahn Ranch — would meet

weeks later.

As the 50th year after the

killings approached and

films, TV specials, articles

and podcasts retold the his-

tory once again, Cami Se-

bring asked a question that

echoed a sentiment held by

family of other victims and

anyone who has lost a per-

son they have loved.

“How could there be an

anniversary for this horren-

dous moment in time?”

50 years after Manson murders

ANTHONY DiMARIA and Cami Sebring, nephew and ex-wife of Jay Sebring, pose Thursday in L.A. Though divorced, the Sebrings

remained friends. “Even though we weren’t together, he was part of me,” she says. She hasn’t been able to talk about his murder.

Dania MaxwellLos Angeles Times

[F amilies,from B1]

‘I will pray for peace for all the

victims’ families because that’s who is

hurt by all of this.’

—Kay Hinman Martley,

cousin of Gary Hinman, one of the victims

Tonight’s Mega Millions

Estimated jackpot:$60 million

Sales close at 7:45 p.m.

For Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019

SuperLotto Plus

Mega number is bold

1-12-13-39-47—Mega 9

Jackpot:$68 million

Winners per category:

No. of

winners

Amount

of prize(s)

5 + Mega 0 —

5 3 $15,

4 + Mega 27 $

4 363 $

3 + Mega 681 $

3 16,806 $

2 + Mega 9,276 $

1 + Mega 45,917 $

Mega only 69,305 $

Powerball

Powerball number is bold

8-32-47-53-59—Powerball 3

Jackpot:$112 million

California winners per category:

No. of

winners

Amount

of prize(s)

5 + P-ball 0 —

5 0 —

4 + P-ball 2 $15,

4 36 $

3 + P-ball 90 $

3 2,194 $

2 + P-ball 1,973 $

1 + P-ball 15,735 $

P-ball only 37,948 $

Winning jackpot ticket(s) sold in other

states: None

For Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019

Fantasy Five: 21-26-27-32-

Daily Four: 4-4-6-

Daily Three (midday): 8-7-

Daily Three (evening): 4-4-

Daily Derby:

(3) Hot Shot

(5) California Classic

(9) Winning Spirit

Race time: 1:45.

Results on the internet:

http://www.latimes.com/lottery

General information:

(800) 568-

(Results not available at this number)

Lottery results