Los Angeles Time - 08.08.2019

LATIMES.COM S THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2019A

Russian roulette with family
members present. Two
young women stabbed to
death off Mulholland Drive
and a couple of young Scien-
tology followers who met a
similar fate.
“Manson repeatedly told
others they murdered many
others. We may never know
or identify all their victims,”
said Cliff Shepard, a former
LAPD Robbery-Homicide
Division detective who
worked some of those cold
cases.
In all, Manson and his fol-
lowers were convicted of
nine murders — the Tate
and LaBianca attacks plus
the slayings of musician
Gary Hinman and stuntman
and ranch hand Donald
“Shorty” Shea.
Dan Jenks, an LAPD
Robbery-Homicide detec-
tive, said the unsolved cases
still are under active investi-
gation and that the depart-
ment would not comment on
specifics.
“There is no statute of
limitations. We are always
developing new techniques.
The last 10 years, DNA has
come a long way,” Jenks said,
“We will stay on them and
keep them as active as we
can.”
The LAPD repeatedly
has declined requests by
The Times for information
about those cases. But seven
years ago, while seeking to
obtain audiotapes of a Man-
son follower that detectives
hoped would yield clues, the
department formally de-
clared that a dozen unsolved
cases might be tied to the
family.
The tapes involved con-
versations between con-
victed killer Charles “Tex”
Watson and his attorney in

1969. The LAPD got the
      tapes after a legal battle, but
      they appeared to provide
      few clues. The department,
      however, refused a Times re-
      quest to review them, citing
      ongoing investigations. A
      judge in 2017 ruled that
      attorneys for Manson fol-
      lower Leslie Van Houten
      could not have the record-
      ings as part of her efforts to
      gain parole.
      “The thing we discovered
      after reviewing the tapes,
      there was no new informa-
      tion related to any of the un-
      solved cases,” Jenks said.
      The death of Manson in 2017,
      as well as those of other fam-
      ily members, has made ef-
      forts to pursue the cases
      harder.
      Manson prosecutor
      Stephen Kay said he and his
      partner, the late Vincent T.
      Bugliosi, always suspected
      that the cult had killed oth-
      ers.
      “I know that Manson one
      time told one of his cellmates
      that he was responsible for
      35 murders,” said Kay, who
      has attended 60 or so parole
      hearings to keep those he
      convicted of the Manson
      slayings in prison. “Whether
      that is true or not or just jail
      bragging, I don’t know. We
      prosecuted him for nine
      murders and those were all
      the murders we had evi-
      dence on.”

A death in London

Just months after the
Tate and LaBianca mur-
ders, Joel Pugh — the 29-
year-old boyfriend of Man-
son clan member Sandra
Good — was found dead in
the Talgarth Hotel in Lon-
don. His wrists and throat
had been cut. British au-
thorities listed it as a suicide,
saying Pugh had been de-
pressed. No suicide note was
left.
Kay and others say Man-

son hated Pugh. “He had no

reason to commit suicide,

and Manson was very un-

happy that Sandy” was with

Pugh, Kay said.

Manson follower Bruce

M. Davis, who recently was

cleared for parole after

nearly 50 years in prison, was

in London at the time Pugh

died. Kay said that Davis,

now 76, was the family mem-

ber most able to kill. The

prospect of his pending re-

lease — which still could be

blocked by Gov. Gavin New-

som — has energized inves-

tigations during the last dec-

ade.

Davis was convicted in

the killings of Hinman and

Shea in 1971 and sentenced

to death. When California for

a time abolished the death

penalty, Davis and other

members of the family were

given life sentences.

At a parole hearing,

Davis said he hadn’t known

about the Tate killings until

the morning after they hap-

pened, but had committed

the other murders because

“I wanted to be Charlie’s fa-

vorite guy.”

Russian roulette?

Davis also was a witness

to the November 1969 death

of John “Zero” Haught in

Venice, according to investi-

gators. Authorities con-

cluded that Haught had

died accidentally while

playing Russian roulette

with a revolver, but that find-

ing came under question.

The gun recovered didn’t

have any fingerprints on it,

The Times’ Jerry Cohen re-

ported in 1969.

A young man who held

Haight’s head after the

shooting told Cohen he en-

tered the room to find a fe-

male Manson follower with

the gun in her hand. Several

Manson followers were in-

side the home that night, in-

cluding Davis, The Times re-

ported.

Davis could not be

reached for comment, and

his attorney did not return

messages.

Jane Doe 59

In his book about the

Manson family murders,

“Helter Skelter,” Bugliosi

said he believed that a wom-

an known for years only as

Jane Doe 59 was killed be-

cause she had witnessed

Haught’s killing.

She was stabbed 150

times. A bird-watcher dis-

covered her remains on Mul-

holland Drive, about six

miles from the Benedict

Canyon home where Tate

and the others were killed.

Three years ago, the

LAPD identified her as 19-

year-old Reet Jurvetson

from Montreal, using a DNA

sample from her sister. She

had come to Los Angeles

from Canada to join a man

she had first met in a Mon-

treal coffee shop.

“She thought he looked

like Jim Morrison,” Shepard,

the former LAPD detective,

said.

She sent a postcard to

her mother about getting an

apartment in L.A. 16 days

before her death.

LAPD detectives asked

Manson about Jurvetson

before the killer’s death. He

denied knowing her.

“It was like talking to a

wall,” said LAPD Robbery-

Homicide Division Capt.

Billy Hayes.

That Manson wouldn’t

say much doesn’t surprise

his son.

Manson’s son Michael

Brunner told The Times re-

cently that “Charlie lived by

a code. He was an outlaw. He

was not a nice guy. But he

lived by a code and he was

not gonna be the one that

was snitching. And there

was a lot of snitching going

on. And the people that were

snitching, you know, they

say snitches get stitches.”

Shepard said much of the

speculation about Jurvet-

son stems from a photo of a

woman resembling her who

was dancing at the family’s

Spahn Ranch hangout with

Manson follower Steve Den-

nis “Clem” Grogan. He was

paroled in 1985 after being

convicted of murder for his

role in Shea’s death.

Grogan told detectives a

few years ago that the wom-

an was another Manson fol-

lower, not the Jane Doe,

Shepard said.

Still, the LAPD has not

ruled out the Manson cult in

her killing.

A violent era

Complicating the effort

to solve Jurvetson’s murder

is the fact that the period of

the late 1960s and 1970s was

marked by numerous serial

killers roaming California.

Sandi Gibbons, a former

City News Service reporter

who later served as the

spokeswoman for several

L.A. County district attor-

neys, said the area off Mul-

holland was a popular place

for dumping bodies at the

time.

On New Year’s Day 1969,

the body of 17-year-old Mar-

ina Habe — who was kid-

napped outside her West

Hollywood home — was

found less than half a mile

from Jurvetson’s remains in

a ravine off Mulholland

Drive. Habe, the daughter of

a Hollywood screenwriter,

also had multiple stab

wounds to her neck.

Shepard said Manson

also was asked about Habe

and dismissed any suggesti-

ons she was one of his crowd.

LAPD homicide detect-

ives also saw similarities be-

tween the vicious knife at-

tack on Jurvetson and the

November 1969 killings of

James Sharp, 15 of Crest-

wood, Mo., and Doreen

Gaul, 19, from Albany, N.Y.

Stabbed and beaten, their

bodies were dumped in a

downtown Los Angeles alley

a week before the discovery

of Jurvetson’s remains.

At the time, LAPD Lt.

Earl Deemer described the

wounds on the pair as being

inflicted by a “fanatic.” Each

had been stabbed 50 to 60

times. In “Helter Skelter,”

Bugliosi wrote that Gaul

was rumored to be a former

girlfriend of Davis — who,

like the dead teenagers, once

was a Scientologist.

Davis had lived at the

same housing complex at

Gaul, but in a police inter-

view in the 1970s he denied

knowing her. Years later, an-

other man confessed to

killing the pair in a robbery

but was never charged. He

has since died.

Death of a lawyer

Then there was the death

of Ronald Hughes.

The 35-year-old attorney

strongly defended Leslie

Van Houten during the fam-

ily’s murder trial, seemingly

at the expense of Manson.

“We recessed for the

weekend, and Manson —

who sat in the corner of the

counsel table — pointed to

Hughes and said to her at-

torney: “I don’t want to see

you in this courtroom again.

And we never saw him

again,” Kay said.

In late November 1970, as

the trial neared its end,

Hughes disappeared. Four

months later, his decom-

posed body turned up

wedged in a rocky creek in

Ventura County. Kay said

Hughes was last seen swim-

ming in the nearby hot

springs right before a flash

flood.

In “Helter Skelter” and in

later interviews, Bugliosi

suggested that Manson di-

rected Hughes’ killing, call-

ing it “the first of the retalia-

tion murders.”

But Charlie Rudd a re-

tired Ventura County sher-

iff ’s sergeant, told The

Times in 2012 that Hughes’

death probably had nothing

to do with Manson. Author-

ities recovered Hughes’

body near Sespe Hot

Springs in the Los Padres

National Forest, and Rudd

said there was little evidence

of foul play.

According to Rudd, the

creek probably swelled dan-

gerously and Hughes died

either because he drowned

or because he was battered

to death by debris and rocks.

“There was nothing else to

indicate otherwise, and the

medical examiner couldn’t

come to a conclusion of any-

thing other than that.”

Was Hughes murdered?

Kay said he is not so sure.

“I’m on the fence.”

Times staff writers Maria L.

LaGanga and Hector

Becerra contributed to this

report.

Manson family’s enduring mystery

[Manson,from A1]

THE FRONT PAGE of The Times leads with the story about Marina Habe, a

screenwriter’s daughter whose body was found near Muholland Drive in 1969.

BRUCE DAVIS, left, and Steve Grogan were both convicted in Manson family

murders and have been questioned by police over the years about other killings.

Harold FilannAssociated Press

FORMER PROSECUTORStephen Kay, who helped

convict the Manson family in the murders of nine

people, thinks the group committed other killings.

Eric RisbergAssociated Press

NASHVILLE — Cyntoia
Brown, championed by ce-
lebrities as a symbol of un-
fair sentencing, was released
early Wednesday from the
Tennessee Prison for Wom-
en, where she had been serv-
ing a life sentence for killing
a man when she was a 16-
year-old prostitute.
Kim Kardashian West,
Rihanna, Snoop Dogg and
LeBron James had lobbied
for Brown’s release. She was
granted clemency in Janu-
ary by outgoing Gov. Bill
Haslam.
Now 31, Brown will re-
main on parole for 10 years, if
she does not violate any
state or federal laws, holds a
job and participates in regu-
lar counseling sessions, ac-
cording to the terms of her
commutation.

Brown released a state-

ment Monday saying she

wants to help other women

and girls suffering from sex-

ual abuse and exploitation.

“I thank Governor and

First Lady Haslam for their

vote of confidence in me, and

with the Lord’s help I will

make them as well as the

rest of my supporters

proud,” she wrote.

Her attorneys said she

was requesting privacy and

transition time before she

made herself available to the

public.

Brown was convicted in

2006 of murdering 43-year-

old Nashville real estate

agent Johnny Allen.

Police said she shot Allen

in the back of the head at

close range with a gun she

brought to rob him after he

picked her up at a drive-in

restaurant in Nashville to

have sex with her.

The U.S. Supreme Court

has ruled against life-with-

out-parole sentences for ju-

veniles.

But the state of Tennes-

see argued successfully in

lower courts that Brown’s

sentence didn’t violate fed-

eral law because she would

be eligible for parole after

serving at least 51 years.

Haslam said that was too

harsh, especially consider-

ing the steps Brown has tak-

en to rebuild her life. She

earned her GED and com-

pleted university studies as

an inmate.

Brown met with prison

counselors to design a plan

for her release, which will

include time in a transition

center and continuing

coursework with Lipscomb

University, the state Depart-

ment of Correction said in a

news release.

Brown plans to have a

book published in mid-Octo-

ber and a documentary

about her is set to be re-

leased this year, the non-

profit documentary film

group Odyssey Impact and

Daniel H. Birman Produc-

tions Inc. said this year.

Brown ran away from her

adoptive family in Nashville

in 2004 and began living in a

hotel with a man known as

Cut Throat, who forced

her to become a prostitute

and verbally, physically and

sexually assaulted her,

according to court docu-

ments.

Brown’s lawyers con-

tended that she was a victim

of sex trafficking who not

only feared for her life but

also lacked the mental ca-

pacity to be culpable in the

slaying because she was im-

paired by her mother’s alco-

hol use while she was in the

womb.

Woman who killed man when she was a teen is freed

associated press

THE CASEof Cyntoia Brown was seen by many

people, including celebrities, as a symbol of unfair

sentencing. She was granted clemency in Tennessee.

Lacy AtkinsTennessean