Former Manson cult member Atkins dies in U.S. prison
http://www.reuters.com/article/peopl...58O2NA20090925
Former Manson cult member Atkins dies in U.S. prison
Fri Sep 25, 2009 11:55am EDT
http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?...-MANSON-ATKINS
Convicted murderer and former Charles Manson family member, Susan Atkins, lies on a moveable bed during her parole hearing at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, California in this file photo taken on September 2, 2009.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Susan Atkins, one of the leading members of Charles Manson's notorious violent cult who carried out brutal murders at his behest in 1969, has died in a California prison, her husband said on Friday. She was 61.
Atkins, imprisoned since 1971 for her part in eight Manson-related murders, had been suffering from a brain tumor. Earlier this month, state corrections officials rejected her request to be freed so she would not have to die in prison.
"Susan passed away peacefully surrounded by friends and loved ones and the incredible staff at the Skilled Nursing Facility at the Central California Women's Facility," her husband, James Whitehouse, said by e-mail.
"... Her last whispered word was 'Amen.' No one (on) the face of the Earth worked as hard as Susan did to right an unrightable wrong," Whitehouse said.
As part of Manson's following of hippies, runaways, criminals and misfits, Atkins once said he could see and hear everything she did. But during her time in prison she denounced Manson, and in 1974 became a Christian in a conversion inspired by correspondence with another former "Manson family" member.
At a 1993 parole hearing, Atkins described her time with Manson by saying, "It is almost impossible to understand insanity and that's what I was living with -- insanity."
Atkins was 21 years old when the career criminal Manson dispatched her and other followers to the Beverly Hills home of actress Sharon Tate and film director Roman Polanski on August 9, 1969, with orders to kill. Polanski was out of town but the heavily pregnant Tate and four friends were brutally stabbed, beaten and shot to death. Atkins later said she personally stabbed Tate after ignoring her pleas for mercy.
The next night Atkins and other cult members went to the home of grocery owner Leno and Rosemary LaBianca and killed them. Atkins did not actively participate in those slayings.
MACABRE TRIAL
The brutality and seemingly random nature of the murders terrorized much of Southern California and stunned the nation.
Atkins was convicted in 1970 with her guru and two other "Manson girls" -- Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel.
The trial took on a macabre air with graphic descriptions of bloody crime scenes, exploration of Manson's powerful grip on the women and their continued devotion to him. The women disrupted the proceedings with laughter, shaved their heads, carved X's on their foreheads and sang Manson-penned songs.
All four were given death sentences, which were commuted to life when a state court ruling invalidated the death penalty.
Atkins led a chaotic life before meeting Manson -- quitting high school, working as a stripper, using drugs and getting into trouble with the law at the dawn of the hippie era.
In 1967, she fell under Manson's spell when he visited her housemates in San Francisco. She became known within the cult by nicknames Manson gave her: Sadie Mae Glutz and Sexy Sadie.
Atkins' talkative nature implicated the Manson cult. She was being held as a suspect in another slaying and bragged about the Tate-LaBianca case to jailhouse acquaintances, even claiming she had tasted Tate's blood.
Atkins agreed to testify against Manson and confessed to a grand jury but recanted before going to trial. She later pleaded guilty in the torture-murder of a musician who Manson said had cheated him on a drug deal.
Atkins wrote a book, "Child of Satan, Child of God," about her experiences. In 1980, she married a man who said he would use his multimillion-dollar fortune to win her release. She divorced him when his claims proved false.
Seven years later Atkins married Whitehouse, who became a lawyer and represented her at parole hearings.
(Writing by Will Dunham and Bill Trott)
