Sister of Sharon Tate Speaks Out After Manson Death

Charles Manson (Public Domain)

The sister of actress Sharon Tate, who was killed by followers of Charles Manson in August 1969, has responded after Manson’s death on Sunday night.

“People are saying that this should be some kind of relief, but oddly enough it really isn’t,” Debra Tata told ABC News. “While Charlie may be gone, it’s the ones that are still alive that perpetrate everything and it was up to their imaginations for what brutal things were going to be done. In an odd way I see them as much more dangerous individuals.”

Sharon Tate, who was pregnant, hairstylist Jay Sebring, heiress Abigail Folger, writer Wojciech Frykowski, and teenager Steven Parent were stabbed under Manson’s command.

The following night, members of Manson’s group stabbed grocery owner Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, to death, using their blood to write, “Death to Pigs” and “Healter Skelter”—a misspelled reference to the Beatles song “Helter Skelter”—on the walls and refrigerator door.

Prosecutors said Manson gave out knives and told his followers to kill them to start a race war.

Although Manson did not personally kill any of the seven victims, he was found guilty of ordering their murders.

“Right now we have one Manson family member on deck who has been granted a parole date ... and it’s important for people to know that these are individuals that are still brutal monsters capable of committing heinous crimes,” Debra Tate added. “Although I’ve forgiven, I have not forgotten, and I feel it’s very important that they stay exactly where they are until they die.”

“And in that way, Charlie was the least of my worries. And I actually pray for his soul,” she told ABC.

At a Kern County hospital on Sunday night, Manson died of natural causes, the California Department of Corrections confirmed. He was hospitalized earlier this week.

Michele Hanisee, who is head of the Association of Deputy District Attorneys for Los Angeles County, said on Sunday: “Today, Manson’s victims are the ones who should be remembered and mourned on the occasion of his death,” NBC News reported.

In 1971, Manson was sentenced to death for ordering the murders during two nights. He was spared two years later and was sentenced to life behind bars. While he was in prison, he carved an “X” in his forehead before changing it to a swastika.

Long after Manson had largely faded from headlines, he loomed large as a symbol of the terror he unleashed in the summer of 1969.

“The very name Manson has become a metaphor for evil,” the late Vincent Bugliosi, who prosecuted Manson, told the Los Angeles Times in 1994, Reuters noted.

Born Charles Milles Maddox on Nov. 12, 1934, in Cincinnati to a 16-year-old girl, Manson spent much of his youth being shuttled between relatives and juvenile detention halls. By age 13, he had been convicted of armed robbery.

Reuters contributed to this report. 

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