Manson Family Member Linda Kasabian Passes Away at 73
Linda Kasabian, who was part of Charles Manson’s notorious “Manson Family” criminal gang, has died at 73.
The woman, whose testimony in court helped put away Charles Manson and the rest of his murderous cult members for life, has passed away in Washington.
TMZ obtained a death certificate stating that she passed away on January 21 in a hospital in Tacoma, and her body was cremated. The cause of her death, however, was not disclosed.
Manson Family member Linda Kasabian dead at 73 https://t.co/AxY345DbzI pic.twitter.com/25TJu0Owgq
— New York Post (@nypost) February 28, 2023
The certificate showed that she had changed her last name to “Chiochios,” believed to be in an attempt to protect her identity after separating herself from the Manson Family.
Kasabian acquired immunity in the 1970-71 Manson trial in exchange for being a main prosecution witness.
She was present in the 2 nights of mayhem that Manson perpetrated with his insane accomplices, who massacred 7 people in Los Angeles.
What We Know about Kasabian’s Testimony
The testimony, which took place for 18 days, saw Kasabian describe graphically how the 1969 killings went down under the orders of Manson.
Manson family member Linda Kasabian has passed away. She was 73. https://t.co/IT0m0fYG2g
— TMZ (@TMZ) February 28, 2023
In her testimony, Kasabian said Charles “Tex” Watson took her, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins to filmmaker Roman Polanski’s house in Benedict Canyon.
She testified that Tex, Krenwinkel, and Atkins tragically shot and stabbed 5 victims, including Polanski’s pregnant wife, Sharon Tate. Filmmaker Polanski was in Europe, working on a movie when someone killed his pregnant wife.
She went ahead to testify that she witnessed the massacre, but she never physically harmed anyone. She was 20 then and admitted that she was under Charles Mason’s ‘spell’ and wanted to do anything he demanded of her.
Kasabian also testified that she drove on the second night of the Manson Murders. Which involved the deaths of Leno and Rosemary and how somebody gruesomely murdered them in their own home in LA.
The Jury’s Conviction
Ultimately, Kasabian’s testimony was essential to sealing the fate of Manson and his accomplices. The jury convicted all of them of murder and gave them life sentences.
Manson, the cult leader, was accused of planning the mass murders to trigger a race war. He believed it was amplified in the Beatles’ song “Helter Skelter” and expected to take power afterward.
Manson died in prison in 2017 at 83 after having cardiac arrest following a battle with colon cancer. Kasabian was born in Biddeford, Maine, on June 21, 1949. She had reportedly lived in Tacoma with her daughter since the 1980s.
During an interview with the then CNN host Larry King in 2009, Kasabian, who did not reveal her face but wore a disguise to protect her identity, said she had been “on a path of healing and rehabilitation.” She claimed she felt guilty over the massacre, unlike her former accomplices.
She has somewhat garnered a cult following in recent times. The British indie band Kasabian got their name from her.
Maya Hawke most recently played her in Quentin Tarantino’s revisionist take on the murders of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019). The character is rechristened “Flowerchild.”
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