Sharon Tate’s sister says she fears freed Manson Family member Leslie Van Houten could kill again
The sister of murdered actress Sharon Tate believes Leslie Van Houten, the former Manson family cult member who was released this week after 53 years in prison, could kill again.
Debra Tate, who has long campaigned to keep her Van Houten and other family members behind bars, told TMZ that California Governor Gavin Newsom should have fought harder to keep her locked up.
Van Houten, 73, was released Tuesday after Mr Newsom dropped his appeal against a state appeals court ruling recommending her parole.
A California appeals court ruled in May that Van Houten should be paroled from prison for the infamous 1969 murders of Los Angeles grocers Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
Debra Tate said she did not believe the parole board’s assessment that Van Houten had been pardoned and said her family feared she might return to her murderous behavior.
Mr Newsom denied Van Houten’s request for parole three years ago and has done so expressed his disappointment with a state appeals court decision to release the convicted killer.
Van Houten is the first member of the Manson family to be released for the LiBianca murders.
Former Manson family cult member Leslie Van Houten was released from prison this week after more than five decades
(NBC News)
Tate and her three friends Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski and Abigail Folger were brutally murdered on August 8, 1969 at their Benedict Canyon home in Los Angeles while she was eight months pregnant.
Van Houten was not present at the murders, but expressed a desire to have taken part during their trial.
The LaBiancas were killed at their home the next day by Van Houten and six other members of the Manson family.
At her first trial in 1971, Van Houten described holding Rosemary LaBianca in her home with a pillowcase over her head while other Manson supporters brutally stabbed her to death.
on one online petition Debra Tate urged people to write to Mr Newsom asking him to block their release.
“We do NOT want this murderer, convicted by two different juries of her peers, to be released into society,” Debra wrote.
The Independent has reached out to Debra Tate for comment.
