Who Were the Members of the Manson Family and What Happened to Them?

Cult leader Charles Manson has fascinated true-crime enthusiasts for 55 years. Without committing a single killing himself, he managed to convince his followers—known as The Manson Family—to muder nine people in the summer of 1969. Manson told his followers that these deaths would spark an upcoming race war that he called “Helter Skelter.”

During a two-night rampage in August that year, several members of the family killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others at her rental home in Los Angeles. The next night, they murdered Leno LaBianca, a successful supermarket executive, and his wife, Rosemary, in their Los Feliz home.

Manson’s race war never materialized, and he and his family were convicted for their crimes. Manson—along with most of The Family—was sent to California’s death row before the state temporarily banned executions. Everyone who got a death sentence then received life in prison. 

Manson died in prison in 2017, but many of his followers are still alive.

Susan Atkins grew up as a quiet middle-class girl who sang in a church choir. But when her mother died of cancer, she began to fight with her father. She dropped out of school and moved to San Francisco, where she met Manson.

Atkins was present for the torture and murder of musician Gary Hinman in late July 1969. Hinman, who had befriended the family, was found stabbed to death with the phrase “political piggy” written in blood on his wall.

Atkins also participated in the Tate-LaBianca murders and was arrested after they occurred. She told a cellmate that she was the one who stabbed the actress and used her blood to write “pig” on the front door of the house. She told a different prisoner, “I knew this was just the beginning of Helter Skelter. Now the world would listen.”

Atkins originally agreed to work with the state in exchange for avoiding the death penalty and testified before a grand jury, saying that Manson gave her “the faith in myself to be able to know that I am a woman…I gave myself to him." Atkins testified there was "no limit" to what she would do for “the only complete man I have ever met.” 

However, she stopped cooperating with authorities and gave contradictory testimony during the trial, claiming other followers threatened her. 

She denounced Manson in prison and became a born-again Christian. Atkins died in 2009 of brain cancer at age 61.

Patricia Krenwinkel was a secretary when she met Manson at a party. She quit her job the next day and joined The Family in 1967. 

Krenwinkel was at Tate’s house during the murders and later admitted that he and Tex Watson stabbed coffee heiress Abigail Folger 28 times until she died. She was found guilty of stabbing both LaBiancas to death. She also wrote “death to pigs” on the wall in their blood.

Krenwinkel remained loyal to Manson throughout the trial and carved an X into her head as a sign of support. During her sentencing, she said of The Family: “We were just like wood nymphs and wood creatures. We would run through the woods with flowers in our hair, and Charles would have a small flute.”

She left The Family while she was in prison. She was referred to by prison officials as a model inmate and was involved in rehabilitative programs at the prison.

In 2025, California Gov. Gavin Newsom denied her parole for a second time. Krenwinkel, who remains incarcerated at the California Institution for Women, is now the longest-serving female inmate in the state. Newsom cited ongoing concerns about her insight and risk to public safety.

"I have concluded that the evidence in Ms. Krenwinkel's case demonstrates that she lacks the requisite insight she needs to be safely released," Newsom wrote in his decision.

She has a pending parole hearing set for October 2026.

Charles Watson at one point was described as “the boy next door” by a former Texas neighbor. He played sports in high school and held the state record in the low hurdles during this time.

In 1966, he dropped out of college, and the next year, he was in California, using and dealing drugs. He joined The Family the next year and eventually became one of Manson’s right-hand men.

He was involved in the Tate-LaBianca murders. At a parole hearing, Atkins admitted she held Tate down while Watson stabbed her, which he admitted to in his 1978 autobiography Will You Die for Me? 

In prison, Watson married, divorced, fathered four children and became an ordained minister. He is currently held at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego. Watson has been denied parole 18 times, most recently in 2021. In March 2026, he voluntarily waived his right to another hearing for three years.

Leslie Van Houten, who had once admitted to beating her adopted sister with a shoe, was described by a psychiatrist who evaluated her as “a psychologically loaded gun which went off as a consequence of the complex intermeshing of highly unlikely and bizarre circumstances.” The psychiatrist saw Van Houten as “a spoiled little princess.”

She was part of the group that killed the LaBiancas and admitted at trial to stabbing Rosemary more than a dozen times. She said that “sorry is only a five-letter word. It can't bring back anything.”

She carved an X in her forehead in support of Manson and later claimed to have used LSD during her trial.

She would be re-tried twice during the 1970s. After a 1977 mistrial, she was set free on bond for six months, during which she worked as a legal secretary and attended the Academy Awards with a friend.

She later renounced the Manson Family, saying that “being a follower does not excuse” what happened. Van Houten was approved for release by a parole board in 2016, 2017 and 2019, but two different state governors stopped her release, until she was let go on July 11, 2023, after having served 53 years. She was then taken to a transitional facility.

Linda Kasabian’s mother took some of the blame for her daughter’s actions, saying in 1970, “Like all teenagers, Linda had problems but, when she came to me to talk about them, I didn’t give her much time. I had five younger children to raise.”

Kasabian left home at 16 to get married and soon got divorced before she joined The Family. Kasabian was a witness to the terror but didn’t participate outside of being a driver and lookout. She turned herself into police soon after the Tate-LaBianca murders.

She was offered immunity from prosecution in exchange for her testimony. She testified against Manson for 18 days, saying that the women did “anything and everything” for him.

She had two children and died in January 2023.

Lynette Fromme didn’t participate in any of the murders. However, she remained a follower of Manson’s, camping outside the courthouse during his trial and carving an "X" into her forehead.

She later co-founded a terrorist group that threatened to kill CEOs of companies she believed were contributing to pollution. On September 5, 1975, Fromme pulled a loaded gun on President Gerald R. Ford in Sacramento, Calif. She was convicted of attempted assassination and received a life sentence.

She was released on parole in 2009 and told ABC in 2019, “I feel very honored to have met [Manson]... I know how that sounds to people who think he's the epitome of evil. I don't think you fall out of love.”

She published a book in 2018 titled Reflexion.

Bobby Beausoleil was sent to a reform school at age 15, and after he got out, moved between San Francisco and Los Angeles, where he met Manson.

Beausoleil participated in torturing Hinman, the musician he lived with, for three days before stabbing him to death. 

“I killed a man by the name of Gary Hinman by stabbing him twice,” Beausoleil has said. “That’s the bare bones facts of it. I didn’t have a very good reason. In fact, the reason that I had that seemed so important at the time was petty. It’s selfish.”

Beausoleil was found guilty of first-degree murder and has been denied parole more than 20 times, including in July 2026.

He has denied he was ever part of a cult. While incarcerated, Beausoleil has made music, built instruments and made art that is sold online.

Bruce Davis moved to California after dropping out of school in 1962 and worked in construction before meeting Manson five years later. He said he “adopted” Manson as his father. 

He was sentenced to life for the murders of Hinman and stuntman Donald Shea in August 1969.

Since Davis began his sentence on April 21, 1972, he has had 31 parole hearings and has now been recommended for parole five times. Two governors, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, rejected his parole.

He has since become a born-again Christian and is incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison. He has another parole hearing in 2027.

Steve Grogan was a musician, high school dropout, a resident of Spahn Ranch before Manson became associated with the ranch. He helped in the murder of Spahn Ranch employee Donald Shea and then helped police find Shea’s body in 1977. 

Unlike other Family members, Grogan, due to his low IQ, was originally sentenced to death, but the sentence was reduced to life in 1971.

Judge James Kolts said in court that “Grogan was too stupid and too hopped-up on drugs to decide anything on his own,” and that it was really Manson “who decided who lived or died.”

He was released on parole in 1985.

Mary Brunner was the first person to join Manson in 1967. She and Manson had a child, Valentine Michael, in 1968. 

Brunner was present during Hinman’s murder and was later granted immunity in exchange for testifying against The Family who were involved in his death. 

She later returned to The Family and supported those who were on trial for the Tate-LaBianca murders. 

Brunner was sent to prison for her involvement with a shootout with police on August 21, 1971. She was paroled in 1977 and was last reported to be living somewhere in the Midwest.

Sandra Good, who was a good friend of Fromme’s, wasn’t involved in the Tate-LaBianca murders because she was in jail with Brunner after they tried to use stolen credit cards. 

She showed her support for Manson during his trial by carving an “X” on her forehead.

Good was sent to prison in 1976 for sending death threats to corporate executives and was released on parole in 1985. She was told she could not live in California, but she moved back and continued to be devoted to Manson. She maintained a website to spread his teaching until 2001.

Barbara Hoyt worked with the prosecution and did not participate in any murder. She said when she learned of the murders, she left The Family.

She participated in several documentaries and said if the women didn’t follow what Manson told them to do, he would hit them “in the head with a stick.”

“He got really mean,” Hoyt said. 

Hoyt was asked to testify against The Family, but members offered to take her to Hawaii if she agreed not to. Hoyt flew to Honolulu with one of them, who then gave her a hamburger containing a lethal dose of LSD. A social worker found Hoyt on the street and rushed her to a hospital.

The attempt to kill Hoyt only made her more willing to testify against them, which she did.

She died in December 2017 at age 65.

Catherine Share was not part of any of the murders but supported them during various trials by carving an X on her forehead. Originally born in France, Share was adopted after her parents died by suicide in order to avoid being taken by Nazis. 

She was later sent to prison after she conspired to kill Hoyt to keep her from testifying against the group. After her release, Share was involved in the 1971 shootout with police as she and several members attempted to steal rifles as part of a plan to break Manson out of prison. 

She disavowed The Family after she was released from prison in 1975.

Paul Watkins avoided participating in any murder and testified against members of The Family. He was the first person to explain the meaning of “Helter Skelter” to the police. 

Watkins eventually married and had two daughters, one of whom is author Claire Vaye Watkins.

Watkins died on August 3, 1990, at age 40, of leukemia.