Charles Manson 'family' struggling to get out of prison as cult leader dies

Charles Manson is dead after decades in prison, but the “family” he gathered around himself to commit brutal murders are a reminder of their crimes.

The cult leader died Sunday night of natural causes at 83, and the cadre of followers imprisoned for the 1969 California killings that made him infamous are likely hopeful that his passing could improve their chances of being released.

Only one person involved in the back-to-back attacks at the homes of Sharon Tate and the LaBianca family, designed to create a “helter skelter” race war, has been paroled, while the others have seen dozens of applications for release getting rejected.

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Patricia Krenwinkel: Krenwinkel, now 69, was convicted of all seven counts of murder in the Tate-LaBianca attacks, and has become California’s longest-serving female inmate.

She admitted to stabbing one victim dozens of times and using blood to smear the words “death to pigs” on the wall during the killings, when she was 21.

Krenwinkel now lives at a women’s prison in Corona, Calif., and was denied parole for a 13th time this summer.

Her recent efforts to get out of prison have focused on the idea that she was suffering from intimate partner battery at the hands of Manson, who often preyed on young women as he recruited for his cult.

Krenwinkel claimed that she was not trying to paint herself as a victim, but a state decision that abuse led to her committing the crime could weigh in favor of her release.

Sharon Tate's sister, Debra Tate, has repeatedly spoken out against parole for her loved one’s killers. It is not immediately clear if Manson’s death will make parole more likely, and a lawyer for Krenwinkel could not immediately be reached for comment early Monday.

Leslie Van Houten:Van Houten, now 68, was also a young woman at the time of the crimes, and has joined Krenwinkel in making repeated failed attempts at parole.

She was not present at the murders of Tate and her friends, but joined Manson himself when he took followers to the LaBianca home one night later.

Van Houten was convicted of repeatedly stabbing Rosemary LaBianca, who she held down as her husband was attacked.

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She has been recommended twice for release by parole boards, each time igniting debate about the appropriate punishment for the grisly killings — whether she would still be in prison if not for the infamy of her crime and how to do justice for the victims’ families.

California Gov. Jerry Brown rejected the first possibility of parole last year, and is currently weighing whether to oppose, approve or take no action in a recommendation for release from this September.

Charles “Tex” Watson: Watson, 23 at the time of the murders and now 71, was known as Manson’s right hand during his string of violence.

With Manson absent from the murders of five people at the Tate home, those involved followed the instructions of Watson, who also stabbed the victims.

The native Texan fled back to his home state after the crimes, and was tried separately from the cult leader and his young women followers after being extradited back to California.

He has since started his own Christian ministry from Mule Creek State Prison and has fathered four children during conjugal visits from his now ex-wife.

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Watson has been denied parole 17 times, and also made headlines last year for reportedly sending a letter to Wikipedia editors demanding changes to his page.

Susan Atkins: Atkins was the third young woman convicted in the Tate-LaBianca killings.

Like Krenwinkel, Van Houten and Watson she originally sentenced to death, but later received life in prison and died there of brain cancer in 2009.

Steve Grogan:Grogan, 17 at the time of the killings, is the only Manson family member to have been paroled after serving time for them.

He was at the scene of the LaBianca home as others inside tied up the family and stabbed them, but remained in the car and did not actively participate.

Grogan was sentenced to death and then life imprisonment for the death of Donald Shea, a stuntman killed at the Spahn Ranch home that the Manson “family” called home.

He was paroled in the 1980s after agreeing to show authorities where the body was buried, and has remained out of the public eye since.

Linda Kasabian: Kasabian, 20 at the time of the killings, served as a lookout, but ultimately led to the convictions of Manson and others by giving testimony to prosecutors.

She received immunity for her turn as a star witness, and said in 2009 that she thinks about her role in the killings “every day.”

Kasabian told Larry King that she was abandoned by her husband before joining up with the “charismatic” Manson, and fled the family in the days after the murders after he told her to kill what would have been another victim.

While not involved in the Tate-LaBianca murders, others at the fringes of the Manson family have also found themselves imprisoned for other crimes.

Lynnette “Squeaky” Fromme, 69, was a member of the group who went on to make a failed assassination attempt on President Gerald Ford in 1975, serving 34 years before her release on parole in 2009.

Bobby Beausoleil, 70, was arrested shortly before the Tate-LaBianca murders for the torture and stabbing death of Gary Hinman, a friend of the Manson group. He was denied parole for an 18th time last year.

Bruce Davis, 75, was also convicted in the Hinman killing as well as the Shea killing. Parole boards have recommended his release five times, though they have all been rejected by the California governor’s office, most recently by Brown this summer.