Cult member Linda Kasabian who helped send Charles Manson to prison dies

28 February 2023 , 14:15

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Linda Kasabian has died (Image: Popperfoto via Getty Images)

Linda Kasabian, the cult member who helped send Charles Manson to prison, has died aged 73.

Ms Kasabian was the key witness in the prosecution of Manson and his followers after nine murders that took place at four locations in Los Angeles between July and August 1969.

According to a death certificate, seen by TMZ, she passed away at a hospital in Tacoma on January 21.

The cause of her death has not been disclosed and she has been cremated.

Ms Kasabian had participated in the mayhem committed by Manson and his followers which resulted in the death of seven people.

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Members of the Manson Family, including Lynette Fromme and Ruth Ann Moorehouse (Getty Images)

She ended up being given immunity in exchange for becoming a key prosecution witness in the trial.

Ms Kasabian apparently had changed her last name to "Chiochios" which may have been done in order to dissociate herself from the Manson Family.

The death certificate had her listed with that surname.

Cult leader Charles Manson escorted to the Santa Monica Courthouse (Michael Ochs Archives)

Manson convinced his followers that he was a messianic figure with the power to predict and control the future.

Several of the Manson Family members carried out a series of gruesome murders in Los Angeles, including the murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others.

The murders were intended to incite a race war, which Manson called "Helter Skelter," after the Beatles song of the same name.

Ms Kasabian provided a detailed testimony over 18 days about the murders, which were carried out under Manson's instruction.

She had stated that Charles "Tex" Watson drove her, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins to filmmaker Roman Polanski's house.

Linda Kasabian arriving at the court building in Los Angeles on 13th August 1970 (Popperfoto via Getty Images)

There, they fatally shot and stabbed five people, including Ms Tate who was Mr Polanski's pregnant wife.

Ms Kasabian witnessed the murders but did not participate.

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She also testified that she drove the group on the second night of the murders, in which Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were killed.

Linda Kasabian at a press conference after being granted immunity from prosecution (Popperfoto via Getty Images)

Mr Polanski was not present during the murders as he was filming in Europe at the time.

Manson and his accomplices were convicted of the murders and given life sentences based on Kasabian's testimony.

The cult leader himself was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to life in prison after California abolished the death penalty in 1972.

Manson died in prison at the age of 83 due to complications from colon cancer in 2017.

Vassia Barba