Mass murderer Charles Manson is believed to be in a Bakersfield hospital Wednesday after becoming ill at a Central Valley prison.
Manson is seriously ill, the Los Angeles Times reported, citing one of two sources familiar with the situation.
The celebrity news website TMC.com reported Tuesday that the 82-year-old Manson was taken from Corcoran State Prison in Kings County to a hospital in Bakersfield. There was no word on his condition or the reason for his hospitalization.
Terry Thornton of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation declined to comment on the report, citing federal and state privacy laws but she confirmed Tuesday that Manson was alive.
Manson and his “family” members were convicted for the Aug. 9, 1969, murders of actress Sharon Tate and four others in the rented Benedict Canyon home of Tate and her husband, director Roman Polanski, who was out of the country at the time. Tate was eight months pregnant at the time. Manson was not actually present, but ordered the slayings.
A day later, the group struck again — stabbing to death grocery store chain owner Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, in their Los Feliz-area home.
Manson was convicted of first degree-murder and conspiracy in the killings.
Also convicted were Charles “Tex” Watson, Patricia Krenwinkle and Susan Atkins. A third woman, Leslie Van Houten, was convicted of the murders of LaBianca and his wife, along with a conspiracy charge.
The murderers left bloody messages at both crime scenes, in what authorities believe was an effort to start a race war.
The five defendants were spared the death penalty in 1972 when the state Supreme Court overturned capital punishment.
Manson was denied parole in 2012 for the 12th time. He is not be eligible for another parole hearing until 2027.
— City News Service
