Leslie Van Houten

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Leslie Van Houten (1999)

Leslie Louise Van Houten (born August 23, 1949 in Los Angeles , California ) is an American convicted murderer and a former member of the Manson Family . She became known for her involvement in the murder of the entrepreneurial couple Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, commissioned by Charles Manson .

Life

Leslie Van Houten initially had a happy childhood until her parents divorced. She was 14 years old at the time. She was very popular during school days and was twice elected prom queen of her school. The changed family situation threw her off course. The girl began to hang around and experiment with drugs , preferably LSD . She became pregnant when she was 16 years old, but had the child aborted. In 1968 she met the young actor Bobby Beausoleil and fell in love with him. At that time Beausoleil was already spending a lot of time with the members of the so-called Manson Family . Van Houten then also joined the Manson Family . Beausoleil was arrested in July 1969 for the murder of music teacher Gary Hinman.

According to a statement by Manson at the murder trial, he then staged the series of murders from August 1969 to exonerate Beausoleil and give the impression that a serial killer was active. Whether this is so or what motive the acts were based on is still questionable and controversial.

On August 9, 1969, members of the Manson Family committed the Tate murders , in which Van Houten was not involved. On August 10, 1969, Manson sent Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel and Charles Watson to the entrepreneurial couple Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in Los Feliz , Los Angeles. Manson was initially there himself and tied up the victims, but then left the scene. Krenwinkel and Van Houten stab the tied Rosemary LaBianca in the bedroom, while Watson killed Leno LaBianca in the basement. The perpetrators smeared slogans with the blood of their victims on the walls and defaced Leno LaBianca's body with cutlery.

Van Houten later claimed to have stabbed Rosemary LaBianca only after she was dead, but contradicted each other in various statements during her probation hearings. The autopsy could not clearly clarify which of the participants had committed which murder.

Van Houten, Krenwinkel, Watson (the latter two also in connection with the Tate murders) and Manson in 1971 were sentenced to death for this act. The death penalty was briefly suspended in 1972 in California, however, and the sentences were subsequently commuted to life imprisonment.

Van Houten, like Krenwinkel, is in the California Institution for Women prison in Chino, California . For years she has been trying (together with the above-mentioned people) to get early parole , but to date she has been unsuccessful for Van Houten twenty times. The filmmaker John Waters , who is friends with Van Houten, also campaigns for her to be released.

On April 14, 2016, the California Parole Board recommended parole for the first time after 19 unsuccessful requests. However, Governor Jerry Brown would have to give his consent, which he declined on July 22, 2016. Leslie Van Houten's release poses an unacceptable risk to society , Brown said. The 21st hearing took place on September 6, 2017, the renewed dismissal recommendation again required the approval of Brown, but he also rejected this in January 2018. The next hearing took place in January 2019 and the parole commission again issued a discharge recommendation, which was overruled by the governor. Gavin Newsom prevented her from being fired by stating that Van Houten would continue to pose a threat to society.

In art

literature

  • Ed Sanders: The Family: The Story of Charles Manson . German translation by Rowohlt, Reinbek 1995, ISBN 3-499-19644-1 .
  • Faith, Karlene: The Long Prison Journey of Leslie Van Houten: Life Beyond the Cult , Northeastern University Press, 2001, ISBN 1-55553-481-3 . (English)
  • Carol Greene: The Charles Manson Case. Murderer from the retort . Böttiger, Wiesbaden-Nordenstadt, 2001, ISBN 3-925725-13-X .
  • Emma Cline: The Girls . Chatto & Windus, 2006. ISBN 978-1784740450 . (English)
  • Vincent Bugliosi, Curt Gentry: Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders . WW Norton & Company, 2001, ISBN 0-393-32223-8 . (English)
    • German edition: Helter Skelter. The murder frenzy of Charles Manson , Riva Verlag, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-86883-057-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Manson wanted to defend himself. He was forbidden to do so. So he only had the opportunity to express himself as a defendant. The German translation of his one-hour statement was available on the website serien-killer.com (attention: this website now contains different content)
  2. ↑ Leslie Van Houten: A Friendship, Part 1 of 5 on huffingtonpost.com (English)
  3. ↑ Former follower of Charles Manson is not available for free on faz.net
  4. ↑ California Governor Denies Parole for Ex-Manson Followers , nbcnews.com. July 23, 2016. Accessed July 23, 2016. 
  5. ↑ Updates on leslevanhouten.com (English)
  6. ↑ Governor refuses parole for former Manson disciple
  7. ^ "Leslie Van Houten: Charles Manson cult member has release refused by California governor" Independent.co.uk June 4, 2019
  8. ↑ Naomi Gregoris: Backstage at the Simpsons. February 15, 2014, accessed March 4, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Van Houten, Leslie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Van Houten, Leslie Louise (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American murderer and former member of the "Manson Family"
DATE OF BIRTH August 23, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Los Angeles , California , United States