Leslie Van Houten’s Chilling Answer In Parole Hearing: What Former Charles Manson Follower Said
Leslie Van Houten, a former Charles Manson follower who participated in grisly killings back in the late 60s, gave a chilling answer to a question in her parole hearing.
Van Houten admitted that she would’ve done anything for Manson, even if it meant killing babies, the New York Post reports.
The 66-year-old was recommended for release from prison after the April 16 parole hearing. Van Houten talked about her role in killing a wealthy married couple, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, in their L.A home on August 10, 1969. It was only a day after the murders of actress Sharon Tate and her friends at her Benedict Canyon home by Manson followers.
Presiding Commissioner Ali Zarrinnam asked Van Houten if she would’ve “done anything at this point” and that “if there were babies in the home, would you have killed babies, newborns, toddlers?”
“I think I would have if he’d have said,” Van Houten said, referring to Manson as her instructor.
The 200-page parole hearing transcript was obtained by the Post.
The family of murder victim Rosemary LaBianca still needs our help to keep her killer behind bars. She WAS… https://t.co/XAZSJWqqMc
— Kim Goldman (@KimEGoldman) May 3, 2016
Van Houten and Manson accomplices, Patricia Krenwinkel and Charles “Tex” Watson, killed the couple. Van Houten was instructed to hold a pillow over Rosemary’s face while the stabbings were carried out by Krenwinkel and Watson.
Leslie Van Houten described in horrific detail how she was also given a knife by Watson to help stab Rosemary. She said the coroner’s report stated she stabbed Mrs. LaBianca between 14 and 16 times.No remorse was shown by Van Houten when she shared that she had a moment in which she was “critical” of herself during the killings. However, it wasn’t because she “suddenly felt it was wrong” — it was because she “wasn’t as able to participate as Tax and Pat.”
In 1971, Van Houten was convicted for her part in the LaBianca murders and sentenced to death. One year later, the former cult killer was commuted to life with the possibility of parole when the death penalty was temporarily banned in California.
Leslie Van Houten has gone before the parole board about 19 times throughout her 46-year incarceration.
California Governor Jerry Brown will give the final say on whether Van Houten will be released. It could take a few months before that approval is made.
According to the Tri-City Herald, Sharon Tate’s sister, Debra Tate, is fighting Van Houten’s parole.
Tate strongly believes that 46 years after the heinous murder spree, the Manson Family remains a danger to society and Van Houten should never be released from prison.
Sharon Tate’s sister acted fast upon learning on April 14 that a California parole board had recommended the release of Leslie Van Houten. She created a petition on Change.org to gather signatures from those opposing Van Houten’s release. She’s adamant about stopping the ex-Manson follower from ever knowing freedom.
Two weeks after posting it, over 100,345 people have signed the petition. The goal is 150,0000 signatures.
“Governor Jerry Brown must know that society cannot trust someone who committed such a heinous murder without showing any remorse for years,” Debra Tate writes in her petition. “If you do not want this random murderer who was convicted by two separate juries of her peers to be released early into society, please sign this petition.”
Will Leslie Van Houten know freedom again despite her lack of remorse for the murders she helped commit as a Charles Manson follower?
[Photo by Nick Ut/AP Images]