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Charles Manson - Life

Charles Manson - Life: Encyclopedia II - Charles Manson - Life

Charles Manson: Encyclopedia II - Charles Manson - Life

Charles Manson - Life

Manson was born Charles Milles Maddox in Cincinnati, Ohio. His last name was subsequently changed to Manson, after his (largely absentee) father, William Manson. As a child, he attended Walnut Hills High School. When he was thirteen, his mother, Kathleen Maddox (an alcoholic and a prostitute), attempted to put him in a foster home. When she was unable to find one for him, he ended up at Gibault School for Boys, a reform school in Terre Haute, Indiana. Within a year he ran away and back to his mother, who still wanted nothing to do with him. He began living on the streets, supporting himself by theft. He quickly escalated from minor to federal offenses, which carried far stricter punishment. Prior to the killings, he spent more than half his life (around 17 years) in Federal prison —at one point in 1967 asking not to be released.

In 1951, after a string of arrests and escapes, Manson was sent to federal prison for driving a stolen car across state lines. By the end of 1952, he had eight assault charges against him. He was transferred to another facility where he became a model inmate, and was released in 1954.

In January of 1955, Manson married 17-year-old Rosalie Jean Willis, and decided to move to California. Soon after the wedding, Manson stole a car and was arrested. Willis became pregnant in April. Manson's parole was revoked in 1956 when he missed a court date. Soon after his arrest, Willis gave birth to their son, Charles M. Manson, Jr. (d. 1993; suicide at age 38). She then left town with a truck driver and their son.

His prison and probation reports showed a consistent message:

(1950-52) "Tries to give the impression of trying hard although actually not putting forth any effort ...marked degree of rejection, instability and psychic trauma ... constantly striving for status ... a fairly slick institutionalized youth who has not given up in terms of securing some kind of love and affection from the world ... dangerous ... should not be trusted across the street ... homosexual and assaultative tendencies ... safe only under supervision ... unpredictable ... in spite of his age he is criminally sophisticated and grossly unsuited for retention in an open reformatory type institution"; (1958-59) "Almost without exception will let down anyone who went to bat for him ... an almost classic case of correctional institutional inmate ... a very difficult case and it is almost impossible to predict his future adjustment ... a very shaky probationer and it seems just a matter of time before he gets into further trouble".

Manson was paroled in 1958 after serving two years of a 3-year sentence. In 1959 he was arrested again for passing stolen cheques. Once again, he was given probation which was revoked nine months later. During his probation, he met a woman named Crystal DeAn Gosser, whom he married. Crystal, however, was a psychotic homicidal serial killer. She is currently institutionalized in the MCHS Sanitarium for the mentally ill.

On June 1, 1960, Manson was arrested for solicitation of prostitution. He was ordered to serve his 10-year suspended sentence for passing stolen checks at the federal prison on McNeil Island in Washington state. Soon after his arrest, Leona (a girl he met during his probation) gave birth to his second son, Charles Luther Manson. While at McNeil, Manson was a cellmate of notorious 1930s bank robber Alvin Karpis who taught Manson to read music and to play the guitar.

Manson was finally released March 21, 1967 against his own expressed wish to remain in prison. Whilst in prison or on probation, he had raped another inmate at razor point, stolen cars, pimped inmates, and forged federal checks. His prison reports continued with the same message:

(1961-62) "He hides his resentment and hostility behind a mask of superficial ingratiation ... even his cries for help represent a desire for attention with only superficial meaning"; (1964) "Pattern of instability continues ... intense need to call attention to himself ... fanatical interests"; then finally, (1966) "Manson is about to complete his ten-year term. He has a pattern of criminal behavior and confinement that dates to his teen years ... little can be expected in the way of change."

After the release Manson requested permission to move to the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco, California, where he would start recruiting his "Family."