As time goes by, information that was once seen as fact may become irrelevant. The 1969 murders by the Manson Family is a case in point. Journalist Tom O’Neill revisits the murders in his book CHAOS, reassessing a perplexing case involving not only Hollywood celebrities and cult leader Charles Manson but also the shocking role of the CIA in hiding the truth.

O’Neill finds holes within the narrative already established by prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi in his book Helter Skelter, visiting aspects of the story that were left untouched. O’Neill ended up spending twenty years of his life chasing clues in order to get as close as possible to the truth.

In March 1999, Tom O’Neill, a freelance journalist, hadn't worked in months. He had moved out to California when an editor for US magazine called him and gave him the opportunity to write a 30th anniversary Manson piece. The magazine wanted a 5,000-word piece, within three months, and the first thing Tom did was read Helter Skelter. The 2001 book was written by Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecuting attorney for the case, to present his account of the murders.

Reading the book, Tom felt that the murders looked like a picture-perfect puzzle where everything seemed to be in place. Tom also knew that detectives usually look for a motive behind a crime, but there appeared to be no motive for Charles Manson to tell four of his followers to go murder some movie stars. Yet on August 9, 1969, members of the Manson Family - Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, and Patricia Krenwinkel - entered the home of Hollywood actress Sharon Tate on 10500 Cielo Drive and murdered her and four others. Family member Linda Kasabian was present but did not take part.

The group of hippies rolled up to the house and shot the guard out front four times. Nobody on Cielo Drive heard. They then broke in through the dining room window. The victims were Sharon Tate, who was eight and a half months pregnant; celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring; coffee heiress Abigail Folger and her boyfriend, aspiring screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski; and Steven Parent, an 18-year-old visitor. The hairstylist was shot twice, then stabbed repeatedly. Tate’s womb was stabbed 16 times. Frykowski was stabbed 51 times, and he had two bullet wounds and thirteen blows to the head. Folger was stabbed 28 times. Parent was shot four times.

The following night, Leno LaBianca, a grocery store owner, and his wife, Rosemary, were killed by Manson and Watson. The two broke into their home, carved “War” into LaBianca’s stomach, and stabbed him 26 times. His wife had 41 wounds. However, the police at first deemed the Tate and LaBianca murders unrelated.

On December 1, Ed Davis, the Los Angeles police chief at the time, said the Barker movie ranch, a property used by Manson and his Family, was home to killers in one of the biggest press conferences ever called for a court case. The official story said the killers were at the Barker Ranch, 200 miles northwest of LA.

In the 1960s, young people hitchhiked everywhere. The story of Manson and the murders worried people who were sending their kids to college where they often became hippies.

Manson was not charged with murder right away despite the evidence. His story was being told in the news. It was all about how Manson was in juvenile detention when he was 16, and had a wife and a kid by age 17. He moved out to San Pedro, California, where he started pimping women and stealing cars before disappearing to Mexico for a short while. From age 17, Manson had been under surveillance by the FBI, though they didn’t have a warrant. Manson dabbled in Scientology while going in and out of the prison system. He picked up the guitar and got decently good. He began having followers and grew out his hair.

The Tate and LaBianca murder trial started in July 1970, and Manson was suspected to be having acid flashbacks during the seven months of trial. He was making weird faces with an “x” carved into his forehead, and the freak show was massively covered by the media, which made it a huge stage onto which someone could push a certain narrative.

This Charles Manson documentary is based on the book CHAOS by Tom O'neill.

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