Susan Denise Atkins a/k/a Sadie Mae Glutz (born May 7, 194
is a convicted murderer and former member of the Charles Manson "Family". She swore before a Grand Jury to have stabbed actress Sharon Tate to death, and to have been present at, or an accomplice to, several other murders.
Early life
Born in San Gabriel, California, Atkins grew up in northern California where she had a difficult childhood. Both of her parents were alcoholics, and her mother died of cancer when Atkins was fourteen years old. Afterwards, she and her younger brother were sent by their father to go live with relatives. Her older brother had previously left home to join the navy. Atkins dropped out of high school at eighteen and went to San Francisco, where she supported herself as a topless dancer and by selling narcotics. She also briefly worked for Church of Satan founder Anton Szandor LaVey as a stage actress in a production which featured her as a vampire. While living in a house with some friends, Atkins met Charles Manson seated in the living room and playing his guitar. Captivated by his music, she began to travel with him and some of his female followers in a school bus they painted all black. She was given the nickname "Sadie Mae Glutz" by Manson and a man who was creating a fake ID for her at the time. Atkins later claimed to have believed Manson to be Jesus. The growing Family settled at the Spahn Ranch in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California, where on October 7,1968, she bore a son whom Manson named Zezozece Zadfrack. He was not the father.
The Sharon Tate Murders and Atkins' claims
On August 9, 1969 Sharon Tate, who was eight months pregnant, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski and Steven Parent were murdered at Tate's Beverly Hills home. The following night in Los Feliz, an elegant older section of Los Angeles, grocery store owner Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary were murdered. The two murders were not immediately linked but each was the subject of wide media coverage.
By November 1969, Atkins, along with Manson and a number of "Family" members, had been incarcerated for car theft and arson. While in prison, Atkins began bragging to a fellow inmate that she had been involved in a murder. She described how she had personally stabbed Sharon Tate to death after ignoring her pleas for mercy. By coincidence the other inmate, Virginia Graham, had known Jay Sebring and had dated him for a short period of time. Also by coincidence, Graham had attended a party at the Tate residence a few years earlier, when the house had been occupied by different tenants. Atkins's descriptions of both Sebring and the house were accurate, and Graham began to believe she was telling the truth. She would later prove to be a valuable prosecution witness.
Grand Jury
By this time, Manson and the "Family" had been linked to the murders, but the prosecution case was not considered strong. Atkins' testimony was deemed vital to the prosecution, but she was not offered immunity. However, if she cooperated with the prosecution, they would not seek the death penalty against her in the Tate case or the other two Manson family-related murder cases. When Atkins appeared before the Grand Jury, she described how Charles Manson had instructed her to take a knife and change of clothes and to do exactly what Charles "Tex" Watson told her to do. Once in the car en route to Cielo Drive, Atkins said, Watson told Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Linda Kasabian that they were going to that particular house and were to kill everyone there. She restated much of what she had previously told Graham although she did not claim to have stabbed anyone. She showed no emotion as she described taking a towel and smearing it with Tate's blood and then using it to write the word "PIG" on the front door.
Describing the sequence of events, she stated that Watson had shot Steven Parent in his car in the driveway because Parent had seen them enter the grounds of the residence. According to her, Linda Kasabian had waited outside the house while the others entered; Watson shot Jay Sebring when he attempted to defend Sharon Tate; Watson stabbed Folger once; Watson had stabbed and shot Frykowski but he'd struggled and fled outside where Watson had then stabbed him again until he stopped moving; Abigail Folger had then fled out the back door with Krenwinkel in pursuit and Krenwinkel had stabbed her a number of times before being joined by Watson who had just finished killing Frykowski; he continued to stab Folger until she was dead. According to Atkins, Tate had been the last to die.
Atkins said she had not entered the LaBianca residence the following night, and incriminated another "Family" member Leslie Van Houten, who had not been present at the Tate residence.
Atkins also admitted that she had been present at the murder of music teacher Gary Hinman in 1968.
Trial and sentence
Atkins refused to cooperate any further; in a bid to win back Manson's favor she testified that she stabbed Sharon Tate and gave a lurid account similar to what she had bragged about in jail. The offer of protection from the death penalty was then withdrawn by the prosecution. Immunity from prosecution however was then offered to Linda Kasabian, and this was seen to be a more reasonable compromise as Kasabian claimed not to have entered either the Tate or LaBianca residences and had confronted Manson after the murders, telling him that she could not kill somebody. Manson, Krenwinkel, Van Houten and Atkins were sent to trial on June 15, 1970. Watson was later tried separately as he was at this time in Texas attempting to fight extradition. Throughout the trial all defendants caused disruptions to proceedings and were all noted for both their lack of remorse for their victims, and their lack of concern for their own fates. As for the murders' motive, it was established that they hoped to incite a race war which was to be called "Helter Skelter" after a song of the same name by The Beatles
Atkins and the other defendants were found guilty and sentenced to death on March 29, 1971. The death sentence was automatically commuted to life in prison the following year after the California Supreme Court's People v. Anderson decision invalidated all death sentences imposed in California prior to 1972.
Atkins's life since being sentenced
The time Atkins spent with Manson and the Family, prison experiences and religious conversion were detailed in her autobiography "Child of Satan, Child of God", which was published in 1977. Since 1974, Atkins has been a "born-again Christian", studied art and married a lawyer. It was her second marriage while incarcerated, the first being annulled three months after it had occurred. She now uses her married name Susan Atkins-Whitehouse and has set up a website where her admirers and supporters can communicate with her. She has applied unsuccessfully for parole on eleven occasions. She also began to recant her earlier testimony in 1991, maintaining that she was present during the murders but did not participate. During each hearing she has spoken of her remorse, but to no avail, as she has not convinced the board members of her sincerity. Her prison records have otherwise described her as a model prisoner. Her husband represented her at her 2000 hearing and again in 2005.
In her autobiography and in subsequent years, Atkins maintains that she did not stab Sharon Tate, and that her Grand Jury testimony was accurate.
During her 2000 hearing, Sharon Tate's sister Debra, read a statement written by their father, Paul Tate, which said in part, "Thirty one years ago I sat in a courtroom with a jury and watched with others. I saw a young woman who giggled, snickered and shouted out insults, even while testifying about my daughter's last breath, she laughed. My family was ripped apart. If Susan Atkins is released to rejoin her family, where is the justice?"
In 2003, she petitioned the state against her sentence on the grounds that she has become over the years a political prisoner but her petition was denied.
Since receiving their sentences, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten have been housed at the California Institution for Women in Corona, California.
On June 1, 2005, Atkins was denied parole for the 11th time. She will not be eligible for parole again until 2009. [1![0]](http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/alien.gif)
1996 psychiatric evaluation
In a psychiatric report prepared for her 1996 parole board hearing, Dr. Robert McDaniel states:
Diagnosis, axis one "History of polysubstance abuse". Axis two, "Anti-social personality disorder". In terms of discussion, the doctor indicates that "While drug abuse and anti-social personality would set the stage for someone involved in criminal behavior, it does not explain, in my opinion, the extreme cruelty and viciousness involved in the crime."
"And when I (the doctor) questioned her about some of her feelings, she said that she tended to view this in other terms rather than her instant crime, and rather reluctant to describe it in any detail. The most she would describe was feeling that while she did not stab anyone, that she was guilty of not somehow halting the senseless slaughter that was to ensue". And the doctor felt that upon review of the C-file, that Miss Atkins was more involved than she's willing to discuss. He also felt that, in some situations and instances, she tended to minimize or completely avoid certain topics. And he also thought that she tended to minimize her recent disciplinary problem documented in the CDC 115. And he feels that her tendency to minimize and avoid discussion of the crime and certain aspects of the crime is indicative of a pattern in which she rather skillfully and deftly deflects away from sensitive topics, that this would suggest that she's very adroit in conversation, diverting attention away from sensitive issues, that this would obviously reduce her level of discomfort, but may slow down her progress in psychotherapy.
Psychiatric conclusions: I (the doctor) feel that the diagnosed psychopathology, such as anti-social behavior, drug abuse, is related to her criminal behavior, that Miss Atkins has psychiatrically deteriorated slightly in the interval of three years ago. However, I do feel that she has matured considerably in the last 25 years of incarceration. And in a less-controlled setting such as a return to the community, she can be considered at risk for deterioration for the following reasons. I believe that she continues to deny the seriousness of her crime, and that she does not deal with problems directly, but deflects them away during conversation.
He also believes, based on his evaluation, that more psychological treatment is needed to help her focus and concentrate on issues at hand and to become less defensive. "Her violence potential outside a controlled setting is considered to have been greater-than-average in the past, and has now, perhaps, decreased with the passage of time."
Notes and references
^ King, Greg. Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders, Barricade Books, 2000. ISBN 1-56980-157-6 pg 257
^ Bugliosi, Vincent and Gentry, Kurt. Helter Skelter, Arrow Books Limited, 1974. ISBN 0-09-997500-9 pp236-241
^ Bugliosi, Vincent and Gentry, Kurt. Helter Skelter, Arrow Books Limited, 1974. ISBN 0-09-997500-9 pp236-241
^ Bugliosi, Vincent and Gentry, Kurt. Helter Skelter, Arrow Books Limited, 1974. ISBN 0-09-997500-9 pp244-245
^ King, Greg. Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders, Barricade Books, 2000. ISBN 1-56980-157-6 pp 263-273
^ King, Greg. Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders, Barricade Books, 2000. ISBN 1-56980-157-6 pp 273-275
^ King, Greg. Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders, Barricade Books, 2000. ISBN 1-56980-157-6 pp 281-285
^ Think Quest article April 1, 2003. Retrived January 7, 2006
^ Associated Press Dated June 1, 2003. Retrieved January 7, 2006.
^ Parole hearing transcript Dated June 1, 2003. Retrieved January 7, 2006
^ Parole hearing transcript Dated June 25, 1996. Retrieved July 16, 2006
In popular culture
The song "Sadie" by Alkaline Trio is about Susan and features the lyric "Sadie G, she's crazy, see?/ That's what the white coats say/ Now Ms. Susan A, you're losing every opportunity/ To put us all away".
The quote near the end of the song is a quote from Susan's testimony which is spoken by Heather Hannoura, the band's merchandise and artwork creator.
"He represented a God to me, that was so beautiful that I'd do anything for him. I'd do anything for God. Even murder, if I believed it was right. How could it not be right if it is done with love? I have no remorse for doing what was right for me. I have no guilt in me."
Kurt Richardson
Ghost_Tracker_D@sbcglobal.net
"To Die Will Be An Awfully BIG Adventure." - Peter Pan
is a convicted murderer and former member of the Charles Manson "Family". She swore before a Grand Jury to have stabbed actress Sharon Tate to death, and to have been present at, or an accomplice to, several other murders.Early life
Born in San Gabriel, California, Atkins grew up in northern California where she had a difficult childhood. Both of her parents were alcoholics, and her mother died of cancer when Atkins was fourteen years old. Afterwards, she and her younger brother were sent by their father to go live with relatives. Her older brother had previously left home to join the navy. Atkins dropped out of high school at eighteen and went to San Francisco, where she supported herself as a topless dancer and by selling narcotics. She also briefly worked for Church of Satan founder Anton Szandor LaVey as a stage actress in a production which featured her as a vampire. While living in a house with some friends, Atkins met Charles Manson seated in the living room and playing his guitar. Captivated by his music, she began to travel with him and some of his female followers in a school bus they painted all black. She was given the nickname "Sadie Mae Glutz" by Manson and a man who was creating a fake ID for her at the time. Atkins later claimed to have believed Manson to be Jesus. The growing Family settled at the Spahn Ranch in the San Fernando Valley in Southern California, where on October 7,1968, she bore a son whom Manson named Zezozece Zadfrack. He was not the father.
The Sharon Tate Murders and Atkins' claims
On August 9, 1969 Sharon Tate, who was eight months pregnant, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski and Steven Parent were murdered at Tate's Beverly Hills home. The following night in Los Feliz, an elegant older section of Los Angeles, grocery store owner Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary were murdered. The two murders were not immediately linked but each was the subject of wide media coverage.
By November 1969, Atkins, along with Manson and a number of "Family" members, had been incarcerated for car theft and arson. While in prison, Atkins began bragging to a fellow inmate that she had been involved in a murder. She described how she had personally stabbed Sharon Tate to death after ignoring her pleas for mercy. By coincidence the other inmate, Virginia Graham, had known Jay Sebring and had dated him for a short period of time. Also by coincidence, Graham had attended a party at the Tate residence a few years earlier, when the house had been occupied by different tenants. Atkins's descriptions of both Sebring and the house were accurate, and Graham began to believe she was telling the truth. She would later prove to be a valuable prosecution witness.
Grand Jury
By this time, Manson and the "Family" had been linked to the murders, but the prosecution case was not considered strong. Atkins' testimony was deemed vital to the prosecution, but she was not offered immunity. However, if she cooperated with the prosecution, they would not seek the death penalty against her in the Tate case or the other two Manson family-related murder cases. When Atkins appeared before the Grand Jury, she described how Charles Manson had instructed her to take a knife and change of clothes and to do exactly what Charles "Tex" Watson told her to do. Once in the car en route to Cielo Drive, Atkins said, Watson told Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Linda Kasabian that they were going to that particular house and were to kill everyone there. She restated much of what she had previously told Graham although she did not claim to have stabbed anyone. She showed no emotion as she described taking a towel and smearing it with Tate's blood and then using it to write the word "PIG" on the front door.
Describing the sequence of events, she stated that Watson had shot Steven Parent in his car in the driveway because Parent had seen them enter the grounds of the residence. According to her, Linda Kasabian had waited outside the house while the others entered; Watson shot Jay Sebring when he attempted to defend Sharon Tate; Watson stabbed Folger once; Watson had stabbed and shot Frykowski but he'd struggled and fled outside where Watson had then stabbed him again until he stopped moving; Abigail Folger had then fled out the back door with Krenwinkel in pursuit and Krenwinkel had stabbed her a number of times before being joined by Watson who had just finished killing Frykowski; he continued to stab Folger until she was dead. According to Atkins, Tate had been the last to die.
Atkins said she had not entered the LaBianca residence the following night, and incriminated another "Family" member Leslie Van Houten, who had not been present at the Tate residence.
Atkins also admitted that she had been present at the murder of music teacher Gary Hinman in 1968.
Trial and sentence
Atkins refused to cooperate any further; in a bid to win back Manson's favor she testified that she stabbed Sharon Tate and gave a lurid account similar to what she had bragged about in jail. The offer of protection from the death penalty was then withdrawn by the prosecution. Immunity from prosecution however was then offered to Linda Kasabian, and this was seen to be a more reasonable compromise as Kasabian claimed not to have entered either the Tate or LaBianca residences and had confronted Manson after the murders, telling him that she could not kill somebody. Manson, Krenwinkel, Van Houten and Atkins were sent to trial on June 15, 1970. Watson was later tried separately as he was at this time in Texas attempting to fight extradition. Throughout the trial all defendants caused disruptions to proceedings and were all noted for both their lack of remorse for their victims, and their lack of concern for their own fates. As for the murders' motive, it was established that they hoped to incite a race war which was to be called "Helter Skelter" after a song of the same name by The Beatles
Atkins and the other defendants were found guilty and sentenced to death on March 29, 1971. The death sentence was automatically commuted to life in prison the following year after the California Supreme Court's People v. Anderson decision invalidated all death sentences imposed in California prior to 1972.
Atkins's life since being sentenced
The time Atkins spent with Manson and the Family, prison experiences and religious conversion were detailed in her autobiography "Child of Satan, Child of God", which was published in 1977. Since 1974, Atkins has been a "born-again Christian", studied art and married a lawyer. It was her second marriage while incarcerated, the first being annulled three months after it had occurred. She now uses her married name Susan Atkins-Whitehouse and has set up a website where her admirers and supporters can communicate with her. She has applied unsuccessfully for parole on eleven occasions. She also began to recant her earlier testimony in 1991, maintaining that she was present during the murders but did not participate. During each hearing she has spoken of her remorse, but to no avail, as she has not convinced the board members of her sincerity. Her prison records have otherwise described her as a model prisoner. Her husband represented her at her 2000 hearing and again in 2005.
In her autobiography and in subsequent years, Atkins maintains that she did not stab Sharon Tate, and that her Grand Jury testimony was accurate.
During her 2000 hearing, Sharon Tate's sister Debra, read a statement written by their father, Paul Tate, which said in part, "Thirty one years ago I sat in a courtroom with a jury and watched with others. I saw a young woman who giggled, snickered and shouted out insults, even while testifying about my daughter's last breath, she laughed. My family was ripped apart. If Susan Atkins is released to rejoin her family, where is the justice?"
In 2003, she petitioned the state against her sentence on the grounds that she has become over the years a political prisoner but her petition was denied.
Since receiving their sentences, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Van Houten have been housed at the California Institution for Women in Corona, California.
On June 1, 2005, Atkins was denied parole for the 11th time. She will not be eligible for parole again until 2009. [1
1996 psychiatric evaluation
In a psychiatric report prepared for her 1996 parole board hearing, Dr. Robert McDaniel states:
Diagnosis, axis one "History of polysubstance abuse". Axis two, "Anti-social personality disorder". In terms of discussion, the doctor indicates that "While drug abuse and anti-social personality would set the stage for someone involved in criminal behavior, it does not explain, in my opinion, the extreme cruelty and viciousness involved in the crime."
"And when I (the doctor) questioned her about some of her feelings, she said that she tended to view this in other terms rather than her instant crime, and rather reluctant to describe it in any detail. The most she would describe was feeling that while she did not stab anyone, that she was guilty of not somehow halting the senseless slaughter that was to ensue". And the doctor felt that upon review of the C-file, that Miss Atkins was more involved than she's willing to discuss. He also felt that, in some situations and instances, she tended to minimize or completely avoid certain topics. And he also thought that she tended to minimize her recent disciplinary problem documented in the CDC 115. And he feels that her tendency to minimize and avoid discussion of the crime and certain aspects of the crime is indicative of a pattern in which she rather skillfully and deftly deflects away from sensitive topics, that this would suggest that she's very adroit in conversation, diverting attention away from sensitive issues, that this would obviously reduce her level of discomfort, but may slow down her progress in psychotherapy.
Psychiatric conclusions: I (the doctor) feel that the diagnosed psychopathology, such as anti-social behavior, drug abuse, is related to her criminal behavior, that Miss Atkins has psychiatrically deteriorated slightly in the interval of three years ago. However, I do feel that she has matured considerably in the last 25 years of incarceration. And in a less-controlled setting such as a return to the community, she can be considered at risk for deterioration for the following reasons. I believe that she continues to deny the seriousness of her crime, and that she does not deal with problems directly, but deflects them away during conversation.
He also believes, based on his evaluation, that more psychological treatment is needed to help her focus and concentrate on issues at hand and to become less defensive. "Her violence potential outside a controlled setting is considered to have been greater-than-average in the past, and has now, perhaps, decreased with the passage of time."
Notes and references
^ King, Greg. Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders, Barricade Books, 2000. ISBN 1-56980-157-6 pg 257
^ Bugliosi, Vincent and Gentry, Kurt. Helter Skelter, Arrow Books Limited, 1974. ISBN 0-09-997500-9 pp236-241
^ Bugliosi, Vincent and Gentry, Kurt. Helter Skelter, Arrow Books Limited, 1974. ISBN 0-09-997500-9 pp236-241
^ Bugliosi, Vincent and Gentry, Kurt. Helter Skelter, Arrow Books Limited, 1974. ISBN 0-09-997500-9 pp244-245
^ King, Greg. Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders, Barricade Books, 2000. ISBN 1-56980-157-6 pp 263-273
^ King, Greg. Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders, Barricade Books, 2000. ISBN 1-56980-157-6 pp 273-275
^ King, Greg. Sharon Tate and the Manson Murders, Barricade Books, 2000. ISBN 1-56980-157-6 pp 281-285
^ Think Quest article April 1, 2003. Retrived January 7, 2006
^ Associated Press Dated June 1, 2003. Retrieved January 7, 2006.
^ Parole hearing transcript Dated June 1, 2003. Retrieved January 7, 2006
^ Parole hearing transcript Dated June 25, 1996. Retrieved July 16, 2006
In popular culture
The song "Sadie" by Alkaline Trio is about Susan and features the lyric "Sadie G, she's crazy, see?/ That's what the white coats say/ Now Ms. Susan A, you're losing every opportunity/ To put us all away".
The quote near the end of the song is a quote from Susan's testimony which is spoken by Heather Hannoura, the band's merchandise and artwork creator.
"He represented a God to me, that was so beautiful that I'd do anything for him. I'd do anything for God. Even murder, if I believed it was right. How could it not be right if it is done with love? I have no remorse for doing what was right for me. I have no guilt in me."
Kurt Richardson
Ghost_Tracker_D@sbcglobal.net
"To Die Will Be An Awfully BIG Adventure." - Peter Pan
