America's Serial Killer Charles Manson Dies At 83 + His Shocking Killings Documented.
He was 83 and serving nine life sentences in California’s Corcoran State Prison at the time of his death “I said a prayer for his soul,” Sharon Tate’s sister Debra tells PEOPLE of the moment after she received a call from a prison official informing her of Manson’s death Sunday evening. A career criminal who spent over half his life in prison before masterminding one of the most notorious mass killing sprees of the 20th century, Manson became the leader of a group of young followers he convinced to murder for him and who became known as the Manson “family.” The savage slayings shocked and terrified the nation and were part of Manson’s efforts to launch a race war — which he named “Helter Skelter” after the Beatles song. “Some people glorify him as a sort of master outlaw,” Vincent Bugliosi, who successfully prosecuted the cult leader in 1971, told PEOPLE in 2015. “But he really was nothing more than an evil, very sophisticated con man.” On Aug. 8, 1969 — having ...