 A member of Charles Manson's 'family' of followers could be freed from prison after more than 50 years behind bars. Leslie Van Houten, now 73, joined the cult as a teenager, after calling her mother to say she would not be returning home. She was arrested in relation to the 1969 killings of grocery owner Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, in their Los Angeles home. The words 'Death to Pigs' and 'Healter Skelter' – a misspelled reference to a Beatles song – were found scrawled in the victims' blood on the walls and refrigerator. Van Houten was 19 when the murders were committed, making her the youngest of Manson's devotees. She was initially handed the death penalty, until the sentence was deemed unconstitutional. The convicted murderer was instead sentenced to life in prison. The parole board recommended her for early release five times since 2016, but she was denied three times. Leslie Van Houten accompanied Charles Manson to the LaBianca home – where she then held Rosemary LaBianca down with a pillowcase over her head as she and others stabbed her (Picture: AP) Charles Manson enlisted several young women to carry out his heinous crimes (Picture: AP) On Friday, California Governor Gavin Newsom has now announced he would give up trying to deny parole. In May a California appeals court had overruled Newsom and found Van Houten, 73, was entitled to parole from her life sentence. The governor could have appealed the decision to the California Supreme Court. 'The governor is disappointed by the Court of Appeal's decision to release Ms. Van Houten, but will not pursue further action as efforts to further appeal are unlikely to succeed,' Erin Mellon, the governor's communications director, said in a statement. Manson's followers Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkle and Leslie van Houton (Picture: Bettmann Archive) The three women said they were part of his 'family' (Picture: Bettmann Archive) V){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
A member of Charles Manson’s ‘family’ of followers could be freed from prison after more than 50 years behind bars.
Leslie Van Houten, now 73, joined the cult as a teenager, after calling her mother to say she would not be returning home.
She was arrested in relation to the 1969 killings of grocery owner Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, in their Los Angeles home.
The words ‘Death to Pigs’ and ‘Healter Skelter’ – a misspelled reference to a Beatles song – were found scrawled in the victims’ blood on the walls and refrigerator.