A MURDERER AND HIS MOTHER’S LOVE
August 9, 1969… a crime that shocked the nation and to this day continues to draw the attention of the world happened in Los Angeles. Pregnant actress Sharon Tate and her companions Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, and Steven Parent, were brutally murdered in a home on Cielo Drive. This became known as the “Manson Murders” perpetrated by Charles “Tex” Watson and several accomplices who belonged to the Charles Manson “Family.”
While working with the contemporary Christian group, “The Second Chapter of Acts” as their concert coordinator, I received
a phone call from the California Men’s Colony prison in San Luis Obispo. The pastor of the chapel handed the phone to Charles “Tex” Watson. We discussed the possibility of the group performing at the prison. Upon approval from the group’s leader, Buck Herring, we scheduled a date for the appearance.
Charles and I became friends and I visited him numerous times. When he married, I was the only member of the media invited into the prison to witness the wedding.
The following pages are not designed to excuse the heinous act of August 9, 1969. In 1979 I flew to Copeville, Texas to interview Charles Watson’s parents. After finishing the interview, Elizabeth Watson handed me her typed account of the life of her son growing up. This is her story, and she asked me to do something about it. I held on to the document for roughly 40 years and am now sharing it with those who may be interested.
As Elizabeth writes on the last page: “If you have never had a son to get the death sentence, you would never understand how to sympathize with one who has.”
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