1949-2023

Who Was Linda Kasabian?

Linda Kasabian was a 20-year-old hippie with a young daughter when she met Charles Manson and moved to his desert ranch in July 1969. The next month, Kasabian and other Manson family members went to a house in the hills of Hollywood to murder the occupants, including actor Sharon Tate, but Kasabian never went inside. She listened in horror as the murders occurred and fled the cult a few days later. When Manson and several followers went to trial in 1970, Kasabian was the prosecution’s main witness and escaped prosecution. She died in January 2023 at age 73.

Quick Facts

FULL NAME: Linda Darlene Kasabian
BORN: June 21, 1949
DIED: January 21, 2023
BIRTHPLACE: Biddeford, Maine
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Cancer

Joining the Manson Family

Linda Kasabian was born as Linda Darlene Drouin on June 21, 1949, in Biddeford, Maine. As an adult, she moved to Los Angeles in 1968, and through Catherine “Gypsy” Share, she met Charles Manson on July 4, 1969. At the time, Kasabian was a pregnant, two-time divorcee and the mother of an infant daughter. She moved to the Spahn Ranch with Manson and his followers, where she proceeded to fall under his spell.

At first, Kasabian found Manson’s message to be peaceful, but within her first month at the ranch, his tone changed to one of violence and paranoia, focusing on what Manson called Helter Skelter, the inevitable race war that he foresaw.

Manson Murders

To precipitate Helter Skelter, Manson sent Kasabian with Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Charles “Tex” Watson to 10050 Cielo Drive and told them to kill everyone there. Watson told Kasabian to stay outside of the residence, and she listened to the murders occurring within, watching in horror as writer Wojciech Frykowski died at her feet on the front lawn. Insider, actor Sharon Tate, coffee bean heiress Abigail Folger, and celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring were also murdered, and another man lie dead in his car in the driveway. Kasabian ran to her car and started it, but she was then afraid to drive away, fearing for her baby back at the Spahn Ranch.

The next night, Kasabian rode to the house of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca and waited in the car while Manson and the others went inside. When Manson came out, telling his followers that the couple was tied up, he sent in three family members to kill them, driving away with Kasabian in the car. Two days later, she fled.

Manson Family Prosecution and Aftermath

The new home of the Manson family, the Barker Ranch, was raided in October 1969. Everyone present was arrested for auto theft, but their involvement in the murders was quickly discovered. Kasabian turned herself in two months later and became the lead witness for the prosecution. Her testimony was the biggest key to finding Manson, Atkins, Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten, another Manson follower who murdered a wealthy Los Angeles couple, guilty. In turn, Kasabian was given immunity.

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After moving to New Hampshire to live with her mother, Kasabian was inundated with media and public attention, so she changed her name and moved west, remaining in hiding until a documentary film crew found her living in near poverty in a trailer park in 2009.

Death

Kasabian died on January 21, 2023, in Tacoma, Washington, at age 73. At the time of her death, she was using the name Linda Chiochios.

Quotes

  • I felt as though I carried the guilt that nobody else had guilt for, at the time.
  • I went through a lot of drugs and alcohol and self-destruction and probably could have used some psychological counseling and help 40 years ago.

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