The Manson Murders

Torn From the Headlines of the Valley Times and Hollywood Citizen-News

By: Scott Weiss

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Sunday, August 10, 1969. Los Angeles awakes to news that five innocent people have been savagely murdered at an estate in upscale Bel Air, home to celebrities and entertainment figures from the world of film, television and music. Details are sparse, but early reports suggested an unusual “ritualistic” killing.

The very same night, a grocery supermarket chain owner and his wife meet a similar fate in their home in Los Feliz, a residential neighborhood in the greater Hollywood area. Initially, there is no clear connection between these murders and the ones the night before, other than the sheer randomness and horror of both.

News reporters from all corners of the world track the case, desperate for any bit of information to appease their increasingly curious audiences. Tight-lipped investigators offer very little, prompting speculation from a growing number of conspiracy theorists, all with their own idea of exactly who committed the crimes, and why.

THE MANSON MURDERS: Tone From the Headlines of the Valley Times and Hollywood Citizen-News documents the “crime of the century” and the media frenzy that followed using archival stories and images from newspapers that served the greater Los Angeles area until they ceased publication in 1970. This is a first-hand account of events as they happened in real time, culminating in the prosecution of Charles Manson and members of his nomadic “Family.”