Program Note: Are there more victims buried on a remote ranch in Death Valley where Charles Manson and some of his cohorts were arrested nearly 40 years ago? Watch Ted Rowlands' report tonight on 360° 10p ET
Ted Rowlands
360 Correspondent
One person that should know if there are bodies behind the Barker Ranch is Charles "Tex" Watson, Manson's right hand man. Watson was one of the first 30 some family members to relocate to the ranch in Death Valley after the Tate Labianca murders. Watson, who's now a quasi preacher at Mule Creek state prison in Northern California, is serving a life sentence for the Helter Skelter murders. He admitts being largely responsible for the actual killing of actress Sharon Tate and six others in 1969.
About a month ago we contacted Watson by mail asking for permission to come visit. Usually when we send letters to prisoners we don't get a response, but about a week later we got a letter back from Watson! He didn't want to meet, but he did say in his two page hand written letter that he didn't know anything about bodies at Barker Ranch. Read Watson's letters to CNN
After traveling to the insanly remote Barker Ranch (read Gabe Ramirez blog) its hard for me to believe that Watson wouldn't know about any other murders, unless he's lying, which seems unlikely considering he's a 60 something man who's already admitted to hacking seven people to death, and is serving a life sentence.
We also wrote to the other Manson family members in prison (including Charlie) but have not heard anything.
If there are bodies behind the Barker Ranch, its unlikley we'll ever know who they are without some help from the Manson family.
| Cindy |
May 8th, 2008 2:50 pm ET I am not surprised that you heard back from Watson. He probably enjoys the notoriety. I am surprised that you haven't heard from any of the rest of them. I think that they would lie just to make it harder for authorities to find the bodies. It really wouldn't matter as far as them being convicted of more murders because they are in prison and will never get out. But it would make it harder to figure out who the people are if there are any found and they'd get some air time so to speak. |
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| Marion |
May 8th, 2008 3:31 pm ET Am glad to see Ted Rowland report on possible dead bodies than on political issues. At least, I can believe him. |
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| Larry |
May 8th, 2008 4:21 pm ET Wonder how much it has cost the taxpayer to keep Manson & Co. in prison all this time. |
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| Praetorian, Fort Myers |
May 8th, 2008 5:15 pm ET Who gives a darn. What are we going to do–convict him of more life sentences? There will be know way to tie him in with any bodies left on that ranch–he was trespassing there in the first place. Clearly...this is only about some DA getting some headlines–and feeding the nation a bunch of Bison dung. |
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| Tammy, Berwick, LA |
May 8th, 2008 6:49 pm ET I think it would be closure for families of those missing if their remains were found. At least it would answer one question in their minds. God knows how many young people ended up at this crazy house and became part of this "family" or wandered in and never left. If it was one of my loved ones, I'd want to know even if it was almost 40 years after the fact. |
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| Annie Kate |
May 8th, 2008 9:00 pm ET There probably are graves out there in the desert home of the Manson family. If they can be recovered and identified it would at least let their families know what finally happened to them all those years ago. Annie Kate |
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| Teresa |
May 8th, 2008 9:30 pm ET I find it highly probably that Watson would lie at 60. If he kept bodies hidden this long, he can do it longer. Time.... makes us forget what's real and what's not. It would damage his image in prison if he had to fess up to more murders at this point. I agree with Tammy: if one of the bodies were my relatives, I would like to know too. It matters. I'm glad he found God. ; ) |
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| Chris Simmons |
May 8th, 2008 10:17 pm ET Hopefully the evidence will show that there is a need to dig at Barker Ranch. |
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| deb |
May 8th, 2008 10:55 pm ET Why did they wait almost 40 years to investigate this ranch ? The police should have assumed that this was very much a possibilty a long time ago. I am sure it would have been a relief for those families who have never known what has happened to their loved ones. Shame on those who were in charge of the investigation. |
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| Jim |
May 8th, 2008 11:31 pm ET Ted, I agree with others that this is simply more about some dog and his master wanting some attention. |
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| Lilarose in Oregon |
May 9th, 2008 12:12 am ET I was age 26 when the Manson murders took place. Even in Portland, Oregon we felt the horror, especially for the very pregnant Sharon Tate, who begged that her baby (a boy) be spared. "Mr." Watson declined. I would hope that the Barker Ranch site is now off limits to the curious so it won't be destroyed. I am surprised there is still one stone left in that building that someone hasn't carted off. It might seem remote to some, but not for me in Southern Oregon, where I live less than 20 miles from where the Kim family got stranded a year and a half ago. |
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| Mark |
May 9th, 2008 3:26 am ET I find the renewed interest in the Manson case compelling. My father was in law enforcement at the time of the 1969 killings, and involved in the search for the family. I vividly remember ,as an eight year old, wondering why/how could they have done these horrible things, and where were they hiding. This feeling was repeated a few years later when driving through SF with my parents to again wonder where the SLA was hiding, and if Patti Hearst was still alive. My fist tastes of domestic terrorism, and how it would affect a childs sense of security, or the lack of. These acts become part of our individual experience; our history; our fear as we recoil. |
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| Mark |
May 9th, 2008 3:36 am ET I wanted to further mention that the Manson family was found about a 150 miles from where we lived in the Mojave desert. |
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