Susan Atkins

Susan Denise Atkins aka Sadie Mae Glutz (born May 7, 1948) is an American murderer and former member of the Charles Manson "Family". She swore before a Grand Jury to have stabbed actress Sharon Tate to death, and to have been present at, or an accomplice to, several other murders.

The Sharon Tate Murders and Atkins' claims

On August 9, 1969 Sharon Tate, who was eight months pregnant, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski and Steven Parent were murdered at Tate's Beverly Hills home. The following night in Los Feliz, an elegant older section of Los Angeles, grocery store owner Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary were murdered. The two murders were not immediately linked but each was the subject of wide media coverage.

Related Topics:
August 9 - 1969 - Jay Sebring - Abigail Folger - Wojciech Frykowski - Steven Parent - Beverly Hills - Los Feliz - Los Angeles - Leno LaBianca - Rosemary

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By November 1969, Atkins, along with Manson and a number of "Family" members, had been incarcerated for car theft and arson. While in prison, Atkins began bragging to a fellow inmate that she had been involved in a murder. She described how she had personally stabbed Sharon Tate to death after ignoring her pleas for mercy. By coincidence the other inmate, Virginia Graham, had known Jay Sebring and had dated him for a short period of time. Also by coincidence, Graham had attended a party at the Tate residence a few years earlier, when the house had been occupied by different tenants. Atkins's descriptions of both Sebring and the house were accurate, and Graham began to believe she was telling the truth. She would later prove to be a valuable prosecution witness.

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