The infamous murderer and cult leader, Charles Manson, died on November 19th due to natural causes at the age of 83 in prison. On January 1, 2017, Manson was suffering from gastrointestinal bleeding at California State Prison but was too weak for surgery. On November 15, it was said that he returned to the hospital where he died four days later in Bakersfield, CA.

Manson was sentenced to nine life terms in prison when convicted of multiple first-degree murders as well as conspiracy to kill even more people. While he never took part in the actual killings, he orchestrated the deaths of seven people and the injuries of hundreds. The first set of victims were Sharon Tate, who was eight months’ pregnant; a celebrity hairstylist named Jay Sebring; coffee fortune heiress Abigail Folger; writer Wojciech Frykowski; and Steven Parent, a friend of the family’s caretaker. His followers were so committed to him that they were willing to kill innocent people for him. “He was the dictatorial ruler of the (Manson) family, the king, the Maharaja. And the members of the family were slavishly obedient to him,” former Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi told CNN in 2015.

The murders began on August 9, 1969 and Manson, and some of his followers – Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten – were put on trial on June 16, 1970. During the trial, Manson and his followers created a circus-like atmosphere in the court with singing, giggling, angry outbursts and even carving X’s in their foreheads. In the 45 years that Manson was in prison, he was denied parole 12 times.

Source: CNN, Wikipedia