Claim: Susan Atkins was a member of a group.

Charles Milles Manson -LRB- born Charles Milles Maddox , November 12 , 1934 -RRB- is an American criminal and former cult leader who led what became known as the Manson Family , a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s . Manson 's followers committed a series of nine murders at four locations in July and August of 1969 . In 1971 he was found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the deaths of seven people -LRB- Abigail Ann Folger , Wojciech Frykowski , Steven Earl Parent , Sharon Tate Polanski , Jay Sebring , and Leno and Rosemary La Bianca -RRB- -- most notably of the actress Sharon Tate -- all of which were carried out by members of the group at his instruction . Manson was originally sentenced to death ; however , his death sentence was converted to life with the possibility of parole when in 1972 , the death penalty in California was ruled unconstitutional . California did not have the life-without-parole sentence at the time . Manson also received first-degree murder convictions for the deaths of Gary Hinman and Donald `` Shorty '' Shea . He is currently serving a life sentence at California State Prison , Corcoran , in Corcoran , California .   Manson believed in what he called `` Helter Skelter '' , a term he took from the Beatles ' song of the same name . Manson believed Helter Skelter to be an impending apocalyptic race war , which he described in his own version of the lyrics to the Beatles ' song . He believed the murders would help precipitate that war . From the beginning of his notoriety , a pop culture arose around him in which he ultimately became an emblem of insanity , violence and the macabre .   At the time the Family began to form , Manson was an unemployed former convict , who had spent half of his life in correctional institutions for a variety of offenses . Before the murders , he was a singer-songwriter on the fringe of the Los Angeles music industry , chiefly through a chance association with Dennis Wilson , drummer and founding member of the Beach Boys . After Manson was charged with the crimes of which he was later convicted , recordings of songs written and performed by him were released commercially . Various musicians have covered some of his songs .