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Linda Kasabian, Manson Family Member Who Became Star Witness Against Cult Leader, Is Dead

Linda Kasabian, a Manson family cult member who testified against leader Charles Manson, died recently at a hospital in Tacoma, Washington, outletsreported Tuesday.

Kasabian, 73, died on Jan. 21. No cause was given on a death certificate, the Los Angeles Times noted. A death notice in the Tacoma News Tribune referred to her as Linda Chiochios, one of the names she used after turning star witness to help convict Manson and three of his followers for notorious 1969 murders in Los Angeles.

Manson family member Linda Kasabian, who was a star witness in the Sharon Tate and LaBianca murder trial, at a 1970 press conference in Los Angeles.
Manson family member Linda Kasabian, who was a star witness in the Sharon Tate and LaBianca murder trial, at a 1970 press conference in Los Angeles.

Manson family member Linda Kasabian, who was a star witness in the Sharon Tate and LaBianca murder trial, at a 1970 press conference in Los Angeles.

Kasabian served as a lookout for the killings masterminded by Manson, but she did not participate in the actual homicides. On the night Manson directed his minions to slaughter pregnant actor Sharon Tate and four others at a home in Benedict Canyon, Kasabian waited in the car, The New York Times reported.

On the following night, Kasabian was joined by Manson, who entered the home of wealthy grocers Leno and Rosemary LaBianca and tied them up. He then left with Kasabian before followers fatally stabbed the couple.

Kasabian, who was eventually granted immunity, said in court that Manson bound the LaBiancas and ordered his followers to stab them, Deadline noted.

“I doubt we would have convicted Manson without her,” prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi told the Observer in 2009 (per the LA Times). “She stood in the witness box for 17 or 18 days and never broke down, despite the incredible pressure she was under.”

Manson and his crew were condemned to death, but the sentences were modified to life in prison after California abolished the death penalty. Manson died in 2017.

Kasabian, who was born Linda Drouin in Maine, lived in Washington state after a stint at her mother’s home in New Hampshire.

“I could never accept the fact that I was not punished for my involvement,” Kasabian said in a documentary, per The Guardian. “I felt then what I feel now, always and forever, that it was a waste of life that had no reason, no rhyme.”

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