Manson family member Linda Kasabian who helped send cult leader Charles to prison dies aged 73
28 February 2023, 14:30 | Updated: 28 February 2023, 14:59
A Manson family member whose testimony was crucial in sending cult leader Charles Manson to jail has died at the age of 73.
Linda Kasabian, who was a key witness in Manson's 1970 murder trial, died in hospital in Washington on January 21.
Ms Kasabian's cause of death was not listed on her death certificate, though her body is believed to have been cremated.
Her death certificate stated that she had changed her last name from Kasabian to "Chiochios" in a bid to protect her identity from the Manson cult, according to TMZ.
Ms Kasabian testified about the killing of pregnant Hollywood star Sharon Tate and four more people in 1969.
The murder took place at filmmaker Roman Polanski's house in Los Angeles, after cult members entered the home and murdered five people on Manson's orders.
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Ms Kasabian eventually testified about the murders, stating that she witnessed the violence but never actually physically harmed anyone.
She testified that Charles "Tex" Watson drove her, Patricia Krenwinkel and Susan Atkins to the home in LA and said that Tex, Krenwinkel and Atkins fatally shot and stabbed five victims.
She also testified that she was the driver on the second night of the Manson murders, which saw Leno and Rosemary LaBianca killed inside their LA home.
It was her testimony, for which she was given immunity, that proved crucial in sending Manson to jail.
He died in 2017 at the age of 83 after going into cardiac arrest following complications from colon cancer.
