Susan Atkins, ex-follower of the Manson clan and Charles Manson, and participant in the two day Tate-LaBianca killing spree in 1969, has died, after a battle with brain cancer. She was 61.
Susan Atkins was a 21-year-old she and other Manson family members participated in seven murders over two days. Atkins admitted herself that she held actress Sharon Tate, 26, wife of director Roman Polanski and 8 months pregnant, down as she pleaded for mercy. She stabbed Tate 16 times.
In a 1993 parole board hearing, Atkins said Tate "asked me to let her baby live. I told her I didn't have any mercy on her."
Roman Polanski was not home that night, but three of Tate's houseguests *Abigail Folger, Jay Sebring and Voytek Frykowski) were killed, as was teenager Steven Parent, who was visiting the home's caretaker in his cottage out back. The next night the spree continued, with husband and wife Leno and Rosemary LaBianca killed the next night.
All of those involved, Charles Manson, Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel and Charles "Tex" Watson of the spree. Atkins also was convicted in the earlier murder of music teacher Gary Hinman. All were sentenced to death, but their sentences were commuted to life in prison in 1972 when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the nation's death penalty laws.
Since she entered prison, according to a web site hosted by James Whitehouse, her husband of 21 years, Susan Atkins has become a born-again Christian who worked to help at-risk youth, victims of violent crimes and homeless children. Her brain cancer was diagnosed in March 2008, Whitehouse wrote on his Web site.
In July 2008, Atkins requested a "compassionate release" from the California Board of Parole Hearings. It was denied by unanimous decision. Her release was opposed by many, including California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others.
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