Ex-Manson follower Susan Atkins dies

Tashah · Sep 26, 2009

Ex-Manson follower Susan Atkins dies
Fri September 25, 2009

(CNN) -- Susan Denise Atkins, a former member of the Manson family who killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate during a two-day killing spree in 1969, has died, according to a California corrections spokesman. She was 61. Atkins died at 11:46 p.m. PT Thursday (2:46 a.m. Friday ET) at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, said Terry Thornton with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Atkins, California's longest-serving female inmate, was suffering from terminal brain cancer.

Since she entered prison in 1971, she became a born-again Christian who worked to help at-risk youth, victims of violent crimes and homeless children, among others, according to a Web site maintained by her attorney and husband, James Whitehouse.

Atkins' brain cancer was diagnosed in March 2008, Whitehouse wrote on his Web site. On May 15, 2008, doctors predicted she would live less than six months. But she passed that deadline, he wrote, and celebrated her 21st wedding anniversary on December 7. In July 2008, Atkins requested a "compassionate release" from the California Board of Parole Hearings. It was denied by unanimous decision. Her request was opposed by Tate's sister, Debra, Los Angeles County prosecutors and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others. On September 2, a panel from the Board of Parole Hearings denied Atkins' suitability for parole in a hearing, her 13th. Atkins' hospital bed was wheeled into the hearing room for the proceeding, and she appeared to sleep through much of it. For her statement, her husband helped her deliver the 23rd Psalm. She spoke in a high, cracked voice.

Like most of the other former Manson family members, Atkins shunned Manson during her incarceration. "He is a liar, a con artist, a physical abuser of women and children, a psychological and emotional abuser of human beings, a thief, a dope pusher, a kidnaper, a child stealer, a pimp, a rapist and a child molester," she wrote in a manuscript posted on her Web site. "I can attest to all of these things with my own eyes. And he was all of these things before he was a murderer."

Source: CNN.com

Your fate was sealed the day you placed your hand in his.

jamesrage · Sep 26, 2009

Good riddance to human trash. SHe should have died with a needle in her arm or in the electric chair.

The Prof · Sep 26, 2009

susan denise atkins, aka sadie mae glutz, aka sexy sadie, was perhaps the most cold blooded of the tate-labianca killers

indeed, tho she was not present on the second night, august 9, 1969, atkins appeared to derive more enjoyment out of their grotesque deeds than her fellow murderers

she's also the bigmouth whose bragging to prostitute ronnie howard at sybil brand got the whole gang busted

at the end, her brain cancer had developed to a point where atkins looked to have an orange growing out the middle of her forehead, a huge, spherical protuberance

the manson murders totally freaked out america, they really were kind of a turning point in our cultural affairs, a great deal of innocence was forever gone

rolling stone obscenely named manson man of the year

there's so much sadness in this tragedy i've always been able to muster just the teeniest remainder for the evildoers in this affair

if you knew charlie's childhood...

he should have been executed long ago, but it's all so very sad

of course, the perponderant portion of our pity is for atkins' victims, steven parent, voytek frykowski, jay sebring, abigail folger, the beautiful ms tate and sharon's full term fetus

rip, all

Ex-Manson follower Susan Atkins dies

Tashah

jamesrage

The Prof