New Charles Manson murder admissions could point to even darker pattern for psychopath: experts
Serial killer Charles Manson confessed to more murders in a newly released prison phone call, but a forensic psychologist told Fox News Digital that his claims should be met with a degree of skepticism.
“There’s a whole part of my life that nobody knows about,” Manson said in the phone call, shown in a short teaser clip for Peacock’s upcoming docuseries “Making Manson.”
“I lived in Mexico for a while. I went to Acapulco, stole some cars,” Manson, who died at 83 in November 2017, continued. “I just got involved in stuff over my head, man. Got involved in a couple of killings. I left my .357 Magnum in Mexico City, and I left some dead people on the beach.”
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The documentary, which premieres on Tuesday, delves into more than two decades of previously unreleased conversations with the infamous cult figurehead, offering a more in-depth look at his childhood and life of crime before forming the “Manson Family” and during his time as a cult leader.
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The documentary also features interviews with his family members and people who knew him personally, and his continued violent behavior behind bars, where he assaulted several guards, started fires in his cell and wreaked general havoc.
“Charlie was very good at being evil and not showing it,” Phil Kaufman, Manson’s former cellmate, says in the series. “Anything that detracted him from his game plan at that time, he would squash it, but he did it with velvet gloves.”
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Manson spent more than 45 years in prison after he was convicted for directing his “Manson Family” – a troubled clan of mostly female followers whom he amassed using his charisma and hallucinogenic drugs – to kill at least seven people in California in the summer of 1969. Among the dead was director Roman Polanski’s pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, who was stabbed 16 times.
Manson did not directly carry out the murders – instead, he used psychological manipulation to incite his followers to kill as part of his “Helter Skelter” plot, which he believed would trigger a race war.
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Forensic psychologist Kris Mohandie told Fox News Digital that he wouldn’t be surprised if Manson carried out murders in addition to those he was convicted for – but that, conversely, his claims can’t be trusted entirely.
“It’s not surprising at all,” Mohandie said. “He was a psychopath, and you know, really involved in a multitude of different criminal behaviors and violence and getting his followers to do violence. It would not surprise me at all, given his history and what we know about what a psychopath he was.
“He’s very comfortable with manipulating people, hurting people, dominating people and taking advantage of people . . . it would not surprise me if there are other murders that he is responsible for, historically.”
“Most people that have been found responsible for multiple murders, like serial killers and such, [everyone says], ‘This person killed so many people,’ but you really only know what they’ve been caught for,” he continued.
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However, Mohandie reasoned, Manson was a “liar and an attention seeker.”
“A person like him also lies and he’s extraordinarily manipulative. The truth of what that really was will never be known,” Mohandie said. “A psychopath like him lies if there’s something that can be gained for it, for things as simple as attention or to shock people – that becomes a complicating variable in ever getting to the truth of it. We’ll never know what it was – people like him, and especially him, lie, deceive and manipulate for all kinds of motivations.”
Criminology expert James Pipe said that the new revelations are “a stark reminder of the long-lasting consequences of Manson’s actions and the importance of remaining vigilant in pursuing the truth, no matter how much time has passed.”
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“Manson’s admission to additional murders fundamentally changes what we thought we knew about his criminal history,” Pipe told Fox News Digital. “If these claims are proven, they point to a broader pattern of violence that extends beyond his notorious crimes in the United States. Law enforcement must investigate these claims thoroughly, especially in connection to unsolved cases in Mexico, to ensure every possible victim receives justice.”