Tex Watson was just a young man from Texas in 1969 when he came under the spell of drugs and Charles Manson — and helped kill seven people.
Wikimedia CommonsManson Family member Tex Watson ’s mugshot from prison house in California , 1971 .
Tex Watson , have it away as Charles Watson to his family unit , was a normal kid — an exceptional one , even . In his hometown of Farmersville , Texas , about an hour northeast of Dallas , he pay heed church and became a juvenility group leader in his home state of Texas , was an A scholar , and a star athlete in football , basketball , and track . He see college at North Texas State University .
But then , a sojourn to a Quaker in California changed Watson ’s life always .
Wikimedia CommonsManson Family member Tex Watson’s mugshot from prison in California, 1971.
Entranced by the flower child counterculture brewing on the West Coast , Tex Watson resolve to move there — where he meet mass murdererCharles Manson . Tex Watson became Manson ’s proper - bridge player man and help carry out his vision for seven grisly murders in August 1969 .
Tex Watson’s Early Life Before Moving To California
Charles Denton Watson Jr. was born on December 2 , 1945 , in Dallas , Texas . He turn up in a Methodist family , believe that the best way to reach the “ American Dream ” was to work hard , get an education , and contribute a moral life sentence .
For a long metre , Charles Watson complied with this vision . He was an honor - roll bookman and a church spring chicken group leader .
Bettmann / Getty ImagesCharles “ Tex ” Watson helped shoot down seven people in August 1969 .
Bettmann/Getty ImagesCharles “Tex” Watson helped kill seven people in August 1969.
Upon fine-tune from high school , Tex Watson chose to go to North Texas State University in Denton . Denton was a far cry from his small - town nurture and some believe that it was here that Watson ’s character began to slip one’s mind as he descend into the party scene .
When investment company unravel low , Watson take a job with Braniff Airlines as a baggage handler . He got free flights as a perk of the job , so he flew to Los Angeles about eight time in two month to visit an one-time brotherhood brother .
Tex Watson quickly fell in beloved with California — and he never looked back .
Bettmann/Getty ImagesCharles “Tex” Watson arrives for his arraignment on charges of conspiracy and murder.
Charles Watson Meets Charles Manson
Tex Watson go to Cal State Los Angeles with the idea that he ’d finish take in his degree , but he drop out after less than a semester to enjoy biography in the fast lane . He get a caper selling wig and puzzle his fraternity buddy , David Neale , a job at the same store .
One fateful eventide , he was driving home and picked up a hitchhiker .
InWatson ’s wrangle :
Hulton Archive / Stringer1969 police mug shot of American cult leader and murderer Charles Manson.
“ hitchhiker were pretty coarse on Sunset , and I draw over to pick one up . When he told me his name was Dennis Wilson , it did n’t stand for anything to me , but when he state he was one of the Beach Boys , I was impressed . ”
Bettmann / Getty ImagesCharles “ Tex ” Watson arrives for his arraignment on charges of conspiracy and execution .
Wilson , The Beach Boys ’ drummer , then take aim Watson to his home on Sunset Boulevard , in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles .
Ralph Crane/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty ImagesWatson lived with the Manson Family at Spahn Ranch from late 1968 until he fled California for Texas in October of 1969.
Tex Watson was shocked when he deplume up — the place was enormous , far dissimilar from his small dwelling house in Texas — and even more surprised to be ask for in .
In the sustenance way , Watson find a man sitting on the floor with his guitar , surrounded by five or six untried charwoman . “ He looked up , ” Watson later call in , “ and the first thing I felt was a sort of gentleness , an embracing variety of acceptance and love . ”
Another man at the house introduced them : “ This is Charlie , Charlie Manson . ”
Bettmann/GettyManson family members and murder suspects Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkle, andLeslie van Houten.
Hulton Archive / Stringer1969 police mug sprout of American cult drawing card and liquidator Charles Manson .
Then they all got stoned .
Tex Watson was hooked , but not on drugs — at least not at first . It was the horse sense of residential area that take out him in .
Julian Wasser/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty ImagesRoman Polanski sits on his blood-spattered porch soon after his wife, Sharon Tate, and unborn child were murdered by the Manson Family. The word “PIG” can still be seen scrawled on the door in blood.
“ Here I was , accepted in a world I ’d never even woolgather about , mellow and at my simplicity . Charlie murmured in the setting , something about love , finding lovemaking , let yourself love . I suddenly recognise that this was what I was bet for : love life . Not that my parent and brother and sis had n’t loved me , but somehow , now , that did n’t bet . I wanted the sort of love they talked about in the songs — the kind of beloved that did n’t ask you to be anything did n’t judge what you were , did n’t set up any rules or regulation . ”
Manson ’s “ sept ” turned also to LSD . Regular acid trip , combined withCharles Manson‘s gonzo teachings , led to unknown demeanour — behavior that commence to pull out care to the group .
Tex Watson Becomes Part Of The Manson Family
Tex Watson moved in with Manson and his following atSpahn Ranch , a run - down former movie band , in November 1968 . This is where Watson take his nickname ; George Spahn , the 80 - yr - honest-to-goodness , near blind proprietor of the spread , right away set Watson ’s Texas speech pattern .
In closing off at the ranch , Manson start to preach a strange gospel truth : he convinced his followers that he was a god - comparable figure whose every word should be obeyed .
Ralph Crane / The LIFE Picture Collection / Getty ImagesWatson lived with the Manson Family at Spahn Ranch from late 1968 until he fled California for Texas in October of 1969 .
Michael Haering/Herald Examiner Collection/Los Angeles Public LibraryCharles “Tex” Watson following a court appearance on 12 April 2025.
Manson used the full term “ Helter Skelter ” — take over from a Beatles song – to describe a coming “ race warfare ” between black and snowy people . According to him , all his “ family ” had to do was burrow underneath Death Valley , wait out the battle , and issue as the only remaining white people and heritor patent to the human legacy .
The only trouble was that it was taking too long for state of war to break out — which meant theManson Family memberswould have to incite that war themselves .
Tex Watson described the events leading up to the slaying in an interview :
Herald Examiner Collection/Los Angeles Public LibraryCharles “Tex” Watson holding a copy of his memoir,Will You Die for Me?, in 1978.
“ After about two weeks of taking these drugs and becoming just void of sense of right and wrong , Manson order , ‘ Hey , I want you to go out and kill these people . To go up to this blank space and kill everyone who is there . ’ He gave us the order , the directions … he tell the little girl to write something witchy on the wall . Here I was , a naïve Texas son without a conscience … think that the world was going to come to an destruction tomorrow . ”
Tex Watson would head down a drab path .
Watson’s Role In The Manson Family Murders
In the weensy hour of Aug. 9 , 1969 , Tex Watson and three of Manson ’s daughter — Susan Atkins , Patricia Krenwinkel , andLinda Kasabian — headed to the place of Hollywood director Roman Polanski and his wife , the actressSharon Tate .
Bettmann / GettyManson family phallus and slaying suspect Susan Atkins , Patricia Krenwinkle , andLeslie van Houten .
Tate was home at10050 Cielo Drivewith four other people : coffee heiressAbigail Folger , x - fellow and Hollywood hair stylistJay Sebring , Folger ’s boyfriend and Polanski ’s friend from PolandWojciech Frykowski , and visitant Steven Parent .
Wikimedia CommonsTex Watson in an undated prison photograph.
Atkins later come back Tex Watson waking up Frykowski in the living room whisper this eery message : “ I ’m the devil , and I ’m here to do the devil ’s business . ”
Tex Watson and the three others proceeded tostab Tate and her acquaintance dozens of times . Watson himself , apparently the only one with a gun , shot 18 - year - sometime Parent four times and sprout Frykowski double . They scrawled “ PIG ” on the front doorway in the victims ’ blood before leave the sick crime scene of theTate execution .
Julian Wasser / The LIFE Images Collection / Getty ImagesRoman Polanski sit down on his blood - spattered porch soon after his married woman , Sharon Tate , and unborn tiddler were polish off by the Manson Family . The word “ PIG ” can still be seen scrawled on the door in blood .
YetManson , though he did n’t kill anyone himself , was n’t satisfied with his underling ’ work ; he mat up they needed a lesson in slaying . So the next day , he accompany the former Nox ’s grampus and supervised themurder of food market story executive Leno LaBianca and his wife , Rosemary , a businesswoman .
These murders were some of the most gruesome and shocking in American account .
Tex Watson Tries To Escape After The Tate-LaBianca Murders
Tex Watson fled to Texas on Oct. 2 , 1969 , about two months after the murders . The race state of war that Manson predicted never happened .
Michael Haering / Herald Examiner Collection / Los Angeles Public LibraryCharles “ Tex ” Watson following a judicature appearance on September 28 , 1970 .
His freedom back home did n’t last long , though . He was arrest on Nov. 30 , 1969 , and charged with seven counts of first - degree murder . His parents and sib were shocked and horrified . His attorneys fought his extradition to California for nine months but ultimately fail .
After recede an attempt to plea insanity , a jury found Watson shamefaced of seven counts of first - degree murder . As fate would have it , California get rid of the decease penalty in 1972 , a year after Tex Watson was sentenced to death . So instead of the destruction penalisation , he received life in prison .
What Happened To Charles “Tex” Watson And Where He Is Today
Tex Watson became a put up - again Christian in prison and an ordained minister . Weirdly enough , Rosemary LaBianca ’s girl supports Watson ’s ministry , squall Abounding Love , though Watson has been charge of using money from his ministry for personal intention .
Herald Examiner Collection / Los Angeles Public LibraryCharles “ Tex ” Watson holding a copy of his memoir , Will You Die for Me ? , in 1978 .
He claims to feel remorse for the crimes he committed and the life history he terminate 50 years ago . “ I detest what I ’ve done , ” he once said . “ I hate own to be the someone that had committed a offense that ’s so repulsive . I detest that . ”
Tex Watson assay to excuse why he select to toy a purpose in the slaughter :
“ Growing up a peaceful person not communicating my desire , I entered college to please my parents . I looked up to old college men as father figures , while fearing failure and angry … .The crimes ended up bringing my parents to their stifle , causing destruction , detriment , humiliation , and much plethora . My sib were go forth to hold them up from all the emotional painfulness , which I so profoundly regret . ”
The prisoner married and had four kid before California banned connubial visits in prisons . He divorce in 2003 .
InOctober 2016 , a parole board denied Watson ’s asking for parole for the 17th time since his sentence .
Wikimedia CommonsTex Watson in an undated prison photograph .
One prosecutor redact Tex Watson as an impenitent mass manslayer after the parole hearing : “ These were some of the most horrific crime in California history , and we conceive he proceed to present a lack of self-reproach and remains a public base hit risk . ”
Watson persist in prison in San Diego County , just north of the Mexican border .
WhileCharles Manson diedin 2017 , Charles “ Tex ” Watson live on , go along to appeal the decisiveness of the court in an as - yet unsuccessful bid for freedom . He has pass much more of his lifetime behind bar than he ever spend free — and it reckon like , as a consequence of his ghastly crimes , he ’ll die there too .
After this flavour at Tex Watson , learn more about theManson Family . Then , pick up aboutCharles Manson ’s mother Kathleen Maddox .
