Tate, Others Killed By Paranoid – Capote
Thursday, August 28th, 1969
NEW YORK, Aug 28 – Author Truman Capote, whose book “In Cold Blood” detailed a savage multiple-murder in rural Kansas, suggests that “a very young, enraged paranoid” was responsible for the recent slayings of Sharon Tate and four others in her Bel Air, Calif. home.
Capote, appearing Wednesday on the NBC television “Tonight Show”, said his explanation of the murders was “more of a fantasy” based on a belief that one person committed the slayings in a fit of rage.
The author said it appeared the murderer was known to the victims, that he had been at the house earlier in the evening and that he left abruptly after someone said something which triggered a deep strain of paranoia.
Elaborating on his “fantasy” explanation, Capote said the killer went to his home for a gun and knife then returned to the darkened Tate home. By then the actress and her friend, Abigail Folger, had retired, leaving hair stylist Jay Sebring and Voityck Frokowski sitting in the living room.
Capote theorized that the killer cut the telephone wires and awakened the women, ultimately – and at gunpoint – forcing Miss Tate and Sebring to tie themselves up.
Having immobilized two of his victims, the murderer then shot Frokowski and Miss Folger as they tried to escape across the lawn, the author said, Steven Parent, the fifth victim, was probably mistaken for caretaker William Garretson, Capote said, and shot while driving down the estate’s driveway.
He said the killer probably experienced a sexual release after completing the crimes, was drowsy and probably slept for two days.
Capote said his interest in the Tate murders stems from the fact that he had known all of the victims, except Parent, in different capacities for periods ranging from six months to six years.
In the journalistic novel, “In Cold Blood”, Capote related the story of two men who killed a family of four in a farmhouse in rural Kansas. During his research for the book, the author interviewed the killers at great length.