Leslie Van Houten
Leslie Louise Van Houten (born August 23, 1949) is an American convicted murderer and former member of the Manson Family. During her time with Manson's group, she was known by aliases such as Louella Alexandria, Leslie Marie Sankston, Linda Sue Owens and Lulu. Van Houten was arrested and charged in relation to the 1969 murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Van Houten was convicted and sentenced to death, but a 1972 California Supreme Court ruling found the death penalty unconstitutional, resulting in her sentence being commuted to life in prison. Her conviction was overturned in a 1976 appellate court decision which granted her a retrial. Her second trial ended with a deadlocked jury and a mistrial. At her third trial in 1978, she was convicted of two counts of murder and one count of conspiracy and sentenced to seven years to life in prison. After spending 53 years in prison that included two dozen parole hearings and parole rejections by two California governors, Van Houten was paroled in 2023. Early life Van Houten was born on August 23, 1949, in the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena to Paul Van Houten and Jane (née Edwards). Her father is of Dutch descent, and her mother is of Irish, English, Scottish, and German descent. She grew up in a middle-class churchgoing family along with an older brother and two adopted siblings, a brother and a sister, who were Korean. Her mother and father divorced when she was 14. She began smoking marijuana, and around the age of 15, began taking LSD. At 17, she ran away with her boyfriend, but returned to complete high school, graduating from Monrovia High School (in Monrovia, California) in 1967. According to Van Houten, she discovered that she was pregnant and was ordered by her mother to undergo an abortion and bury the fetus in their backyard. Van Houten stated that after this event, she felt very removed from her mother and harbored intense anger toward her. She had a period of interest in yoga and took a year-long secretarial course, but became a hippie, living at a commune. Manson Family After a few months in a commune in Northern California, Van Houten met Catherine Share and Bobby Beausoleil and moved in with them and another woman during the summer of 1968. The four broke up after jealous arguments, and Share left to join Charles Manson's commune. Van Houten, then aged 19, followed Share. At this time, she phoned her mother to say she was dropping out and would not be making contact again. Manson decided when they would eat, sleep, and have sex, and with whom they would have sex. He also controlled the taking of LSD, giving followers larger doses than he himself took. According to Manson, "When you take LSD enough times, you reach a state of nothing. Of no thought." According to Van Houten, she became "saturated in acid" and could not grasp the existence of those living a non-psychedelic reality. From August 1968,