CultNEWS101 Articles: 6/5/2025 (Legal, Charles Manson, Meditation, Mindfulness, OneTaste)

Legal, Charles Manson, Meditation, Mindfulness, OneTaste

ABC News: Former 'Manson family' member Patricia Krenwinkel, 77, recommended for parole over 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders

"Patricia Krenwinkel, a former follower of cult leader Charles Manson who was convicted for her role in the murders of seven people during a two-day killing spree across Los Angeles in 1969, has been recommended for parole.

It's the 16th time Krenwinkel has appeared before the parole board panel, and the second time parole has been recommended — the first being in 2022, before the decision was overturned by California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Krenwinkel, 77, is California's longest-serving female prisoner, having originally been sentenced to death in 1971 for her role in the brutal "Helter Skelter" killings, which shocked America and shone a light on the dark side of 1960s hippie counterculture.

Her sentence was commuted to life with the possibility of parole in 1972, when the state's Supreme Court ruled the death penalty was unconstitutional."

Science Alert: Meditation And Mindfulness Have a Dark Side We Often Overlook

" ... In the past eight years there has been a surge of scientific research in this area. These studies show that adverse effects are not rare.

A 2022 study, using a sample of 953 people in the US who meditated regularly, showed that over 10 percent of participants experienced adverse effects which had a significant negative impact on their everyday life and lasted for at least one month.

According to a review of over 40 years of research that was published in 2020, the most common adverse effects are anxiety and depression. These are followed by psychotic or delusional symptoms, dissociation or depersonalisation, and fear or terror."

Courthouse News Service: Government wraps 'sex cult' case in Brooklyn

"After four weeks of testimony, federal prosecutors rested their case Monday against two former leaders of OneTaste, a Bay Area company that marketed sex acts as meditation. Jurors must now decide whether the group's tactics crossed the line into forced labor conspiracy.

The company's founder, Nicole Daedone, 57, and former head of sales, Rachel Cherwitz, 44, each face one count that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

OneTaste's core product was "orgasmic meditation" or OM, pronounced like the sacred sound and spiritual symbol commonly invoked in yoga and meditation. Despite its branding, "OMing" is a far cry from those ancient practices; instead, it's a 15-minute partnered practice that involves stroking a woman's genitals — or in the case of "male OMing," giving a man a hand job.

Trial witnesses described an environment of high control with cruel and abusive managers who preached women's empowerment. Still, they ordered them to sexually serve men, via the "OM" practice and otherwise, particularly potential investors and high-paying clients.

Founded in San Francisco in 2004, the company established branches in New York City, London, Austin, Texas, and Boulder, Colorado, and later sold the city branches to franchisees. Daedone sold her shares in the business for $12 million in 2017. Her co-founder, Rob Kandell, an unindicted conspirator who testified under subpoena with government immunity, was bought out for $1.5 million three years earlier."

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Former 'Manson family' member Patricia Krenwinkel, 77, recommended for parole over 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders

Andrew Thorpe
ABC News
June 1, 2025

Patricia Krenwinkel, a former follower of cult leader Charles Manson who was convicted for her role in the murders of seven people during a two-day killing spree across Los Angeles in 1969, has been recommended for parole.

It's the 16th time Krenwinkel has appeared before the parole board panel, and the second time parole has been recommended — the first being in 2022, before the decision was overturned by California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Krenwinkel, 77, is California's longest-serving female prisoner, having originally been sentenced to death in 1971 for her role in the brutal "Helter Skelter" killings, which shocked America and shone a light on the dark side of 1960s hippie counterculture.

Her sentence was commuted to life with the possibility of parole in 1972, when the state's Supreme Court ruled the death penalty was unconstitutional.

In 1967, when Krenwinkel was 19, she met musician and small-time criminal Charles Manson at a party, leaving her job and apartment behind three days later to travel with him to San Francisco as she believed they might have a romantic relationship.

During the next 18 months, she and several other young men and women followed Manson around the country, becoming known as "the Manson family" as they fell deeper under his influence, often with the aid of psychedelic drugs.

She later said Manson abused her physically and emotionally during this time, including trafficking her to other men for sex, and she had tried to escape the group twice only to be brought back by other members of the "family".

In 1969, Manson — once an aspiring pop star — convinced his followers he was receiving secret messages through the Beatles' White Album, informing him of a coming race war that his group could wait out underground, before emerging to rule the world.

Charles Manson used everything from sex and LSD to the Beatles' White Album to influence his "family" of followers to murder.

In what prosecutors labelled an attempt to ignite that race war, Manson instructed Krenwinkel and several other followers to enter the home of actress Sharon Tate and her husband, director Roman Polanski, and to kill anyone they found inside.

His followers shot, beat and stabbed five people to death at the home that night — including Ms Tate, who was eight months pregnant at the time.

The following night, Manson and his followers attacked Leno and Rosemary LaBianca at a different house chosen at random, stabbing them to death before Krenwinkel wrote "Healter Skelter" [sic], "Rise" and "Death to Pigs" on the walls with their blood.

During their trial, Krenwinkel and two other young women involved in the murders drew press attention for smiling, laughing and singing as the proceedings took place, then for shaving their heads and carving the letter X into their foreheads as Manson had done.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-01/patricia-krenwinkel-charles-manson-follower-parole-board/105363328

CultNEWS101 Articles: 11/21/2024 (Chanel Maya Banks, Charles Manson, OneTaste, Legal)

Chanel Maya Banks, Charles Manson, OneTaste, Legal

ABC 33: Family insists Chanel Maya Banks is unsafe despite police claims, says she joined cult

"Loved ones of actor Chanel Maya Banks, who is most known for her roles in "Gossip Girl" and "Blue Bloods," said they are convinced the 36-year-old is in harm's way despite the fact that police said they found her unharmed in Texas a few days ago.

Banks' cousin Danielle-Tori Singh on Friday insisted the actor was brainwashed by a religious cult and is in danger. She also said she believes authorities mistakenly identified another woman as Banks.

"We know she's a part of a cult," Singh said during a news conference Friday. "We know that this organized group is not allowing her (to use) her phone."

Singh also said she thinks the cult has been posting on Banks' Instagram account. The account, Singh said, includes photos of a woman who claims to be Banks and that the actor is fine.

The woman also wrote that she just wants "to be free of a toxic woman and her family." The posts included a statement laced with inflammatory allegations, with the woman indicating she willingly left "to escape my cage" and to find spiritual renewal.

"The things that she is posting on her social media are not true and it's not her," Singh said, adding that all photos of Banks and her husband, Carlos, appeared to be deleted. "The only facial recognition that she provided is a little clip that she posted -- or whoever posted -- of her where she's getting her makeup done last night.

Singh added that she saw a separate video on YouTube of a woman in Texas during a retreat. She said while she believes the woman is Banks, she's still uncertain her cousin is safe.

In fact, she thinks Banks deliberately walked across the view of the camera and looked at the lens as a way to send her family a message."

Fox11: Cult leader Charles Manson confessed to additional murders in newly revealed phone call

"Hippie cult leader Charles Manson, who was the mastermind behind one of Hollywood's most gruesome slayings, confessed to additional murders before becoming the leader of the Manson Family cult, as featured in chilling audio that will be included in a new docuseries on Peacock.

The confessions were featured in a teaser clip of the new series, "Making Manson," in which Manson could be heard talking from a prison phone about his time south of the U.S. border.

"There's a whole part of my life that nobody knows about," Manson is heard saying in the clip. 'I lived in Mexico for a while. I went to Acapulco, stole some cars.

"I just got involved in some stuff over my head, man," he continued. "Got involved in a couple of killings. I left my .357 Magnum in Mexico City, and I left some dead people on the beach."

The docuseries premieres Nov. 19 on streaming service Peacock.

In 1971, Manson was convicted of nine murders, including the 1969 slaughter of actress Sharon Tate, who was pregnant at the time.

Prosecutors said he was attempting to foment a race war, an idea he supposedly got from a misreading of the Beatles song, "Helter Skelter."

The Manson murders were brutally horrific. Tate, who was 26 at the time of her death, was stabbed and hung from a rafter in her living room. The intruders used the victim's blood to write, "Pigs," while also misspelling "Healter Skelter."

While Manson did not carry out the murders himself, he was the master manipulator who persuaded others to kill for him.

Members of the Manson Family, as his followers were called, slaughtered five of its victims on Aug. 9, 1969: Tate, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring, Polish movie director Voityck Frykowski and Steven Parent, a friend of the property's caretakers. The murders took place at Tate's home while her husband, director Roman Polanski, was out of the country at the time.

The next night, a wealthy grocer and his wife, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, were stabbed to death in their home across town."

NBC: OneTaste founder Nicole Daedone says she plans to testify at her trial

"Nicole Daedone, the founder of OneTaste, a wellness company centered on the practice of "orgasmic meditation," said she will "absolutely" testify at her trial next year.

The former CEO is scheduled to stand trial in New York in January on one count of forced labor conspiracy. Prosecutors allege that she and former OneTaste executive Rachel Cherwitz, who is facing the same charge, targeted victims of trauma to become members and manipulated them into performing sex acts and going into debt, among other things. Cherwitz has denied any wrongdoing.

"It's not true," Daedone said of the allegations against her in an exclusive interview with NBC News NOW's "Top Story." "It's definitely not true. And as much as any human being, as this woman, this person, would not want to go to court because it's grueling, just even going to small hearings, I want to go to court because I want all of this transparent. I want it to be exposed. I want everything that I didn't say to be said."

Daedone rose to fame by teaching the practice of orgasmic meditation, or OM, as a key to women's well-being. She founded OneTaste in 2005 and grew it into a $12 million business with thousands of followers, including celebrity fans like Gwyneth Paltrow and Khloe Kardashian.

But it all came crashing down after a 2018 Bloomberg article and the 2022 Netflix documentary "Orgasm Inc." featured former employees who said they were subjected to a toxic environment that included emotional and physical abuse.

Daedone and Cherwitz were charged in a 2023 indictment that alleges they preyed on people who had been victims of previous trauma; forced One Taste members into debt by opening lines of credit to finance courses; subjected members to surveillance; had them sleep in communal homes and beds; and encouraged members to engage in sexual acts with investors and clients."

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CultNEWS101 Articles 9/6/2024 (Manson Family, Kingdom of Jesus Christ, Philippines, legal, Anke Richter)

Manson Family, Kingdom of Jesus Christ, Philippines, legal, Anke Richter

EL PAIS: The mysteries surrounding the Manson Family murders, more than half-a-century later: 'I believe what I'm told to believe, don't you?'

With an official thesis that's disputed, the Tate-LaBianca killings continue to spark debate. The mastermind of the crimes died in 2017, but another relevant and even more mysterious figure remains in prison: the musician Robert Beausoleil

"Less than five years had passed since the sentencing of Charles Manson and his criminal sect — the so-called "Manson Family" — when the official version of events was met with notable skepticism.

Truman Capote had become an authority on killers after the publication of In Cold Blood (1966), a book about the murder of a family in Kansas. He would go on to write a short story based on his 1972 interview with an imprisoned Beausoleil:

"Robert Beausoleil, who is now 31, is the real mystery figure of the Charles Manson cult. More to the point — and it's a point that has never been clearly brought forth in accounts of that tribe — he is the key to the mystery of the homicidal escapades of the so-called Manson Family, notably the Sharon Tate-La Bianca murders."

In the text — titled Then It All Came Down, published in the collection Music for Chameleons (1980) — Capote asserted that "it was out of devotion to 'Bobby' Beausoleil that Tex Watson and those cutthroat young ladies, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Hooten, sallied forth on their satanic errands."

In other words, the writer of the second-best-selling true crime novel didn't believe what was said in the first: Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders (1974). In this book, the prosecutor for the case — Vince Bugliosi — laid out the story that was endorsed by the courts."

US News: Hundreds of Police Raid a Religious Compound in Search of Filipino Preacher Wanted for Child Abuse

"Hundreds of police, backed by riot squads, have raided a vast religious compound in a southern Philippine city in search of a local preacher accused of sexual abuse and human trafficking.

A supporter of the group, called Kingdom of Jesus Christ, reportedly died due to a heart attack during the massive police raid that started at dawn in the group's compound in Davao city, live streamed online by a local TV network owned by the group, police said, adding that the death was not related to the police operations."

The Press: Journalist and cult expert Anke Richter on settling in Lyttelton

"Basically my whole journey of the book Cult Trip started with [12 years ago with Angie Meiklejohn]. She was this former teenager from Centrepoint who I'd met at a festival in Australia and then she came to New Zealand and visited me. I was about to head to the Frankfurt Book Fair and said, look, I want to pitch you and this [story] as a book and it kind of launched from us sitting in this space. These walls have heard a lot.

The book is my 10 years of research into cult groups, but also my experience of coming too close to the trauma of those who've come out of cults. It's really me being an accidental cult journalist, sometimes even a cult tourist.

When the book came out in 2022 I became a bit of a go-to person for many people who have had similar experiences, coming out of groups, communities where they grew up."

" ... Decult is a conference in October to bring people together and make conversations happen.

You could see it as professional development almost for stakeholders and government and health and education, law enforcement, media. It's also for the public to basically listen to the voice of the cult survivors and get an idea of what the issues are. So it's not just regurgitating trauma."

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Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.

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Please forward articles that you think we should add to cultintervention@gmail.com.

Former Cult Member Answers Cult Questions From Twitter

WIRED
Oct 7, 2021

Dr. Janja Lalich, a sociologist who used to be in a cult, answers the internet's burning questions about cults. How did Charles Manson get a cult following? What's the best movie about cults? Why did everyone in the Heaven's Gate cult wear Nikes? How do people get brainwashed? Dr. Janja answers all these questions and much more!

Manson family cultist Bruce Davis has parole hearing postponed after appearing on true crime podcast

Bruce Davis did not kill anyone himself but played a role in two Manson family murders

 Michael Ruiz Fox News

 February 2, 2024

FIRST ON FOX: Bruce Davis, a member of Charles Manson's murderous cult "family" that committed a series of California murders in 1969, had his latest parole hearing postponed after appearing on a true crime podcast.

Davis, who wrote in a Christmas card to the interviewer that he was looking forward to the hearing, wound up having it postponed after parole commissioners voiced concerns, he said. 

"I've yet to hear the podcast," Davis told Fox News Digital in an email, before asking about it. "Does it sound as if I'm glorifying Manson or my crimes?"

Davis gave two phone interviews with Keith Rovere, a former prison chaplain and the host of "The Lighter Side of Serial Killers," in February 2023 and April 2023 about his Christian faith in prison and the book he was writing behind bars. 

"He wanted my help and the help of my followers to ask him questions about his past to jog his memory for stories for the book," Rovere told Fox News Digital.

They discussed Davis' first encounter with Manson, life on the cult's Los Angeles ranch and anecdotes about other members and people in Manson's orbit, including the Beach Boys. 

Davis described Manson as a "little, undersized person" with outsize influence over his followers.

"I know from the dark side," Davis told Rovere over the phone from inside San Quentin State Prison. 

Rovere told Fox News Digital the subject of Davis' crimes did not come up. But Davis did discuss how Manson attracted a following and how cult members were frequently high on drugs.

"I know that I don't know everything," Davis said. "And there will be some questions that stimulate something that bring something back that is part of the story that I dismissed."

Davis, 81, has been denied parole dozens of times since his incarceration in 1972 for his role in the murders of Gary Hinman, a 34-year-old musician and friend of several Manson family members, and Donald "Shorty" Shea, a 35-year-old Hollywood stuntman.

He did not kill either of the victims himself and was not accused of taking part in the home invasion murders that killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others.

Steve Grogan, another Manson family member convicted in Shea's murder, was paroled in 1985 after leading investigators to the victim's remains.

California prison records show the board granted Davis parole in 2021, but Gov. Gavin Newsom overturned the commissioners' decision.

More recently, the board denied him parole in July 2022. He was not supposed to be eligible again until 2025, but the following year his application was approved for an administrative review.

California Department of Corrections records show that, on Jan. 18, parole officials postponed his suitability hearing. Records show Davis received a new hearing date Aug. 8.

Rovere said the postponement came in direct response to the commissioners learning about the podcast interviews. The prison's public information officer could not immediately confirm specific details about the hearing.

"If the parole board felt uneasy about him just doing a podcast, who knows what they'll think," said Rovere, who regularly hosts some of the country's most infamous killers on his podcast, including "Son of Sam" David Berkowitz and the "Happy Face killer" Keith Jesperson.

Rovere believes in positive interactions with the worst of the worst prisoners.

"Most of the people I talk to aren’t believers and aren’t religious. I don’t push it on them, but that’s my personal foundation," he said. "It’s mostly about making a positive change in their lives, because no one else is doing it."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Michael Ruiz is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to michael.ruiz@fox.com and on Twitter: @mikerreports

https://www.foxnews.com/us/manson-family-cultist-bruce-davis-has-parole-hearing-postponed-after-appearing-true-crime-podcast

Charles Manson cult follower Leslie Van Houten should be paroled, appeals court rules

CBS News
MAY 30, 2023

A California appeals court said Tuesday that Leslie Van Houten, who participated in two killings at the direction of cult leader Charles Manson in 1969, should be let out of prison on parole.

The appellate court's ruling reverses an earlier decision by Gov. Gavin Newsom to reject parole for Van Houten in 2020. She has been recommended for parole five times since 2016. All of those recommendations were rejected by either Newsom or former California Gov. Jerry Brown, with the latest such rejection coming in March of 2022.  

California Attorney General Rob Bonta could ask the California Supreme Court to stop her release. Neither his office nor Newsom's immediately responded to requests for comment on whether they would do so.

Van Houten, now in her 70s, is serving a life sentence for helping Manson and other followers kill Leno LaBianca, a grocer in Los Angeles, and his wife Rosemary. Van Houten was 19 at the time.

Newsom has said that Van Houten still poses a danger to society. In rejecting her parole, he said she offered an inconsistent and inadequate explanation for her involvement with Manson at the time of the killings.

The Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles ruled 2-1 to reverse Newsom's decision, writing there is "no evidence to support the Governor's conclusions" about Van Houten's fitness for parole.

The judges took issue with Newsom's claim that Van Houten did not adequately explain how she fell under Manson's influence. At her parole hearings, she discussed at length how her parents' divorce, her drug and alcohol abuse, and a forced illegal abortion led her down a path that left her vulnerable to him.

They also argued against Newsom's suggestion that her past violent acts were a cause for future concern were she to be released.

"Van Houten has shown extraordinary rehabilitative efforts, insight, remorse, realistic parole plans, support from family and friends, favorable institutional reports, and, at the time of the Governor's decision, had received four successive grants of parole," the judges wrote. "Although the Governor states Van Houten's historical factors 'remain salient,' he identifies nothing in the record indicating Van Houten has not successfully addressed those factors through many years of therapy, substance abuse programming, and other efforts."

The dissenting judge argued that there was some evidence Van Houten lacked insight into the heinous killings, and agreed with Newsom that her petition to be released should be denied.

Nancy Tetreault, Van Houten's attorney, said she expects Bonta to ask the state Supreme Court to review the lower court's decision, a process that could take years.

In addition, Bonta will likely request a stay of the appellate court's ruling, Tetreault said. The high court could order Van Houten's release while it decides on whether to grant the stay.

"I will, of course, vigorously oppose any stay," Tetreault said. "And they could let her out during that process."

Van Houten was 19 when she and other cult members stabbed to death the LaBiancas in August 1969. She said they carved up Leno LaBianca's body and smeared the couple's blood on the walls.

The slayings came the day after other Manson followers, not including Van Houten, killed pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others in violence that spread fear across Los Angeles and captivated the nation.

Van Houten was found suitable for parole after a July 2020 hearing, but her release was blocked by Newsom. She filed an appeal with a trial court, which rejected it. She then sought her release through the appellate courts.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/leslie-van-houten-charles-manson-labianca-murders-parole/

 

Linda Kasabian: Manson family member dies at 73

Gang’s getaway driver passed away in hospital in January and has since been cremated

Joe Sommerlad
Independent
February 28, 2023

Linda Kasabian, a member of Charles Manson’s notorious “Manson Family” criminal gang, has died at the age of 73.

Kasabian passed away on 21 January at a hospital in Tacoma, Washington. Her body has reportedly since been cremated but her precise cause of death has not been revealed.

A death certificate, obtained by TMZ, recorded that Kasabian had changed her surname in later life to “Chiochios” in order to protect her identity after she ended her association with the cult.

After participating in the “two nights of mayhem” in which the gang killed seven people in Los Angeles, California, in August 1969, Kasabian agreed to serve as a key prosecution witness at Manson’s trial in 1970-71 in exchange for immunity.

Over the course of 18 days of testimony, Kasabian described the murder of Sharon Tate, the pregnant actress wife of the Polish film director Roman Polanski after gang members Charles “Tex” Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, Susan Atkins and herself entered the couple’s Cielo Drive home in Benedict Canyon.

She testified that Watson, Krenwinkel and Atkins fatally shot and stabbed five victims at the scene – Tate and her unborn child Paul, hairdresser Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, her boyfriend Wojciech Frykowski and Steven Parent, a friend of Tate’s groundskeeper – while Mr Polanski was away in Europe shooting a movie.

Kasabian denied taking part in that atrocity but admitted to being the driver on the second night of the attacks, when Leno and Rosemary LaBianca were also murdered inside their home.

Kasabian’s testimony helped secure murder convictions for Manson and the other members of the “Family” who carried out his orders and were subsequently handed life sentences.

Their leader passed away in 2017 behind bars after suffering a cardiac arrest arising from colon cancer.

Born in Biddeford, Maine, on 21 June 1949, Kasabian had reportedly lived in Tacoma with her daughter since the late 1980s, with Rolling Stone writing in 2016 that had existed in a state of “near poverty”.

Interviewed by CNN’s Larry King in 2009, while wearing a disguise to protect her identity, Kasabian said she had been “on a path of healing and rehabilitation” in the intervening decades and claimed she bore a guilt over the killings that none of her former co-conspirators felt.

The British indie band Kasabian took their name from her and she was most recently played by Maya Hawke in Quentin Tarantino’s revisionist take on the murders Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), the character rechristened “Flowerchild”.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/linda-kasabian-death-charles-manson-b2291097.html

How Angela Lansbury Saved Her Daughter From Charles Manson's Cult

RYAN SMITH
Newsweek
October 12, 2022

Angela Lansbury, who died on Tuesday at the age of 96, once moved her family from Los Angeles to Ireland to save her daughter, Deidre Shaw, from the clutches of infamous cult leader Charles Manson.

In 1971, Manson was given the death sentence for a series of brutal murders he had led his "family members," or cult followers, to commit, including the 1969 murder of pregnant screen star Sharon Tate, the wife of filmmaker Roman Polanski.

Manson did not physically participate in the murders, instead orchestrating his so-called "family" to kill for him. At the time of Manson's sentencing, the death penalty was legal in California, but by 1972, the death penalty was abolished in the state. Manson remained imprisoned until he died in 2017 at the age of 83, having been denied parole 12 times.

As news of Murder, She Wrote star Lansbury's death spread on Tuesday, a number of fans took to social media to share their

Writer and photographer Christopher Moloney wrote how Manson's influence on her daughter's life partially led to her making a major life-decision.

"Angela Lansbury told a story about her daughter falling under the spell of a Hollywood deadbeat," Moloney tweeted. "He would pick the girl up from school and get her to steal money and food from her parents for him. Worried, Lansbury moved the entire family to Ireland. The guy was Charles Manson."

In a 2014 interview with U.K. newspaper the Daily Mail, London-born Lansbury said that she did relocate to County Cork for one year in the 1960s, to save her then-teenage daughter and her son, Anthony Shaw, from drug use.

"It started with cannabis but moved on to heroin," Lansbury said. "There were factions up in the hills above Malibu that were dedicated to deadly pursuits. It pains me to say it but, at one stage, Deidre was in with a crowd led by Charles Manson.

"She was one of many youngsters who knew him—and they were fascinated. He was an extraordinary character, charismatic in many ways, no question about it.

"I said to Peter [Shaw, husband], 'We have to leave,'" Lansbury added. "So we upped sticks and moved the family to a house I found in County Cork. I was drawn to Ireland because it was the birthplace of my mother, and it was also somewhere my children wouldn't be exposed to any more bad influences. [...]

"So I refused all work for a year and simply kept house. I bought Elizabeth David's books and learnt how to cook properly. It was a wonderful time in my life."

Discussing the path her children could have followed had she and her husband not intervened, Lansbury said: "It fills me with dread. Peter and I had no idea what had been going on. But then we had no experience of drugs.

"We didn't know the significance of finding a pipe in a drawer. Why would we? And when we did, we didn't know how to help them. Nor were there any experts back then who could offer advice to the parents of kids from good families who were using, and sometimes overdosing on, drugs. It was like an epidemic.

"Certainly, I have no doubt we would have lost one or both of our two if they hadn't been removed to a completely different milieu, the simplicity of life in Ireland," Lansbury said.

"In the end, we found a doctor who prescribed methadone, a heroin substitute, which helped with the withdrawal symptoms as Anthony and Deidre were weaned off hard drugs. We were so very, very lucky we spotted what was happening just in time."

https://www.newsweek.com/how-angela-lansbury-saved-her-daughter-charles-manson-cult-1751086

Manson follower Patricia Krenwinkel's parole blocked by California governor

CBS news
OCTOBER 15, 2022


California's governor blocked the parole of Charles Manson follower Patricia Krenwinkel on Friday, more than five decades after she scrawled "Helter Skelter" on a wall using the blood of one of their victims.

Gov. Gavin Newsom said Krenwinkel, now 74, is still too much of a public safety risk to be freed.

"Ms. Krenwinkel fully accepted Mr. Manson's racist, apocalyptical ideologies," Newsom said. "Ms. Krenwinkel was not only a victim of Mr. Manson's abuse. She was also a significant contributor to the violence and tragedy that became the Manson Family's legacy."

A two-member parole panel for the first time in May recommended that Krenwinkel be released, after she previously had been denied parole 14 times.

Newsom has previously rejected parole recommendations for other followers of Manson, who died in prison in 2017.

Krenwinkel became the state's longest-serving female inmate when fellow Manson follower Susan Atkins died of cancer in prison in 2009. Her attorney, Keith Wattley, said he understands Krenwinkel is the longest-serving woman in the United States.

She and other followers of the cult leader terrorized the state in the late 1960s, committing crimes that Newsom said "were among the most fear-inducing in California's history."

She was convicted in the slayings of pregnant actor Sharon Tate and four other people in 1969. She helped kill grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary the next night in what prosecutors say was an attempt by Manson to start a race war.

Newsom agreed that she has been well-behaved in prison, has completed many rehabilitation and education programs and has "demonstrated effusive remorse." But he concluded that "her efforts have not sufficiently reduced her risk for future dangerousness."

She still doesn't have sufficient insight into what caused her to commit the crimes or her "triggers for antisocial thinking and conduct" during bad relationships, Newsom said.

"Beyond the brutal murders she committed, she played a leadership role in the cult, and an enforcer of Mr. Manson's tyranny. She forced the other women in the cult to obey Mr. Manson, and prevented them from escaping when they tried to leave," he said.

Wattley did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages seeking comment on Newsom's decision.

But Anthony DiMaria, nephew of Jay Sebring, one of Krenwinkel's victims, had urged Newsom to block her release "due to the rare, severe, egregious nature of her crimes." He said her actions incited "the entire Helter Skelter legacy that has caused permanent historical scars" and inspired at least two ritualized killings years later.

New laws since Krenwinkel was last denied parole in 2017 required the parole panel to consider that she committed the murders at a young age and is now elderly.

Also, for the first time, Los Angeles County prosecutors weren't at the parole hearing to object, under District Attorney George Gascón's policy that prosecutors should not be involved in deciding whether prisoners are ready for release.

She and other participants were initially sentenced to death. But they were resentenced to life with the possibility of parole after the death penalty in California was briefly ruled unconstitutional in 1972.

Krenwinkel was 19 and living with her older sister when she met Manson, then age 33, at a party during a time when she said she was feeling lost and alone.

"He seemed a bit bigger than life," she testified in May, and she started feeling "that somehow his take on the world was the right, was the right one."

She said she left with him for what she thought would be a relationship with "the new man in my life" who unlike others told her he loved her and that she was beautiful.

Manson "had answers that I wanted to hear ... that I might be loved, that I might have the kind of affection that I was looking forward to in my life," she said.

Instead, she said Manson abused her and others physically and emotionally while requiring that they trust him without question, testimony that led the parole panel to conclude that Krenwinkel was a victim of intimate partner battery at the time.

It took about two years of traveling and drug use until he began emerging as "the Christ-like figure who was leading the cult" who began talking about sparking a race war and asking his followers, "would you kill for me? And I said yes."

During her 2016 parole hearing, Krenwinkel talked about how she repeatedly stabbed Abigail Folger, 26, heiress to a coffee fortune, at Tate's home on Aug. 9, 1969.

The next night, she said Manson and his right-hand man, Charles "Tex" Watson, told her to "do something witchy," so she stabbed La Bianca in the stomach with a fork, then took a rag and wrote "Helter Skelter," "Rise" and "Death to Pigs" on the walls with his blood.

The bone-handled fork "was part of a set that we used at holidays ... to carve our turkeys," the couple's nephew Louis Smaldino, told parole officials, calling Krenwinkel "a vicious and uncaring killer."

Sharon Tate's sister, Debra Tate, the last surviving member of her immediate family, was among victims who dismissed Krenwinkel's explanation that she was led to Manson by alcohol use and a non-supportive family while growing up.

"We all come from homes with problems and didn't decide to go out and brutally kill seven strangers," Tate told parole officials.


First published on October 15, 2022

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/charles-manson-follower-patricia-krenwinkel-parole-blocked-governor-gavin-newsom/

CultNEWS101 Articles: 4/26/2022 (Shincheonji, Manson, Hillsong)

Shincheonji, Manson, Hillsong, South Africa

IOL: Cape Town women lured into secretive religious sect

"THREE Cape Town women have lifted the lid on how they were lured into joining a "cult-like" South Korean-based church whose leader is labelled the immortal messiah.

The women, between the ages of 23 and 29, said they were recruited into the Shincheonji Church of Jesus (SCJ), a known secretive religious sect, under the false pretence of becoming better Christians. They wanted to speak about their experience to ward off others from falling prey to the alleged "secrecy, lies and a false prophet from South Korea".

The church, which has been labelled a pseudo-religion or cult by other mainstream churches, was founded in the 1980s by leader Lee-Man Hee and is believed to have more than 200 000 members. The church has been the subject of numerous investigations because of its cult-like activities.

The church was at the centre of huge controversy last year when it emerged that it accounted for more than half of South Korea's coronavirus cases.

Lee was also found guilty of embezzling billions of rands from his organisation and given a suspended prison sentence.

The church's teaching claims that their founder is a prophet called to deliver God's work before the second coming of Christ and that only he can decipher the Book of Revelation and its metaphors.

The Cape Town women as new recruits had to write a test on the church's teachings before they were welcomed into the fold. They were also warned not to speak to their family or friends about the church.

The women, like other newbies, were recruited through social media such as Instagram, BumbleBee and LinkedIn."

How Well Do You Know Your Moon: Jeong Myeong-seok, a former FFWPU member, started his own cult and is now in jail for multiple rape

"Jeong Myeong-Seok's group gave these "Vagina necklaces" to selected female followers known as evergreens. (evergreen = someone who won't get married because they have fully given themselves over to Jeong.) 

His cult is known as Providence (officially Christian Gospel Mission). Christian Gospel Mission are known by different names in different regions. Providence or Providence Church in Europe and the US, Setsuri (Japanese for "providence") in Japan, the Bright Moon Church, the Morning Star Church, and Jesus Morning Star (JMS). Every year in spring, Providence holds a Flower Festival event in Wol Myeong-dong, South Korea. In 1999, Jeong founded the Global Association of Culture and Peace (the GACP). It also uses front groups called: Elohim Bible Academy and Save the Earth from A to Z".

National Post: Manson follower denied parole, deemed 'unreasonable danger to society' after 50 years in jail

"Leslie Van Houten, who has already been imprisoned for 50 years and is serving a life sentence for her role in the notorious Manson family murders, was denied parole on Tuesday.

The 72-year-old "currently poses an unreasonable danger to society if released from prison at this time," California Governor Gavin Newsom said in his parole review, the Associated Press reported.

A tentative date for another parole suitability hearing is expected in May 2023, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Van Houten's release has been recommended five times since 2016.

This is the fifth time her parole has been blocked by a governor in the state.

A petition to keep Van Houten in prison was created by actress Sharon Tate's sister, Debra Tate. It had garnered almost 180,000 signatures by Tuesday morning.

In the petition, Debra Tate wrote that after the victims were killed, Van Houten showered and stole a dress and a leather purse to wear."

Christian Post: The dangerous legal structures of Hillsong Church

" ... In 2010, the legal structure for Hillsong in the United States was being constructed. Attorney Stephen Lentz, the father of Carl Lentz who would become Hillsong's most popular American pastor, drew up the articles of incorporation for Hillsong Ministries USA, Inc., and used language common to many televangelist churches' governing documents. Stephen Lentz wrote in Article 6, "The Corporation shall have no members."

These words started appearing frequently in church corporation documents in the 1990s. In 1994, before Joel Osteen became pastor, Lakewood Church restated its articles of incorporation with the words, "The corporation elects to have no members."

The churches of televangelists Mike Murdock, Eddie Long, and Creflo Dollar also adopted similar language. Ironically, the bylaws of Grace Community Church, pastored by well-known Hillsong critic John MacArthur, use the exact same words as Hillsong Ministries USA: "The Corporation shall have no members."

This odd phrase prevents church attendees from being "corporate members," which means that church attendees have no voting rights in the church. Instead, key decision-making is restricted to the church board of directors or church elders."

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