A California state parole board has recommended parole for Patricia Krenwinkel, a follower of Charles Manson, for the second time. The decision now awaits approval from California Governor Gavin Newsom, who previously denied her first parole recommendation. The review process can take up to 150 days after a parole hearing.
Krenwinkel, 77, is serving a life sentence for her involvement in the murders of actress Sharon Tate and four others in August 1969, as well as the LaBianca couple the following night. These killings were part of Manson’s plan to incite a race war.
She was first recommended for parole in May 2022, but Newsom denied clemency five months later. Krenwinkel has been denied parole 14 times prior to her first recommendation. At 19, she met Manson at a party and left her life behind, believing they would have a romantic relationship, only to face abuse and manipulation.
Krenwinkel confessed to stabbing Abigail Folger during the Tate murders and participated in the LaBianca killings, where she infamously wrote “Helter Skelter” on the wall in blood. Initially sentenced to death, her sentence was commuted to life with the possibility of parole in 1972 after a temporary ruling against the death penalty in California. She is currently the state’s longest-serving inmate. The California governor’s office and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation have not yet commented on the latest recommendation.
