Helter Skelter (book) Helter Skelter (book) Helter Skelter (1974) is a book by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry. Bugliosi had served as the prosecutor in the 1970 trial of Charles Manson. The book presents his firsthand account of the cases of Manson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and other members of the self-described Manson Family. It is the best-selling true crime book in history. The book recounts and assesses the investigation, arrest, and prosecution of Charles Manson and his followers for the notorious 1969 murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, actress Sharon Tate, and several others. The book takes its title from the apocalyptic
Charles Manson parole after California invalidated the state's death penalty statute in 1972. He served out his life sentence at California State Prison in Corcoran and died at age 83 in 2017. Charles Manson was born on November 12, 1934 to 16-year-old Kathleen Manson-Bower-Cavender, née Maddox (1918–1973), in the University of Cincinnati Academic Health Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was first named "no name Maddox". Within weeks, he was called Charles Milles Maddox. Manson's biological father appears to have been Colonel Walker Henderson Scott Sr. (1910–1954) against whom Kathleen Maddox filed a paternity suit that resulted in an agreed judgment in 1937.