Post by elantric on Sept 23, 2020 22:11:56 GMT -6
www.kentucky.com/news/state/article186693693.html
Charles Manson, who died last week at age 83, shocked the world and gained notoriety for the August 1969 murders of eight people carried out by his followers on his orders.
By 1972, Manson and three of his followers were imprisoned for the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders. But some members of “The Family” who had avoided conviction continued to live lives of crime, and are they are thought to be responsible for at least three other murders, including those of a former Bardstown man and his wife.
James Willett, a Marine veteran who had served in Vietnam, was living in Los Angeles with his wife, Lauren, and their 8-month-old daughter when they became acquainted with some of Manson’s former associates sometime in 1972. Months later, James and Lauren Willett were dead.
Four former Manson associates — two men and two women — were eventually convicted. The women were Nancy Laura Pitman, aka Brenda McCann, and Priscilla Cooper, a former Manson cult member. The two men were Michael Lee Monfort and James T. Craig, members of the Aryan Brotherhood.
Monfort and Craig killed James and buried his body in October near Guerneville, Calif. On Nov. 8, a hiker discovered James’ body in a shallow grave near the Russian River.
Three days later, police spotted Willett’s car at a house in Stockton, Calif., about 100 miles from where his body was found. When police entered the house, they found Lauren’s body buried in the basement. She had been shot in the head. The couple’s 8-month-old daughter was unharmed.
The couple’s connection to their killers and the motive for the murders remain subject to speculation. Press accounts at the time, reported in the Nov. 16, 1972, edition of The Kentucky Standard, said the family had been held captive for some time. James’ father told The Standard that a few months earlier, his son had said he wanted to move away from Los Angeles because he feared the Manson family.
Monfort, James and another man, William Goucher, had been supporting themselves with armed robbery leading up to the Willetts’ killings.
“Police surmised that Lauren Willett was killed after learning of the murder of her husband, to keep her from going to the police. As for the murder of James Willett, the official police theory is that Willett himself may have been about to inform about the robberies the group had committed,” Vincent Buglosi, the L.A. district attorney who prosecuted Manson, wrote in his 1974 book, “Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders.”
Press accounts at the time claimed that Willett was involved in the armed robberies and had decided to turn the men in. But in “Taming the Beast: Charles Manson’s Life Behind Bars,” author Edward George wrote that James discovered only shortly before he was killed that the men were supporting themselves through armed robbery, and that they killed him after he threatened to turn them in. George wrote that the men told his wife he had left voluntarily, but once his body was found, they killed her to cover their tracks.
Initially, the men claimed that Lauren had died during a game of Russian roulette, but Monfort later pleaded guilty to her killing. Pitman, Cooper and Craig pleaded guilty as accessories. Goucher confessed to killing James Willett, and he implicated the other two men.
Monfort and Goucher were sentenced to five years to life in prison for killing James, and Goucher got seven years to life in prison for killing Lauren.
Lynette Fromme, another Family member, also was arrested when Lauren’s body was found, but she escaped any charges related to Lauren’s killing. In 1975, she was convicted of attempting to assassinate President Gerald Ford.
murdersofaugust69.freeforums.net/thread/435/michael-monfort-sentenced-years-prison
Copyright Sacramento Bee Mar 23, 1996
A member of the "Charles Manson family" received a 878-years-to-life term in prison Friday in what is believed to be one of the longest sentences ever handed down in Sacramento County and maybe the state.
Michael Lee Monfort, 47, who pleaded guilty as charged to 32 armed robberies, was sentenced under the state's three-strikes law.
His prior convictions included two murders and two robberies.
Although technically eligible for parole, Monfort must serve 750 years, six months and 15 days before his first parole hearing in 2746, said Deputy District Attorney Robert Morgester.
The only moment Monfort changed the chiseled-stone look on his face was when Judge Michael G. Virga knocked 128 days off his sentence for time served and good behavior.
Breaking his pursed lips, the pale, clean-shaven Monfort smiled and said to the judge, "Thanks for the credits."
Previously, the longest sentence in Sacramento County was 400 years, according to several veteran attorneys.
Acting as his own attorney, Monfort surprised Morgester on Friday morning with a message that he had changed his mind about going to trial.
"He said he wanted to stop wasting the taxpayers' money," Morgester said. "He figured all it took for a life sentence was a conviction on any of his 32 counts."
More than 20 years ago, Monfort pleaded guilty to the second-degree murders of a young Marine and his wife. Lauren Willett, 19, was found shot through the head in a shallow grave under a Stockton home.
The headless body of James T. Willett, 26, was found buried in a redwood grove near Guerneville.
Morgester said police have confirmed that Monfort is a former member of the Charles Manson family. Manson and several of his cult followers are serving prison terms for the 1969 slaughter of actress Sharon Tate and others in Los Angeles.
Also arrested with Monfort in connection with Lauren Willett's 1972 murder were three women described as Manson girlfriends, among them Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme. The charge against her eventually was dropped. Several years later, however, Fromme was arrested in Sacramento for the attempted murder of President Ford.
Fromme is serving a life sentence.
Monfort and two others were arrested last year after an eight-month series of armed robberies including restaurants, yogurt shops and video stores.
Brandy Miller is serving a year in jail and Phillip Ridings is awaiting trial.
According to a police interview with Monfort's friends, Monfort used the money to feed his drug and alcohol habits.
rxstr.com/nancy-pitman/
macewen2013.wordpress.com/2014/06/26/a-hell-of-a-hoax-part-iii-the-mystery-of-the-missing-attorney/
A Hell of a Hoax – Part III. The Mystery of the Missing Attorney
Posted on June 26, 2014 by macewen2013 • Posted in Uncategorized • 2 Comments
in 1972, more than a year after Charlie was sentenced to death, remnants of the Manson Family murdered James T. Willett just outside Guerneville and buried him in a shallow grave. Then, a few weeks later, they murdered his wife, Lauren Willett. They buried her in a shallow grave too, in the basement of the house they’d just rented in Stockton.
But why?
Why kill either one? The Willetts had been hanging with the Family for about a year by then. They’d been staying with them at Parker’s Resort on the Russian River (near Guerneville) for a month or so before Jim Willett was killed.
Parkers Resort in Guerneville
Parker’s Resort is still in operation.
parkersresort-llc.com/#about
Who all was there?
Well, for starters, Priscilla “Tuffy” Cooper. I still don’t know how she earned that nickname, but it is suggestive.
Priscilla Kay Cooper
“Tuffy” Cooper looks like she’s already had a tough life, in this mug shot from 1972. She was only 21, but by then, she was sporting a tattoo on one arm: ‘SPIDER.’ I haven’t been able to locate a more recent photo.
And then there was Nancy Pitman, aka “Brenda McCann” – the woman Manson considered the Family assassin.
Nancy Pitman aka Brenda McCann Here, we see “Brenda” as she looked before Manson’s trial.
nancy & baby eric eric monfort all grown up
Here is “Brenda” with her baby son Eric Ian Monfort….and here is Eric, all grown up, in a mug shot taken when he was arrested at age 32 (in Portland, OR) for the armed robbery of the Holiday Motel in Bend, OR. Looks like he took after his Dad in a big, big way, tattoos and all!
Who else was there, at Parker’s Resort? Lynette Fromme, much better known as “Squeaky” – the woman Manson put in charge of the Family after he went to prison.
squeaky fromme lynnrecent_jpg2
“Squeaky” Fromme, then,…… and as she looked in 2010, after she was paroled.
Lauren Willett, called “Reni” by the Family, was there, of course, and so was her 7 month old daughter Heidi.
lauren and heidi willett and Brenda Sandy_Lauren
These pictures of Reni, Heidi, and Brenda were taken at the house on Flora Street, when Heidi was 8 months old.
xmas pic of crystal alonzo squeaky nancy and
And there was one more woman, Maria “Crystal” Alonzo, a Family member seen here on the left, next to Squeaky and Brenda and an unknown woman beside their Christmas tree. In the background, you can see sketches of Charlie on the wall.
As part of Charlie’s deal with the Aryan Brotherhood, several Manson girls sent nude pix of themselves to AB members in prison as “comfort” aides. Some took up “housekeeping” duties with AB members when they were released from prison or jail. “Crystal” Alonzo began living with AB hanger-on Billy Goucher, for example, and both were present at Parker’s.
listverse.com/2014/12/07/10-strange-and-unusual-deaths-connected-to-the-manson-family/
