This one’s for the hardcore followers of the case
Since we're on the subject of Linda Kasabian, a woman I desperately pursued for an interview, even traveling to her town and staying in a shitty motel for two endless cold and rainy weeks, to no avail, there's a lot I left out of the book about her.
Some of it history-altering, but, ultimately, unusable because it couldn't be corroborated without confirmation from her, or, more importantly, from a second source. I'll release some of it here in hopes that others will pick up the ball and maybe follow through on the lead.
As I've said in interviews, I never believed the stories Linda told on the stand or that Bugliosi told about her. She, above and beyond almost everyone still alive in this story, is the one I'd give anything to interview. As many know, the one interview she's given in the last thirty years (on Larry King) was stage managed by Bugliosi who nervously sat beside her and interrupted every time she veered from his official narrative (more about that farcical event in a possible post to come).
For now, here's one tidbit that stayed out of the book:
The interview notes of George Healy by Bugliosi, never before revealed, discovered in the Los Angeles District Attorney's files when I had limited access in the early 2000s.
Healy was Terry Melcher's valet for at least a decade up until the time of the murders but then seems to have just vanished off the face of the earth.
As students of the Tate-LaBianca murders know, despite being played down and written off by Bugliosi as just a coincidence, Kasabian, who drove the killers to the house next door to Harold True's house (the LaBianca's) the night after she drove another group of killers to the Tate house, had been to the True house the summer before -- before she even met Manson or anyone else in the family.
What this document suggests is that she also had been to the Tate house around the same time, before she met the Family. When Terry Melcher lived there. Can this be corroborated? Only by Kasabian, who I doubt would ever admit it, if true, or by Healy, if he's alive. Or -- and again, the reason for this post -- maybe by another eyewitness? Candy Bergen, anyone?
My DMs are open.
Release the Watson tapes.
Tom O'Neil
. I never could find him and have to presume he's long dead. What Healy told Bugliosi, of course, could've been a mistake. He could have mistaken Kasabian for someone else, but what's intriguing is the fact that Bugliosi, an infamous stickler for details and extensive note-taking doesn't correct the (mis?) identification of Linda Kasabian at Cielo Drive in his notes. He let it stand.