1. Charles Denton "Tex" Watson was born on December 2,1945 and is an American mass murderer who was a central member of the "Manson Family" led by Charles Manson.
20 Facts About Tex Watson
1. 2.
The next night, Tex Watson traveled to Los Feliz, Los Angeles, and participated in the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
3.
Tex Watson was convicted of murder in 1971 and sentenced to death.
4.
Tex Watson grew up attending church locally, and was an honor student, editor on the school paper, and captain of the football team, and set a record for the high hurdles at Farmersville High School.
5.
In September 1964, Watson moved to Denton, Texas, to attend the University of North Texas, where he became a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.
6.
In January 1967, Tex Watson began working at Braniff International as a baggage handler.
7.
Tex Watson lived with the Manson Family at Spahn Ranch for nine months before the crimes, becoming close to Manson, and eventually choosing to believe Manson's lies and deception.
8.
Tex Watson moved in with a woman who sold small quantities of marijuana and LSD to his friends, and became her lover.
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On October 2,1969, Watson fled the Spahn Ranch and headed back to his native state of Texas.
10.
Tex Watson stayed there until February 1971, when he was deemed able to stand trial.
11.
On October 12,1971, Tex Watson was convicted on seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder.
12.
Tex Watson arrived on California's death row on November 17,1971, but avoided execution when the California Supreme Court's People v Anderson decision resulted in the invalidation of all death sentences imposed in California prior to 1972.
13.
Tex Watson was found guilty of the murders of seven people: Abigail Folger; Wojciech Frykowski; Steven Parent; Sharon Tate Polanski, who was eight months pregnant; Jay Sebring; Leno LaBianca; and Rosemary LaBianca.
14.
In May 2023, Tex Watson started the Abounding Love Podcast, consisting of sermons given from 1977 to 1984 in the chapel of the California Men's Colony, San Luis Obispo, California.
15.
In 2012, Tex Watson disputed a request to release recordings made in 1969 with his defense attorney Bill Boyd.
16.
Tex Watson asked the presiding judge to allow police to listen to the tapes but not take possession of them.
17.
Judge Richard A Schell ruled Watson had waived attorney-client privilege for the tapes after he allowed the co-author of his 1978 memoir to hear the recordings.
18.
The LAPD acquired the tapes, which allegedly contained Tex Watson confessing to other murders, but reportedly no new information.
19.
Tex Watson was most recently given a five-year denial of parole at a board hearing in October 2021.
20.
Tex Watson remains incarcerated at Richard J Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego County, California.