August 1969
36 Years ago today-
Police investigating the murder of five people – including the actress Sharon Tate – at an £80,000 house in Bel Air, Los Angeles, have ruled out any “ceremonial or ritualistic aspect” in the killings.
There was no evidence of mutilation or sexual activity, police said. A second suspect is being sought, along with a red Ferrari car, missing from the house. Police would not rule out the possibility that a woman could have been involved.
William Garretson, a caretaker aged 19, who was arrested late last night, has been charged with the murder of five. He was found in a guest house on the property when the bodies were discovered.
The word “pig” was scrawled across the front door in what looked like blood.
Furniture was in disarray, telephone wires cut and ropes scattered throughout the house.
Miss Tate, aged 27, the wife of Polish film director Roman Polanski, was found stabbed to death on the living room floor alongside the body of her former fiancé, Jay Sebring, a prominent male hair stylist.
A white nylon rope which had been tossed over a beam was tied around their necks. A hood was found over Mr Sebring’s head. Miss Tate, who was pregnant, was wearing a bikini.
Two other bodies were found on the front lawn, Voytek Frykowski, aged 37, a Polish writer, film producer, and photographer, and Abigail Folger, 26, heiress to a coffee fortune. They were found by a maid when she arrived to begin work.
The fifth victim, Steven Earl Parent, aged 18, was found in a car near the house. He was thought to have been trying to drive away when he was murdered. Miss Folger and Sebring were stabbed. Frykowski and Parent were shot.
Garretson was employed by the owner of the property, Rudi Altabelli, who is in Europe. He had been asked by Mr Altabelli to stay on at his £15-a-week job as caretaker until he got back from Europe.
Miss Tate starred in “Valley of the Dolls.” Her husband, who directed the occult and orgiastic film “Rosemary’s Baby,” was in London at the time of the killing. He looked grim and pale when he arrived at Heathrow Airport-London. An airline official said they had been advised that he would be travelling under sedation.
