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Panel OKs parole for former Manson cult member Van Houten
https://www.yahoo.com/news/ex-manson-family-member-seeks-parole-1969-murder-053053558.html?nhp=1CHINO, Calif. (AP) — A California panel recommended parole Thursday for former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten more than four decades after she and other cult members went to prison for the notorious killings of a wealthy grocer and his wife.
The now-66-year-old Van Houten was "numb" after the panel announced its decision following a five-hour hearing at the California Institution for Women in Chino, said her attorney Rich Pfeiffer.
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Van Houten, a one-time homecoming princess, participated in the killings of Leno La Bianca and his wife Rosemary a day after other so-called "Manson family" members murdered pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others in 1969.
The killings were the start of what Manson believed was a coming race war that he dubbed "Helter Skelter" after a Beatles song. Van Houten said the group planned to retreat to the desert and hide in a hole.
Van Houten was the youngest Manson follower to take part in the killings after she descended into a life of drugs and joined Manson's cult in the 1960s