Charles TEX Watson...

Charles Tex Watson (Tried Separately)
One of Charles "Tex" Watson's former neighbors in Collin County, Texas described him as "the boy next door." Watson was an "A" student in a high school. He held the state record in the low hurdles. According to his uncle, Watson's problems started when he began taking drugs in college. In 1966, he dropped out of college and the next year he was in California, using and dealing drugs.

Watson joined the "Family" in 1967, and soon became Manson's right-hand man. Family member Al Springer told police that "Charlie and Tex are the brains out there" on the ranch. Springer described Watson as "just like a college student." He said Watson "kept his mouth shut" and enjoyed working on dune buggies.

In August 1969, Watson became the principal killer in the Tate-LaBianca murders. Announcing his arrival at the Tate residence, Watson said, "I am the Devil and I'm here to do the Devil's business." He shot Steven Parent and Jay Sebring, and stabbed to death Voytek Frykowski, Abigail Folger, Sharon Tate, and Leno LaBianca. After the Tate murders, Watson told Manson, "Boy, it sure was helter skelter."

Watson returned to McKinney, Texas after the Tate-LaBianca murders. He was arrested in Texas on November 30, 1969, after local police were notified by California investigators that his fingerprints were found to match a print found on the front door of the Tate home.

Watson fought extradition to California long enough that he was not included among the three defendants tried with Manson. Instead, Watson went on trial separately in August 1971. His defense attorneys produced eight psychiatrists to prove the glassy-eyed Watson was insane at the time of the murders--or at least suffered from severely diminished capacity. On the witness stand, Watson tried to portray himself as Manson's unthinking slave. (He also testified that the victims at the Tate residence were "running around like chickens with their heads cut off.") The jury convicted Watson of first-degree murder.

Watson, who now resides at the Mule Creek State Prison in Ione, California, has renounced Manson and expressed "deepest remorse" to his "many victims." In 1975, Watson became a born-again Christian and, in 1983, an ordained minister. He married a Norwegian wife and has three children. In 1978 he co-wrote a book, Will You Die For Me?