When her then 10-year-old daughter picked up the phone and told her, "Mom, it’s Charlie again," Mary Neiswender says she thought she may have gotten too close to a story as a reporter at a Long Beach newspaper. Through a jail house contact, Neiswender spoke to Charles Manson before his trial -- and has maintained contact for four decades. Manson's chance to be paroled was rejected this week. NBC4's Gordon Tokumatsu reports.
Possible new evidence has surfaced in the Manson Family murders and police are poised to hear it for the first time, according to documents obtained by NBC4.
In a letter dated March 19, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck requested "eight hours or so" of audio recordings between attorney Bill Boyd and his then-client Charles "Tex" Watson, according to a U.S. bankruptcy filing.
Watson, the former right-hand man of Charles Manson, is currently serving a life sentence for his involvement in the 1969 Manson Family murders.
Although the LAPD has yet to receive the recordings, police believe the interviews could contain information about unsolved murders.
"The LAPD has information that Mr. Watson discussed additional unsolved murders committed by followers of Charles Manson," Beck wrote in a request to a trustee with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Document: LAPD Chief's Letter Requesting Audio Recording (PDF)
The LAPD's request corresponds to the liquidation of Boyd's law firm as part of a bankruptcy proceeding. Boyd represented Watson beginning in 1969 and "for some time thereafter," according to Beck.
"It is requested that the original recordings be given to the LAPD in order to determine if information regarding unsolved murders was included in the recordings. The LAPD, Robbery-Homicide Division will be investigating Mr. Watson's recordings…" wrote Beck.
A bankruptcy court hearing is scheduled for Tuesday to determine if the audio will be given to police.
The audio remained private until September 1976 when Watson authorized its sale to author Chaplain Ray Hoekstra to help cover unpaid legal fees. Hoekstra used the material for his 1978 book "Will You Die For Me?"
Watson was sentenced to death for the murders of Abigail Ann Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Thomas Jay Sebring, Steven Earl Parent, and Sharon Tate Polanski. California temporarily suspended the death penalty in 1972, and Watson has been serving a life sentence ever since. He was most recently denied parole last November.
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