Patricia Krenwinkel
Encyclopedia
Patricia Dianne Krenwinkel (born December 3, 1947) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 convicted killer and a former member of Charles Manson
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...

's murderous commune
Commune (intentional community)
A commune is an intentional community of people living together, sharing common interests, property, possessions, resources, and, in some communes, work and income. In addition to the communal economy, consensus decision-making, non-hierarchical structures and ecological living have become...

, known as "the Family". During her time with Manson's group, she was known by various aliases such as "Big Patty", "Yellow", and "Mary Ann Scott", but to The Family she was most commonly known as "Katie". Following the death of fellow Manson gang member, Susan Atkins
Susan Atkins
Susan Denise Atkins was a convicted American murderer who was a member of the "Manson family", led by Charles Manson. Manson and his followers committed a series of nine murders at four locations in California, over a period of five weeks in the summer of 1969...

, she is now the longest-incarcerated female inmate in the California penal system.

Early life

Krenwinkel was born in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 to an insurance salesman father and a homemaker mother. She attended University High School and then Westchester High School, both in the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 area. She was often bullied at school by other students, suffered from low self-esteem
Self-esteem
Self-esteem is a term in psychology to reflect a person's overall evaluation or appraisal of his or her own worth. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame: some would distinguish how 'the self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem, the...

 and was frequently teased for being overweight and for an excessive growth of body hair caused by an endocrine
Endocrine system
In physiology, the endocrine system is a system of glands, each of which secretes a type of hormone directly into the bloodstream to regulate the body. The endocrine system is in contrast to the exocrine system, which secretes its chemicals using ducts. It derives from the Greek words "endo"...

 condition.

After her parents divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

d, 17 year-old Krenwinkel remained in Los Angeles with her father until she graduated from Westchester High School. For a time she taught Catechism
Catechism
A catechism , i.e. to indoctrinate) is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present...

, a type of Roman Catholic religious instruction, and considered becoming a nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...

. She decided to attend the Jesuit college, Spring Hill College
Spring Hill College
Spring Hill College is a private, Roman Catholic Jesuit liberal arts college in the United States. It was founded in 1830 on the Gulf Coast in Mobile, Alabama, by Most Rev. Michael Portier, Bishop of Mobile, Alabama...

, in Mobile, Alabama
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...

. Within one semester, however, she dropped out and moved back to California. Moving into her step-sister's apartment in Manhattan Beach
Manhattan Beach, California
Manhattan Beach is the wealthiest beachfront city located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, USA. The city is on the Pacific coast, south of El Segundo, and north of Hermosa Beach. Manhattan Beach is the home of both beach and indoor volleyball, and surfing. During the winter, the...

, she found an office job as a processing clerk.

Early years of "The Family"

She met Charles Manson
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...

 in Manhattan Beach, California
Manhattan Beach, California
Manhattan Beach is the wealthiest beachfront city located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, USA. The city is on the Pacific coast, south of El Segundo, and north of Hermosa Beach. Manhattan Beach is the home of both beach and indoor volleyball, and surfing. During the winter, the...

 in 1967, along with Lynette Fromme
Lynette Fromme
Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme is an American member of the Manson Family. She was sentenced to life imprisonment for attempting to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford in 1975...

 and Mary Brunner
Mary Brunner
Mary Theresa Brunner is a former member of the Manson Family who was present during the 1969 murder of Gary Allen Hinman, a California musician and UCLA Ph.D. candidate in sociology...

, who were already known as "Charlie's Girls". In later interviews, Krenwinkel stated that she had slept with Manson the first night they met, and that he was the first person who told her she was beautiful. Mesmerize
Mesmerize
"Mesmerize" is the second single by Ja Rule from his album The Last Temptation. The song was produced by Irv Gotti and features R&B artist Ashanti...

d by Manson's charisma
Charisma
The term charisma has two senses: 1) compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others, 2) a divinely conferred power or talent. For some theological usages the term is rendered charism, with a meaning the same as sense 2...

 and starved for attention, she decided to go to San Francisco with him and the other two girls, leaving behind her apartment, car, and last paycheck.

As the Manson Family grew, Katie (as Krenwinkel was now known) and the others went on a drug- and sex-filled 18-month tour of the American west in an old school bus. She would later recount an idealized version of The Family's early days: "We were just like wood nymph
Nymph
A nymph in Greek mythology is a female minor nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from gods, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing;...

s and wood creatures. We would run through the woods with flowers in our hair, and Charles would have a small flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

". In the summer of 1968, Krenwinkel and fellow Family member, Ella Bailey, were hitchhiking
Hitchhiking
Hitchhiking is a means of transportation that is gained by asking people, usually strangers, for a ride in their automobile or other road vehicle to travel a distance that may either be short or long...

 around Los Angeles when Beach Boys founding member and drummer, Dennis Wilson
Dennis Wilson
Dennis Carl Wilson was an American rock and roll musician best known as a founding member and the drummer of The Beach Boys. He was a member of the group from its formation until his death in 1983...

, picked them up. After being invited to his home while he continued on to a recording session, Krenwinkel and Bailey were able to contact the Family and tell them of their new "crash pad". When Wilson returned later that evening, he found Manson and the rest of the Family eating his food, sleeping in his bedrooms, and partying inside and outside his home. After causing Wilson financial problems, Manson and the rest of the Family left his mansion
Mansion
A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...

 behind.

After the hippie movement
History of the hippie movement
The hippie subculture developed as a youth movement that began in the United States during the early 1960s and spread around the world. Its origins can be traced back to classical culture, and to European social movements in the early 20th century i.e.: Fabians and Bohemians...

 wound down in 1969, Krenwinkel and the Family decided to live in isolation from the rest of society. They persuaded the blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...

 and elderly George Spahn
George Spahn
George Spahn was a rancher who once owned the Spahn Ranch near Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA. Spahn rented the ranch to the movie industry to film Westerns. At the ranch, he housed Charles Manson and his followers...

 to allow them to live on his property, and converged on Spahn's Ranch in the hills above the San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...

. Krenwinkel acted as a mother figure to the Family's several illegitimate children and babies and was seen as an intense and devoted follower of Charles Manson.

Tate-LaBianca murders

Krenwinkel was a participant in the infamous murders on August 9, 1969 at 10050 Cielo Drive
10050 Cielo Drive
The original home located at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, California, has been occupied by many famous Hollywood figures, and was the scene of one of the Manson "family" murders. The house was designed by Robert Byrd in 1942 for French actress Michèle Morgan...

, home of actress Sharon Tate
Sharon Tate
Sharon Marie Tate was an American actress. During the 1960s she played small television roles before appearing in several films. After receiving positive reviews for her comedic performances, she was hailed as one of Hollywood's promising newcomers and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for...

 and director Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...

. After fellow Family member Charles "Tex" Watson shot and killed teenager Steven Parent
Steven Parent
Steven Earl Parent was a victim of the Charles Manson murders.-Early life:Steven Earl Parent was born in California to Wilfred Elmer Parent, a construction superintendent and his wife, Juanita, a homemaker...

 in his car in the estates' driveway, Watson, Susan Atkins
Susan Atkins
Susan Denise Atkins was a convicted American murderer who was a member of the "Manson family", led by Charles Manson. Manson and his followers committed a series of nine murders at four locations in California, over a period of five weeks in the summer of 1969...

, and Krenwinkel entered the house, surprising all inside. When mayhem ensued, Krenwinkel dragged coffee heiress Abigail Folger
Abigail Folger
Abigail Anne "Gibbie" Folger was an American coffee heiress, debutante, socialite, volunteer social worker, civil rights devotee and member of the prominent United States Folger family. She was the great-granddaughter of J. A. Folger, the founder of Folgers Coffee...

 from her bedroom to the living room, fought with her, and stabbed her. When Folger tried to escape following the first round of stabbing, Krenwinkel was said to have chased Folger as she ran outside screaming. According to Krenwinkel, she pinned Folger to the ground and further stabbed her; the victim pleaded with her to stop by saying, "Stop killing me--I'm already dead". Krenwinkel continued to stab her so brutally that Folger's white nightgown appeared red to police investigators the following day. After stabbing Folger, Krenwinkel went back inside and summoned Watson, who also stabbed Folger. During her trial, Krenwinkel said, "I stabbed her and I kept stabbing her." When asked how it felt, Krenwinkel replied: "Nothing, I mean, what is there to describe? It was just there, and it was right."

On Manson's orders, Krenwinkel participated willingly in more killing the following night. Along with Manson, Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Steve Grogan
Steve "Clem" Grogan
Steve Dennis "Clem" Grogan , is an American murderer, former member of The Manson Family.Grogan, a musician, dropped out of high school and was involved in minor crimes before joining the Manson family at the Spahn Ranch. Like Charles Manson, he was friends with Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys...

, Leslie Van Houten
Leslie Van Houten
Leslie Louise Van Houten is a former member of Charles Manson's "Family" who was convicted of the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.-Life with Manson:...

, and Linda Kasabian
Linda Kasabian
Linda Kasabian is a former member of Charles Manson's "family". She was the key witness in District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi's prosecution of Manson and his followers for the Tate-LaBianca murders, one of the highest-profile murder trials in American history.-Early life:Born as Linda Darlene...

, Krenwinkel went to the home of Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

 grocer Leno LaBianca
Leno LaBianca
Pasqualino Antonio "Leno" LaBianca and his wife Rosemary LaBianca were victims of the Manson Family murders.-Rosemary LaBianca:...

 and his wife, Rosemary, in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles. After Manson and Watson tied up the couple, Manson left, giving orders to Van Houten and Krenwinkel to join Watson and kill the LaBiancas. Leaving Manson, Atkins, Grogan and Kasabian in the car outside, the trio proceeded to torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...

 and kill the couple. Mrs. LaBianca, who was being held in the master bedroom, could hear the screams and struggling of her husband, who was being held in the living room, as Watson began stabbing him. She began to struggle. Once again wielding a knife, Krenwinkel attempted to stab Mrs. LaBianca while Van Houten held her down. However, her weapon was a dull kitchen knife and she was unable to actually stab the struggling woman. She and Van Houten called to Watson, who came into the master bedroom and stabbed her with a bayonet
Bayonet
A bayonet is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit in, on, over or underneath the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar weapon, effectively turning the gun into a spear...

 the group had brought. They also then repeatedly stabbed her.

According to Watson's book, Will You Die for Me?, he carved the word "WAR" on the abdomen
Abdomen
In vertebrates such as mammals the abdomen constitutes the part of the body between the thorax and pelvis. The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity...

 of Leno LaBianca's corpse, although the act is sometimes attributed to Krenwinkel. Watson further claims that while he was washing off the LaBianca's blood in the couple's shower, Krenwinkel repeatedly stabbed the dead Leno LaBianca and left a carving fork embedded in his abdomen and a small steak knife protruding from his neck. In an interview, Krenwinkel admitted to stabbing Mr. LaBianca with the fork and leaving it in his abdomen. Both utensils were taken from the LaBiancas' kitchen. Krenwinkel then wrote "DEATH TO PIGS" in blood on the wall, and "HeaLter SkeLTter" [sic] on the refrigerator. When later questioned, Krenwinkel claimed that the only thing going through her mind at the time was that "Now he won't be sending any of his children off to war." Before hitchhiking back to Spahn Ranch, the trio stayed a while in the LaBianca home - eating food, showering, and playing with the LaBiancas' two dogs. Meanwhile, Manson, Atkins, Kasabian, and Grogan drove around Los Angeles looking for someone else to kill, to no avail.

Arrest

While the Los Angeles police were busy investigating any leads they could find, back at Spahn Ranch rumors of the involvement of Katie and the others in the now-famous murders began to circulate. Due to an unrelated investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is a local county law enforcement agency that serves Los Angeles County, California. It is the fourth largest local policing agency in the United States, with the New York City Police Department being the first. The second largest is the Chicago Police...

, parts of stolen cars were spotted in and around the ranch by helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...

. One week after the murders on August 16, 1969, Krenwinkel, Manson and other Family members were rounded up by police and arrested on suspicion of auto theft. Because of a date error, the search warrant
Search warrant
A search warrant is a court order issued by a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official that authorizes law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a crime and to confiscate evidence if it is found....

 was later ruled invalid and the group was released. Following this incident, the Family started to lose members one by one, due to the raid, the possible involvement of the Family in the Tate-LaBianca murders, and the newly-rumored murder of Spahn Ranch hand
Ranch hand
A Ranch hand is a manual laborer on a ranch, such as a cowboy.Ranch hand may also refer to:*Operation Ranch Hand, a US Air Force operation during the Vietnam war*Ranch Hand Truck Accessories, an American manufacturer of heavy duty truck accessories...

 Donald "Shorty" Shea
Donald "Shorty" Shea
Donald "Shorty" Shea was a Hollywood stuntman, actor and victim of the Charles Manson murders. The location of his body was not discovered until 1977, nearly a decade after his death...

.

Because of the August 16th raid, Manson decided to move his "Family" to another ranch, this time near Death Valley
Death Valley
Death Valley is a desert valley located in Eastern California. Situated within the Mojave Desert, it features the lowest, driest, and hottest locations in North America. Badwater, a basin located in Death Valley, is the specific location of the lowest elevation in North America at 282 feet below...

. Barker Ranch
Barker Ranch
Barker Ranch is infamous as the last hideout of Charles Manson and his "family" after the gruesome Los Angeles murder spree. It is located inside Death Valley National Park in eastern California....

 now became home for the Family, including Krenwinkel. During their stay from August through October, the group spent its time converting cars it had stolen into dune buggies
Dune buggy
A dune buggy is a recreational vehicle with large wheels, and wide tires, designed for use on sand dunes or beaches. The design is usually a modified vehicle and engine mounted on an open chassis. The modifications usually attempt to increase the power-to-weight ratio by either lightening the...

, but it didn't take long for law enforcement to catch up with Manson and his followers. On October 10, 1969, the group was once again arrested. This time, Krenwinkel's father bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...

ed her out of jail, but she immediately returned to Barker Ranch. Upon her return, Manson (who was not present at the October 10 raid), ordered her to go to Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

 and live with her mother until he sent word for her to come home. The orders to return never came, however, because of Manson's subsequent arrest on October 12 at Barker Ranch.

Meanwhile, still in jail, Susan Atkins began to tell all about their involvement in the Tate-LaBianca murders to cellmate Veronica "Ronnie" Howard. Because of Atkins' confessions and Howard's disclosure, Krenwinkel was arrested near her aunt's home in Mobile, Alabama
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...

 on December 1, 1969. The following day, Krenwinkel was indicted
Indictment
An indictment , in the common-law legal system, is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that maintain the concept of felonies, the serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that lack the concept of felonies often use that of an indictable offence—an...

 for seven counts of first-degree murder and one count conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...

 to commit murder. After her arrest, Krenwinkel claimed that she had gone to Alabama because she feared Manson would find her and kill her, hence her attempt to fight extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...

 to California. Finally in February 1970, she waived extradition proceedings and voluntarily returned to California to stand trial with defendants Manson, Van Houten, and Atkins. Watson was tried separately at a later date after unsuccessfully fighting extradition from his home state of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

.

Trial

Krenwinkel's trial attorney, Paul Fitzgerald, suggested that although her fingerprint
Fingerprint
A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. In a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human hand. A print from the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges...

s were found inside the Tate home, she might just have been "an invited guest or friend." Seemingly unfazed by the possibility of a guilty verdict, Krenwinkel reportedly spent much of the trial drawing doodles of devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...

s and other satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...

ic figures. All during the trial, she remained loyal to Manson and the Family. Demonstration of this unity included walking hand-in-hand with the other two female defendants, singing songs written by Manson, as well as shaving their heads and carving an "X" in their foreheads, just as Manson was doing.

At the end of the nine-month trial, Krenwinkel was convicted of all counts and sentenced to death on March 29, 1971. She and the other two women were transferred from Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 to the California Institution for Women
California Institution for Women
California Institution for Women is a female-only state prison located in the city of Chino, San Bernardino County, California.-Facilities:...

 (CIW) near Corona, California
Corona, California
Corona is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 152,374, up from 124,966 at the 2000 census...

.

Prison life

The death sentence imposed on Krenwinkel (as well as Manson, Watson, Atkins, and Van Houten) was automatically commuted to life in prison after the California Supreme Court
Supreme Court of California
The Supreme Court of California is the highest state court in California. It is headquartered in San Francisco and regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Its decisions are binding on all other California state courts.-Composition:...

's People v. Anderson decision invalidated all death sentences imposed in California prior to 1972. At the beginning of her new life in prison, Krenwinkel remained loyal to Manson and the Family, but in time began to break away from them. In distancing herself from Manson, she has maintained a perfect prison record, and received a Bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...

 in Human Services from the University of La Verne
University of La Verne
The University of La Verne is a private research university located in La Verne, California . Founded in 1891, the university is composed of the College of Arts & Sciences, College of Business & Public Management, College of Education and Organizational Leadership, College of Law, and a Regional...

. She is active with prison programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...

 and Narcotics Anonymous
Narcotics Anonymous
Narcotics Anonymous is a twelve-step program modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous describing itself as a "fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem," and it is the second-largest 12-step organization...

 and along with these involvements, she has also taught illiterate prisoners how to read. Reportedly, Krenwinkel writes both poetry and music, plays the guitar, plays on a prison volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...

 team and gives dance lessons. She also participates in a service dog
Service dog
A service dog is a type of assistance dog specifically trained to help people who have disabilities including visual or hearing impairment, and also to help people with mental disabilities including Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and severe depression...

 training program.

Krenwinkel, still incarcerated, is now at the California Institution for Women
California Institution for Women
California Institution for Women is a female-only state prison located in the city of Chino, San Bernardino County, California.-Facilities:...

 in Chino, California
Chino, California
Chino is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. It is located in the western end of the Riverside-San Bernardino Area and it is easily accessible via the Chino Valley and Pomona freeways....

. In an interview conducted by Diane Sawyer
Diane Sawyer
Lila Diane Sawyer is the current anchor of ABC News' flagship program, ABC World News. Previously, Sawyer had been co-anchor of ABC Newss morning news program, Good Morning America ....

 in 1994, Krenwinkel stated: "I wake up every day knowing that I'm a destroyer of the most precious thing, which is life; and I do that because that's what I deserve, is to wake up every morning and know that." During that same interview, Krenwinkel expressed the most remorse for what she did to Abigail Folger
Abigail Folger
Abigail Anne "Gibbie" Folger was an American coffee heiress, debutante, socialite, volunteer social worker, civil rights devotee and member of the prominent United States Folger family. She was the great-granddaughter of J. A. Folger, the founder of Folgers Coffee...

, telling Sawyer, "That was just a young woman that I killed, who had parents. She was supposed to live a life and her parents were never supposed to see her dead."

During a 2004 parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...

 hearing, when asked who she would place at the top of the list of people she has harmed, Krenwinkel responded, "Myself." She was denied parole following that hearing because, according to the panel, Krenwinkel still posed an "unacceptable risk to public safety
Public Safety
Public safety involves the prevention of and protection from events that could endanger the safety of the general public from significant danger, injury/harm, or damage, such as crimes or disasters .-See also:* By nation...

". In total, Krenwinkel has been denied parole thirteen times; her last hearing was in January 2011. The two-member parole board said after the hearing in Los Angeles that the 63-year-old Krenwinkel will be ineligible for parole again for seven years, the longest such period handed down to any of the Manson Family convicts. The panel said they were swayed by the memory of the crimes, along with 80 letters which came from all over the world urging Krenwinkel's continued incarceration.

External links

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