Linda Kasabian, a member of Charles Manson’s cult and the star witness in the trial that sent him and three followers to prison for life, died on January 21st 2023 at a hospital in Tacoma, Washington, according to a death notice in the Tacoma News Tribune. She was 73.
Her death certificate, obtained by The Washington Post, did not cite a cause of death.
Kasabian was born Linda Darlene Drouin in Maine in 1949. In her 20s, she drifted around the country, living in communes and practising free love.
In the summer of 1969, she went to Los Angeles to reconcile with her husband, Bob Kasabian, but he left her, leaving her stranded with her 1-year-old daughter, Tanya, and pregnant with her second child.
It was then that Kasabian met Catherine “Gypsy” Share, who invited her to join a commune at Spahn Ranch, a sprawling, remote property in the San Fernando Valley.
Kasabian was excited to join the group, where “this beautiful man named Charlie” had established a commune.
Kasabian was reportedly the only family member to have a valid driver’s license and so served as the gang’s lookout and getaway driver during the murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others in August 1969, and of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca the following night. She witnessed the killings but did not participate.
Kasabian was charged with seven counts of murder but was granted immunity in exchange for her testimony against Manson and his followers.
Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi called her the prosecution’s “star witness” and described her as “brutally frank” in his book “Helter Skelter.”
During her 18-day testimony, she recounted in detail the events leading up to the murders and her role in them.
When asked on the stand why she was testifying against Manson and his cult, Kasabian said, “I strongly believe in the truth, and I feel the truth should be spoken.”
Kasabian’s death marks the passing of a key figure in one of the most notorious murder cases in American history.
Charles Manson died in prison in 2017 at the age of 83.
