Former Charles Manson follower Patricia Krenwinkel has been granted parole after spending nearly 57 years behind bars.
The decision was issued Oct. 6 during Krenwinkel’s parole hearing, but it remains preliminary. A spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said all parole grants are proposed decisions that become final only after a comprehensive review by the Board of Parole Hearings and the governor.
The California Board of Parole Hearings has 120 days to review the decision. Gov. Gavin Newsom can then choose to reject it.
Krenwinkel, 78, belonged to the Manson Family, the group responsible for a series of 1969 murders in Los Angeles under the direction of Charles Manson. Followers believed the killings would help trigger an apocalyptic race war they called Helter Skelter, allowing them to seize control of the world.
Krenwinkel was denied parole more than a dozen times before receiving approval in 2022 and again in 2025. Newsom reversed both decisions. Although he recognized her rehabilitation efforts, he wrote in one parole reversal that she “has not developed sufficient insight” into her crimes. Newsom later cited a psychologist’s finding that Krenwinkel had “a tendency to externalize blame for her prior transgressions.”
Krenwinkel’s defense attorney, Keith Wattley, urged Newsom to leave the latest decision intact.
“This finding offers a glimmer of hope: proof that the Board can uphold the law, recognize decades of rehabilitation, and make decisions grounded in evidence,” Wattley told Oxygen in a statement. “Now, the Governor must respect these decisions and allow Pat to come home.”
What Crimes Did Patricia Krenwinkel Commit?
In August 1969, Krenwinkel was 21 when she and fellow Manson followers Susan Atkins and Charles “Tex” Watson entered the home of pregnant actress Sharon Tate. Tate’s husband, director Roman Polanski, was overseas, and she was hosting Abigail Folger, heiress to the coffee fortune; screenwriter Wojciech Frykowski; and hairstylist Jay Sebring.
Krenwinkel pursued Folger through the house and stabbed her 28 times, while the other attackers killed Frykowski, Sebring and Tate. Steven Parent, who had been visiting the property, was shot five times as he attempted to drive away. Before leaving, the killers wrote “PIG” in blood on the home’s front door.
The next night, Krenwinkel, Watson and fellow Manson follower Leslie Van Houten killed supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, at their home. Acting on what Manson described as a “witchy” instruction, Krenwinkel stabbed Leno with a fork and used blood to write “Death to Pigs,” “Rise” and “Helter Skelter” on the wall.
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Krenwinkel pleaded not guilty to seven counts of murder and one count of conspiracy to commit murder, but she was convicted in 1971. She was initially sentenced to death; that sentence was later commuted to life in prison. Manson died behind bars in November 2017 while serving nine consecutive life sentences.
What Has Patricia Krenwinkle Said About Her Crimes?
Krenwinkel has expressed remorse for the killings and attributed her involvement to Manson’s influence.
“I wake up every day knowing that I’m a destroyer of the most precious thing, which is life,” Krenwinkel told Diane Sawyer in 1994. “And living with that is the most difficult thing of all. And I do that because that’s what I deserve.”
According to NBC News, Krenwinkel said in 2011 that she was “haunted” by the victims’ “unending suffering” and by “the enormity and degree of suffering I’ve caused.”
She has also acknowledged that she understood what she was doing at the time.
“I just didn’t care about anyone else’s lives,” she said during a 2022 psychological evaluation. “I didn’t have/hold anything sacred. I was a monster. I had nothing in me.”
At a 2022 parole board hearing, Krenwinkel added, “I just kept accepting and allowing myself to go all along for the ride.”
In his statement, Wattley said Krenwinkel came under Manson’s control when she was a teenager.
“She was a young woman with no self-esteem who was searching for somewhere to belong,” Wattley said. “He exploited that vulnerability through manipulation, drugs, and psychological abuse. Over the decades since, Pat has worked to understand how she became capable of causing such profound harm and to take responsibility for the consequences of her actions.”
“Pat is no longer that 19-year-old,” he continued. “She has participated in extensive therapy and group counseling to confront her experiences as both a perpetrator and survivor of violence. She has earned a college degree, trained service dogs for people with disabilities, and used what she has learned about herself to support other women in their own journeys toward healing. Her life reflects decades of accountability, reflection, and change.”