This From the Vault story was originally published Jan. It was updated Nov. Charles Manson had been behind bars for 45 years when he died of natural causes Sunday night at 83 years old. He'd been fighting illness and in and out of the hospital all year long. Manson was the leader of a commune of sorts -- the Manson Family -- that was responsible for nine murders in in California. He was serving nine life sentences at Corcoran State Prison. He sought freedom 12 times and was denied freedom every time, according to the Washington Post.
His next parole hearing couldn't be scheduled for another 10 years. Although Manson undoubtedly made a mark on American culture, his story actually began in Cincinnati. Charles Manson was born "no-name Maddox" to year-old Kathleen Maddox in , according to hospital records unearthed for a Al Schottelkotte News special. Manson's father was unknown by almost all accounts, and was rumored to be a transient worker, a black cook or a "john. Charles was eventually given the surname "Manson" when his mother married William Manson, according to reports on his case files.
While some of Manson's childhood anecdotes contradict one another, his extended family said his young mother ran away from her home in Ashland, Kentucky before working as a prostitute. I am not about to knock her," Manson said of his mother in an autobiography.
She has a commodity that is hers alone. She asks a price for it. If the price is agreeable, the customer is happy, the girl has her rent and grocery money. In a report following Manson's conviction, Schottelkotte said, as an infant, Manson was once traded by his mother "for a pitcher of beer" in a bar.
Manson also described the story he heard from relatives in his autobiography. Maddox was sent to jail for five years for robbery when her son was a young child, according to a report on Jeff Guinn's biography Manson.
