Charles Manson, serving nine life sentences for 1969 murders, dies aged 83

November 22, 2017 Charles Manson, whose "" followers killed nine people in 1969 and whose death sentence became nine life sentences after the state of California, United States, outlawed the death sentence, died on Sunday in a hospital in of natural causes, according to the California Department of Corrections.

Manson inspired, but did not participate in, what became known as the Tate-LaBianca murders. On August 9, 1969, at the home of actress and her husband, director, followers of Manson stabbed five people to death: Tate, who was more than eight months pregnant; , heiress to the  coffee fortune; celebrity hairdresser ; director Voityck Frykowski; and Steven Parent who knew the caretaker of the estate. On August 10 they further killed wealthy Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. The seventh and eighth victims were  Donald Shea, and musician Gary Hinman. In 1971, after a year-long trial, Manson was convicted of ordering the first seven murders and sentenced to death. Eventually he was convicted of the other two murders as well.

"Helter Skelter", the name of a song by The Beatles, and "pig" were scrawled in blood at the murder sites. According to prosecutors, Manson meant the killings to be blamed on, setting off a race war in the US, to be followed by a new social order led by Manson.

Manson's sentence was commuted to nine life terms after a 1972 Supreme Court of California decision outlawed the death penalty. He was in prison for more than four decades, and was an inmate at the when he died. He made twelve unsuccessful applications for, the last in 2012. Sources told that he was hospitalized in  several days before his death. If his family do not claim his body within ten days, it will be disposed of at state expense, probably by cremation.