Patricia Krenwinkel | |
|---|---|
 Krenwinkel in 1973 | |
| Born | Patricia Dianne Krenwinkel (1947-12-03)December 3, 1947 (age 77) Los Angeles,California, U.S |
| Other names | Big Patty Yellow Marnie Reeves Mary Ann Scott Katie |
| Criminal status | Incarcerated inCalifornia Institution for Women,Chino, California |
| Convictions | First degree murder Conspiracy to commit murder |
| Criminal penalty | Death; commuted tolife imprisonment |
Patricia Dianne Krenwinkel (born December 3, 1947) is an American convictedmurderer and former member of theManson Family. On August 9, 1969, Patricia Krenwinkel,Tex Watson, andSusan Atkins murdered pregnant actressSharon Tate,Jay Sebring,Wojciech Frykowski,Abigail Folger, andSteven Parent at10050 Cielo Drive inBenedict Canyon, Los Angeles. During her time with Manson's group, she was known by various aliases such asBig Patty,Yellow,Marnie Reeves andMary Ann Scott, but to The Family she was most commonly known asKatie.
Following the 2009 death of fellow Manson cult memberSusan Atkins, and the release ofLeslie Van Houten in 2023, Krenwinkel is now the longest-incarcerated female inmate in the California penal system.[1] She was recommended to be released onparole in 2025 but the recommendation was reversed by GovernorGavin Newsom.[2][3]
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Patricia Krenwinkel was born on December 3, 1947, inLos Angeles, California, to an insurance-salesman father and a homemaker mother. She attendedUniversity High School and thenWestchester High School, both in the Los Angeles area. Patricia was often bullied at school by other students, suffered from lowself-esteem, and was frequently teased for being overweight and for an excessive growth of body hair caused by anendocrine condition.
After her parents divorced, seventeen-year-old Krenwinkel remained in Los Angeles with her father until she graduated from Westchester High School. For a time, she taughtcatechism (Roman Catholic religious instruction) and considered becoming a nun. She decided to attend the Jesuit collegeSpring Hill College inMobile, Alabama. Within one semester, she dropped out and moved back to California. Moving into her half-sister's apartment inManhattan Beach, she found an office job as a processing clerk.
She metCharles Manson in Manhattan Beach in 1967, along withLynette Fromme andMary Brunner.[4] In later interviews, Krenwinkel stated that she had sex with Manson the first night they met, and that he was the first person who told her she was beautiful. Mesmerized by Manson's charisma and starved for attention, she decided to go toSan Francisco with him and the other two girls, leaving behind her apartment, car, and last paycheck.[5]
As theManson 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 woodnymphs and wood creatures. We would run through the woods with flowers in our hair, and Charles would have a small flute".[6]
In the summer of 1968, Krenwinkel and fellow Family member Ella Bailey were hitchhiking around Los Angeles whenBeach Boys founding member and drummerDennis Wilson picked them up. After being invited to his home while he continued on to arecording 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. The group ended up staying for several months. After causing financial problems for Wilson, Manson and the rest of the Family left his mansion.[5]
In August 1968, Krenwinkel and the Family persuaded the nearly blind and elderlyGeorge Spahn to allow them to live on his property,Spahn Ranch, in the hills above theSan Fernando Valley.[7]
Krenwinkel was a participant in the murders on August 9, 1969, at10050 Cielo Drive, home of actressSharon Tate and four others.[8] After stabbing Abigail Folger, Krenwinkel went back inside and summonedTex Watson, who also stabbed Folger. During her trial, Krenwinkel said, "I stabbed her and I kept stabbing her."[9] When asked how it felt, Krenwinkel replied: "Nothing, I mean, what is there to describe? It was just there, and it was right."[9]
Krenwinkel participated willingly in more murders the following night. She recounted during her December 29, 2016, parole hearing the events of the night of August 10, 1969.[10] Along with Manson, Watson, Atkins,Clem Grogan,Leslie Van Houten, andLinda Kasabian, she went to the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca where she, Watson, and Van Houten murdered the couple.[11]
When later questioned, she claimed 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.[12]
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While the Los Angeles police were busy investigating any leads they could find, back at Spahn Ranch, rumors of the involvement of Krenwinkel and the others in the murders began to circulate. Due to an unrelated investigation by theLos Angeles County Sheriff's Department, parts of stolen cars were spotted in and around the ranch by helicopter. 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, thesearch warrant 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 Spahnranch handDonald "Shorty" Shea.
Because of the raid on August 16, Manson decided to move his "Family" to another ranch, this time nearDeath Valley.Barker Ranch 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 intodune buggies, but law enforcement eventually caught up with Manson and his followers. On October 10, 1969, the group was once again arrested. This time, Krenwinkel's father bailed her out of jail, but she immediately returned to Barker Ranch. Upon her return, Manson (who was not present in the October 10 raid), ordered her to go toAlabama 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 cellmates Virginia Graham and Veronica "Ronnie" Howard. Because of Atkins' confessions and Howard's disclosure, Krenwinkel was arrested near her aunt's home inMobile, Alabama on December 1, 1969. The following day, Krenwinkel wasindicted for seven counts offirst-degree murder and one count ofconspiracy 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 fightextradition 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 ofTexas.
Krenwinkel's trial attorney, Paul Fitzgerald, suggested that although her fingerprints 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 and a death sentence, Krenwinkel reportedly spent much of the trial drawing doodles of devils and otherSatanic figures. All during the trial, she remained loyal to Manson and the Family. Demonstration of this unity included walking hand-in-hand with Atkins and Van Houten, singing songs written by Manson, and shaving their heads and carving an "X" on their foreheads, just as Manson was doing. (The "X" can be seen in modern photographs of some of the members.)
At the end of the nine-month trial, Krenwinkel was convicted of all counts andsentenced to death on March 29, 1971. She and the other two women were transferred from Los Angeles to theCalifornia Institution for Women (CIW) nearCorona, California.[13]
Krenwinkel arrived onCalifornia's death row on April 28, 1971. She received a death sentence for seven counts of first-degree murder for the August 9, 1969, deaths of Abigail Ann Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Steven Earl Parent, Sharon Tate Polanski and Jay Sebring and the August 10, 1969, deaths of Leno and Rosemary La Bianca. She was also convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. The death sentence imposed on Krenwinkel (as well as Manson, Watson, Atkins, and Van Houten) was automaticallycommuted tolife in prison after theCalifornia Supreme Court'sPeople v. Anderson decision invalidated all death sentences imposed in California prior to 1972.
At the beginning of her life in prison, Krenwinkel remained loyal to Manson and the Family, but over time, she began to break away from them. Since she distanced herself from Manson, she has maintained a perfect prison record, and she received a bachelor's degree inHuman Services from theUniversity of La Verne.
She is an active participant in prison programs such asAlcoholics Anonymous andNarcotics Anonymous and, along with her involvement in these programs, she has also taught illiterate prisoners how to read. Reportedly, Krenwinkel writes both poetry and music, plays the guitar, plays on a prison volleyball team and gives dance lessons.
Krenwinkel's initial parole consideration hearing was held on July 17, 1978.[11] During a 2004 parole hearing,[14] when she was asked who she would place at the top of the list of people she had harmed, Patricia Krenwinkel responded by stating "myself".
In an interview conducted byDiane Sawyer 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, she expressed the most remorse for what she did to Folger, tellingDiane 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 that same interview, she said that Manson was "absolutely lying" about not ordering the murders. She said, "There wasn't one thing done—that was even allowed to be done—without his express permission". She was denied parole following that hearing because, according to the panel, Krenwinkel still posed an "unacceptable risk to public safety". At her January 2011 hearing, the two-member parole board said that the 63-year-old Krenwinkel would not be eligible for parole again for seven years.[15][16] 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.
During Krenwinkel's parole hearing on December 29, 2016, the decision was postponed to investigate the defense's claim that Krenwinkel was suffering frombattered woman syndrome at the hands of Manson during the time of the murders.[17] The parole hearing resumed on June 22, 2017; the 69-year-old Krenwinkel was denied parole[18][19] for the fourteenth time.[20][21]
Following the 2009 death of fellow Manson cult memberSusan Atkins, Krenwinkel became the longest-incarcerated female inmate in the California penal system.[1] Admitted to prison in April 1971, she has been continuously incarcerated for more than 50 years.[22]
Krenwinkel was granted parole by the board on May 26, 2022,[23] but on October 14, 2022, GovernorGavin Newsom reversed the decision, citing the continued threat she would pose to society if released.[24]
Krenwinkel remains incarcerated[25] at the California Institution for Women inChino, California.[26] In 2025, she was recommended to be released onparole but the recommendation was again reversed by Governor Newsom.[2][27]
Patricia Krenwinkel was portrayed by actressChristina Hart in the made-for-TV filmHelter Skelter (1976), and in thefilm's 2004 remake, she was portrayed by actressAllison Smith. She was also portrayed by Leslie Orr in the filmThe Manson Family (2003), byKaniehtiio Horn inLeslie, My Name Is Evil (2009), byVanessa Zima inManson Girls (2013) and by Serena Lorien inHouse of Manson (2014). Olivia Klaus made a documentary short film about Krenwinkel,Life After Manson. The film was shown at the 2014Tribeca Film Festival and it included her first interview in 20 years.[28] On television,Madisen Beaty portrayed Krenwinkel in the 2015–16 seriesAquarius, whileLeslie Grossman portrayed her in the 2017 season ofAmerican Horror Story: Cult. Krenwinkel was portrayed bySosie Bacon inMary Harron'sCharlie Says (2018) and once again, she was portrayed by Beaty (listed in the credits as "Katie") inQuentin Tarantino's filmOnce Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019).[29] Krenwinkel's 1994 interview with Diane Sawyer was sampled byWhite Zombie for the song "Real Solution #9".[30]
