- Manson killed Hinman
- Manson didn't kill Hinman
- Bruce Davis AND Danny DeCarlo drove him and the girls over to Gary's
- Mary Brunner was a lover of Gary Hinman
- Danny DeCarlo's girlfriend was Susan Atkins
- Manson did NOT order him to kill Hinman
- Bobby himself inflicted the wound on Hinman
- Manson did not appear at Gary's house at all
- Manson took Bobby for a ride in a truck and threatened his life if he told
- Danny DeCarlo was a participant in the events that led to Gary Hinman's death
- Gary Hinman was involved with radicals from UCLA
- He wanted to be invited to the 10 year anniversary party for the Straight Satans and he went as a go-between for them and Gary
The list goes on & on. It's mind-boggling how much the story changes from year to year. What I haven't been able to figure out is this: Why is Bobby Beausoleil and Bobby Beausoleil alone the only one claiming this crime happened because of a drug deal? Why wouldn't his co-defendants say it was over a drug deal? Why would they not know? Why on earth would they be hiding the fact that it was a drug deal thing? We can sit here all day long going back & forth debating whether Danny DeCarlo & other witnesses were lying, because they had something to lose, if caught, but it still wouldn't make sense for Ella, Mary, Susan, and even Bruce Davis to be lying about the reasons behind the murder. Hell, they all admitted Gary was murdered, because they wanted his money, property, stocks & bonds, or anything else of value. This was a definite pattern of Manson & Family. Whatever is yours is mine, whatever is mine is mine!
For instance, when Ella Jo Bailey was interviewed by police,
she had this to say:
she had this to say:
Then we have Bruce Davis's testimony from this 2012 parole hearings:
Davis stated, 'What I did understand was that they went there to rob
Gary Hinman. They thought that he had money, but he didn't."
"The gun was mine. That's the one that I received the federal firearms
charge for buying it with a false identification."
"I was present when the planning to rob Mr. Hinman went on and I drove."
"And when I was asked to drive, I did. So I drove my co-defendants to
Gary's home. I later pointed my pistol at Gary in an attempt to rob
him."
PRESIDING COMMISSIONER FERGUSON: "So the motive for Gary Hinman being
basically tortured and murdered, that was for robbery?"
INMATE DAVIS: "Yes, it was."
"Now, he said he was hung up on this little girl up there. He said that's one of the reasons why, he was trying to get her, to leave the ranch with him. But, Charlie was his god. Whatever Charlie did, he did. Whatever Charlie thinked, he thinked. It was this tight, ya know?"
The first thing I ever heard about Gary Hinman was that he had 20 grand.
Sgt. Paul Whiteley: Who told you this?
Danny DeCarlo: Charlie, he told me this. He had $20,000 and they were going to go out there and get the money off of him. Now, they, this is, they were talking about this for probably weeks-the Gary Hinman's money. According-they both knew Gary, from prior contact with Gary. Alright, he had 20 grand. Where he got this money, I don't know? If he had 20 grand, I don't know? They just said it was $20,000 that they were gonna get. So, they have to talk somebody out of it. So they're gonna talk it out of Gary Hinman. So, they sent Bobby, they sent Sadie and they sent Mary.
Sgt. Paul Whiteley: Do you know where Gary's house is?
Danny DeCarlo: Not the slightest idea.
Sgt. Paul Whiteley: Okay
Danny DeCarlo: Okay, now I am telling you, what he told me, when he came back, I'll run it down to you.
Sgt. Paul Whiteley: He?
Danny DeCarlo: He is Bobby Beausoleil.
Sgt. Paul Whiteley: Okay
Danny DeCarlo: Right from the horse's mouth. Now, this is when he came back. And a little bit, what Charlie told me, from when they got there. Now, when they left, I don't know. When they came back, I don't know. What they left in, I don't know. I'm only telling you what he told me when he came back. And that's where I'm gonna start, when he came back. Okay, I was in the end bunkhouse, on the ranch, Right, he came back and uh, I says-he was telling me about, uh, he had stabbed Gary Hinman. He says, "and I got the mutherfucker" "I killed him." He says, "it's pretty weird, I never killed anyone before in my life." And he had a little knife that he carried with him. A little Bowie knife-a Mexican, Bowie knife. A Mexican, a Bowie with a blade that comes up like this and down like this and under, fancy handle, fancy engraving on the handle. You people have it.
Sgt. Paul Whiteley: How do you know that?
Danny DeCarlo: Cus he carried it constantly on his hip.
Sgt. Paul Whiteley: Mmm hmmm.
Danny DeCarlo: On a sheath. When he got busted up there in San Luis Obispo in that little Toyota, he had that knife on him. He was supposed to take that Toyota out of town.
Sgt. Paul Whiteley: Let me ask you something.
Danny DeCarlo: Okay
Sgt. Paul Whiteley: How do you know he had the knife on him?
Danny DeCarlo: Cause he never parted with it.
Sgt. Paul Whiteley: Okay
Danny DeCarlo: When he did it-Bobbie, Charlie told him to get rid of the knife, he never did. He didn't want to get rid of the knife, because he loved it. That's why he kept it with him. So, when he got arrested up in San Luis Obispo, he had the knife on him, right? He had the knife? Didn't your crime lab check that knife and it came back clean? Well, that was the knife that did it. I almost chocked when I heard that.
Sgt. Paul Whiteley: Well now, not that our crime lab came back clean, but we have, we did test the knife.
Danny DeCarlo: Yeah, well he, he called the ranch while he was in jail and said, yeah the crime lab came back, and he said the knife, wasn't the knife that did it.
Unidentified voice: That isn't true.
Danny DeCarlo: Well, that's what he said.
From Susan Atkins last known manuscript "The Myth of Helter Skelter":It should also be mentioned that the reason why Charles Manson couldn't find anyone in all of Los Angeles who was willing to loan or give him enough money to flee, or to put him up for awhile until the heat died down, was because by the summer of 1969, Charles Manson had abused the friendship of everyone who’d ever tried to help him. He’d robbed some of these people, stolen from others, threatened others when they didn't give him what he wanted, and shamelessly lived off others until he’d abused his welcome everywhere. No one who had anything worth taking wanted him anywhere near them.Finally the men at the meeting were reduced to grabbing at the faintest of straws. Bobby Beausoleil thought he remembered someone saying a friend of the Family’s, a music teacher named Gary Hinman, had inherited $20,000. This didn't seem very likely to me. Gary lived in a little place down Topanga Canyon – nothing fancy. But that’s all they could come up with.Charles Manson said that Hinman was practically part of the Family – or at least he could be convinced to join the Family. If he joined the Family he could be expected to turn his inheritance over. Since this was all they could come up with they decided to try it.
(Note: Susan Atkins conveniently forgot to mention in her manuscript that they were ALL THERE during the planning stage of taking money from Gary. Remember what Ella Jo Bailey said?)
Subject Lutesinger was transported to the San Dimas Sheriff's Station and during questioning she stated that she had not been at the Hinman home and had never been there. Subject Lutesinger then stated that she had heard a story that above suspects Beausoleil and Atkins had been told by Charles Manson they were to go the Hinman residence and take money from him. Subject Lutesinger added that she heard that a fight had ensued and that Mr. Hinman had been killed. Subject Lutesinger also added that she left the Spahn Ranch approximately 8-1-69 and, that about one week prior to that she had observed both of Hinman's cars at the ranch. Subject Lutesinger stated that the above S/Atkins had also told her and other girls at the ranch that she had been in a fight with a man who pulled her hair; that she had stabbed him 3 or 4 times. As part of this information was consistent with some of the facts given to the undersigned by D/Beausoleil, the undersigned returned to Inyo County Sheriff's Department where we spoke with S/Atkins.
From Mary Brunner's statement (12/4/69):
The police asked her, "who did you go up there with?" Her answer, "With Bobby and Sadie." How did you get there? "I think it was Bruce who drove us up there."
"Then Bobby came up and we just talked for a while and then Bobby told Gary that we needed some money and Gary said he didn't have any and then jabber, jabber, and then Bobby took the gun out and said that, you know, we weren't kidding, we really do need some money and then, they got to fighting over it and Gary got hit with the gun."
From police report concerning Gary Hinman vehicle:
Louis Puttek was interviewed by District Attorney of Los Angeles (01/20/70):Mr. Puttek states that he purchased the 1958 Volkwagon van, that formerly belonged to Gary Hinman from Mark Aaronson. Mr. Puttek stated that he was told after his arrest on October 8, 1969, that Mark Aaronson had been given the bus on the ranch by CHARLES MANSON. He stated that he never worried about title to the bus, because he was given the pink slip, and it was signed and dated by Gary Hinman. He stated that he altered the date to avoid paying penalties to the Department of Motor Vehicles. (Note: Again, if this was a Straight Satans thing, why the hell was the bus GIVEN to someone by Manson? Beausoleil claims nobody knew about the deal with the Straight Satans.)
As much as I think the Los Angeles deputy DA is a complete ass, he summed it up nicely when he said this:
With regards to the commitment offense, and actually, with regards to much of this inmate's attitude towards not only his prison disciplinaries, but almost anything regarding his life, I would conclude that he is a pathological liar. He has told so many different versions of his involvement in this crime that it's almost beyond belief. Today we hear now a new and different version of his crime, which has differed from his previous statements. His statements have gone from he didn't kill Mr. Hinman, that he was in the other room when it happened, to Manson did it, Manson didn't do it, Manson was involved, Manson wasn't involved. I mean, you could go on and on regarding all of his different versions of the offense. Today's version is somewhat of a new deviation from his previous assertion that the motivation for Mr. Beausoleil going to Mr. Hinman's house was to collect money on a drug debt. I think previous statements from this inmate were that he had bought some mescaline from Mr. Hinman, and it turned out -- and he then, in turn, sold it to the Straight Satan's, it turned out to be laced with strychnine. The Straight Satan's were mad at Mr. Beausoleil, so Mr. Beausoleil went to confront Mr. Hinman regarding the bad drugs that Mr. Hinman sold to Mr. Beausoleil. The problem with this theory is, and this previous story, which is different from today's version, is that there is no indication in any of the records, in any of the physical evidence, or any of the statements of the witnesses, that Mr. Hinman was in any way even a drug dealer. According to Mr. Beausoleil, Hinman manufactured the drugs at his house, at his residence. There's nothing in any of the police reports, there's nothing in any of the evidence from the crime scene that indicates that Mr. Hinman manufactured drugs at all. Furthermore, there is no evidence from any of this inmate's crime partners that Hinman was involved in any kind of a bad drug deal between himself, the Straight Satan's, or Mr. Beausoleil. This is all a flat-out lie. In fact, Mr. Hinman's deceased crime partner, Susan Atkins, testified at her own parole hearing on Tuesday, December 31st of 1985, and this was at CIW, and I have the transcript in front of me, and I'm looking at pages 59 and 60 of that December 31st, 1985 transcript where she was asked a few questions by Board member -- actually, two different Board members"Did you at any time, did you think that Robert Beausoleil was there to collect money on a drug deal?" Inmate Atkins: "No, Sir." This fantasy that inmate Beausoleil concocts is a way of minimizing not only his involvement in the crime, but also of shifting some of the blame to Mr. Hinman. In other words, it was Mr. Hinman's fault that he sold some bad drugs, and that's what caused this whole confrontation to occur. It was Mr. Hinman's fault that he threatened to go to the police after his face had been slashed, that caused him to be killed by Robert Beausoleil. That is absolutely incorrect, it is not true, and Mr. Beausoleil to this day continues to lie and deny, and to make up new stories about his involvement with the crime. This was a planned attack and extortion. Bruce Davis drove Bobby Beausoleil and the girls to the house. The girls knew Hinman. They were to enter the house first to see if Mr. Hinman was with anyone. If Mr. Hinman wasn't with anyone, they were to make a signal, and after they made that signal, Bobby Beausoleil then entered the house with the gun. They kept him hostage. Despite what Mr. Beausoleil says about not preventing him from leaving, it's absolutely clear that they did. He struck Mr. Hinman over the head with the gun. In fact, by his own admission, he says that the gun was damaged. At least, that's what Bruce Davis says, that the gun was damaged. Mr. Beausoleil makes out that he's somehow a pawn in all this, that he was given instructions on how to go collect the money, that it was Bruce Davis and Danny DeCarlo that told him how to use the gun and how to threaten the victim, and this was absolutely incredible, and it's absolutely unbelievable. He continues to minimize his behavior by saying, this was all Charlie's fault, and none of it makes absolutely any sense whatsoever. According to Mr. Beausoleil's latest version, he was just there to collect some money, that he really didn't tell the girls, despite all the evidence to the contrary, because all the girls and everyone else indicates that the reason that all of them went to Gary Hinman's house was because they believed he came into an inheritance, and they wanted to acquire that inheritance as part of the Family funds. So, Mr. Beausoleil is flat-out lying. His version is completely different from all of his crime partners', and all the evidence in this case projects. His version makes absolutely no sense too, because if he were there to collect on the drug debt, why is Manson involved? Why does Manson come over? His explanation is, Manson was worried that his girls might have been in danger. They were never in any danger. There was a struggle with the gun, a gunshot went off, Beausoleil retained possession of the gun. If he hadn't retained possession of the gun, Hinman may still be alive today. He may have fled, he may have shot his assailants. But the point is, is that Beausoleil was always in control. The reason Manson was called over to the house was because Hinman didn't have the money, or wasn't giving up the money, so the purpose for Manson and Davis to return was to further threaten Hinman to pay up or turn over the pink slips to the car. This is logical, this is what all the evidence shows, and this is in direct contradiction to what Mr. Beausoleil is trying to tell this Panel today. And Mr. Beausoleil, he can't -- well, he can't keep his story straight.
We can probably gather that a lot of the witnesses, and co-defendants minimized their involvement in this tragic case, simply because they didn't want to get charged as some sort of accessory, or get involved any more than they already were. Could we say that Ella Jo was involved? Sure. She is the one who suggested Gary in the first place. We could also say that Danny was involved somewhat too. Danny was there, getting drunk & feeling up Ouisch & Simi Valley Sherry probably while they were in Devil's canyon, sitting around a campfire & brainstorming on how to procure desperately needed funds for dune buggies, food, equipment, drugs, tools, etc. He heard the planning! Danny didn't claim to be an angel. He was a piece of shit, but that doesn't mean he put Bobby up to going over to Gary's and getting the money back on some sort of bum drug deal. Remember, everyone was desperately trying to think of a way to get the money necessary to move to the desert. They even talked about kidnapping Terry Melcher and holding him for ransom. Do I think Gary Hinman was murdered because of a drug deal, or bad mescaline? Absolutely not. I never have. There is not one shred of evidence to suggest that Gary ripped Bobby Beausoleil off, or gave him mescaline with strychnine. I have known many outlaw bikers for many years now and I can guarantee you this: They would NEVER, EVER have to send some punk over to a drug dealers house to get a refund of their money. Outlaw motorcycle groups have people on their "team" that have no problem collecting on a debt or getting a refund. It's preposterous to even think that they would rely on a 21-year old punk to go collect, even back in 1969. As for the drugs, Gary might have done a little experimenting with drugs for a spell, and his family admitted that he had been in a recovery group for drug addiction, but that doesn't mean he sold Bobby Beausoleil a bad batch. It was the late 60's in Topanga Canyon. Who didn't do drugs in that area back then? Bobby Beausoleil, in my opinion is desperately trying to minimize his involvement in this cowardly murder by putting some of the blame on his victim and the rest on Charles Manson and even Danny DeCarlo. Do I think this man would be a danger to society if released. No, I do not, but I am not the one he has to convince. Inconceivable!!
