There are a few Manson Family members or associates that little or next to nothing is known about. Charles Beard is one of those people. In this post we will tell you all about Charles and what happened to him.
Lynette Fromme wrote in her book Reflexion a
little about Charles Beard in the name she used for him, Chuck Grey with an
asterisk. She writes at the beginning of her book, "The persons and events described
in this book are real and true. In some instances, pseudonyms have been used to
protect the privacy of individuals. In such cases the altered names are
indicated by an asterisk (*) the first time they appear."
Lyn writes on pages 278 and 279. "Chuck
Grey* wasn't a bad kid- at over six feet tall, hardly a kid at all- but in the
eyes of the law he was underage. He had lived with the law all his life. Both
his parents were police officers. He didn't say so until he realized we wouldn't
hold it against him. Charlie told him the cops had been running us all over the
county, and he wondered if his dad could help to keep them off our back. Chuck
rolled his eyes.
"He's been on my back for seventeen
years," he said.
"A bully?"
"You could say that. We hardly know each
other. All he knows how to do is give orders. They're never at home much
anyway, and when they're not at work, they're sleeping."
"Are they looking for you?"
"Not really, they don't care, but they put
on a show 'cause they don't want people to think they're bad parents."
Chuck was man-some, with green eyes that looked
hungry for acceptance. He shaded that look beneath a low brow and a "fuck
it" attitude, spending most of his time at the farmhouse."
Lyn continues on page 318. "One sunny day I
heard a commotion outside, and Pearl came into George's house looking
traumatized. From the doorway I saw two sheriff's squad cars in the yard, and
seventeen-year-old Chuck Grey in the back of one of them. A scatter of people
who had stopped in their tracks of their daily routines looked stunned.
Finally, someone explained to me that Chuck, the son of two police officers,
had just been arrested for rape. A woman in the first squad car had identified
him as the man who hijacked her at knifepoint on Santa Susana Pass not a mile
from The Ranch, and raped her on the backseat of her car. As shocking as the
charge, the woman was almost sixty years old.
Murmurs of disbelief and denial failed to pick up
momentum. The complacency on Chuck's face announced that he had done the deed.
Those of us wondered why, based upon his good looks and access to girls, didn't
understand rape. Chuck went away and didn't come back."
I offer Lyn's recollections because it's about as close we are going to get to any background on Chuck other than what is on Deemer's List.
Chuck was born in Sacramento with the name and
DOB as is on Deemer's list. His mother remarried a man with the last name of
Green in 1962 when Chuck was 10-years-old. Chuck used his step-father's last
name as his own.
Chuck was arrested for kidnapping and rape on
July 21 1969. The rape occurred on July 17 1969 at 2:30 am, it was reported to
law enforcement at 9:50 am that same day. The location of the kidnapping and
rape according to the report was the N/E area of the Chatsworth hills.
The victim, Marilyn Marshall, passed away in 2004. She
was 32 years old at the time of the kidnap/rape, not 60 as Lyn thought.
In the early morning hours of July 17 1969
Marilyn and a companion, Ronald Black went up in the Chatsworth hills for a
little alone time in his vehicle, a white van.
The suspect, Chuck, was said to be driving a '57
Ford, White, two-door, license plate HET 365.
What follows is the narrative on the police
report. It is difficult to read because it is handwritten and not a great copy.
I've transcribed it as well as I can, there are a few words I could not make
out or deduce from what had been written. It's full of abbreviations which I
explain the first time they appear in the report.
The vict [victim] stated that on the abv [above]
date and time she was in the Chatsworth hills with wit 1 [Witness 1] Black,
Ronald (arrest GTA RPT booking [there's a number here but I can't make the
whole thing out] Vict and wit 1 were outside of wit 1 veh [vehicle]
Susp [suspect] came from behind vict and stated
"Don't move". Vict felt a poss [possible] 22 rifle next to her back
and shoulder and stated "You've got to be kidding"
Susp stated "No I'm not, get in the car I'll
tell you where to drive" Vict complied and wit 1 drove in front of the
vict in a white van ???
Vict lost sight of wit 1 at which time the susp
stated "turn here" (indicating RT) vict complied and after completing
turn slowed down and jumped out of the veh. Vict began to run and suspect
followed
Susp caught vict and held a 10" hunting
knife up to vict and stated "I won't hurt you" and threw knife to
side, susp then removed vict clothes and his own and forced vict to lie down
??? west at which time susp had sexual intercourse with vict, penetrating
vaginal orfice.
After completing sexual intercourse with vict
susp stated "My name is Iverson. What's your name?" vict gave name
and susp stated "If you tell the cops I'll kill you and your kids"
Susp then left in an unk [unknown] direction.
Vict ran to a paved public highway and called for assistance.
Injury: MT at Northridge receiving by Dr. Collins
who stated, laceration, contusion, abrasion ?? ???? shoulder
Pelvic exam- some dirt (earth) and pieces of
leaves in and about the vaginal area Vaginal and cervical smears taken slides
to LAPD Sutured ?? laceration on back of head.
The report written after Chuck's arrest says that
he was booked under the name Charles Alan Manson with a birth date 12-31-46.
Once in court for the arraignment he told the court he was 17 years old. His
mother provided a birth certificate and his true name to the court. Chuck then
had his case transferred to juvenile court.
The evidence against him was slides that
contained sperm and a finger print that was Chuck's found on the victim's vehicle.
Since the case was bound over to juvenile court
there are no more documents relating to this case. Juvenile records are sealed
and I'm kind of surprised that these two documents still exist. I can only
assume Chuck was convicted and served some time.
Documents relating to this case.
Chuck's story doesn't end there and what follows
is a mind bender.
December 13 1972 Charles Alan Green, 21, of Sacramento was arrested along with two other men, Edwin Lee Earle, 21, and Patrick Leo Mlenek, 19, for the murders of two Mexican nationals who were found in a shallow grave near the town of Folsom. Earle was armed with the revolver thought to be used in the killing. Subsequent articles say a total of five people were picked up and questioned but released without charges. Earle was the sole person tried and convicted of the murders. This gives you an idea who Chuck was running with after being released from juvenile hall.
Many thanks to Starviego who started a thread on Chuck Green at MoA'69 and Taborfresca who posted a link to an appeal which sealed the deal in identifying Charles Green in the appeal as the same Chuck Green who was with the Family.
August 24 1977 a 25-year-old Chuck Green married 16-year-old Karen Fredrickson in Carson City Nevada. They had a rocky relationship. By October 1977 the two were on the verge of splitting up. On October 11 1977, along with a friend of Chuck's, he and Karen went for a drive to a neighboring county. Ultimately Chuck shot Karen in the face with a shot gun and killed her. He was quickly apprehended and charged with murder, robbery and kidnapping, The cruel and callous manner of her death is described in the appeal.
Taborfresca noticed a footnote in the appeal (FN 31) that read "On several occasions the report indicated that defendant was marginally involved with the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang and had used the alias "Charles Manson." "
Chuck received the death penalty for murdering his young wife. He was the first person to receive the death penalty after it was reinstated in California.
The appeal was beneficial to Chuck. The appeals
court threw out the kidnapping and robbery charges. Following the 1977
Furman-Gregg death penalty cases the California legislature, like many states,
decided that there should be one of six special circumstances to be met for the
death penalty to be imposed by the jury. The DA trying the case used the special
circumstance of the murder having been committed during the act of a felony
crime. He named two, in fact, robbery and kidnapping. The appeals court threw
out robbery because it occurred after the murder. The murder did not occur
during the commission of the robbery.
The kidnapping special circumstance was thrown
out as well because the DA, at trial, argued three separate kidnapping events,
1. Picking Karen up 2. Driving her to the river and 3. Walking her to the killing
spot (90 feet). The appeals court didn’t consider #1 because she went willingly
as a result of a lie for kidnapping to be actionable the victim must act in
response to force or a threat of force. It didn’t consider #3 because the
distance she was forced to travel was too short. That left #2 which they agreed
was permissible but because the appeals court didn’t know which of the three
the jurors based their decision on (or perhaps all three) the kidnapping
special circumstance was thrown out. Chuck’s sentence was converted to life in
prison with the possibility of parole. (Thank you, David, for explaining to me what the appeal meant)
Chuck is still in prison, under the name Charles Alan Green. He is at Mule Creek
Prison where Tex Watson was housed for many years until his transfer to a San
Diego prison. I have no idea if the two had a reunion or if they were there at
the same time. Chuck has had more than 10 parole hearings and has been denied
or he has stipulated unsuitability on the parole hearing date. On February 5
2020 Chuck was granted parole, on May 29 2020 the governor reversed the parole
board’s decision. Since I haven’t read the transcripts, I don’t know if the
Manson taint had anything to do with the reversal.
Karen’s parents went to Chuck’s parole hearings to give victim’s impact statements any time he has come up for parole. Her father died in 2015.
It was Doris Tate, Sharon Tate’s mom, who was instrumental in getting Proposition 8, the Victim’s Rights Bill passed in 1982 so that Karen’s parents had a right to have a say in what happened to their daughter’s killer.
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| Los Angeles Times |
