A Deconstruction of Charles Denton Watson

 

Charles "Tex" Watson--a name unknown to many who have not taken the time to study what has come to be known at the Tate-LaBianca murders, or more aptly, the Manson murders. However, many feel this crime should be attributed chiefly to Tex, and should therefore be called the Tex Watson murders. Either way, Tex Watson remains something of a mystery, at least in his de-evolution from small-town All-American boy to a mass murderer.

Within the framework of Charles Manson's teaching on Helter Skelter, we are led to conclude that Tex transformed from athlete, student, frat boy, and honest hard worker, to a sociopath--who believed he was instrumental in precipitating a global race war from which he and the Manson Family would emerge as the rulers of the world.

Arguably, this analysis may lead to a now very well-worn discussion about the motive (or "true motive") for the killings. For the purposes of this post, however, it is an analysis of the possible antecedents to Tex Watson becoming an acolyte of Manson and an apostle of Helter Skelter.

By employing most of the mass-marketed books on Helter Skelter, trial transcripts, psychiatric reports, and media coverage, we may possibly be able to consider the de-evolution of what for all purposes was an average and normal young man into a murderer. Outside of sheer opinion, these sources are basically all we have to assist us in tracking Tex Watson's steps from All-American boy to a committed member of the Manson Family. That said, what are these antecedents we seek?

A TIMELINE OF TEX

If we accept that Tex truly enjoyed a normal life growing up in Copeville, Texas, we need to examine his life after he left home at the age of 18 for college at the University of North Texas at Denton. Here we may begin to get an idea of where a seeming normal life started to go so wrong.

"It was September, 1964, and I was going to be Joe College. My parents expected great things from me--after all, hadn't I graduated from Farmersville High School with honors? I expected freedom. In other places around the country, students were taking off in new directions that would not only lead a whole generation to a radical break from the comfortable fifties' womb we'd all grown up in, but would destroy that world forever. We didn't care about all that in Denton. For us, college still meant fraternities and hazing and driving down to Dallas with a fake I.D. that got you into German beer halls where you drank out of pottery steins and sang along with a polka band." (Charles "Tex" Watson, As Told to Chaplin Roy Hokstra, Cease To Exist. 12AX7, 1978. p. 35).

Tex Watson Cease To Exist Book Cover

Tex chronicles in his book his childhood to young adulthood at North Texas. At this time, he obviously discovered alcohol, and joined the fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha. Any other drug than alcohol was--according to Tex--basically unheard of and not of interest. Marijuana was something not discussed in the social sphere of Tex until his junior year, and even then, it was not considered "cool." "[A]nd at N.T.S.U. there was nothing more important than being cool. Cool meant parties and beer and women--the same as high school but more of each. Cool was dressing well. I started buying new clothes, wide ties and buttoned-down shirts and a camel's hair blazer with metal buttons. I combed down the crew cut and let it grow a little--the barber called it the Ivy League look." (Watson, p. 36).

Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity

Louann's Nightclub in Dallas--a favorite spot for Tex while in college.

"My roommate was a junior transfer from Texas State in Austin, and from the very beginning I got in with a group older than I was. They knew how to dress, where to take a woman, and had a reputation for being a little wild. I was impressed. I also learned fast. When frat rushes started during second semester, there was no question where I'd end up. I'd already been careening around campus in Pi Kappa Alpha's old fire truck with the rest of the boys for several months." (Watson, p. 37).

It was also during this time that Tex stole the now famous typewriters from his high school, as part of his fraternity initiation. The next day, with a nasty hangover, he felt bad about it, and returned the typewriters and himself to his parents. Both heartbroken and furious, his parents took him to McKinney, TX to talk to attorney Roland Boyd, who gave Tex a stern talking-to. In the end, Tex was not even arrested, and promised that this isolated and stupid incident was merely a joke, and certainly not something to set a precedent. Talking to the lawyer, Tex said neither he or Boyd "could possibly anticipate those same parents sitting in that same room four years later, asking him and his son to represent me on a charge of murder." (Watson, p.38).

Meantime, Tex returned to the frat party circuit. He bought a new 1966 Dodge Coronet 500, and enjoyed pulling a boat behind it to go water skiing.

Tex drove a 1966 Dodge Coronet 500 while in college at North Texas.

At this point, Charles Watson was gravitating toward the more worldly side of college life. Gone were his days of being an active member of his hometown Methodist church, his childhood hobbies, and most interestingly, his love of competitive sports, in which he was outstanding. However, none of this would probably present itself as abnormal for any young college person away from home for the first time, and certainly not indicative of a burgeoning mass-murderer.

While at N.T.S.U. Watson would have seen the student body population grow significantly, and a major building program also took place on campus to accommodate this.  By his junior year, Tex Watson was becoming restless. He was already entertaining the idea of a move to California. One of Watson's fraternity brothers had previously made the move to California, then returned to N.T.S.U. to visit. Tex admired what he saw in him: his clothes, haircut, attitude, and envied it.

Sorority girls of N.T.S.U. of the class of 1968, the likes of which would have been dated by Tex.

"I was living pretty expensively, between the parties and the women and the trips to Dallas and keeping up the boat and repairing my car after five or six different accidents--most of which involved a little too much booze. My new roommate during junior year was working for Braniff Airlines at Love Field outside of Dallas and he didn't have to say much to convince me that a job with the airline would beat the onion packing plant at home hands-down. It was a glamorous world, exciting and new...and you got the chance to meet stewardesses. We all knew about stewardesses." (Watson, p.40-41).

An ad for the then sexy and mod Braniff stewardesses.

Braniff Airlines stewardess college at Love Field. Young women here were groomed in the progressive image the airline wanted to project. Tex would eventually find himself in the company of them.

Tex began working for Braniff Airlines in January of 1967. That spring and summer he hung out at Dallas night clubs and dated Braniff stewardesses. By July he was convinced that he had to move to California, but decided he had to check it out first. Charles Manson, at this time, was released from prison in March, and had started to recruit what was to become the Manson Family. The stage was being set for Tex and Manson to one day meet. "At this point in my life, if anyone had told me about this short ex-con who's spent seventeen of his thirty-two years in penal institutions, I'd have written his off as a loser and gone back to the primary business of life--having a good time." (Watson, p. 42).

Days before leaving on the first of his fact finding trips to Los Angeles, Tex tried marijuana for the first time with a stewardess he was dating, and he liked it. While in L.A. Tex hooked up with his fraternity buddy. Together they toured Hollywood and the clubs along Sunset Strip, including the Whiskey. Tex' whirlwind tour of groovy L.A. that August got him hooked, "but it took three more trips before I finally went home to my parents and confronted them with the fact that I was moving to California. They objected all the way up to the moment I got on the plane on August, 28 [1967]. But I knew what I was doing. At last, I'd be totally my own man, totally free, without anyone telling me what to do. It sounded so good. But in twelve months, Charlie Manson would be telling me what to do." (Watson, p. 45).

Tex sold his Dodge Coronet for scrap, after totaling it while running a red light in Texas. In L.A. he enrolled at Cal State Los Angeles, and began the first quarter term on September 22, 1967. He bought a yellow 1959 Thunderbird convertible, and settled into the first of his many apartments in Silverlake. At this time, Tex Watson developed a fond affection for weed, although he continued to drink, and he found his now famous job as a wig salesman in a newspaper ad.

Tex cruised around L.A. in one of these after arriving in late summer of 1967.

Tex lived with his friend in his first apartment, and continued at Cal State Los Angeles and selling wigs into the fall of 1967. Bill Nelson tells us that Tex subsequently lived at: 18162 Pacific Coast Highway (1/68-3/68); 2024 Dracena for one full year; 8584 Wonderland for five months; and 917 N Larrabee for three months. (Bill Nelson, Tex Watson: The Man, the Madness, the Manipulation. Pen Power Publications, 1991. p, 25).

Bill Nelson book cover.

2024 Dracena. One of Tex Watson's many L.A. abodes.

8584 Wonderland.

917 N Larrabee.

On an ironic note, it is remarkable that Cal State Los Angeles is home to the best criminal forensic program of study in America. And to be sure, a good deal of forensic science was ultimately employed by LAPD and LASO in the Tate-La Bianca murders. Cal State Los Angeles is also directly across the 10 Freeway from the Sybil Brand Institute for Women, which would eventually house Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkle, and Leslie VanHouten.

Cal State Los Angeles in the late 1960's.

The California lifestyle of 1967 magically influenced Tex, and he decided to quit college before the end of the fall term in December 1967. Instead, he decided to pursue money by trying to sell wigs. When the shop he was working in moved, he utilized his handyman know-how to build cabinets and fixtures for the new store. 

The Whisky a Go Go.

Walking on Sunset Strip April, 1968.

Later Tex and his roommate moved to West Hollywood, and then to Wonderland Drive. It was also at this time that Tex tried rosewood seeds. The effect these had on Tex was intense and frightening, and as his roommate described it, made Tex put his fist thru a door. By January 1968 things began to change drastically for Tex. While driving to work at the wig shop one morning, he was involved in a car crash that seriously injured his knee, which resulted in a surgery. This injury also kept Tex from being drafted, and instead allowed the freedom for he and his roommate to branch out and start their own wig shop on San Vicente and La Cienega. Thoroughly enjoying what he saw in Los Angeles, Tex told his mother--who visited him during his recovery from the accident--that he would never come home to Texas again. It was the last time I would see her until nineteen months later when I ran away from the desert, out of my mind and responsible for seven deaths." (Watson, p.52).

But the wig business was a flop, so Tex--who by now was smoking more weed and was comfortable buying it--decided to start dealing in small quantities. With this, the "dropping out" of Tex Watson was accelerating, and he packed up all of his nice clothes, furniture, and stereo and moved to the beach. After selling his Thunderbird, Tex bought an old 1935 Dodge truck to haul his possessions around to the many places he lived. 

1935 Dodge Pickup Truck.

An argument may be made over exactly which point Charles Watson truly dropped out of his rather innocent past, and embraced wholeheartedly the groovy life of the late 1960's that he saw all around him. But this is rather like trying to decipher where the wind comes from and where it is going--a tricky exercise indeed.

Nevertheless, it was at this time that Tex picked up Dennis Wilson hitchhiking, and it was at this historic event that the life of Charles Watson would be forever altered. Through that chance encounter with Dennis, Tex would meet guru Dean Moorehouse and ultimately Charles Manson.

Dennis Wilson.

Dennis Wilson's house.

After visiting Wilson's house several times and later moving in, Tex became very close to Dean Moorehouse, who basically became a father figure to him. It should be remembered that it was Moorehouse, not Manson, who would shape the initial death of ego thinking of the impressionable young Tex at this point. (Additionally, when later called as a witness at the Manson trial, Moorehouse was asked if it was Manson who turned him (Moorehouse) onto LSD. Dean replied that he was interested in and prepared to try acid a year before he ever met Charlie. With this, one may wonder what additional teaching--independent of Manson--Moorehouse imparted to Tex early on in their friendship.)

Dean Moorehouse.

Dean Moorehouse enjoyed the distinction as a sort of hippy sage, who not only bewitched Tex, but also Dennis Wilson, Greg Jakobson, and Terry Melcher, all the while acting as a prophet of Charles Manson. There can be no doubt that Dean influenced Tex in the asceticism of communal living, redistributing property, and "dying to self." When Moorehouse felt the time was right, he also introduced Tex to LSD in an effort to achieve these lofty goals.

But the utopia of drugs, free rent, girls, and a swimming pool at Dennis Wilson's soon came to an end. Dennis, it seemed, did not wish to continue renting the place, and instead decided to move to Malibu. Moreover, Dean Moorehouse fell out of favor with Dennis, as Dean was trying to seduce many of the young girls in residence. To Wilson, this was anathema, and of course nothing could be more uncool than being old in a young person's game. With that the habitués of Dennis Wilson's house decamped elsewhere, and eventually to Spahn Ranch. But Dean Moorehouse and Tex were not entirely welcome in the sphere of Manson and the Family, and probably for obvious reasons: Morehouse was seen as old, and Tex was still too "Joe College" and without a chip on his shoulder like Charlie and his many girls.

Drawing of Spahn Ranch. Authorship attributed to Tex Watson.

Throughout this period, Tex remained close friends with Moorehouse, and the two were eventually allowed to live in a tent by Manson on the outskirts of the main ranch area. What is of interest here is the continual gradual transformation of Tex from his former self: College student to frat boy to dropout to dope dealer to quasi homeless follower of an acid-taking hippy guru twice his age.

As earlier stated, Dean Moorehouse was not only an influence on Tex, but also on Terry Melcher. So much so, that when Dean had to appear in court in Ukiah, Melcher loaned him his Jaguar XKE and credit card for the trip. Tex went along for the ride, and the two made a short vacation of it, getting high and dropping acid along the way.

Terry Melcher and Mark Lindsay with Melcher's Jaguar at Cielo Drive.

Once back in L.A. Tex gave away the rest of his worldly possessions, including his truck. Dean Moorehouse subsequently had to make another court appearance up north, then departed Spahn ranch forever--even though a prophet of Manson he was not accepted in the Family. Without a close personal friend and guide, Charles Watson now also gave away his mind, this time to Charles Manson, who would set a much different course for the former frat boy.

While on the stand as a witness during Tex Watson's trial, David Neale, the former roommate, friend, and frat brother, illuminated the course of Watson's descent during this critical time. As Neale related, he had not heard from Tex for over six weeks, and then one day a very frightened Tex called Neale, who at the time was living in Highland Park.

Q. And did he express something about what was happening to him during this phone conversation?

A. Yes, sir. He had gone thru a complete reversal of anything he ever believed as far as Manson, it seemed. He was almost frightened over the phone and asked me if there was room for him to come stay, he was afraid of the girls and also of Manson, and he was--

(After being allowed to join the Manson Family with the departure of Dean Moorehouse, Tex occasionally kept in contact with Neale and shared Manson's philosophy with him, going so far as to tell Neale that he thought Manson was the reincarnation of Christ).

The Court: Just try to recall what he said and tell us what he said, please.

The Witness: Well, he said he was frightened, he was frightened of what Manson and what the girls were doing and he felt that he was going insane, could he come stay with me. [At this point, Tex actually escaped from the Family and arranged for Neale to pick him up in L.A.]

Q. And did Charles come and stay with you?

A. Yes, he did.

Q. This was in Highland park?

A. Yes, sir. 

Q. How long did Charles stay with you?

A. He was there--he was in Highland Park up until the time I was drafted, which was December 2nd.

Q. December 2nd, 1968?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. And did Charles, himself, report for induction, if you know?

A. Yes, sir, he did.

Q. And do you know the result of what the physical was?

A. Yes, sir; as a result of the knee injury that he suffered, I think he was given a 1-Y classification. He wasn't inducted...

Q. Now, during this two-week period when Charles was--Watson--was staying with you in Highland Park, did you and he have any further discussion about Manson and the girls?

A. Yes.

Q. And did these discussions continue along the same lines as the telephone conversation, or what?

A. We talked of Manson's philosophy and we talked of the hold that  he seemed to have on him and the hold that he seemed to have on the people who were at the ranch; and I remember explicitly Charles saying that he felt he was losing his identity, didn't really know who he was when he was there...

Q. When you left for the army did you have occasion to see Charles Watson again while you were actually in the service?

A. Yes, sir, I did.

Q. And on how many occasions?

A. Two separate times.

Q. When, approximately, was the first time?

A. The first time was in--well, December, '68, I came home on Christmas leave.

Q. And where did you see Mr. Watson?

A. If I'm not mistaken, he was still staying at the house, still living in Highland Park with my brother...

Q. And where was Charles, again, late in December when you came home for Christmas leave?

A. Well, he was living--I think he was living in town but he was staying with my brother part of the time. He was traveling back and forth.

Q. At any rate, he wasn't back at the Spahn Ranch?

A. No, at this time he wasn't. 

Q. Now, when approximately was the next time you saw Charles, Charles Watson?

A. I want to say June of '69...

Q. Now, on this occasion in June or so of 1969 when Mr. Watson came to where you were living with two girls from the ranch, did you have a discussion with him?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. And on this occasion did you notice any change in him? 

A. Yes, sir.

Q. And on this occasion did you notice any change in him from the way you had seen him last?

A. I didn't recognize him at first. That is the difference, in the change.

Q. What was it about his appearance that made it difficult for you to recognize him?

A. Well, physically, he had lost a great deal of weight. He was smoking cigarettes which I had never seen him do and he had a stare, absence of emotion almost.

Q. Was it more pronounced, this absence of emotion?

A. Yes, it was.

Q. Then when you had seen him after this telephone call?

A. Yes, definitely...

Q. What did Charles tell you, Charles Watson, in substance?

A. Well, he asked me to come to the ranch and to live and he explained Charles Manson's philosophy, which was now his, and he explained helter skelter and he told me that there was going to be a revolution in the country...The thing that kept throwing me was that he kept referring to Charles Manson, the girls, and himself as one. They were all the same...

Q. Did his appearance and his conversation disturb you or distress you in any way?

A. It disturbed me mainly because I didn't--he had completely lost his identity from the Charles that I knew. It wasn't the same person.

Q. Did you ever see him again after that?

A. No, sir.

(The people of the State of California -vs-Charles Watson, trial transcript, Wednesday, September 1, 1971. Vol. 19, p. 2981-3012. Courtesy of Cielodrive.com Archives.)

Tex Watson at Spahn Ranch. Photo: Cielodrive.com.

Tex and the Family girls at Spahn Ranch. Photo: Cielodrive.com.

Prior to his departure from the Family in December, 1968, Tex had spent about nine months with them, enjoying what he thought at first were the continual good times he had while at Dennis Wilson's. Notwithstanding the sex, free living, drugs, parties, and Hollywood connections thru Manson, the now very stoned former frat boy had a crisis of conscience--a cathartic rediscovery of the self that he tried so hard to lose. This was so profound that it scared him, and as just described by David Neale, made that now famous call to escape it all.

The Malibu Feed Bin, where David Neale picked up a frightened Tex who had just escaped Manson and the Family.

TEX WATSON'S HOLLYWOOD

Tex wasted no time in trying to reclaim his former self in L.A. He cleaned up his appearance, and when Neal went into the Army, Tex lived with Neal's brother, and then met Neal's girlfriend, Rosina Kroner. Bugliosi introduces her to a much wider audience in his cross examination of Tex at his trial.

Q. Once you arrived in Los Angeles did you ever live with any girl?

A. There was a girl living with Dave at our place in Laurel Canyon and another girl...it was Dave's girlfriend, and he went into the Army and I stayed with her a while too. 

Q. What was her name?

A. Rosina was her name.

Q. How long did you live with Rosina?

A. I was living with Rosina off and on at the same time with Dave's brother...I guess that was kind of my central headquarters, was Rosina. That's where my mailing address was.

Q. Were you sexually involved with Rosina?

A. Yes.

Q. And Rosina was whose girlfriend, now?

A. She was Dave's.

(Watson trial transcript, vol. 20, Thursday September 2, 1971. p. 3206-3207. Courtesy Cielodrive.com Archives.)

Tex needed a friend when he had the presence of mind to leave the Family, and he found that in Rosina. With David Neale out of the way, Tex moved into her apartment. In his book he refers to her as "Luella," and he said she "was like a lot of good-looking, hip (but not hippie) women living in Hollywood at the time. She didn't have a real job; she kept herself going by dealing a little grass and LSD among her friends--nothing big time but enough to get by. She had an old Hollywood-Spanish apartment with eucalyptus trees all around and a  patio that overlooked the driveway to an exclusive private club for professional musicians and entertainment stars. Sometimes we'd sunbathe on the deck, drinking beer and smoking grass as we watched all the big limousines drive up for parties, dumping out beautiful people whom we could never quite recognize." (Watson, p. 107-108).

Rosina Kroner.

Franklin Garden Apartments, home to Rosina Kroner and Tex Watson after he escaped the Family. Magic Castle in the background.

The exclusive Magic Castle club. Tex and Rosina would get high and drink beer while watching people come and go from it.

Ironically, even though Tex thought he was going crazy with the Family, and escaped, it was not long after that he entertained the idea to least visit them again at Spahn ranch. Meantime, he occupied himself with Rosina, dealt weed, drank five dollar beers, bought new clothes, and attempted to reclaim at least a bit of his former self--such was his mindset.

Even though Tex and Rosina cultivated a clientele for their dope trade, partied, and vacationed in Mexico, Tex was not happy, and his mindset changed again with fond recollections of the good old days with the Family at Spahn.

"Handsome Kevin got a little off track

Took a year off of college

And he never went back

Now he smokes too much

He's got a permanent hack

Deals dope out of Denny's

Keeps a table in the back

He always listens to the ground

Always listens to the ground."

---David & David, Welcome to the Boomtown, 1986.

By March of 1969 Tex made the momentous phone call which would ultimately seal his destiny--he wanted to return to the Family. "It was as though Charlie kept pulling me back, slowly but persistently, even though we'd had no contact since I walked out the back door of that Topanga Canyon cabin. I tried to fight it, but it was no use; he wouldn't let go of me..."(Watson, p. 111).

As if caught between two worlds, the now groomed, Tex Watson attempted to retain his new affluence in Hollywood with Rosina, but he felt somewhat inauthentic about this three-month dispensation of his life. He even attempted to interest Rosina in Spahn Ranch living, but she would have none of it. "The next day I appeared at Spahn Ranch with my styled hair and my silk shirt and leather jacket and I felt like there were two of me standing there--the old Tex whom Charlie and the girls were so glad to see and Charles from Hollywood, noticing the dust that was getting on his expensive leather shoes." (Watson, p. 112).

After one week Tex solidified his position with the Family, and he bid farewell to three months in Hollywood. He immediately resumed work on dune buggies, and fell back in with "his girl" at the ranch--Mary Brunner. Tex also noticed straightaway that the veritable peace and love vibe of 1968 at Spahn had now morphed into an arena of frank militarism, legitimated, it would seem, by a gross misunderstanding of the Beatles' White Album.

Mary Brunner.

If Dean Moorehouse was a prophet of Charles Manson in 1968, Tex now saw that the Beatles, through the White Album, now assumed that distinction in March of 1969. According to the available literature, Tex joined most of the Family in subscribing to this. Additional forays into heavier LSD usage and expanded poly drug use facilitated and amplified all of this. On April 23, 1969 Tex was arrested in Van Nuys for public intoxication by the plant poison, belladonna. 

Tex Watson booking photo for public intoxication.

Belladonna.

Powdered speed--a favorite of Tex and Susan Atkins.

His drug use continued to escalate, along with Manson's bromides about fear and Helter Skelter. It went on day and night until finally it seemed there was so little left of me that it was pointless to even carry the empty symbols of a separate identity around with me any longer. I went out to the dump behind the ranch house and threw away everything in my wallet: driver's license, draft card, everything. Now even the fiction of there being a separate Charles Denton Watson had been destroyed, at least for me." (Watson, p. 133).

By June of 1969 Tex was instrumental with the rest of the Family in stealing anything and everything to prepare for Helter Skelter. Moreover, Tex began to pair off with Susan Atkins and a newfound love--speed. As it has been said historically, Manson prohibited the use of both alcohol and speed, so Susan and Tex had to keep their speed use a secret. That said, Tex found in Susan an affectionate user and comrade in heavy poly drug use, keeping them blissfully high during the wild run-up to Helter Skelter.

Susan Atkins.....Wilder days.

Between arriving in L.A. in August of 1967 and December of 1968, Charles Watson made a slow but steady change. Namely, he dropped out and turned on, and became a minor player as a dope dealer in Hollywood. The dealing, of course, was illegal, but mostly Tex followed the zeitgeist of the times: sex, drugs, rock and roll, and various and sundry elements of hedonism. This is what he saw around him, and as he would explain to Bugliosi much later at his trial, it was basically what young people were doing within the wider culture.

Yet gone were the days of silk shirts, expensive leather shoes, and Hollywood girls. Tex approached drug use with abandon and began to join Manson in some of his more wild escapades prior to the Tate-La Bianca murders. One of these was the surveillance of a restaurant and casino on a hill overlooking the Simi Valley. It was decided to kidnap patrons of the club at night at knifepoint, and rob them.

"One night he and I were waiting in the parking lot of the casino, looking for the right victims, when two older ladies came out to the car, one of them crippled. As they got in slowly, oblivious to what was happening around them, Charlie pulled up to block their exit and sent me with a knife to force them into our car. I crept forward slowly, then suddenly appeared at their window, flashing my blade. The woman who was driving accelerated violently, nearly running me down as she spun around our car and took off down the driveway. 

We spent about fifteen minutes chasing them all over the north end of the valley before they finally lost us somewhere near Topanga Canyon Boulevard." Even though their evil mission was a failure, Tex knew that Manson learned something:  "He had seen that at least one of his family had reached the point that he would try to do anything Charlie asked, even try to kill." (Watson, p. 136).

The Pass Club Casino where Charlie and Tex attempted to rob two women at knifepoint.

The madness continued to escalate during the summer for the former track star and member of the FFA. By July 1, 1969, the now famous drug burn and shooting of Bernard Crowe took place. But this drug burn was as much of Tex' former girlfriend, Rosina, as it was of Crowe himself. By this point Tex Watson had devolved to a level that he could leave a young woman in the hands of a dope dealer as collateral in the drug deal. Watson knew full well that Crowe and his cronies could inflict serious harm on Rosina and kidnap her for the return of Crowe's drug money.

Bernard Crowe.

In our timeline of Tex we have now arrived at a point some 23 months after he arrived in Los Angeles. We have seen a young man begin his senior year of college--a young man who's only overt illegal act was stealing some typewriters as part of a fraternity stunt. This de-evolution included quitting college, the beginning of drug use, drug dealing, moving into Dennis Wilson's house, meeting dean Moorehouse, Manson and the Family, giving away all of his worldly possessions, then moving into Spahn Ranch.

The truly remarkable element in this timeline comes next, as we have seen, with the escape from Manson and the Family in December of 1968. After about eight months of drugs, group sex, and Manson's indoctrination, Tex somehow had a change of heart. But how did this happen? It could be that Dean Moorehouse, who was a father figure to Tex before Manson, had by now left the scene. To be sure, Dean was no Charles Manson, but under Charlie Tex may have realized he was heading down a road less traveled, and it frightened him.

Moreover, what brought Charles Watson to California in the first place? If we follow the available literature, the answer to this begins probably while he was in college at North Texas State. After three years of college, Tex is already an established worldly young man, and a drinker. He slowly but surely grows restless, and takes on a new college job at Braniff Airlines, surrounded by a group of hip and attractive stewardesses in a then rather glamorous industry.

Within the world of the late 1960's the siren song of the Summer of Love in California brought Tex out to L.A. on a fact finding mission for his senior year, and he liked what he saw. What has just been described could have applied--in an arguably healthy way--to any young man or woman in their teens and early twenties. The emphasis her is on the "healthy". To Charles Watson this trajectory was altogether different.  

Watson says as much in his book when he remarked that even though he mixed with people his own age on the beach, and partied and dropped acid with them, he saw himself as being different. He could not describe in what way he was different, but it may be something so fundamental that it goes unnoticed in all the legal terminology and psychological assessments in the literature on Tex. Could it be that--in a word--Charles Watson was essentially covetous?

Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs.

This may be elucidated in a now famous scene from the film, Silence of the Lambs, involving Hannibal Lecter and Clarice Starling:

Lecter: First principles, Clarice. Simplicity. Read Marcus Aurelius. Of each particular thing ask: what is it in itself? What is its nature? What does he do, this man you seek?

Starling: He kills women.

Lecter: No. That is incidental. What is the first and principal thing he does? What needs does he serve by killing?

Starling: Anger, um, social acceptance, and, hum, sexual frustration...

Lecter: No! He covets. This is his nature. And how do we begin to covet, Clarice? Do we seek out things to covet? make an effort to answer now.

Starling: No. We just...

Lecter: No. We begin by coveting what we see everyday...

(The Silence of the  Lambs, 1991).

To others his age--those outside of the Manson Family--the proverbial sex, drugs, and rock and roll was simply a phase or a fad--an element of the late 1960's culture that was endemic to a generation--but not a fulcrum that would catapult that generation into becoming mass murderers.

If true, this may explain the allure of Manson and the Family after Tex previously escaped them--he returned to them after a three-month hiatus, and slowly matriculated back into the fold. In his book, Tex explains that while living with Rosina in Hollywood, he truly enjoyed himself, yet felt like something was missing in his life. Further, he claimed that Rosina fell in love with him, but he did not want to share his love with just one woman. This stressed Rosina greatly, but instead of loving her, Tex finally tried to introduce her to Charlie and the Family. Tex said she did not want to go farther that the driveway into Spahn Ranch.

Spahn Ranch, December 11, 1969.

To be sure, between Watson's return to the Family in March of 1969 and August 9-10, 1969, any covetousness on the part of Tex morphed him into a heavy poly drug user, drug dealer, killing instructor, and mass murderer. If something was missing from his life with Rosina in Hollywood, what was it? Did his return to the Manson Family--after claiming he was previously losing his mind and identity with them--fill that apparent void? Or to cite Hannibal Lecter, what needs did he serve by returning to them?

Diane Lake was asked about Tex on the stand at his trial:

Q. What was Tex like when he joined the Family?

A. Mod, kind of sexy and nonchalant.

Q. Mod; you mean his style of dress was mod?

A. Yes.

Q. You say he was sexy?

A. Yes.

(Charles Watson trial transcript, p. 2435. Courtesy of Cielodrive.com Archives.).

Contrast the mod new addition to the Family with the Tex Watson in mid-August, 1969 in Olancha, California:

Q. Were you reading anything while you were out there sunbathing?

A. Yes.

Q. What were you reading?

A. A newspaper.

A. And what did the headline of this newspaper say?

A. Something about the Tate murders.

Q. Do you know how the newspaper got there?

A. Yes.

Q. How?

A. Mr. Watson bought it.

Q. Now, what, if anything, did Tex say to you and what, if anything, did you say to Mr. Watson?

A. Mr. Watson said that he murdered Sharon Tate and that she had pleased for her life; and that they had written "pig" on the door and that Charlie asked him to do it and he said it was fun and "Charlie sent us."" (Watson trial, p. 2438-2439).

Olancha, California.

Was Tex reading these headlines in Olancha?

Diane Lake.

Additionally, Diane provided this about Tex and LSD:

Q. While you were a member of the family, did you ever observe Mr. Watson take LSD?

A. Yes.

Q. On how many occasions?

A. Two.

Q. How did Mr. Watson act, when he had taken LSD?

A. Sexy, carefree.

Q. Did you ever see Mr. Watson act violent?

A. No.

Q. Did you notice any change in Mr. Watson , after he joined the family?

A. Yes.

Q. What type of change did you notice?

A. He let his hair get shaggy and he didn't wear mod clothes anymore.

Q. What about his personality; did you notice any difference in that?

A. Warmer.

(Watson trial, p. 2441).

Taken together, as quickly as the "sexy" and "warmer" Charles Watson became a killer, he magically had a change of heart in Death Valley when Manson told him to shoot and kill the police when came to the ranch. Tex had had enough, and ran from Charlie and the Family a second time.

Perhaps his mother had something to do with this, as Tex describes later on the day of the La Bianca murders she had set in motion the means of finding her son. He thought about how much more killing would take place after Tate-La Bianca. Apparently Watson's mother had called a friend of Tex, trying to find him, as she had not heard from him in six months. She asked him to contact Tex if he could. 

"That call, and Willis's to the ranch that followed, set up my lie about the F.B.I. having come to my parents' home in Copeville, accusing me of murder. And that lie stopped the killing and sent us all to the desert where, nearly two months later, I refused to murder again for Manson and headed home to Copeville, with its peeling white wood and railroad, home to the store and the gas pumps and the kitchen--back to the world I thought I'd blasted out of my mind forever." (Watson, p. 175).

Tex Watson's family store and filling station in Copeville, Texas.

What this dissertation fails to mention, however, is the murder of Donald "Shorty" Shea on August 26, 1969; more than two weeks after Watson's mother called looking for him.

Fast forward to Tex returning home to Copeville, and we see a fragmented, depressed, and depersonalized mentality in him. As Hollywood would not satisfy Tex, apparently neither did his hometown. The story of this prodigal son, as it were, is well known: He returned to Texas, took off for Mexico then Hawaii, returned to California, then tried to return to Manson and the Family in Death Valley. Only Tex claimed to have a change of heart again when it occurred to him that Manson would kill him for escaping the Family a second time.

"The next day, October 30 [1969], I once more called my folks and asked for money to fly home to them. This time they were more cautious, demanding that I promise to stay. I agreed and I kept my promise--until the time came when where I stayed or went was no longer something over which I had any control." (Watson, p. 180).

Tex was arrested in Copeville on November 30, 1969 and Jailed in McKinney, Texas until his eventual extradition to Los Angeles on September 11, 1970.

Tex arriving back in L.A. in custody.

Watson, while in custody in L.A., was separated from his biological family, the Manson Family, and his trusted Texas attorney. He reverted into a massive depressed and fetal state. After the insistence of his attorney, Sam Bubrick, Tex was transferred to Atascadero State Hospital for psychiatric evaluation, and was examined by several psychiatrists before the beginning of his trial. He was held at Atascadero from October 31, 1970 to February 14, 1971.

Atascadero State Hospital.

Dr. Joel Fort, one of the many doctors to examine Tex Watson to determine his sanity.

 Back in L.A. County jail, Tex underwent additional psychiatric evaluation. The following excerpts are from July 8-July 10, 1971, shortly before the beginning of his trial:

Q. Were you in jail there? (in Farmersville, Texas for the theft of the typewriters).

A. No. I've never been in jail before except overnight in jail in Van Nuys with this belladonna thing...

Q. You got over that?

A. Well, I kept eating.

Q. Was that because they kept cooking it?

A. That's right...and sometimes I ate it raw...Probably five to eight times...

Q. Why did you come to California?

A. I really don't know why.

July 9, 1971:

Q. As you look back and had to do it all over again, would you have left Texas?

A. No I wouldn't. I'm sorry I ever came to California. I'd like to go home to be with my parents right now.

Q. Just because you'd like to get out of jail here?

A. No. It's just that I love my parents and I know they are for their boy...

Examiner's note: That is a fine tribute to them.

Q. Meantime...did you go places?

A. No, Charlie never wanted us to leave the ranch. Then it was drugs, drugs, drugs...bags of acid and speed...we took a lot of speed. Especially me and Sadie. She was a speed freak and we were flying high the night of the Tate murders. It was a private stash and Charlie didn't know about it...

Q. How did you feel then?

A. I had no feeling...Then I saw Katie stabbing and stabbing this guy and I had a knife in my hand...and I did the same thing...the guy was all messed up (defendant laughing at this point)…

July 10, 1971:

Q. Why are you denying everything?

Examiner's note: At this point the defendant is angry and raises his voice.

A. I'm not denying. I'm telling the truth.

Q. How do you feel about what you did?

A. It was fun tearing up the Tate house, OK.

Q. It was fun?

A. You should have seen it, people were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. (Defendant is laughing)…

Q. What do you feel...who are the victims of this situation you are in?

A. Myself.

A. Yourself?

A. Yes.

After jury selection, the trial of Charles Watson began on August 16, 1971--two years after the Tate-La Bianca murders. Defense psychiatrists attempted to portray Tex as a young man who hated himself so much that he killed others, viciously stabbing them in an effort to "stab" his own self-hatred. They argued for his insanity, but the jury would ultimately not buy it. The prosecution produced psychiatrists who described  Tex as both a fake and a malingerer. 

Los Angeles Hall of Justice.

In his defense, some of the psychiatrists claimed Tex hated himself because of inadequacies, namely not measuring up to his mother's expectations, his quitting college to pursue the wig business which eventually failed, and even his reluctant acceptance by the women in the Manson Family. In the end the jury found Charles Watson sane during both nights of murder. Moreover, as in the trial of Manson and the girls, the testimony of Linda Kasabian was both believable and especially damning.

Taken together, an analysis--a deconstruction--of Charles Watson should arguably be seen in at least three separate phases: Firstly, his choices which led him to move to Los Angeles in August of 1967, quit college, and accelerate his drug use. Second, Choosing to befriend dean Moorehouse and follow after Manson and the Family, who saw Tex as mod, and unreliable as he was not "ego dead" .Third, the escape of Tex from the Family due to fear and the disintegration of  self, only to rejoin with them in March of 1969.

Indeed, it is this third phase which is the most tragic, because in just five months after rejoining the Family, his drug use (and secret drug use with Susan Atkins), burn of Bernard Crowe, and becoming the killer-in-chief of the Tate-La Bianca murders developed and materialized. Even during this time, Cathy Gillies is quoted by Bill Nelson in his book as saying, "Tex was looking out for Tex." And quite recently Diane Lake divulged to Ivor Davis that Tex became involved in very heavy drug use where she was interviewed by Davis at the Museum of Ventura County in March, 2022. And to be sure, Susan Atkins--as hardened as she was--was shocked at the evil tone of the voice of Tex at Cielo Drive, while acting as "the Devil here to do the Devil's business".

If Tex coveted what he saw around him in order to initially decide to move to Los Angeles, we must be mindful to how this led him to the Family, to stay with them, and to murder. The available literature suggests Helter Skelter, and of course this convicted him in his jury trial. Yet the specter of the so-called Tex tapes continues to loom large over this issue, which may possibly one day furnish further details on how a once All-American boy could become a mass murderer.

As of November 30, 2024, Charles Denton Watson has been behind bars for 55 years. He is currently an inmate of the C.J. Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California. He turned 79 on December 2, 2024, and his latest parole hearing was on October 15, 2021, which resulted in a five-year denial. In the parole board's decision, they asked one of the same questions that is asked here: what brought you back to the Manson Family after you left them in December, 1968? The board ultimately rejected Charles Manson's philosophy in transforming Tex into a murderer, and asked him to dwell on this before his next scheduled hearing. That hearing will be in October of 2026, and Tex Watson will be on the cusp of 81 years old.

R.J. Donovan Correctional Facility.

In an additional irony, Charles Watson describes in his book an encounter which took place immediately after Terry Melcher refused to provide Tex money to bail out Greg Jakobson. It took place after Melcher's chauffer drove Tex back down Benedict Canyon and deposited him on Sunset Strip. Tex got out of the car that sunny day and beheld everything going on around him as he stood at the corner of Sunset and somewhere. He looked at the cars driving by, the people, the palm trees, and at that exact moment he had an epiphany: he felt at complete peace and ease, and thought to himself that he could simply leave California at that very moment, and return home to his family and the life he once knew. He literally stood at the crossroads over life and death, and his eventual lifetime of incarceration. He stared off into the distance down Sunset Boulevard, contemplating his ultimate move, much like the character played by Tom Hanks in the final scene to the movie, Castaway.

The crossroads of decision in the final scene from Castaway. If only Charles Watson had taken the other road.

Charles Denton Watson came to California in August of 1967 and crossed paths with Charles Manson and his believers. He spent his young life seemingly without a "chip" on his shoulder--without being jaded, unlike Manson and so many of his abandoned, abused, angry, and disenfranchised followers. Although we can possibly understand some of his motivations through his antecedents, he ultimately remains an enigma.