Community Corner

Former Monrovia High Cheerleader and Manson Follower Denied Parole

The former MHS homecoming princess and convicted murderer will be eligible for another parole hearing in five years.

By City News Service

Former Charles Manson disciple Leslie Van Houten was rejected today in her latest bid for parole in the 1969 murders of a Los Feliz couple.

Van Houten, 63, spoke during the parole hearing at the California Institution for Women in Chino. She had been most recently denied parole in July 2010, and will be eligible for another hearing in five years. According to the state Department of Corrections, this was Van Houten's 19th bid for parole.

Van Houten, a former Monrovia High School cheerleader and homecoming princess, was convicted of murder and conspiracy for participating with fellow Manson family members Charles "Tex" Watson and Patricia Krenwinkel in the Aug. 9, 1969, slayings of grocers Leno and Rosemary La Bianca at their Los Feliz home. Van Houten was sentenced to death, but re-sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1972 that the death penalty was unconstitutional.

"Given the brutality of the murders of Leno and Rosemary La Bianca and Van Houten's willing and active participation in this evil, pre-planned and violent crime, we are pleased with the parole board's decision to continue to hold Van Houten accountable for her heinous actions," District Attorney Jackie Lacey said.

Van Houten has acknowledged her role in the La Bianca murders, admitting at an August 2004 parole hearing that she stabbed Rosemary La Bianca 14 to 16 times after the woman had been stabbed by Watson and Krenwinkel. At earlier hearings, Van Houten said she believed La Bianca already was dead at the time, and said it was "very hard" for a woman now in her 50s to "look back on the behavior of who I was at 19."

Van Houten did not participate in the Manson family's slayings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others in a Benedict Canyon mansion the night before.

Manson and many of his other former followers, who have repeatedly been denied parole, remain behind bars. Onetime Manson family member Susan Atkins died in September 2009, about three weeks after a state parole board panel rejected her plea for a "compassionate release" from prison because of brain cancer.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here