Leslie Van Houten

Leslie Louise Van Houten is a former member of Charles Mansons Family who is in prison for the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Van Houten was initially convicted at the main Charles Manson trial. At trial Van Houten repeatedly dismissed defense lawyers for blaming her actions on Mansons control over her. She also confessed to a murder she had not committed in an attempt to clear Manson.

Van Houten was born on August 23, 1949, in the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena and grew up in a middleclass family. She had an older brother and an adopted younger brother and sister, who were Korean. Van Houten was initially a regular churchgoer. Her father was an alcoholic, but reports of his drinking vary and he is reported as having been in Alcoholics anonymous during her childhood and he remained nonviolent. Her parents were divorced when she wasand the same year she began a relationship with an older man. Atshe became pregnant and was forced by her mother to undergo a induced miscarraige. Leslies mother informed her sometime later that the act could not be referred to as an abortion as the fetus was too far along.Leslie stated that after this event she felt very removed and harbored intense anger toward her mother. She began taking LSD, Benzedrine and hashish at around 15, running away for a time but returning to complete high school. She had a period of interest in yoga a

Source: Wikipedia