Mass murderer Charles Manson dies at 83

UPDATE @12:36 a.m.

Reports indicate Charles Manson has died.

Debra Tate received a call from the prison telling her Manson died at 8:13 p.m. Sunday, according to reports.

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FIRST REPORT

Charles Manson, among the nation's most well-known mass murderers, has been admitted to a Bakersfield, California, hospital, reportedly in grave condition, according to several media reports Wednesday night.

According to those media reports, including from the New York Post and the Los Angeles Times, Manson, 83, has struggled with gastrointestinal problems and been in and out of hospitals in recent years.

Kern County Sheriff’s Lt. Bill Smallwood confirms that Manson is at a hospital in Bakersfield. He said he could not say more.

SEE: Charles Manson biography

Vicky Waters, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, declined to comment to the Times, citing federal and state medical privacy laws that preclude the agency “from commenting on protected health information for any inmate in our custody.”

Waters did confirm that Manson is alive, according to the Times report.

Manson, who was born in Cincinnati, is serving multiple life sentences at a Corcoran, California, prison.

In January, Manson was rushed to Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield for what authorities described, at the time, as a serious medical problem.

Manson and members of his “family” of followers were convicted of killing actress Sharon Tate and six others during a rampage in the Los Angeles area in August 1969. Prosecutors said Manson and his followers were trying to incite a race war he dubbed “Helter Skelter,” taken from the Beatles song of the same name, according to the LA Times article.

Tate, the wife of director Roman Polanski, was 8 ½ months pregnant when she was killed at her home in Benedict Canyon on Aug. 9, 1969. Four others were stabbed and shot to death the same night: Jay Sebring, 35; Voytek Frykowski, 32; Abigail Folger, 25, a coffee heiress; and Steven Parent, 18, a friend of Tate’s caretaker. The word “pig” was written on the front door in blood, according to the LA Times article.

The next night, Manson rode with his followers to the Los Feliz home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, then left three members to kill the couple.

A1972 ruling by the California Supreme Court found the state’s death penalty law at the time unconstitutional, and Manson's death sentenced was changed to life with the possibility of parole. He has been denied parole 12 times.

Los Angeles Times and New York Post articles were used for this report.