SUSAN ATKINS: MANSON-GANG KILLER GOT HER DEATH SENTENCE, DIES IN PRISON

Atkins and Charles Manson appear in court on Oct. 13, 1970, in Santa Monica to enter pleas in the July 27, 1969, stabbing death of musician Gary Hinman, 34, at Hinman's Topanga Canyon home. (Associated Press)

Susan Atkins, center, appears at hearing at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla on a gurney. She recited the 23rd Psalm as her statement. Attorney James Whitehouse, her husband, is at right. (Ben Margot / Pool Photo / September 2, 2009)

Susan Atkins dies at 61; imprisoned Charles Manson follower
California's longest-serving female inmate, she was involved in one of modern history's most shocking crimes -- the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders that terrorized Los Angeles.

By Elaine Woo / September 26, 2009 (Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times)

Susan Atkins, who committed one of modern history's most notorious crimes when she joined Charles Manson and his gang for a string of killings in 1969 that terrorized Los Angeles and put her in prison for the rest of her life, has died. She was 61.

Atkins was diagnosed in 2008 with brain cancer and was receiving medical treatment at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, where she died at 11:46 p.m. Thursday, said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

(snip)

Atkins confessed to killing actress Sharon Tate -- the pregnant wife of director Roman Polanski -- who was stabbed 16 times and hanged; Tate's nearly full-term fetus died with her. The next night, Atkins accompanied Manson and his followers when they broke into the Los Feliz home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca and killed them.

"She was the scariest of the Manson girls," said Stephen Kay, a former Los Angeles County deputy district attorney who helped prosecute the case and argued against Atkins' release at her parole hearings. "She was very violent."

READ MORE...GHASTLY CHARLES MANSON MURDERS ARE FINALLY ENDING...
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-susan-atkins26-2009sep26,0,4180642.story