Youth Cleared In Murders
August 12, 1969
Los Angeles Times
Lawyer Tells Of His Actions At Times Slayings Occurred
By Dial Torgerson
Times staff Writer
A slim youth who was the sole survivor of a rampage of homicide at a Benedict
Canyon Estate was released by police Monday.
Officers said there was no evidence to implicate nineteen-year-old William E.
Garretson in the murders of actress Sharon Tate and four companions.
The young caretaker was arrested at the estate early Friday at shotgun point,
questioned repeatedly, given a light detector test, and finally released at 2:00
PM Monday.
He appeared near tears as he made his way to the lobby of the police
administration building downtown, surrounded by newsmen. An attorney said he
wouldn’t talk and he didn't. He was led away, silently, as his lawyer told
newsmen that:
1 - Garretson was in his room in the guesthouse, listening to his jail,
when the multiple killings occurred.
2 - He had said good night to an acquaintance, Steven Parent, eighteen, at
about 11:30 PM Friday, then retired to his quarters. Parent was one of the
five found shot and stabbed to death the next morning.
3 - He didn't know there had been any crimes committed until police kicked
in the door of his room shortly after 9:00 AM the next day.
Police spoke tersely, when at all, about the case.
After their only suspect in the case walked out the door of the police
building, inspector Harold Yarnel said:
"There is not sufficient evidence to hold Garretson. There is no reason to
suspect him."
Officers added only a few additional details:
1 - the double murder of a Los Feliz market chain owner and his wife,
although similar to the West Los Angeles case in many details, was apparently
not connected with it.
2 - there are no all-points bulletins out for any suspects in the Tate
case, although detectives were questioning, were seeking for questioning,
friends of both Miss Tate and Young Garretson.
Hard -Core Police Work
A team of detectives was getting down Monday to the hard-core police work in
the complex, apparently motiveless mass murder. In doing so, they probed into
the relationships of members of two separate circles of friends who gathered at
the sprawling, secluded estate.
In the main house the "beautiful people" - the striking, blonde Miss Tate,
very intense, brilliantly talented husband, director Roman Polanski, and the jet
and sports car set that attended the-often gathered.
In the little yellow guesthouse at the far end of the property was a
different crowd-the Hollywood Boulevard drifters, hitchhikers, drugstore cowboys
and aimless youths who were invited to his quarters by short, slight,
tussle-haired young Garretson.
What police are seeking to learn is basically this: was the killer a young
drifter-or one of the "beautiful people"?
Barry Tarlow, the criminal attorney who led Garretson from custody, one arm
around his shoulder, said his investigators found out that there was a party at
the Tate-Polanski estate Friday night. He believes the killer was personally
implicated with the jet set crowd.
Newsmen asked Tarlow of his client had given police the name of suspects.
"He gave no means to the police of people he thought to be suspects," said
Tarlow. "He did give them names of acquaintances. And these acquaintances are
persons the police are talking to."
A Hollywood man who pick Garretson up once when he was hitchhiking said the
youth invited him to his quarters at the estate, and said he told him that he
frequently invited strangers to visit there.
Garretson's mother has told newsmen of her son describing visits to the
guesthouse by friends from his home town of Lancaster, Ohio-including at least
two youths who'd had trouble with juvenile and military authorities.
Parent's Murder
Young Parent was a casual acquaintance of Garretson who had been at the
guesthouse Friday night. He was shot to death as he sat at the wheel of his car
in the driveway of the property. His murder posed another question:
If the killer was a drifter from Garretson's circle of friends, why had
Parent been killed, but Garretson spared?
Tarlow said that Garretson lay awake all night, watching television,
listening to a stereo, writing letters, then went to bed about 6:00 AM.
"Then he heard police pounding on the door," said Tarlow. "He said," Wait a
minute "Then the door came flying down. The police said," Get your... hands in
the air and don't move." And there were shotguns in his face. "
Tarlow said the youth would rest in seclusion at a ranch outside of the city
for a few days to recuperate from what he termed the ordeal of his arrest. He
said his client was considering a false arrest suit against the city.
Polanski Secluded
Also in seclusion Monday was Polanski, who flew from London after learning of
his wife's death. Police would not say whether they had interrogated him yet.
Miss Tate, who was eight months pregnant with their first child, died by
stabbing, had dated one-time fiancée, Jay Sebring, 35, a hair stylist who had
become a close friend of Polanski as well. Their bodies were found in the homes
living room.
Polish film producer Voyteck Frykowski, 37, was stabbed and shot in the back,
falling on the lawn outside the home's front door.
Coffee heiress Abigail Folger fell dead on the lawn 100 ft. away, the victim
of multiple stab wounds. Coroner Thomas T. Noguchi said her wounds would not
have been instantly fatal indicating she might have died while in flight.
The direction she was taking was toward the guesthouse were young Garretson
was later arrested. Miss Folger and Frykowski had been staying at the estate,
and she would have presumably been aware that the caretaker was there.
But, said Tarlow, Garretson was unaware anything was wrong. At 5:30 AM he
picked up his phone in the guesthouse, and found it was dead. (the killer,
police say, and cut the phone lines.) But, without investigating, Garretson then
went to bed, his lawyer said.
Private funeral services for Miss Tate are being arranged through Cunningham
and O'Connor. No arrangements have been made for Frykowski.
Memorial services for Sebring are scheduled for 2:00 PM Wednesday
At Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale.
Rosary will be recited at 8:00 PM today at the church of the Nativity
in El Monte for Parent. Mass will be Wednesday at 9:30 AM at the church,
followed by burial at Queen of Heaven Cemetery.
Requiem mass will be celebrated for Miss Folger at 10:30 AM Wednesday at our
Lady of the Wayside Catholic Church in Portola Valley near Redwood City.
