Suspect Hunted In Tate Murders Quizzed, Freed
August 19, 1969
Los Angeles Times
By Dial Torgerson
Times Staff Writer
A man described in an all-points bulletin in Canada as a prime suspect in the
Sharon Tate murder walked into Los Angeles police headquarters Monday, was
questioned and then released.
Thomas Michael Harrigan, 27, was freed after almost two hours of questioning.
The Royal Canadian Mounted police had put out a broadcast asking for the
arrest of Harrigan and three other men in connection with the murder of Miss
Tate and four other persons early August 9. The RCMP said it was acting on
authority of the LAPD.
But LAPD interest in the quartet faded quickly after Harrigan and his
attorney, Paul Caruso, talked to homicide detectives Monday.
Harrigan said he had an alibi for the night of the murders, and the other
three-all friends or acquaintances-were out of the state that night.
Was Friend Of Frykowski
Harrigan said he was a friend of Voyteck Frykowski, who was killed with Miss
Tate, hair stylist Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger and Steven Parent.
He said the other three men named in the RCMP broadcast-Harris Pickens
Dawson, William Doyle and Charles Tacot-were also friends of Frykowski.
Tacot and Doyle are at Ochos Rios, Jamaica and Dawson, "is working in upper
New York State as a truck driver," Harrigan said.
After talking to Harrigan, police said they were no longer seeking Tacot,
Doyle and Dawson, although they would question them if they became available.
Harrigan said he had been at the Tate Home Thursday, August 7 - the day
before the party that ended in the multiple murder. He said it was the first
time he had met Miss Tate. Present were the actress, Frykowski and Sebring, he
said. He wasn't invited to the Friday party, he said.
Called Narcotics-Hippie Types
The RCMP had described Harrigan as "wanted for murder" and termed the four
"narcotics-hippie" types.
The broadcast said, "warrants are available" in Los Angeles.
But no charges were filed against Harrigan, and he was not booked. "I don't
use narcotics," he told newsmen.
"Call him an old-fashioned beer drinking Irishman," said Caruso.
Harrigan said he didn't know he was wanted until he heard a television
broadcast saying he and his friends were being sought in the Tate case.
He told police, and, later, newsmen, that he had been at a party at the home
of Eddie Roberts in Manhattan Beach on August 8. He stayed until about 1:00 AM
August 9, he said. Roberts, 26, went to the police station to verify Harrigan
story.
The murders are believed to have occurred at about midnight in Benedict
Canyon, 20 miles from Roberts House.
Newsmen asked Harrigan if he thought the nickname of Dawson - "pick" - might
had had something to do with police seeking him. Written on the door of the Tate
home in blood was a word police said was "PIG". Could it have been written as "PIC"
by one of the victims?
"I never heard that before." Said Harrigan.
Native Of Canada
Harrigan, a Canadian, attended Saint Patrick's College in Ottawa. He is a
personnel consultant. He has been in the Los Angeles area since January, and
said he met Frykowski through friends.
Frykowski, a Polish emigre, was a close friend of Roman Polanski, Miss Tate's
husband. Said Harrigan of Frykowski: "He was a beautiful human being."
At the Tate-Polanski home in Benedict Canyon the word on the door was still
visible. To a newsman at the scene it looked more like "Pig" than "Pic."
