2 Or 3 Assailants Involved In Tate Slayings, Noguchi Says
September 20, 1969
Los Angeles Times
By John Kendall
Times Staff Writer
Actress Sharon Tate and four others were shot and stabbed to death at a
Benedict canyon home by more than one person, possibly two or three, County
Coroner Thomas T. Noguchi said Friday.
Noguchi based his conclusion on a preliminary report from a team of
behavioral scientists he appointed to study the mass murder.
"It is very difficult to understand how one would be able to accomplish a
mass killing," the corner told a news conference in his hall of Justice Office.
"Two, possibly... Three. But the more the number it becomes there would be a
certain group inhibition. It is rather difficult for them (a larger group) to
accomplish the type of injury patterns found on the bodies."
The coroner also said:
Bizarre features of the crime suggest possible psychopathy of at least one of
the killers.
But, on the other hand, other details indicate someone was thinking clearly.
Sex was not involved in the killings.
"One or more persons were suffering either paranoic tendencies or suffering
from psychopathic characteristics and showed what we call overkill syndrome,
more than enough to cause the deaths." Noguchi said.
At the same time, he pointed out that Miss Tate's palatial residence was
invaded intentionally by someone who cut the telephone lines.
Noguchi considered it possible that the killers might have joined the group
on the night of August 8-9 without first intending to commit murder.
The coroner said autopsies disclosed drugs in the blood streams of some
victims but declined to identify who had taken drugs, nor would he identified
the drug or drugs.
The medical examiner said multiple stab wounds to some of the victims were
symptomatic of an expression of "anger, revenge and frustration."
But he said there were no signs of mutilation in the sense that pathologists
define mutilation. He declined to say "at this time" whether any of the stab
wounds were inflicted after death.
Noguchi said some of the theories considered by the medical panel, composed
of Drs. Frederick J. Hacker, Robert Litman and Norman L. Farberow, were that:
One of the killers was a woman.
It was a death ritual.
Noguchi would not completely rule out the possibility that a woman was
involved but he said he now considers it "unlikely."
He agreed that a "possibility still exists" that the murders may have
resulted from a death ritual which went too far and forced one or more persons
into a drug-induced paranoia.
Robert Houghton, newly named assistant chief of police whose duties encompass
the detective's bureau said later he agreed more than one person was involved in
the murders.
"As far as whether they were male or female, I will make no statement on
that," he said when asked about Noguchi’s remarks. "I have no information on
what they based their conclusion."
Houghton agreed that drugs were involved in the murders but declined to
discuss the implications of that conclusion.
He also said physical evidence indicates that there was a "state of high
agitation or possible frenzy" at the scene.
Houghton said there's nothing new to report in the case other than "hard,
grinding police work" is continuing.
"It is a difficult case," he said. "There are five victims and any police
investigation must include a complete investigation of the backgrounds of all
the victims."
Besides Miss Tate, 26-year-old wife of film director Roman Polanski, police
found the bodies of coffee heiress Abigail Folger, 26, Polish screen producer
Voyteck Frykowski, 37, wealthy hair stylist Jay Sebring, 35, and Steven Parent,
18 of El Monte.
Bodies Connected
The five were shot, stabbed or throttled. "Pig" had been written in blood on
the front door of the home. A bloodied nylon cord ran over a ceiling beam in the
living room connecting the bodies of Miss Tate and Sebring, whose head was
covered with a black hood.
Polanski was in London at the time of the murders. A young caretaker, William
E. Garretson, 19, was in a cottage on the grounds but told police he heard
nothing. He was released after questioning. Garretson was a friend of the young
Parent.
Noguchi described the three-member medical report as an interim working
document not yet ready for general publication.
