Latest news with #CharlesManson
The Sun
05-07-2025
- The Sun
Notorious Scots serial killer ‘Mad Dog' dies alone & in agony as monster's final moments revealed
A NOTORIOUS Scots serial killer has died in agony, we can reveal. Archie 'Mad Dog' McCafferty, 74 - who murdered four people in Australia in the 1970s - passed away in Edinburgh. 4 4 4 4 His multiple causes of death included pneumonia, acute kidney injury, covid and lung condition COPD. It was also noted on his death certificate he died after falling and being unable to get up at his flat in the capital's Broughton district. Glasgow-born McCafferty - dubbed Australia's Charles Manson - died last year but details of his death and its causes has only recently been lodged. A source said: 'He died in lonely agony. 'But after what he did to all his victims and the pain he inflicted on their families, he deserves to rot in hell.' In an interview with The Scottish Sun in March 2006, McCafferty, said: 'The truth is murdering people meant nothing to me. It was the same as picking my nose.' McCafferty, whose family emigrated to Australia when he was ten, went on a five-day killing spree after the accidental death of his six-week-old son Craig in 1973. During a drug-fuelled visit to the tot's grave, he believed he heard his baby say he would be reborn if his dad killed seven people. He began his killing spree in 1973 by stabbing a newspaper seller, George Anson, 50, seven times. Two days later, dad-of-seven Ronald Cox, 42, picked up two of McCafferty's gang who were out hitch-hiking. Chilling moment Bryan Kohberger admits guilt in murder of Idaho students as even judge admits he was blindsided by deal They abducted him at gunpoint and took him to McCafferty. Ronald pleaded for his life, asking the killer to think of his children, but McCafferty shot him in the back of the head. Hours later, McCafferty claimed his third victim. He ordered one of his gang to blast driving instructor Evangelos Kollias to death with a sawn-off shotgun. McCafferty was caged for life, and in 1978 he got a further 16 years for butchering fellow inmate Edward Lyon. But after 23 years in a Down Under jail, bearded McCafferty, who never got Australian citizenship, was deported to Scotland. McCafferty, who has lived in 30 different locations since his arrival, was then jailed for holding first wife Mandy hostage after she told him she would take their two kids back to Australia. During a tense siege in 2004 he taunted riot cops, yelling: 'Don't f*** with me - if you want a Mad Dog, you have got one.' In 2007, McCafferty claimed he turned down the offer of £15,000 to kill a drug lord's gangland rival. Two years later he insisted he turned his back on crime to become a toymaker after completing a woodwork course he'd been sent on as part of a community service placement for driving a car with dodgy licence plates.
Scottish Sun
05-07-2025
- Scottish Sun
Scottish serial killer who murdered four people and was dubbed ‘Australia's Charles Manson' dies in agony in Edinburgh
During a drug-fuelled visit to his son's grave, he believed he heard his baby say he would be reborn if his dad killed seven people MONSTER GONE Scottish serial killer who murdered four people and was dubbed 'Australia's Charles Manson' dies in agony in Edinburgh Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A NOTORIOUS Scots serial killer has died in agony, we can reveal. Archie 'Mad Dog' McCafferty, 74 - who murdered four people in Australia in the 1970s - passed away in Edinburgh. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 4 Archie 'Mad Dog' McCafferty returned to Scotland in 1997 after being deported from Australia Credit: PA:Press Association 4 The killer murdered four people in Australia in the 1970s Credit: Les Gallagher - The Sun Glasgow 4 His multiple causes of death included pneumonia, acute kidney injury, covid and lung condition COPD Credit: News Group Newspapers Ltd 4 Mad Dog went on his killing spree after the death of his son Credit: Les Gallagher - The Sun Glasgow His multiple causes of death included pneumonia, acute kidney injury, covid and lung condition COPD. It was also noted on his death certificate he died after falling and being unable to get up at his flat in the capital's Broughton district. Glasgow-born McCafferty - dubbed Australia's Charles Manson - died last year but details of his death and its causes has only recently been lodged. A source said: 'He died in lonely agony. 'But after what he did to all his victims and the pain he inflicted on their families, he deserves to rot in hell.' In an interview with The Scottish Sun in March 2006, McCafferty, said: 'The truth is murdering people meant nothing to me. It was the same as picking my nose.' McCafferty, whose family emigrated to Australia when he was ten, went on a five-day killing spree after the accidental death of his six-week-old son Craig in 1973. During a drug-fuelled visit to the tot's grave, he believed he heard his baby say he would be reborn if his dad killed seven people. He began his killing spree in 1973 by stabbing a newspaper seller, George Anson, 50, seven times. Two days later, dad-of-seven Ronald Cox, 42, picked up two of McCafferty's gang who were out hitch-hiking. Chilling moment Bryan Kohberger admits guilt in murder of Idaho students as even judge admits he was blindsided by deal They abducted him at gunpoint and took him to McCafferty. Ronald pleaded for his life, asking the killer to think of his children, but McCafferty shot him in the back of the head. Hours later, McCafferty claimed his third victim. He ordered one of his gang to blast driving instructor Evangelos Kollias to death with a sawn-off shotgun. McCafferty was caged for life, and in 1978 he got a further 16 years for butchering fellow inmate Edward Lyon. But after 23 years in a Down Under jail, bearded McCafferty, who never got Australian citizenship, was deported to Scotland. McCafferty, who has lived in 30 different locations since his arrival, was then jailed for holding first wife Mandy hostage after she told him she would take their two kids back to Australia. During a tense siege in 2004 he taunted riot cops, yelling: 'Don't f*** with me - if you want a Mad Dog, you have got one.' In 2007, McCafferty claimed he turned down the offer of £15,000 to kill a drug lord's gangland rival. Two years later he insisted he turned his back on crime to become a toymaker after completing a woodwork course he'd been sent on as part of a community service placement for driving a car with dodgy licence plates.
Fox News
01-07-2025
- Fox News
From Housewife To Would-Be Assassin: The Case Of Sara Jane Moore
Over the course of just one month, President Gerald Ford survived two attempts on his life. The first attempt was on September 5th, 1975, when a follower of Charles Manson tried to shoot him at close range. The second attempt was just seventeen days later, by an unassuming housewife named Sara Jane Moore. Investigative journalist and author Geri Spieler discusses the thrilling case, as well as her correspondence with Moore herself, as detailed in her book, Housewife Assassin . Follow Emily on Instagram: @realemilycompagno If you have a story or topic we should feature on the FOX True Crime Podcast, send us an email at: truecrimepodcast@ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
Irish Daily Mirror
25-06-2025
- Irish Daily Mirror
Charles Manson's final words in chilling interview before his agonising death
Charles Manson, the notorious killer and cult leader who cast a shadow over California's history, could only ever leave prison in one way after being handed nine life sentences - and that was in a coffin. The mastermind behind the chilling 1969 murders of Sharon Tate and eight others in Los Angeles passed away in 2017 at the age of 83 from colon cancer. Nearly half a century had elapsed since Manson orchestrated the infamous killings when he died. His followers, known as the 'Manson Family', carried out the brutal acts across four locations in July and August 1969, following his orders. Manson and several members of his cult were apprehended and indicted in December that year. The slayings that shook the hills of L.A. were part of Manson's twisted plan to ignite a racial conflict he dubbed "Helter Skelter." He envisaged this apocalyptic event would result in the Manson Family emerging victorious, enabling them to create a stronghold of power, reports the Mirror US. The country was gripped by a mix of intrigue and horror throughout the nine-month trial that followed. Although Manson was initially sentenced to death in 1971 for his role in orchestrating the savage crimes, his sentence was reduced to life imprisonment when California repealed capital punishment in 1972. The declaration sealed Manson's fate, ensuring he would spend the bulk of his existence locked away, and although his life was extended, the notorious cult leader was never to experience freedom again. He faced parole rejection a staggering twelve times throughout his incarceration. People Magazine reported that at the time of Manson's death, his last words were shrouded in mystery. The LA Times noted that Manson had been "seriously ill" in the lead-up to his demise. In November 2017, he was hospitalised due to gastrointestinal bleeding linked to his colon but was considered too frail for surgery, according to the New York Times. Subsequently, he was returned to Corcoran State Prison in Bakersfield, California. Later in the year, TMZ reported that Manson was readmitted to the hospital in critical condition and would not make it back to prison. His death occurred just two days after news of his hospitalisation broke. Manson's death certificate revealed his health status at the time of death and the cause. Manson's final battle was with metastatic colon cancer. Respiratory failure and cardiac arrest were the ultimate causes of his passing. Manson's life came to an end on November 19, 2017, at 8.13 pm PT. Throughout his time in prison, Manson accumulated over 100 infractions, including threats to prison staff, weapon possession, and assault. Charles Manson's final words remain a mystery, but he engaged in several interviews with author and TV producer James Buddy Day during the last year of his life. Day, who would go on to pen the 2019 publication 'Hippie Cult Leader: The Last Words of Charles Manson', is credited as the last individual to extensively interview Manson, as highlighted by TIME. Manson consistently proclaimed his innocence regarding the infamous murders right up to his passing, Day remarked. In his ultimate recorded conversation with Day, Manson asserted over the phone: "I didn't have nothing to do with killing those people. They knew I didn't have anything to do with it."
Daily Mail
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Beach Boys' Brian Wilson's torture at the hands of his rotten father and the deep turmoil before his death
His sun-kissed songs and breezy Beach Boy bandmates formed the joyful soundtrack of a generation—a California dream that continues to resonate today. But behind Brian Wilson's musical genius lay a life shaped by trauma, mental illness, and deep personal turmoil—pain that began in childhood and surfaced even as his fame grew. Wilson endured a violent upbringing at the hands of his father, experimented heavily with drugs, and became the victim of a manipulative therapist. His brother Dennis fell into the orbit of cult leader Charles Manson. Yet despite it all, Wilson kept making music—until a dementia diagnosis finally silenced his creativity. On Wednesday, Wilson's heartbroken family announced his death at the age of 82. 'It was hard to feel happy and light when there were sad things in my head,' Wilson wrote in his 2016 autobiography I Am Brian Wilson. 'It was hard to feel free when I was tied down. 'But the only choice was to try.' And try he did – through childhood abuse, personal tragedies and battles with rampant drug use – with such success that Wilson helped create one of the most successful musical groups of all time. He battled through lawsuits, fractured relationships with family and bandmates, and a public struggle with mental illness. But he never stopped. 'Whenever I've been told to stop – by someone who thought they had power over me, by something that happened around me, by the voices in my own head – I kept going,' he wrote. Wilson was still working on music in his final years, even as his health declined and he was diagnosed with dementia. Following the death of his wife Melinda last year, he was placed under conservatorship at their home in Beverly Hills. And Wilson, himself, had spent his entire adult life sharing his music – and his pain, often openly and publicly – with the world. 'Music has always been the light in dark times,' he wrote in the final chapter of his book. The oldest of three brothers, Wilson was born in 1942 in California to Audree and Murry Wilson, an amateur songwriter who instilled his boys with a love of music but was also 'cruel' and 'violent.' 'My dad was violent. He was cruel,' Wilson wrote in his 2016 memoir. 'He drank too much and became a monster - and he didn't know how to deal with his son's fears. Whenever I got afraid, he would yell at me or slap me or call me a p****' Describing himself and brothers Dennis and Carl as 'kids who get hit,' Wilson wrote how he'd 'think of the things [their father] said always with exclamation points. 'Even if he wasn't yelling, his tone was like that.' Murry Wilson was thrilled but demanding when Wilson exhibited a particular musical aptitude and started a band with his brothers, cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine. But Murry 'wanted us to work all the time, and nothing we did was ever really good enough. 'He would set up our amps and scream at us to do more.' Murry Wilson started out managing the Beach Boys, though they fired him in 1964 as their star rose – and as problems began to plague Brian. He wrote in his autobiography how live performances and TV slots scared him. 'Many of my worst memories are from being nervous up there, and many others are from the things I did to keep myself from being nervous up there,' he wrote. 'Some of the drinking was because of that. Some of the drugs were because of that. 'Some of the voices in my head I heard just before I went onstage, and they didn't have anything good to say about me.' In 1964, aged 22 and newly married to a 16-year-old, Wilson had a breakdown on a flight to Houston. 'My thoughts swarmed and I blacked out,' he wrote. 'To me I blacked out. To everyone else it looked like I was screaming and holding my head in the aisle.' Wilson took a temporary break from touring. But he'd also started using drugs the same year, everything from marijuana to acid to cocaine. 'They were ways of dealing with the fact that my head wasn't right,' he wrote. 'But they didn't solve a thing. With the drugs, in fact, came very other kind of problem.' He was writing more and staying home while falling more and more into drug use. And external problems would come to plague him, too. At the end of the Sixties, Wilson's brother, Dennis, began associating with Charles Manson after getting to know two of his female followers. He raved about Manson in interviews and let members of the 'family' stay in his house; Dennis even co-wrote with the infamous killer and recorded one of his songs. He'd later try to distance himself from the Manson clan, who went on to murder victims including actress Sharon Tate; Dennis declined to testify against the killer but was privately interviewed by authorities before it was deemed his testimony was not needed. But the relationship between Brian and Dennis, also plagued by heavy substance use, would get increasingly fraught. In one instance, Dennis allegedly got Brian to buy $15,000 worth of cocaine; the older brother's former bodyguard and another later beat up Dennis, leading to a restraining order against them, writes Steven Gaines in his 1986 book Heroes and Villains: The True Story of the Beach Boys. Dennis died tragically homeless in 1983, drowning after a day of drinking. By then, Brian had been divorced five years from Marilyn, who'd given birth to the couple's two daughters, Carnie and Wendy, in the late 1960s. The marriage was unable to weather Wilson's erratic behavior and substance abuse. He'd also fallen under the control of controversial therapist Dr Eugene Landy, whom he'd first begun seeing in 1975, after the musician had ballooned in weight to 300 pounds. 'He got some results, but he went too far,' Wilson wrote. 'He was getting too involved, and then I found out what he was charging. I confronted him about it. I was pretty angry … I threw a punch and he threw one back and that was the end of it – that time, at least.' After a few years, however, Landy was called back in to again address Wilson's mental and physical health – and, as time went on, Landy began exerting more and more influence in his patient's life. That including Wilson's career, with Landy forming business partnerships with the singer and even getting producing credits – all while charging what would be millions in today's money, at times up to $35,000 a month. 'Dr Landy was a tyrant who controlled one person, and that person was me,' Wilson wrote in his book. 'He controlled where I went and what I did and who I saw and what I ate. He controlled me by spying on me. 'He controlled it by having other people spy on me. He controlled it by screaming at me. He controlled it by stuffing me full of drugs that confused me.' Landy eventually lost his license in 1989 and by the early 1990s had almost entirely left Wilson's life. The Beach Boy remarried in 1995, later adopting five children with his wife Melinda. They remained married until her death last year. Around the time of his second marriage, Wilson was also beset by lawsuits – including actions filed by his cousin and fellow Beach Boy Mike Love, who sued Wilson over claims in his 1991 memoir as well as over songwriting credits and royalties. Wilson lost both his brother Carl, who'd been a lifelong smoker, and mother Audree over a two-month period between 1997 and 1998. As the years wore on, he'd rejoin the Beach Boys for events and other shows, though even the 50th reunion tour in 2012 was marked by a public rift among members. Wilson was philosophical in his memoir four years later, recalling a talk show host in the 1970s who'd asked him 'about how I kept going through all of it: through the drugs, through the lawsuits, through the bad feelings that came up between me and the people closest to me. 'I had an answer ready,' he wrote: 'My name is Wilson … Maybe that's where I got the will.'
