Charles Manson in a California Dept. of Corrections photo from 2011.

Manson sent members of his cult, referred to as "the family," to Sharon Tate's house in August 1969 with instructions to kill everyone there. The following night, he ordered the murders of grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary.

At his trial, prosecutors argues Manson believed the killings would spark a race war he called "Helter Skelter," and believed lyrics in the Beatles' "White Album" – including a song by the same name – contained coded messages describing it.

This composite photograph shows the evolution of Charles Manson's appearance from 1969 through 2011. 

During his 45-year stint in prison, Manson has hardly been a model inmate: According to the Los Angeles Times, Manson had "hundreds" of violations during his time in prison, including possessing a cell phone and homemade weapons. He has been denied parole 22 times, most recently in 2012.

The fascination with Manson continued after his incarceration – for a while in prison, he received more mail than any other inmate in U.S. prison history. He has granted interviews over the years, including with Charlie Rose in 1986, Penny Daniels in 1987, Geraldo Rivera in 1988 and an interview with Diane Sawyer in 1994 that led California to ban recording devices in prison interviews. In 2013, he granted an interview to Rolling Stone and said he was set to marry Afton Elaine Burton, a 25-year-old devotee known as "Star."

The two were granted a marriage license, but it expired two years later without a wedding.

Charles Manson followers, from left: Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten walk to court in Aug. 1970 to appear for their roles in the 1969 cult killings ordered by Charles Manson. All were later convicted.

Susan Atkins, then 21, speaks at a news conference in Santa Monica, California, Dec. 3, 1969. Atkins was convicted in eight Manson Family murders.

Atkins confessed to killing pregnant actress Sharon Tate, who was repeatedly stabbed and hanged. When asked in a 1993 parole hearing about Tate's final words, according to the Los Angeles Times, Atkins said: 

"She asked me to let the baby live. I told her I didn't have mercy for her."

Susan Atkins sleeps on a moveable bed during her parole hearing at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, California, Sept. 2, 2009. Atkins was denied parole and died of brain cancer later that month.

Prison staffers and clergy workers reportedly commended Atkins' behavior during her years behind bars, and lead Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi told the Los Angeles Times she had made efforts to rehabilitate herself and had renounced Manson before her death.

Manson follower Patricia Krenwinkel heads to court in Los Angeles, Mar. 3, 1970.

Krenwinkel confessed that she stabbed one of the Manson Family murder victims, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, to death on Aug. 9, 1969. She also allegedly participated in the murders the following night of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca and wrote, "Healter Skealter" [Sic] in blood.

She is the longest-incarcerated female in the California prison system along with Leslie Van Houten.

Patricia Krenwinkel appears at a parole hearing at the California Institution for Women in Corona, California, Jan. 20, 2011. Her parole request was denied.

She was most recently brought before the parole board in December, 2016, but the board delayed their ruling.

Charles "Tex" Watson, 24, charged in the slaying of actress Sharon Tate and others, appears at an extradition hearing in McKinney, Texas, Feb. 16, 1970.

Susan Atkins testified that Watson walked into the victim's home saying, "I'm the devil, and I'm here to do the devil's business."

Charles "Tex" Watson appears at a parole hearing at Mule Creek State Prison in California, where he is serving a life sentence, Nov. 16, 2011.

His book, "Will You Die for Me?" describes the night of the Tate murders and says that he was the main killer in the massacre.

Watson was initially sentenced to death in the stabbing and shooting rampage, but the sentence was later commuted to life when the California Supreme Court ruled in 1972 that the death penalty was unconstitutional. 

Watson was most recently denied parole in October 2016. Sharon Tate's sister, Debra Tate, urged the panel of parole commissioners to reject freedom for the man she called "the most active, the most prolific killer in the Manson family."

"All of these people were deemed either sociopathic or psychopathic back in the day. You don't come back from that," she said "They can't be rehabilitated."

Leslie Van Houten, 19, leaves a court hearing in Los Angeles, Dec. 19, 1969. Van Houten was sentenced to death, but the sentence was changed to life in prison when the California Supreme Court ruled in 1972 that the death penalty was unconstitutional. Van Houten was the youngest Manson follower to take part in the murders.

Although she did not participate in the murder of pregnant actress Sharon Tate, she aided in the slaying of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca on Aug. 10, 1969, a day after the murder of Tate and four others in her home.

Leslie Van Houten appears during her parole hearing at the California Institution for Women in Chino, Calif, June 5, 2013.

She was denied parole at the hearing, her 20th. A panel recommended parole on April 14, 2016, more than four decades after she went to prison for the killings of the LaBiancas, but California's governor denied it.

Linda Kasabian, center, speaks at a press conference after testifying for 18 days as a prosecution witness in the Sharon Tate murder trial, Aug. 19, 1970.

In exchange for her key testimony, Kasabian was offered immunity from prosecution. She acted as a driver and lookout during the murders that took place August 9, 1969.

Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi told the Guardian newspaper in London in 2009, "She stood in the witness box for 17 or 18 days and never broke down, despite the incredible pressure she was under. I doubt we would have convicted Manson without her."

Steven "Clem" Grogan, left, was convicted in the August 1969 murder of Spahn ranch hand Donald "Shorty" Shea, whom Charles Manson had allegedly dubbed a snitch. Grogran was convicted in 1971 but paroled in 1985 after helping authorities locate Shea's body. 

Mary Brunner, middle, was Manson's first follower and the mother of his child. She reportedly received immunity for her testimony in Gary Hinman's 1969 murder, but later spent time in prison after being convicted along with several other Family members in a gun store robbery.

She has since reportedly severed ties with the Family and changed her name.

In this June 15, 1970 file photo, Robert "Bobby" Beausoleil leaves Los Angeles County Superior court. The Manson Family member was convicted in the August 1969 murder of Gary Hinman, a musician and acquaintance of Charles Manson, after Manson allegedly ordered the killing over a debt. Beausoleil was not implicated in the notorious Tate-LaBianca murders, the killings of seven people over two nights in Los Angeles that happened later the same month. 

Manson follower Bobby Beausoleil was most recently denied parole in October 2016. He originally was sentenced to die for Gary Hinman's 1969 murder, but his sentence was commuted to life in prison when the California Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972.

Beausoleil was transferred in 1994 to the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem at his request, after he married a woman from Oregon while in prison and later fathered four children. He was transferred in 2015 to the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, southeast of Sacramento, after his wife died and he had a disciplinary infraction at the Oregon prison.

Los Angeles County prosecutors said that Beausoleil should remain imprisoned because of the heinous nature of the crime and because he remains dangerous.

Manson follower Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme wasn't implicated in the 1969 Manson Family murders, but she reportedly stood vigil outside the trial and carved an "X" on her forehead in solidarity with the cult leader.

Fromme was arrested in 1975 after she tried to shoot President Gerald Ford as he walked from his hotel to the State Capitol building in Sacramento, Ca. Here, she is seen being taken from the Federal Building in Sacramento, Calif., Nov. 27, 1975 after she was convicted in the assassination attempt.

Fromme was paroled in 2009 after serving 34 years in prison.

In this Dec.17, 1970 photo, Manson follower Bruce Davis is taken to a Los Angeles courtroom. Davis was convicted in the 1969 slayings of musician Gary Hinman and stuntman Donald "Shorty" Shea. 

On. Feb 2, 2017, a parole board recommended releasing Bruce Davis, a former follower of cult leader Charles Manson. Davis had been recommended for parole four previous times, but California governors blocked his release each time. Davis was convicted of the 1969 slayings of musician Gary Hinman and stuntman Donald "Shorty" Shea. He was not involved in the more notorious killings of actress Sharon Tate and six others. 

Since his conviction, Davis has become a born-again Christian, earned a doctoral degree in philosophy of religion, and ministers to other inmates, according to a Guardian report.