The body of mass murderer and cult leader Charles Manson may only stay on ice for a few more days, a judge in Bakersfield, California ruled Wednesday.
The notorious killer’s corpse has been in cold storage since he died of natural causes at the age of 83 on November 19, 2017.
Kern County Superior Court Commissioner Alisa Knight said Wednesday that she would rule in a few days on petitions to release Manson’s remains from the Bakersfield morgue and is minded to move to allow him to be cremated.
But the coroner who is currently storing the serial killer’s remains is also minded to allow blood and DNA samples to be taken which may finally solve the mystery of who Manson’s children really are.
A total of five would-be heirs are battling it out with two joining forces Wednesday to try to hurry along a cremation.
At Kern County Superior Court, Brian Walters, attorney for the local coroner, asked Commissioner Knight to allow the coroner to cremate the body.
Dale Kiken, attorney for Manson’s alleged grandson, Jason Freeman, objected to the coroner’s request – while lawyer Daniel Mortensen, representing Michel Brunner and Matthew Roberts, who both claim to be sons of Manson, did not object to the cremation.
Matthew Roberts, 49, who claims to be one of Manson’s biological sons, was the only person at the hearing who claimed to be a descendant. He has joined forces with one, Michael Brunner, but the other two – Rebecca Evans and purported grandson Jason Freeman are all at odds with each other
Reclusive: Michael Brunner, 49, whose birth certificate lists Manson and cult member Mary Brunner as his parents, has joined forces with Roberts to properly dispose of their father’s body. Born Valentine Manson in 1968, he has stayed out of the public eye after giving a 1993 interview about his infamous father
Claims: Part-time actress Rebecca Evans, 48, was rescued as a baby from Manson’s Los Angeles County ranch and told at 15 she was his daughter, while former MMA fighter Jason Freeman 41, of Bradenton, Florrida, has also filed a claim for the remains alleging he is the grandson of Manson and his first wife Rosalie Willis
The notorious cult leader died at the age of 83 on November 19, 2017, but because multiple parties have attempted to claim his remains, his body has been on ice with the Kern County Coroner ever since
Commissioner Knight decided to consider all the legal arguments, and to look over some ‘sealed records’ submitted by the prison where Manson spent 47 years on death row before issuing her ruling ‘in a couple of days’.
Five people have laid claim to the remains, and the estate, of the notorious killer: Roberts; Brunner; Freeman; Rebecca Evans who claims to be his daughter; and memorabilia collector Michael Channels, who claims to have a signed will.
It was decided that the two issues – who gets his body and who gets what he left behind – should be dealt with by separate courts.
The disposal of his remains has been handled by Kern County Superior court, 100 miles north of Los Angeles, because that was where Manson died.
Mary Brunner, now 74, lived with her son and the rest of the Manson Family in Topanga Canyon, California but was later arrested for credit card fraud in August 1969
Who inherits his estate – which could include potentially lucrative rights to the use of his image and songs he wrote, as well as his possessions – will be adjudicated by Los Angeles Superior Court.
Manson’s last home was his hippie commune at Spahn Ranch in LA when he was was convicted of being involved in the brutal 1969 murders of seven people, including heavily pregnant Hollywood actress Sharon Tate.
Mason’s alleged grandson Freeman was the first to stake a claim by filing birth certificates and death certificates he says prove he is family.
He says that he learned about his relationship with Manson when he was eleven but his grandmother, Rosalie Willis, who was apparently married to Manson in the 1950s, never spoke about his grandfather.
Freeman – a Mixed Martial Arts fighter – says his father was Charles Manson Jr. who couldn’t live with his shameful name so changed it to Charles White, and eventually blew his own brains out in 1993.
Musician Roberts claims to have a will from 2017, which proves he is Manson’s son and heir.
Roberts says he was adopted as an infant but tracked down his birth mother who told him she got pregnant by Manson at an orgy in 1967.
Brunner also claims to be Manson’s son. He has filed a birth certificate that he claims proves he’s the product of a relationship between Manson and follower Mary Brunner a year before the killings. It names Manson as his father.
Finally, part-time actress Rebecca Evans was rescued as a baby in 1969 from Spahn Ranch and placed in foster care. At the age of 15, she claims, she discovered that Manson was her biological father.
Memorabilia collector Channels says he was friends with Manson for 30 years and claims to have a document written by him in 2002 which leaves his remains and estate to Channels and reads: ‘I have disinherited both known sons and any unknown children in the present and in the future.’
Commissioner Knight, noting that there are several alleged wills circulating among the five players in this case, Commissioner Knight said: ‘I don’t have the time to litigate all these wills before disposing of the remains.’
Walters, the lawyer for Kern County Coroner told the court that the coroner ‘would like authorization to cremate the body as soon as possible.’
He added that most of the parties claiming Manson’s corpse ‘also want the body cremated.’
Venue: Commissioner Alisa Knight ruled on Wednesday that she would decide what to do with Manson’s body and let the Los Angeles Superior Court determine how his will is dealt with
Michael Channels, 51, a memorabilia fanatic and Manson’s pen pal of 30 years, is named as a beneficiary in a 2002 will purportedly signed by the cult leader. Roberts has argued against his claim, stating that Channels is intending to ‘profit from the body of my father’
Walters said that the coroner would be ‘willing to co-operate’ with Brunner’s motion to have a blood sample taken from the body and tested to see if Brunner is indeed Manson’s son.
Mortensen – who admitted Brunner has no original, only a copy of his birth certificate showing he’s Manson’s son – told Commissioner Knight: ‘Mr. Brunner does not desire to claim the body if (it turns out) he’s not Manson’s biological son.’
Roberts was the only one in court today of the five people battling over Manson’s body and estate.
He and Brunner filed file legal paperwork today announcing their joint claim ahead of the hearing.
In documents seen by DailyMail.com, Roberts – who has a final will and testament bearing Manson’s signature – transfers one-half of his right and interest in the Manson estate to Brunner.
The legal documents state that for his part Brunner will share the decision making with Roberts over the last remains of the infamous cult leader, including the final disposition of the body.
In other documents Roberts, 49, who goes by Lentz on the paperwork, declares his support for Brunner’s petition to control the remains and agrees that Manson’s body should be cremated and the ashes scattered in a private ceremony.
key document: Part of Matthew Roberts’ case is that he was named as Manson’s son in a will
In the paperwork being filed Wednesday ahead of a case management conference in Kern County Court, Bakersfield, California, he states: ‘I ask that this Court order the remains to be released to Michael Brunner so that he can dispose of the remains in a private, dignified manner.’
Brunner is the son of Mary Brunner, an early member of Manson’s cult and Charles Manson is named as his father on a birth certificate he has presented to the court.
Roberts, however, has no documentary or DNA proof but says that he tracked down his biological mother after the death of his adoptive mother in 2001 and that she told him that Manson had raped and impregnated her during a drug-fueled orgy.
She later partially recanted to claim that it was not rape but vigorous sex. Robert was born in 1968, a year before the Manson ‘Family’ killing spree.
Los Angeles based musician Roberts also states he opposes the claim on Manson’s remains from memorabilia fanatic and Manson pen pal of 30 years Michael Channels and also that of the serial-killer’s ‘grandson’ and former MMA fighter Jason Freeman.
Channels, 51, is named as a beneficiary in a 2002 will which also purportedly carries Manson’s signature.
Roberts states: ‘I have strong doubts of the authenticity of the will proffered by Mr Channels, and I do not believe my father wished Mr Channels to control disposition of his remains.
He added: ‘Mr Channels is an unrelated memorabilia collector who intends to try to profit from the body of my father.’
On Freeman, Roberts said in the filing: ‘Mr Freeman never knew my father, and I have serious doubts that he is any biological relation.’
He added that he and Freeman were the subject of a DNA test conducted on CNN years ago which reported no relation between the two.
Freeman, 41, of Bradenton, Florida, who has also filed a claim for Manson’s remains, claims to be the grandson of the evil cult leader and his first wife Rosalie Willis.
His father, Charles Manson Jr, died by suicide in 1993.
Freeman has claimed in the past that Channels ‘always used my grandfather for a paycheck’, and accused Roberts of making up a ‘fraudulent will’.
Unfortunately, unlike the others, Freeman doesn’t possess any kind of signed will leaving him the estate.
In a final court document, filed by Brunner’s probate attorney Daniel R. Mortensen, Roberts agrees to act as a co-administrator on the Manson estate alongside long time Manson confidante Ben Gurecki.
Manson – who was serving a life sentence for the murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others when he died – entrusted his friend Gurecki with a will, naming him executor.
The will, purportedly signed by Manson and leaving his entire estate to Roberts, was mailed to Gurecki in January 2017.
Roberts was adopted as an infant and grew up in Rockford, Illinois, before getting in touch with his birth mother in 1998. She told him that she got pregnant at a 1967 orgy in San Francisco and believes that Manson is his father.
Two DNA tests using Manson’s genetic material were inconclusive because the samples were contaminated.
Manson allegedly stated in a 2002 will (pictured) given to Channels that he disinherited his two known children, grandchildren, friends and other family members
Channels said he and Manson last spoke on the phone on October 21, about a month before his death
Brunner, born Valentine Manson in April 1968 and nicknamed ‘Pooh Bear,’ lived with his mother Mary and the rest of the Manson Family in Topanga Canyon, California and eventually Spahn Ranch before Mary was arrested for credit card fraud in August 1969.
Her parents ended up with custody of her son, which he discussed in a KCBS interview in 1993, his last media appearance.
Both Brunner, 49, and his mother, now 74, deliberately remain out of the public eye.
Manson died at the age of 83 on November 19, 2017, but because multiple parties have attempted to claim his remains, his body has been on ice with the Kern County Coroner ever since.
As well as the legal case to determine who will get his body, there’s a second case to decide who is entitled to his estate.
Los Angeles County Court will meet next on March 9 to attempt to move forward with the estate.
Manson orchestrated the murders of seven people in the 1960s by his devoted followers in a bid to start a race war.
On August 8, 1969, he sent Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, Patricia Krenwinkel and Charles ‘Tex’ Watson – to the Beverly Hills address of movie actress Sharon Tate with the instruction to kill everyone inside.
Less than 24 hours later, the followers – plus Leslie Van Houten and Steve ‘Clem’ Grogan – savagely tortured, murdered and mutilated wealthy LA couple Rosemary and Leno LaBianca.