Fingerprint Expert Testifies In Slaying
December 8, 1969
LOS ANGELES - A fingerprint expert and the former leader of a band of
motorcycle riders were among 15 witnesses called to testify today as a grand
jury pressed its investigation into the slaying of actress Sharon Tate and six
other persons.
The motorcyclist, Daniel di Carlo (sic), reportedly lived for a time with
Charles M. Manson's hippie-type desert clan, linked by police with the killing
of the actress, two other women and four men.
The district attorney is seeking the indictment of Manson, 35, and other
members of his group on murder and conspiracy charges.
Attorneys say no witness has accused Manson of being on the scene either when
five died at Miss Tate's rented estate Aug. 9 or the following nights when a
market owner and his wife were killed.
Manson is in jail at Independence on a charge of possessing stolen cars.
Susan Denise Atkins, 21, another of the girls in the clan, gave the grand
jury what officials described as key testimony when the inquiry opened Friday.
Miss Atkins, who has been accused of killing of a Malibu musician in a
separate incident, has admitted, her lawyer said, that she went to the Tate
house the night of the slayings at Manson's orders.
Another witness said Manson seemed harmless when he knew him a year ago.
"I found Charlie Manson to be a dedicated person, dedicated to taking care of
the people camping with him," said Emmett Harder, a geologist who works a mine
in the desert near the area Manson ranged.
Harder said he saw Manson and his followers many times in 1968. The
group impressed him as clean and hard-working.
