Hunt for more Charles Manson victims as 40-year-old tapes between disciple and his lawyer are seized by police

• Lawyer Billy Boyd had 20 hours of conversations with convicted murderer Charles Watson at his Texas law firm
• Boyd died in 2009 after fighting against release of tapes saying it would be a 'public dishonor' to those affected by Sharon Tate killings
• Charles Manson, now 77, remains in prison and is not eligible for parole until he is 92

By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 20:45 EST, 23 May 2013 | UPDATED: 01:45 EST, 24 May 2013

Los Angeles police have obtained the decades-old taped conversations between a Manson family disciple and his attorney, which may tie the murderous cult to additional killings.
Detective David Holmes said Thursday the department has had the tapes for a couple of weeks and Robbery-Homicide Division and the Los Angeles County district attorney's office are analyzing them.
A federal judge in Texas ruled in March that Charles ‘Tex’ Watson waived his right to attorney-client privilege when he allowed his lawyer to sell the eight cassette tapes to an author nearly 40 years ago for a book on his life.

Then and now: Manson follower Charles 'Tex' Watson, pictured left in 1971 and right in 2011, has said that the family did not kill anyone other than actress Sharon Tate and six others

The tapes, which were converted to electronic audio files, are being reviewed to determine whether there's evidence that could resolve unsolved murders.
Watson is serving a life sentence for his role in the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and six others. He sought to prevent turnover of the tapes.
Watson has said in the past the Manson family wasn't responsible for any other killings.

 

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The tapes were discovered last year by a trustee handling the Chapter 7 bankruptcy case of the law firm were Watson's attorney Bill Boyd was a partner. Boyd died in 2009.
On the recordings that resurfaced in February, Boyd reportedly said that Manson had told his client that he killed 'a bunch of other people'. 
In 1969, the Manson family murdered seven people including film director Roman Polanski's pregnant wife Sharon Tate under the direction of the charismatic ex-convict.

Accusations: Charles 'Tex' Watson (left) allegedly told his lawyer that Charles Manson (right) had murdered many more people

Dark secrets: Manson family lawyer Billy Boyd (pictured) allegedly says on previously unheard tapes that Manson had murdered before the Sharon Tate killings

A voice, which is allegedly Boyd's, says that beside the seven known murders, Manson had told Watson he had killed alone, according to a recording obtained by Fox.
Billy Boyd died in 2009, while Watson is serving a life sentence. Boyd said in the recordings, while speaking to an author, that his client was not implicated in any of these crimes.

 

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Watson was originally sentenced to death for killing Sharon Tate Polanski, Abigail Ann Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Thomas Jay Sebring and Steven Earl Parent but California suspended the death penalty in 1972.
Despite multiple attempts at parole, Manson is still behind bars for orchestrating the brutal killings, which he dubbed 'Helter Skelter' - in a deeply disturbed tribute to the Beatles song. 
The lawyer had taped 20 hours of conversations with Watson as they prepared for his murder trial.

Murdered: Actress Sharon Tate was eight and a half months pregnant when she was killed by Manson's followers on his orders

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck asked the Department of Justice to hand over the tapes, which had been the property of Boyd's Texas law firm which went bankrupt last year.
Watson tried to stop the tapes becoming public, saying their release was a 'public dishonor' to those affected by the Manson murders, but he ultimately failed. 
The recordings were private until September 1976 when Watson authorized their sale to author Chaplain Ray Hoekstra to help cover legal fees.
The material was used in Mr Hoekstra's book 'Will You Die For Me?' which was released in 1976.
Charles Manson, now 77, is one of America's most notorious mass murderers.
Amid the hippie culture of the 1960s, the ex-convict put together a collection of runaways and outcasts known as the Manson Family.
In the summer of 1969, he became one of the 20th century's most infamous criminals when he directed his mostly young, female followers to murder seven people.
Actress Sharon Tate was stabbed 16 times by members of the cult in the early morning hours of August 9, 1969 at the Benedict Canyon estate, sheltered in the hills of Los Angeles. She was eight and a half months pregnant.

Life in prison: Charles Manson, who orchestrated his cult to murder seven people, will not be eligible for parole until he is 92

Four other people were stabbed or shot to death in Tate's home that night by the Manson followers, who scrawled the word 'Pig' in blood on the front door before leaving.
The following night, Manson's group stabbed Leno and Rosemary LaBianca to death, using their blood to write 'Rise,' 'Death to Pigs' and 'Helter Skelter' - a misspelled reference to the Beatles song - on the walls and refrigerator door.
Manson is imprisoned at Corcoran State Prison in Kings County, California.
He was convicted of the seven slayings as well as the murder of an acquaintance, Gary Hinman, who was stabbed to death in July 1969.
Like Watson, he was originally given a death sentence but spared execution after the California Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional.
In 1977, his sentence was commuted to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Manson will next be eligible for parole in 15 years, when he will be 92-years-old.
When he was denied release in 2007 the parole board ruled that he 'continues to pose an unreasonable danger to others and may still bring harm to anyone he would come in contact with'.

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