Patricia Krenwinkel

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Patricia Krenwinkel (born December 3, 1947) was the third female to join Charles Manson's murderous "Family". Within the Family she was known as Katie.

Krenwinkel was born in Los Angeles, California. During her youth she attended University High School, then Westchester High School and later a Catholic college in Alabama. She met Charles Manson in 1967, in interviews Krenwinkel admitted to sleeping with Manson after the first night they met, and she became a member of the Manson "family". She was a participant in the infamous murders of August 9, 1969 at 10050 Cielo Drive, home of actress Sharon Tate, in particular stabbing Abigail Folger numerous times. The following night she also took part in the murders of Leno LaBianca and Rosemary LaBianca. She stabbed Mrs. LaBianca repeatedly and wrote "DEATH TO PIGS" in blood on the wall,

She wrote "HEALTER SKELTER" (sic) on the refigerator, then used a carving fork to carve the word "WAR" in the chest of Leno LaBianca who had already been killed by Watson. (She later claimed that the only thing going through her mind at the time was that "now he won't be sending any of his children off to war.")

She was sentenced to death on March 29, 1971, but the death sentence was automatically commuted to life in prison after the California Supreme Court's People v. Anderson decision resulted in the invalidation of all death sentences imposed in California prior to 1972. Subsequent applications for parole have been denied and Krenwinkel remains incarcerated at the California Institution for Women in Corona, California. She was denied parole in 2004 because, according to the panel, she still posed as an "unacceptable risk to public safety." Her next parole hearing will be in 2007.