Catherine Louise "Gypsy" Share (born December 10, 1942 in Paris, France) is a former member of Charles Manson's "Family".[1][2][3]
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She was born in Paris to a Hungarian violinist father and a German mother. Her parents were both members of the French underground movement during World War II, and both committed suicide when their daughter was two. Share's maternal grandmother died in a ghetto in Eastern Europe and both of Share's paternal grandparents died in concentration camps. Before her parents' suicides, her father made arrangements with a French lawyer who was secretly helping the underground to plan his daughter's escape.[4]
Through her father's arrangements, Share was adopted by a French woman who later married an American psychologist and they relocated to Hollywood, California. Share graduated from Hollywood High School in 1961.[5] Share's childhood in America was, according to Share, a relatively happy one until her adoptive mother was diagnosed with cancer and committed suicide when Share was 16. Share then lived with her blind adoptive father.[6] After her adoptive father remarried, Share dropped out of college and began wandering California, immersed in the 1960s counterculture. In 1966 Catherine Share cut a single for the Autumn label in San Francisco who were already riding high with the Beau Brummels. The recording, under the name of Charity Shane, was issued in the UK in the 2000s as a track on the Ace/Big Beat CD "Someone to Love".
In early 1967, Share met Bobby Beausoleil on the set of a softcore porn movie entitled Ramrodder. She eventually began an affair with the aspiring musician and, after meeting Charles Manson through Beausoleil, moved to the "Family"'s location on Spahn's Ranch, where the other Family members nicknamed her "Gypsy".[1] She was not directly involved in the Tate-LaBianca murders but would testify at the 1970 trial that Family member Linda Kasabian was the mastermind behind the murders in an effort to absolve Manson of any involvement in the crimes.[7]
In 1971, Share, along with four other Manson followers: Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, Dennis Rice, Steve "Clem" Grogan and Ruth Ann "Ouisch" Moorehouse were charged with attempted murder after they devised a plot to murder former fellow Manson Family member Barbara Hoyt to prevent her from testifying for the prosecution against Manson, Susan Atkins, Leslie van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel during the Tate/LaBianca murder trial. Moorehouse was to lure Hoyt to Honolulu, Hawaii so that she would be unable to testify. If Hoyt could not be convinced in Hawaii to not testify, Moorehouse was to kill her.[8] On September 9, 1971, as Hoyt was preparing to board her flight back to California, Moorehouse bought Hoyt a hamburger and laced it with a multi-dose of LSD then left her and flew back to California. Hoyt survived the attempt on her life and Share and the others were initally charged with attempted murder. The charge was later reduced to conspiracy to dissuade a witness from testifying. Share, Fromme, Rice and Grogan served 90 day sentences at the Los Angeles County Jail. Moorehouse never served her sentence, as she failed to appear at the sentencing hearing. [9]
While incarcerated Share gave birth to a son, Phoenix Son on January 5, 1971. The baby was taken from Share and placed into foster care. For years Share refused to confirm the paternity of her son, although refuting that Manson was the father. After her release from prison, she was reunited with her son and confirmed that Steve "Clem" Grogan was the father.[10]
On August 21, 1971, Share, accompanied by her then-husband Kenneth Como and Family member Mary Brunner and Family associates Dennis Rice, Charles Lovett, and Larry Bailey drove a white van to a Hawthorne, California Western Surplus Store. Once inside the store, the group brandished guns and ordered the store patrons and clerks to lie on the ground. They then went about taking 143 rifles from the premises, loading them into their van, while a store clerk managed to trip the silent alarm. According to police officers, the group then began debating whether or not to kill all of those who were in the store.[11]
The group's plan was to hijack a Boeing 747 and threaten to kill one passenger every hour until Manson and fellow Family members were released from prison.[11] When a police squad car arrived, Share opened fire on the vehicle, shattering the windshield. As more squad cars arrived, they were able to block the van from fleeing from the scene by opening fire on the Family. When police finally gained control of the scene and apprehended the group; Brunner, Share and Bailey were injured.[11][12]
Brunner and Share were convicted of the crime and incarcerated at the California Institution for Women where Leslie Van Houten, Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkel were serving their sentences for their participation in the Tate/LaBianca murders. During her prison sentence, Share served five years for her participation in the Hawthorne shootout and was released in 1975. Following her release from prison, Share disassociated herself from the "Family" and sought surgical treatment to remove the "X" she had previously carved into her forehead as a sign of solidarity with other Manson acolytes.
In 1979, Share was convicted in absentia in the state of California on six counts of mail fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property as well as fraudulent use of a credit card. Share had initially fled to Canada, then returned to the United States to serve out her sentence.[13]
In July 2006, Share returned to the remnants of Spahn Ranch to be interviewed about her role in the Manson Family for the series Our Generation on The History Channel.[14]
In 2007, Share was interviewed about her involvement with the Manson Family by forensic psychologist Dr. Michael Stone for the American television series Most Evil on the Investigation Discovery network. Today, Share is a self-proclaimed Christian who has a close relationship with her son and speaks out against cults.[15]
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