Susan Atkins
Susan Denise Atkins born on May 7, 1948 was a convicted American murderer who was
a member of Charles Manson’s “Family. Manson and his followers committed a series of nine
murders at four locations in California, over a period of five weeks in the summer of 1969.
Known within the Manson family as Sadie Mae Glutz or Sexy Sadie, Atkins was convicted for
her participation in eight of these killings, including the most notorious, the “Tate/LaBianca”
murders. She was sentenced to death, which was subsequently commuted to life in prison. Atkins
was incarcerated from October 1, 1969, until her death a period exactly one week short of 40
years. At the time of her death, Atkins was California’s longest-serving female inmate.
According to her, both her parents, Edward John and Jeanette, were alcoholics. Her mother died
of cancer in 1963. Over the next three years, Susan’s life was disrupted by the gradual breakup of
her family, frequent relocations, and her leaving home to live independently. Until she was 13
years old Atkins and her family lived in a middle-class home in the Cambrian Park area of San
Jose, California. Atkins agreed to testify for the prosecution in exchange for dropping the death
penalty, and she then testified before the grand jury as to what had transpired on the nights of
August 8 and 9, 1969. When asked if she were willing to testify knowing that she was not being
given immunity, was not being freed of any of the charges, and might incriminate herself in her
trial testimony, she responded, “I understand this, and my life doesn’t mean that much to me, I
just want to see what is taken care of.” Atkins told the grand jury that she stabbed Frykowski in
the legs and held Tate down while Watson stabbed her. She also testified that Tate had pleaded
for her life and that of her unborn child, to which Atkins replied, “Woman, I have no mercy for
you. Atkins arrived onto California’s death row on April 23, 1971. Atkins’ death sentence was
automatically commuted to life in prison the next year following the California Supreme Court’s
People v. Anderson decision invalidated all death sentences imposed in California prior to 1972.
In 1977, Atkins published her autobiography, Child of Satan, Child of God, in which she
recounted the time she spent with Manson and the family, her religious conversion, and her
prison experiences. Susan Atkins died September 24, 2009 at the Central California Women’s
facility in Chowchilla.