"Freee Bobby Beausoleil" shirts

The Hinman murder

The version, as described in the book Helter Skelter, is that Hinman was killed for money and property that Manson claimed Hinman owed the Family. Accompanying Beausoleil that night were Susan Atkins and Mary Brunner, both later involved in other murders. Beausoleil claims that Hinman supplied him with a batch of bad (or weak) mescaline which Beausoleil in turn sold to the Straight Satans motorcycle gang. When the bikers demanded their money back, Beausoleil went to Hinman, who refused to pay. While Beausoleil, Atkins and Brunner held him captive in his own home in an attempt to convince him to refund the money, things went from bad to worse when Manson (whom Beausoleil had phoned) showed up and sliced Hinman's face and ear with a long knife or bayonet. It ended with Beausoleil stabbing Hinman to death the next day. Afterwards, he wrote "Political piggy" on a wall in Hinman's blood. On August 6, 1969, Beausoleil was arrested while driving one of Hinman's vehicles.

At Beausoleil's two trials for the murder, the defense mentioned nothing about the murder being the result of a drug burn. Beausoleil's first revelation of this came in 1981, 12 years after the murders, in an interview published in Oui magazine. ^[1] In that interview, he denied that Manson had come to the Hinman residence during the event that led to Hinman's murder, although he now states that this did happen. Also, conspirator Susan Atkins has stated that she never heard any mention by Beausoleil indicating that the reason they went to Hinman's residence had anything to do with a drug burn ^[2] See Helter Skelter (Manson scenario) for more details on the murders perpetrated by Charles Manson and members of his Family.