The crime was "so weird and bizarre," declared Los Angeles Coroner Thomas Noguchi, that he had taken an unusual step. He was showing photographs of the bodies of Starlet Sharon Tate and the four other murder victims to a psychologist and a psychiatrist. Perhaps the killer had left some clue to his character in his sick and savage assault on the bodies of his victims.
What the police found when summoned to the Benedict Canyon house of Miss Tate, 26, wife of Film Director Roman Polanski, 36, was far bloodier and grimmer than they had let on. TIME learned last week. There was evidence of a wild struggle with the killer or killers as Sharon and another victim, Hair Stylist Jay Sebring, 35, were slashed repeatedly while they fought for their lives. A large number of pistol bullets were embedded in the walls and ceiling. Blood was spattered over most of the living room walls, and pools of blood and bloody footprints led into a hall, indicating a vain struggle to escape. One set of prints, possibly a killer's, led out into the hall, then back into the living room.
Sharon's body was found nude, not clad in bikini pants and a bra as had first been reported. Sebring was wearing only the torn remnants of a pair of boxer shorts. One of Miss Tate's breasts had been cut off, apparently as a result of indiscriminate slashing. She was nine months pregnant, and there was an X cut on her stomach. What appeared to be the bloody handle of a paring knife was found next to her leg, the blade broken off. Sebring had been sexually mutilated, and his body also bore X marks.
Almost Incidental. Sharon and Sebring were the prime objects of the mayhem: the deaths of the other three victims seemed almost incidental. The bodies of Coffee Heiress Abigail Folger, 26, and her boy friend, a sort of society camp follower named Voityck Frokowski, 37, were found on the lawn. Both were clothed, but Frokowski's trousers were down around his ankles. Miss Folger had been stabbed repeatedly, and Frokowski had been both stabbed and shot. Steven Parent. 18, a student, was shot five times in the chest, apparently while trying to get away in his car. None of the three, however, had been mutilated.
The stabbings appeared to have resulted from a swordlike instrument rather than a common knife, which at first led to rumors of ritualistic killings, but the apparent frenzy of the murders belied that. No fingerprints were found anywhere, Rumors of a wild drug and liquor spree were set off when police found a small quantity of marijuana and other drugs in Sebring's black Porsche. However, no drug traces were found in any of the five bodies, and none had been drinking except Sebring, who had had the equivalent of a martini and a half. Friends said the group had gathered to discuss plans to open a new Hollywood club, "Bumbles."