Van Houten was 19 when she was involved in two murders in August 1969.
Former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten was released from prison on Tuesday after spending 53 years behind bars, according to the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation.
According to her attorney, Van Houten is now in a “transitional living facility.”
The department said she was released on parole supervision and “will carry a maximum period of three years on parole with a parole review procedure after one year.”
Her release comes after California Gov. Gavin Newsom said last week that he would not ask the state Supreme Court to block her parole.
“Governor Newsom has revoked Ms. Van Houten’s parole grant three times since taking office and defended her challenge to those decisions in court,” Erin Mellon, communications director for the governor’s office, said Tuesday.
Mellon continued, “The governor is disappointed with the appeals court’s decision to release Ms. Van Houten, but will not pursue further action because efforts at further appeals are unlikely to be successful. The California Supreme Court accepts appeals in very few cases, which are You generally do not select cases based on this kind of determination of facts.”
Van Houten was 19 when she participated in the murders of Leno LaBianca, a wealthy grocer, and his wife, Rosemary LaBianca, in their Los Angeles home on August 10, 1969. Both LaBiancas were stabbed to death and the word “WAR” was carved into Leno LaBianca’s stomach.
Van Houten told ABC News in 1994 that she and another Manson follower took Rosemary LaBianca into a bedroom and “the voices of the dying Mr. LaBianca came into the bedroom—terrible, guttural sounds. She started calling out to him and screaming for him. And at that moment, for a brief moment, I realized , you know, these are people who love each other.
She said Manson follower Charles “Tex” Watson handed her a knife.
“He said, ‘Do something,’ because Manson told him to make sure we all get our hands dirty,” Van Houten said. “Ms. LaBianca was stabbed in the lower back about 16 times.”
Van Houten was not involved in the “Manson Family” murder of actress Sharon Tate and four others who were killed in another Los Angeles home one night earlier.
While Manson did not commit the murders himself, he did instruct his followers to do so. Manson died in prison in 2017.
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