But Manson and his cohort weren’t brought to justice for nearly four months. With the suspects unknown and at large, rumors proliferated and the tension reached a fever pitch. For a while, the police maintained that the two sets of murders were unrelated; the LaBiancas were victims of a copycat attack. Even Truman Capote, whose In Cold Blood was only a few years old, fell into the speculative fervor, appearing on The Tonight Show to provide a “fantasy” explanation of the murders. He blamed them on one person, with the motive a fit of rage and a heaping portion of paranoia.
