Manson, said in one episode that Melcher “was vague about the details of his meetings with Manson, and probably shaved a couple of visits to the ranch off the official record.”2 It would be one thing to fudge the numbers a bit—it’s easy to see why someone would want to understate their relationship with Charles Manson. But I became convinced that this was graver than that. I found proof that Melcher was much closer to Manson, Tex Watson, and the girls than he’d suggested. A year before the murders, he’d even lived with a member of the Family at the house on Cielo Drive.
