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A Vicious Circle of Violence
Granddaughter of Manson Family victim meets the same fate
On July 3rd this summer, Ariana Jean Wolk, the granddaughter of Manson Family victim Rosemary LaBianca was murdered in Denver, Colorado.
Rosemary and her husband Leno were among the victims of the Tate/LaBianca killings in August 1969. Perpetrated by members of the Manson cult, Rosemary and Leno were stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home the night after the nearby killing of actress Sharon Tate and four others. Members of the cult were later convicted of murder for the Tate/LaBianca killings, including the ringleader Charles Manson.
Ariana is one of two children of Suzan LaBerge, Rosemary’s eldest child and only daughter. In a vicious twist of fate, Ariana was murdered in the same manner as the grandmother that she never knew — she was stabbed to death.
On Saturday, August 9, 1969, Rosemary LaBianca and her husband Leno were driving home from a trip to Lake Isabella. Rosemary’s son Frank was at the lake with a friend and had borrowed the couple’s boat for the week. Leno and Rosemary drove back to Lake Isabella with Suzan, then 21-years old, to bring the boat home. They had planned to bring Frank with them, but Rosemary’s 15-year old son begged to stay another day.
The LaBianca’s dropped Suzan off at her apartment, stopped to pick up a newspaper late that Saturday night, and then headed to their Los Feliz home on Waverly Drive. Just an hour or so later, Charles Manson arrived at the LaBianca home with Tex Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten along with three others. Manson and Watson entered the home, tied up the couple and took a wallet belonging to Mrs. LaBianca before Manson went out to the car and sent Krenwinkel and Van Houten back in, to assist Watson with murdering the couple.
Rosemary and Leno were discovered the next day by Suzan and Frank.
Suzan has had a difficult life, to say the least. There were allegedly issues between mother and daughter that summer, and Suzan was later…
