Sharon, Why Didn’t You Flee?

In this post, I examine why Sharon acted as she did. And in so doing, maybe put our hearts at rest. That what happened to that poor woman and her unborn baby, in that house, on that night, could not be avoided. For Sharon, there were no other outs.

This examination belongs in the "What If" department store of Life.

Doubtless another store where Charlie would have had Mary and Sandy skulk into and buy stuff on a stolen credit card while other Family members sliced, diced and julienned their way into the criminal history books.

But in the wee hours, a writer's imagination soars. At the witching hour, when I'm tucked up safely in bed, I wonder if the surviving family members of this Cielo slaughter — Paul, Doris, Patti (now deceased), Debra Tate and Roman Polanski — ever laid awake in their beds, asking similar why's.

I'm sure the family members had more inside information than the public has ever had, regarding Sharon's actions and why escaping from that living room was never an option. If that's the case, thankfully, they were spared these bedside thoughts. 

I hope that's the case. 

I pray I'm dead wrong in even pondering this question.  

But to allay the outsider thoughts in me, I will play Sherlock for a while and attempt to analyze why we see no evidence of Sharon attempting to escape as Gibby and Voytek tried.

Let us begin…

The Tate house had four exits, as seen on this map.

• The Main/Front Porch exit to the East, the one Voytek used to flee
•  The Service/Kitchen exit to the NNW, the one Mrs. Chapman always used to enter and exit the house, and on this day, fled through in complete hysterics
•  The Master Bedroom/French Doors-to-Pool exit, on the South side, the one Gibby stumbled through in abject pain, with Broken-Buck knife-wielding Katie hot in pursuit
•  And the lesser known Living Room exit, noted above by a lime green circle, on the West side of the house, that faced the rear hillside of 10050 Cielo Drive.

We know Sharon, like Gibby and Jay, had a noose around her neck. And although Jay was gunned down too fast to even contemplate a get-a-way, Gibby managed to break free of her noose and head for the nearest exit where the killers and those steamer trunks did not stand in her way. That was down the hall and to the Master Bedroom French doors. For some as yet publicly known reason, Gibby, like Sharon, chose not to use the Living Room exit.

10050 Cielo Drive living room prior to Sharon

Had there been a valid reason no one used this exit? At one point, was this exit removed? Were the blueprints inaccurate by the time the Tate-Polanski's lived there? Did furniture sit up against this door — a TV set or the second of the two blue steamer trunks — making its use impossible? My thinking is yes. Or in the scuffle, confusion, and shock, was that exit merely forgotten? The residents never in the habit of using this exit. 

Regardless, Gibby broke loose and saw a route free, whereas Sharon did not. Sadly though, Gibby only made it as far as the Queen Anne chair to the right of the hallway entrance before being caught and slashed by Katie. Then in a panic, Katie yelled for Tex to help, and he thrust the bayonet deep into her lower abdomen. That stab brought the extreme pain and profuse bleeding. Gibby clutched her stomach and ran towards the master bedroom, tearing through the French doors. That led Gibby to her final resting place near a water drain, under a Lodge Pole pine.

So why, if Gibby could break free, couldn't Sharon?

Was the rope, by the time it reached Gibby's neck, too short to properly tie enough times around her neck?

 Had Tex been lax in the tautness of Gibby's noose compared to that of Sharon's? Did the speed Tex was on affect his ability to tie both women in the same manner?

Or, all things considered even, did Sharon go into such a deep and profound shock, seeing Jay murdered right in front of her, that she became paralyzed with fear?

All of us react differently to extreme stress — the Fight or Flight Syndrome. Some of us will fight, or flee. Others will freeze in place, almost to the point of becoming catatonic. And being pregnant, having one's focus not on yourself but on your unborn child, would that create a kind of third behavioral instinct? Where the normal choice of flight in Sharon was replaced with a need to protect her baby at all costs, thinking negotiation with her attackers the best possible option. After all, she witnessed what happened to Jay when he attempted to fight back, and the attacks on Voytek and Gibby when they fled. I envision Sharon clutching her stomach, knowing any stab wounds to her baby were not an option, her fear being more profound for Paul Richard than losing her own life. Simply put: running could get Paul Richard killed.

For Voytek, I believe he acted on instinct. Surviving the horrors of Nazi Germany in Poland, the need to survive at all costs was undoubtedly decades earlier ingrained into the man. I believe the single thought on Voytek's mind was getting out and getting help, for himself, yes, but for everyone left in that living room hellscape. Taking the women with him would have only slowed him down. And he knew he'd have to first fight off Tex. Impossible, with two women in tow. Voytek surely thought that to stay in that living room a minute longer would insure everyone's death.

I see Voytek as a hero who did his utmost to fight these monsters. God knows what Voytek experienced mentally and bodily. 51 stab wounds were unadulterated torture and overkill. 

It saddens my heart that Voytek and Jay couldn't tag team Tex. It's my belief if the men had overpowered "The Devil," the killer girls, without a male maniac to lead the way, would have folded like cheap cards and fled, dropping their knives and gunning the Ford back to Spahn's quicker than you could blood write PIG on the Tate house door. All four inside the main house at 10050 Cielo Drive would have survived.
Jay obviously underestimated Tex. But then again, what is the right assessment when a strange man enters your house, high as a kite on speed, wielding a bayonet and a Buntline, and you see the love of your life, heavy with child, being thrown stomach-first onto the floor? Maybe it wasn't so much that Jay underestimated Tex, but that Jay's single-minded goal was to protect Sharon at all costs. Even at the loss of his own life.  

As I have mentioned in the previous chapter. My heart lies heavy, knowing Jay did not over-power Sadie when she first confronted the pair with her flimsy Buck knife. I so wished he could have led Sharon out those French doors. But this was the innocent '60s, in a home in an upper-class part of Los Angeles. Why would anyone assume death awaited them in their own living room? In that era, it was rare people locked their doors, never mind thinking drugged-up monsters would invade and tear into flesh until no one was left alive. None of us living back then would have initially assumed the worst. None. Of. Us.

Jay could have easily overpowered Sadie, the crazy girl on speed or not. Sadie was petite. Jay took a few martial arts classes with Bruce Lee. Merely being larger and not stoned out of his mind would have given Jay the edge. As I said in the previous chapter, Jay would have had to take Sadie with them or knock her out, so she didn't cry for help. That would have given Jay and Sharon enough time to flee. I assume Jay's car keys would have been in his leather jacket in the living room, so this flight would have had to be on foot. Not a simple task, given Sharon so pregnant. Maybe they would have fled to the guest house and called the police from there. Most likely the only safe option with Sharon by his side. 

I know. This is all Monday night quarterbacking by me. Like that helps anyone ever. But it's difficult not to want to re-wind the tape, to find a solution, an outcome supporting life for these five innocent souls.
As for Gibby, it's amazing she had the fortitude to react at all. Maybe her time working in Watts/West LA had her develop a sixth sense in a lethal situation, knowing that if she stayed put, it would mean sure death. I'm no Coroner, but I believe it was Tex's bayonet stab to her lower abdomen, wound No. 8 as per the autopsy, which cause her to bleed internally, and fatally, making a successful escape improbable. By the time she reached the front lawn, and with her heart pumping fast, Gibby would have lost an incredible amount of blood. She probably saw stars and was close to passing out. To have the strength to make it to the guest house, or down the hill to the neighboring homes, would have been an impossible feat in her condition. It was these factors, along with the excruciating pain, that allowed Katie to catch her and give Tex the chance to end her life.  

I logically see the ends for four. 

Jay shot, kicked, and stabbed, before any fight could enter his head Voytek, affected by the MDA and woken out of a deep sleep, assaulted the worst by Tex, stabbed 51 times and beaten about the head with the butt of the Buntline Gibby, stabbed too deeply, right from the start, to have any real chance to flee And Steve Parent, having no chance at all. Shot four times and died before the massacre had revved up to full speed.

But it's the scene with Sharon which haunts. The last to be attacked and killed, but with minutes seemingly alone in the living room, and then minutes with only stoned Sadie by her side.
According to Susan Atkins' testimony, in these minutes alone with the starlet, Sadie made no aggressive moves toward Sharon. And Sharon had no alcohol or drugs in her system. We know by visitors that day, Sharon hadn't been feeling all that well, most likely due to the unbearable heat and late-month pregnancy exhaustion. Yet, once the temperature cooled, Sharon had enough energy to go for dinner in the valley. Witnesses said Sharon looked alert and well while dining at the El Coyote. So there were no signs Sharon wasn't well enough to act if action was needed.

From what the public knows of Sharon Tate, she was not some helpless wall flower. Being a child army brat, that makes perfect sense. Children of military soldiers are rarely a weak bunch, emotionally or physically. So, we have to wonder at Sharon's train of thought in those last minutes of her life. Once Tex had finished with Voytek and Gibby, we know he re-entered the living room. This was when Sharon tried to negotiate with Tex — to keep her alive long enough to give birth. Did Sharon see something in these killers which made her think they would see reason, concerning her baby? Had Sadie said something to Sharon, prior to Tex reappearing, which made Sharon think there could be options? Had Sadie ranted on about how valued babies were within the Family? Had she given Sharon hope because she was with child? Had Sadie outright lied, saying the real reason they were there was to take her baby? All the above could have Sharon sit tight and hold out hope.

I say this, as Sharon strikes me as a person who would not freeze in fear. Something told her there was a way out of this nightmare for Paul Richard. 

And in order to flee, I'm assuming the noose around Sharon was as flimsy as that around Gibby. Maybe it was not. We see in the autopsy photos the rope is wrapped tightly around her neck. But that could have been caused by the body bloating in the heat prior to discovery. Or, as mentioned above, maybe Tex got it right with Jay and Sharon, and just plain ran out of rope with Gibby. In this scenario, Sharon wouldn't have any options but to stay put. But in those few minutes alone, in my need to save her, I'm thinking, 

Sharon, look around for something sharp to cut the rope. On the coffee table. A fireplace poker. Something, somewhere. Look!

We all want to save Sharon. We want her and Paul to have a chance. We don't want them to be dead on that living room floor.

To have to sit on that couch, for God knows how many minutes — and in this nightmare a minute would feel like a year — alongside the smelly, STD-ridden Sadie (her feet were oozing pus and were too painful to wear shoes), knowing full well what your end would be, judging by what has happened to your dead friends, must have been hell on earth. To this day, we are left with a void per those last minutes. The killers never detailed what went on in Sharon's last moments alive. I assume because to divulge would have nullified any chances of parole. 

Prior to killing Sharon, Tex would have known Charlie's goal of getting $600 from this house was moot. Tex was carrying out Charlie's second order of killing everyone he came in contact with until the six Benjamins were gleaned. 

Tex could have taken Sharon hostage until the baby was born, but he claimed he wasn't aware she was pregnant. This is an outright lie. 

Sadie admitted Sharon repeatedly said, "I want my baby. Let me have my baby." And you'd have to be blind to not see how extended Sharon's belly was. Sadie readily admits to knowing, and not caring, whether Sharon or her baby lived or died. 

I'll leave this scene with the thought that being high, being bloody, and being oh, so exhausted from hacking and slashing flesh might have put a damper on normal Family choices.

Another question springs to mind. If Charlie had been there, would Sharon have been killed? 

Charlie had a weakness for children. Would killing an unborn child cause Manson to have a twinge of guilt? Would Charlie have overruled Tex's murderous urges and allowed Sharon to leave alive and give birth to Paul Richard at Spahn or Barker? Knowing Manson, there was a chance. He might have sequestered Sharon up at Barker Ranch to give birth. What would have happened to Sharon afterward is anyone's call. 

For what it's worth, it's my contention that if Charlie had been there, there may have been a different outcome for Sharon. Tex Watson was the Family's mass killer, not Charlie. Excluding poor Shorty Shea, Charlie merely conducted this macabre orchestra. Tex and his trusty bayonet affected the deadly results.
To Tex Watson, life meant nothing. The goal was the end all, be all. All the fatal wounds on those two nights — save for Katie's cutting Leno's carotid artery — were dealt by Tex and his bayonet. Sadie and Katie affected more superficial cuts and slashes. They were not good at killing. When you add up the body count for the Tate-LaBianca murders, look no further than Charles Denton "Tex" Watson. We can't even be sure Manson dealt the fatal blow on Shorty Shea. And we know Manson shooting drug dealer Bernard Crowe, aka Lotsapoppa, was only a defensive act, a means of escape. Not a premeditated murder. No, this does not make Charles Manson an angel. His diabolical acts were in the conspiracy, the orchestration. Those murders would have never happened but for Charles Milles Manson's vengeful orders. 

Back to Sharon… the haunting questions remain...

The west living room exit, minutes left alone before Sadie re-appeared, and no wounds on Sharon at all until the end. 

Could she have tried to break free? Did she try? 

The Medical Coroner described Sharon's wounds as “Multiple stab wounds of chest and back penetrating heart, lungs and liver causing massive hemorrhage."  

I want Sharon to not have suffered as she did.
I wanted Paul Richard to have a life.

And if I'm being honest, a part of me wants to stop my endless shopping at the "What If" department store of life.  

As of this writing, Paul Richard would be 56 years old. He would undoubtedly have kids, maybe grand kids, of his own. Sharon would be 82, a mother, possible grandmother and great-grandmother, with a long and satisfying career behind her as a film/TV star. Maybe Sharon and Roman would still reside at 10050, and their family would visit and play in that back yard where the pool filter still happily hums. 

If wishes were horses, Sharon's Ferrari would have been in the drive way and used to break free. 

Sharon, why didn't you flee?

The dead don't talk to me.