[3] On August 9, 1969, Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Susan Atkins murdered pregnant actress Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger, and Steven Parent at 10050 Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles.

As a result of a 1972 California Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality in the state of the death penalty, he avoided execution but has remained incarcerated ever since.

Using free airline tickets to travel, he visited a fraternity brother[clarification needed] in Los Angeles; there he became interested in the psychedelic and music lifestyle of the late 1960s.

The two lived in Hollywood for a few months, improving their illegal activity, until Watson became restless and rejoined the Family.

[12] On August 9, 1969, as a member of the Manson Family, Watson led Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel to 10050 Cielo Drive, the home of Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate.

On October 2, 1969, Watson fled the Spahn Ranch and headed back to his native state of Texas.

Upon arriving in California, he stopped talking and eating, losing 55 pounds, and began regressing to a catatonic state.

[19][20] In August 1982, a Southern California‑based group, Citizens for Truth, submitted some 80,000 petition signatures and several thousand letters opposing Watson's parole.

In later years the group, with Doris Tate and her daughters Patricia and Debra, submitted petitions with more than two million signatures.

Members of the Los Angeles Police Department said they believed the recordings might contain clues about unsolved murder cases involving the Manson Family.

[24][25] Judge Richard A. Schell ruled Watson had waived attorney-client privilege for the tapes after he allowed the co-author of his 1978 memoir to hear the recordings.

The LAPD acquired the tapes, which allegedly contained Watson confessing to other murders, but reportedly no new information.