Editing Sharon Tate (section)

== Murder, funeral and trial==
{{See also|Tate–LaBianca murders}}
[[File:Sharon Tate behind the scenes of '12+1' (1969).jpg|thumb|upright|Tate in 1969]]
On August 8, 1969, Tate entertained actress [[Joanna Pettet]] for lunch at her home, confiding in her disappointment at Polanski's delay in returning from London. Polanski telephoned her that day. Her younger sister Debra also called, to ask if she, her boyfriend and another friend could pick up a saddle that Sharon had bought for Debra in Europe. Tate declined, offering to have them over another time. Later that evening, she reportedly dined at [[El Coyote Cafe]] with [[Jay Sebring]], [[Tate–LaBianca murders|Wojciech Frykowski]], and [[Tate–LaBianca murders|Abigail Folger]], returning at about 10:30&nbsp;p.m.{{sfn|King|2000|p=}}

Shortly after midnight, Sebring, Frykowski, Folger, and Tate and her unborn son were murdered by members of the [[Manson Family]] cult. Tate was the last of the victims to die, despite her pleas that the Family take her with them so that she could give birth. Their bodies were discovered the following morning by Tate's housekeeper Winifred Chapman. Police arrived at the scene to find a young man shot dead in his car in the driveway, later identified as [[Steven Parent]]. Inside the house, the bodies of Tate and Sebring were found with a long rope which had been thrown over a beam and then tied around each of their necks, connecting them. On the front lawn lay the bodies of Frykowski and Folger. All of the victims except Parent had been stabbed numerous times. The coroner's report for Tate noted that she had been stabbed 16 times and that "five of the wounds were in and of themselves fatal".<ref name="BugliosiGentry1974" /> In addition, the coroner's inquest found that Tate was still alive when she was hanged with the rope, but she died immediately from a "massive hemorrhage".<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1970/08/22/archives/coroner-details-the-tate-killing-says-actress-was-stabbed-16-times.html CORONER DETAILS THE TATE KILLING]</ref><ref name="watson14">{{cite web |url=http://www.aboundinglove.org/sensational/wydfm/wydfm-014.php |title=Watson, Ch. 14 |publisher=Aboundinglove.org |access-date=November 28, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101119075221/http://aboundinglove.org/sensational/wydfm/wydfm-014.php |archive-date=November 19, 2010}}</ref>

Police took the only survivor at the address – the property's caretaker [[William Garretson]] – in for questioning. Garretson lived in the guest house that was located on the property a short distance from the house. He was questioned and submitted to a [[polygraph]] test and stated that Parent had visited him at approximately 11:30&nbsp;p.m. and left shortly after. He told police that he had no involvement in the murders and did not know anything that could help the investigation, and he was subsequently released.

[[File:Grad Tade.JPG|thumb|left|The Tate family burial plot located at [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City]], California, in which Tate, her unborn son Paul, mother [[Doris Tate|Doris]], and sister Patti are buried]]
Polanski was informed of the murders and returned to Los Angeles where police questioned him about his wife and her friends. On Wednesday, August 13, Tate was interred in the [[Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City|Holy Cross Cemetery]], [[Culver City, California]], together with her unborn son, who was posthumously named Paul Richard Polanski.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Petruzzello |first=Melissa |title=Sharon Tate |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sharon-Tate |access-date=15 April 2025 |website=[[Britannica]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Donoghue |first=Saskia |date=9 August 2023 |title=Culture Re-View: Hollywood star Sharon Tate murdered by the Manson Family |url=https://www.euronews.com/culture/2023/08/09/culture-re-view-hollywood-star-sharon-tate-murdered-by-the-manson-family |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=[[euronews.]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Hughes |first=David |date=14 August 2019 |title=Sharon Tate murder: the true story of the actress portrayed in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, killed by the Manson Family |url=https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/sharon-tate-murder-death-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-charles-manson-family-roman-polanski-50th-anniversary-324255?srsltid=AfmBOopqrcriaRezoITzB44cQxJifAVSwGclRPa8HxRXXED64so-AT8I |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=[[The I Paper]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Hills |first=Megan C. |date=19 February 2025 |title=Sharon Tate: the 'kind soul' behind the Manson murder victim |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/celebrity/sharon-tate-the-real-life-of-the-manson-murder-victim-and-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-character-a4198366.html |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=[[Evening Standard|The Standard]]}}</ref> Sebring's funeral took place later the same day;<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hughes |first=David |date=14 August 2019 |title=Sharon Tate murder: the true story of the actress portrayed in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, killed by the Manson Family |url=https://inews.co.uk/culture/film/sharon-tate-murder-death-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-charles-manson-family-roman-polanski-50th-anniversary-324255?srsltid=AfmBOopqrcriaRezoITzB44cQxJifAVSwGclRPa8HxRXXED64so-AT8I |access-date=15 April 2025 |work=[[The I Paper]]}}</ref> the funerals were scheduled several hours apart to allow mutual friends to attend both.

''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' devoted a lengthy article to the murders and featured photographs of the crime scenes. Polanski was interviewed for the article and allowed himself to be photographed at the entrance of the house, next to the front door with the word "PIG" still visible, written in Tate's blood.<ref>''Life'' Magazine, August 29, 1969, pp. 42–48.</ref> He was widely criticized for the photoshoot but he argued that he wanted to know who was responsible and was willing to shock the magazine's readers in the hope that someone would come forward with information.{{sfn|Polanski|1984}}

Curiosity about the victims led to the re-release of Tate's films, which achieved greater popularity than they had in their initial runs. Some newspapers began to speculate about the motives for the murders. Some published photographs of Tate were alleged to be taken at a Satanic ritual, but were in fact production photographs from ''Eye of the Devil''. Friends spoke out against the portrayal of Tate by some elements of the media. [[Mia Farrow]] said that she was as "sweet and pure a human being as I have ever known", while [[Patty Duke]] remembered her as "a gentle, gentle creature". Polanski tearfully berated a crowd of journalists at a news conference, asking them, "Did you ever write how good she was?".{{sfn|King|2000}} Polanski said he began to suspect various friends and associates, and his paranoia subsided only when the killers were arrested. Newspapers claimed that many Hollywood stars were moving out of the city, while others installed security systems in their homes. [[Dominick Dunne]] recalled the tension:
<blockquote>The shock waves that went through the town were beyond anything I had ever seen before. People were convinced that the rich and famous of the community were in peril. Children were sent out of town. Guards were hired. Steve McQueen packed a gun when he went to Jay Sebring's funeral.<ref name="dominickdunne">{{cite book|author-link=Dominick Dunne|last=Dunne|first=Dominick|title=The Way We Lived Then: Recollections of a Well Known Name Dropper|year=1999|publisher=Crown Publishers|isbn=0-609-60388-4|url=https://archive.org/details/waywelivedthenr00dunn}}</ref></blockquote>

In September 1969, members of the Manson "Family" were arrested on [[Manson Family#Investigation|unrelated charges]], eventually leading authorities to a breakthrough on the Tate case, as well. They explained that the motive for the murders was not the identity of the victims, but rather the house at that address, which had previously been rented to record producer [[Terry Melcher]], an acquaintance of Manson. In 1994, the house was demolished and a new house was constructed on the site.<ref name="LA Mag">{{cite news|url=http://www.lamag.com/longform/manson-an-oral-history1/|title=Manson: An Oral History – Los Angeles Magazine|date=July 1, 2009|newspaper=Los Angeles Magazine|access-date=January 28, 2018}}</ref>