Mary Brunner - The Hinman Murder

The Hinman Murder

On July 25, 1969, 21-year-old Family member, musician and aspiring actor Bobby Beausoleil left Spahn Ranch, accompanied by Brunner and another group member named Susan Atkins to pay a visit to an associate named Gary Allen Hinman at his home in Topanga Canyon, just northeast of Malibu. Hinman had been friendly with the Family and had often allowed members to stay at his home. Both Beausoleil and Brunner had previously lived with Hinman for short periods of time and, according to a 1981 interview with Beausoleil, Brunner was close friends with Hinman. Beausoleil had in his possession a knife and a 9 mm Radom pistol that he had borrowed from Family member Bruce Davis.

On July 31, 1969, Hinman was found murdered in his home. His face had been deeply slashed on the left side and he had two stab wounds to the chest. Hinman's house had been ransacked and the words "Political Piggy" written and a paw print (intended to be symbolic of the Black Panther Party) drawn on the wall in his blood. Both of Hinman's vehicles were missing: a Volkswagen van and a Fiat station wagon. On August 5, 1969, Beausoleil was found by the California Highway Patrol asleep in the back of Hinman's Fiat near San Luis Obispo, California. Beausoleil had a sheath knife attached to his belt. Robert Kenneth "Bobby" Beausoleil was arrested and charged with the murder of Gary Allen Hinman.

On August 8, 1969, Brunner and another Family member, Sandra Good, were arrested in San Fernando, California at a Sears store for purchasing items with a stolen credit card. Brunner had signed for her purchases with the alias "Mary Vitasek" and the two women fled the store when a cashier became suspicious. After being followed by the store manager, the police caught up with the two and found them in possession of numerous stolen credit cards and fake identification cards. They were charged with violating Section 459 and 484e of the California Penal Code and booked into the Sybil Brand Institute Reception Center later that evening.

That same evening, Family members Charles "Tex" Watson, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian and Patricia Krenwinkel visited 10050 Cielo Drive and murdered film actress Sharon Tate and her guests Wojciech Frykowski, Jay Sebring and Abigail Folger, as well as 18-year-old Steven Parent, who was visiting Tate's groundskeeper William Garretson.