Controversy
In his book Helter Skelter, Vincent Bugliosi claims that Sandra Good, an associate of Manson and a close friend of devoted Manson "family" member Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, admitted that the "family" had killed "35 to 40 people" and that, "Hughes was the first of the retaliation murders."
James and Lauren Willett were associated with Manson for a time and were later found dead. Noting that individuals named "James" and "Lauren" were involved in both incidents, Bugliosi speculated that Manson’s associates had killed the Willetts because they were actually Forsher and Elder (Hughes's friends), and thus knew too much about Hughes’s death. He decided that it was unlikely that Forsher and Willett were the same man, citing apparent age differences, but continued to speculate that Lauren Elder was Lauren Willett.
In 1998, Forsher brought a defamation lawsuit against Bugliosi, alleging that Helter Skelter implied that he had participated in Hughes’s disappearance and death, a claim that Forsher denies. Forsher ultimately lost the initial case and subsequent appeals.
Read more about this topic: Ronald Hughes
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