Video: 'Gary Hinman Murder Associated Press Video 1969'

(Sunday, July 27, 1969) — Music teacher Gary Hinman, 34, became the first Manson Family murder victim today when he was stabbed to death at his home in Topanga, California, by Bobby Beausoleil, ostensibly at the instruction of Family leader Charles Manson.

Manson had sent Beausoleil along with Family members Mary Brunner and Susan Atkins to Hinman’s home on July 25, 1969, to convince Hinman to join the communal Family, which included turning over assets Manson thought Hinman had inherited.

Before leaving the residence, Beausoleil, or one of the women, used Hinman’s blood to write “Political piggy” on the wall and to draw a panther paw, a Black Panther symbol.

Two days after Beausoleil was arrested in Hinman’s car on August 6, 1969, Manson told Family members at Spahn Ranch, the Family’s Los Angeles area headquarters, “Now is the time for Helter Skelter,” an apocalyptic war arising from racial tensions between blacks and whites.