Member-only story
Kiss and Tell
The story of Manson Family member Kitty Lutesinger
During July-August 1969, members of a cult led by charismatic ex-convict Charles Manson murdered ten people, including the unborn baby of slain actress Sharon Tate. But police had no idea who the perpetrators were for several months, even though they had ample reason to suspect the Manson Family.
But police had been talking with 17-year old Kitty Lutesinger, boyfriend of a man the police had arrested on suspicion of the first murder (Gary Hinman, a musician friend of the Family) and it was through Kitty that investigators for the Tate/LaBianca murders finally solved their cases.
Kathryn Rene Lutesinger was born August 14, 1952. Her parents, Bud and Mary, owned a horse ranch in San Carlos, California up in San Mateo County, and later moved with their children to Northridge, in the Los Angeles area.
Kathryn was fond of animals and later nicknamed ‘Kitty’. She was a strawberry-blonde with lots of freckles and a tanned, Malibu-Barbie spunkiness.
