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The Only Manson Family Killer to be Paroled
Steve Dennis Grogan was born on July 13, 1951 in Los Angeles County. He grew up in Chatsworth, California — not far from Spahn Ranch. In 1967, Steve was a junior at Simi Valley High School.
But by the spring of ’68, Steve had dropped out of high school. His parents were very upset with him. After lazing about the house for a while, they drove him to nearby Spahn Ranch and dropped him off. We assume the family had some prior relationship with the ranch or its’ owner, 79-year old George Spahn. Perhaps they rode ponies there, or maybe they knew old George? Hard to say.
Steve became the ‘stable boy’ at the ranch. He wasn’t paid for his work — by 1968 none of Spahn’s hired help were getting paid (with the exception of Ruby Pearl) because George was broke and deeply in debt to the I.R.S.
According to Steve,
They had a back ranch-house that I lived in and I worked odd jobs, guiding tours for writers and cleaning up the ranch… The rent was free… It was just an old shack. It had no electricity or hot water or anything. Just a place to rest.
— Steve Grogan, from his 1981 parole hearing
Steve was already living and working at the ranch when the Manson Family arrived there, sometime in the summer of 1968.
