Charles Manson’s grandson wins bizarre court battle over cult leader killer’s corpse

THE body of apocalyptic cult leader Charles Manson has been on ice since he died last year. Now a three-way fight for his corpse is over.

A BIZARRE battle over who can collect the body of apocalyptic cult leader Charles Manson has been won by one of his grandsons, with a judge ruling Jason Freeman can collect a Manson’s body from a US morgue.

Manson’s body has been on ice since he died in November last year, aged 83, in a Bakersfield hospital.

He had been serving a life prison sentence for orchestrating the 1969 killings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and eight others.

The notorious cult leader directed his followers to commit the brutal murders, became a symbol of the dark side of 1960s counterculture.

Manson spent 46 years in prison for his role in the grisly murder spree which he hoped would trigger a race war.

Jason Freeman has been told he can collect the remains of Charles Manson from a Californian morgue, where it has lain on ice for more than four months. Picture: AP/Brian Melley

Almost four months after Manson died Superior Court Commissioner Alisa Knight chose among three competing claims fighting for Manson’s remains — by Freeman, Michael Brunner, who said he was the cult leader’s son and was fathered before Manson’s followers carried out the heinous killings, and Michael Channels, a Manson penpal and memorabilia collector who said he had the only valid will.

A fourth person — Matthew Lentz — who said he was also Manson’s son and had a will that only addressed Manson’s estate, sided with Brunner.

The dispute over custody of the body foreshadowed a similar fight over who is heir to his estate — which includes commercial rights to his name, image and mementos that can fetch thousands of dollars from “murderabilia” collectors.

Whoever controls Manson’s estate could cash in on songs he wrote that were used by The Beach Boys and Guns N’ Roses, use his image and have the power to authorise future biographies and documentaries about the crazed killer. That battle is still to play out in Los Angeles.

Charles Manson is escorted to his arraignment on conspiracy-murder charges in connection with the Sharon Tate murder case in 1969. Picture: AP

Freeman learnt of his win via telephone, according to CNN.

“I can finally say this part is over,” he said. “I never looked at it as being a battle between anybody.

“This is unreal — this is something I actually played out in my mind ever since I was a kid,” He plans to cremate Manson's remains at a “small family ceremony” and plans to invite Brunner and Channels because “I wouldn’t want them to miss out”.

Freeman, the son of Charles Manson Jr, who died by suicide in 1993, recently told Rolling Stone he “came to know” his grandfather in the final seven year’s of Manson’s life.

“I’ve always known who my grandfather was, from as far back as I can remember,” Freeman, who is reportedly deeply religious, said.

“It’s always been there. I’ve known all my life. I never imagined I would be on such a big stage that God built before I was born.”

Of the battle for Manson’s corpse, he said he was “a grandson working to take the proper steps to show my respect to my grandfather and his true close friends”.

“I’m just a tool walking this part of my journey out. It has brought a lot of hardship on my life and family at home.”

Originally published as Charles Manson’s grandson wins bizarre court battle over cult leader killer’s corpse