Charles Manson Dead at 83

Charles Manson, the cult leader whose Manson Family was responsible for the deaths of nine people across four locales in July and August 1969, died at 8:13 p.m. PT Sunday, TMZ reports.

He was 83.

Debra Tate, the sister of his most famous victim, glamorous actress Sharon Tate, told TMZ she was informed of Manson's death by telephone.

Manson had recently been transferred to a Bakersfield hospital following severe intestinal bleeding, but due to his frail health, risky surgery had been ruled out. Until then, he'd been imprisoned for life after his original death sentence was commuted when the state of California abolished the death penalty in 1972. He was found guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of seven of the nine Manson Family victims.

Manson believed the killings he ordered would help bring about a looming race war he referred to as "Helter Skelter," taken from a Beatles song of that name.

Over the years, Manson, an unsettling figure with a swastika tattooed on his forehead whose name was synonymous with insanity, anarchy and brutality, appeared before a prison board several times to argue for his parole.

Read the full press release from the State of California regarding Manson's death: