In the early morning hours of August 8-9, 1969, Charles Manson instructed his followers Charles "Tex" Watson, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel to go to the residence at 10050 Cielo Drive in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles. The residence was rented by actress Sharon Tate, who was eight and a half months pregnant, and her husband, director Roman Polanski, who was filming a movie in Europe at the time.

Also in the house that night:

Jay Sebring: famous hairstylist, Tate's ex-boyfriend.

Wojciech Frykowski: Polish writer, Polanski's friend.

Abigail Folger: Folger Coffee Company heiress, Frykowski's girlfriend.

In addition, 18-year-old Steven Parent came to visit the residence's caretaker, William Garretson, that night and unfortunately became the first victim.

Watson first cut the telephone line of the house, and then climbed over the fence with three female accomplices to enter the yard. When Parent drove away, Watson stopped him and shot him to death when he asked to be spared.

After entering the house, the Manson family members gathered Tate and others in the living room. Tate begged them to let her live until the birth of her child, and even offered to be exchanged as a hostage, but the request was not accepted. She was stabbed to death 16 times, and her body and Sebring's body were hung on the beam with ropes. Atkins then wrote the word "pig" on the front door with Tate's blood as an instruction to "leave a witchcraft mark".

Frykowski and Folger tried to escape, but were chased and stabbed to death multiple times. Sebring was shot and stabbed while trying to protect Tate.

Due to the extremely bloody scene, the police initially failed to immediately identify the murderer. It was not until a few months later that the case was solved after a member of the Manson family who was arrested for another murder confessed.

In 1971, Charles Manson and several of his followers were sentenced to death, but because California abolished the death penalty in 1972, these sentences were commuted to life imprisonment. Manson died in prison in 2017 at the age of 83.