He was tall, handsome, and raised in a religious house. As a youth he worked in his father’s grocery store. He was a star athlete at Farmersville high school in Denton, a Texas state record holder in the hurdles. He pledged Pi Kappa Alpha at UNT. And if he hadn’t hitchhiked down Sunset Blvd. in the summer of 1968, he might never have become Charlie Manson’s Chief Lieutenant. His name is Charles Denton Watson. His friends called him “Tex,” and 50 years ago today, he set out on a two-day mission of murder called “Helter Skelter.”
