Donald "Shorty" Shea, a hand at the Spahn Ranch in Chatsworth, where the Manson family lived for a time, would be killed later and his body concealed on the ranch for years. He was the last victim whose murder yielded a conviction.

An additional death that some have considered suspicious occurred during the Manson murder trials.

Ronald Hughes, a 35-year-old attorney, had been hired by Manson as part of his defense team for the "family." But in court, he ended up strongly defending Van Houten, who was also on trial for murder, and his defense of Van Houten seemed to come at the expense of Manson.

In late November 1970, as the trial neared its end, Hughes disappeared.

Four months later, his body turned up wedged in a rocky creek in Ventura County.

In his bestseller "Helter Skelter" and in later interviews, Los Angeles County prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi suggested that Hughes had been killed at the behest of Manson. In an interview with a TV reporter several years ago, Bugliosi said one member of the Manson family described Hughes as "the first of the retaliation murders."

Kay said he was "on the fence" about whether Hughes was a victim of Manson's group. But he added that the cult leader was plainly angry at Hughes.

"The last thing Manson said to him was, 'I don't want to see you in the courtroom again,'" Kay said. "And he was never seen again alive."

But Charlie Rudd, an 83-year-old retired Ventura County sheriff's sergeant, said Hughes' death probably had nothing to do with Manson.

When Hughes disappeared, Rudd was assigned the investigation. The Ventura County Sheriff's Department heard a rumor that Hughes had been taken to the Barker Ranch, but no evidence was found there.

Hughes' body was found near Sespe Hot Springs in the Los Padres National Forest, and Rudd said there was little evidence of foul play.

Rudd believes Hughes had gone camping and got caught in a powerful rainstorm that nearly stranded other people. The creek swelled dangerously and Hughes died either because he drowned or because he was battered to death by debris and rocks, Rudd says.

"He was hit by some debris or lost consciousness and drowned and drifted down the river quite a ways," Rudd said. "There was nothing else to indicate otherwise and the medical examiner couldn't come to a conclusion of anything other than that."

Three years before Hughes disappeared, Rudd met Manson after he had been arrested in Ventura County on a minor offense. It was there that Manson appeared in possibly his most iconic mug shot, his eyes as wild as his hair. Rudd, a court officer at the time, said he chatted amiably with Manson about his "harem" of women and his way of life. There was little hint of a Pied Piper who would lead his followers to murder.

As time has passed, Rudd said he's not surprised that many still believe the Manson family's ledger of victims was longer.

"Those people were capable of a lot of things," he said.

Simon Wells, author of the Charles Manson biography "Coming Down Fast," said he has long suspected that the Manson family was responsible for the November 1969 slaying of John Haught in Venice. Authorities concluded that Haught died accidentally while playing Russian roulette with a revolver. Wells has investigated the case and found that Manson family members were present when the shooting occurred.

Watson is serving a life sentence in prison for killing Tate and four others at her Hollywood Hills home. Detectives had until now not been able to get the tapes, but Watson's attorney died in 2009 and the law firm filed for bankruptcy. Watson's decision to sell the tapes to a coauthor of his 1978 book "Will You Die for Me? The Man Who Killed for Charles Manson Tells His Own Story" waived his attorney-client privilege, the LAPD argued in court.

With the judge's ruling, detectives could get the tapes in two weeks, barring a legal challenge by Watson.

hector.becerra@latimes.com

richard.winton@latimes.com

Ronald W Hughes