Bruce Davis, a one-time Manson Family follower who was convicted of two killings in 1969, died in prison at age 83, state officials confirmed today.
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According to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Davis died shortly after 11 p.m. Friday at California Medical Facility in Vacaville. The Solono County Coroner will determine his cause of death.
Davis was convicted in 1972 of first-degree murder and conspiracy for the July 25, 1969, stabbing death of musician Gary Hinman in his Topanga Canyon home and the killing of Donald “Shorty” Shea, who was last seen alive on Aug. 27, 1969.
He was not involved with other followers of Manson in the Aug. 9, 1969, murders of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four others in a rented Benedict Canyon home, or the stabbing deaths of grocery store owner Leno La Bianca and his wife, Rosemary, a day later in their Los Feliz home.
During his extensive time in prison, Davis was found suitable for parole seven times, but in each case, the sitting governor reversed the decision of the parole board. The most recent occurred in 2021, when Gov. Gavin Newsom blocked his release.
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“Mr. Davis joined one of the most notorious cults in American history and actively aided in furthering Charles Manson’s goal of triggering an apocalyptic war arising from racial tensions and with the goal of creating societal disorder,” the governor wrote in his message reversing the parole grant. “The crimes that the Manson Family committed to achieve this goal are among the most disturbing reported in our state’s history. The Family robbed, tortured and killed at Charles Manson’s behest and Mr. Davis knowingly participated in two of these murders.”
The governor wrote that Davis “continues to minimize his involvement in the Hinman and Shea murders and lacks insight into how he came to follow Mr. Manson and commit such extreme acts of violence,” and that he “cannot be safely released” until he can “demonstrate deeper insight into his involvement in these crimes and take full responsibility for his part in one of the darkest points of California’s history.”
Davis most recently appeared before a parole board in August 2024, when he was denied parole for another three years.
Steve Grogan, who was convicted in Shea’s murder and helped lead authorities to the site where the victim was buried, was the first former Manson follower to be paroled from prison, in 1985.
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Manson died in 2017.