Is this the proper chain of events regarding Vern Plumlee and if not could some one please clarify? First Vern was in the Marine Corps and went AWOL. Then he's dropped off at the Spahn ranch in July '69 by some one who runs a shelter. Vern stays at the ranch until September. Somewhere along the line he is picked up by the authorities and placed in the brig and while there the state decides to use him as a witness in the Tate/LaBianca trial. Next he escapes the brig then commits the crime in Long Beach, where he makes the comment he has already killed 3 people. Finally he goes to Oregon tells a couple people he saw Charlie and Clem shoot somebody in the desert and he gets captured again and returned to California. The police ask him about the shooting he told others he had seen but he denies ever making the comment. O.K., so is this the proper chain of events? Also, the mention of 3 people being killed is something that seems to keep popping up from many mansonites and then the thing about the shooting in the desert, also sounds familiar. And finally the state was going to use Vern as a witness but when they hear that he told the 2 guys in Portland that he saw Charlie shoot some one in the desert he denies it and the police let it go at that, strange? What kind of witness did they think they had and what insight did they think he had to add to their case?
That sounds about right. The whole drop off at the Ranch by that person remains a mystery...who was that person? How did they know Charlie etc...and why pick Spahns to drop him off. Throw in Jon Marsh, another AWOL Marine, who showed up to testify he knew Sadie and Linda and promptly got carted off. Did they know each other? And who the hell is this Russell guy that Vern got popped for the robbery with? It is written that he hung at the Ranch too, but I can find no record or mention of him anywhere. Vern also is the one who told Ed Sanders that they thought Sharon was not going to be home that night. Never a word more on that-how they found out etc. I find it frustrating. Is it another Vernism, said then retracted? Or is it a truth? Sure caused alot of speculation if it isnt true...
Another question or two or maybe three about this Russell guy. First did he and Vern go AWOL together? Then did they get picked up together and escape the brig together? and Lastly, if they were not in the brig together or escape together how did Vern relocate him to go on to commit the crimes in Long Beach. If Vern knew where he was you would think the authorities would have known and with the state planning to use him as a witness you think they would have asked about his history with the family and Russell's name would have had to come up and they would have acted on said information knowing he to was AWOL.
Vern's involvent has always puzzled me. Especially when he was quoted (can't remember where) as saying that Sharon was not supposed to be at the Tate residence that night. And wasn't a phone call made from Spahn Ranch to the tate residence that very day?
[quote author=sbsugar link=topic=4763.msg43983#msg43983 date=1262215256] Vern's involvent has always puzzled me. Especially when he was quoted (can't remember where) as saying that Sharon was not supposed to be at the Tate residence that night. And wasn't a phone call made from Spahn Ranch to the tate residence that very day? [/quote] SB-I believe that all started in Sanders. In the video of Sanders and Doris Tate talking with Nellie, Doris even says she believed it. But it is never to be discussed again anywhere, or explained how Vern knew.
