Lynette Fromme

Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme ( ; born October 22, 1948) is an American former member of the Manson Family, a cult led by Charles Manson. Though not involved in the Tate–LaBianca murders for which the Manson family is best known, she attempted to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford in 1975. For that crime, she was sentenced to life in prison. She was paroled from prison on August 14, 2009, after serving approximately 34 years. She published a book about her life in 2018.

Early life

Lynette Alice Fromme was born on October 22, 1948, in Santa Monica, California. She was the daughter of Helen (née Benzinger) and William Millar Fromme (an aeronautical engineer). As a child, Fromme performed with a dance group called the Westchester Lariats, which began touring the United States and Europe in the late 1950s. She and the Lariats made an appearance on The Lawrence Welk Show and at the White House.

She attended Orville Wright Junior High School from 1960 to 1963, before the family moved to Redondo Beach, California. She attended Redondo Union High School, and while in high school, Fromme began using alcohol and drugs. Her grades dropped, but she graduated high school in 1966. She moved out of her parents' house for a few months before her father convinced her to enroll at El Camino College. She returned home for two months before her father kicked her out following an argument, leaving her homeless.

Charles Manson and her involvement with the Manson Family By 1967, at the age of 19, Fromme had dropped out of college. She went to Venice Beach after her parents threw her out of her family's house. Suffering from depression, Manson had recently been released from the federal prison at Terminal Island, and Fromme became the second member of what became the Manson Family.

Fromme found Manson's philosophies and attitudes appealing, and the two became friends and traveled together with other young people, including Mary Brunner and Susan Atkins. She lived with the Manson Family at Spahn Ranch where they worked for their keep, and at the Barker Ranch in Death Valley, which was owned by the grandmother of one of the Family members.

Manson and some of his followers were arrested for the Sharon Tate and Leno and Rosemary LaBianca murders in 1969, and during the murder trial, Fromme and the remaining members of the Manson Family camped outside the courthouse. Manson and his fellow defendants Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Leslie Van Houten carved Xs into their foreheads, and so did Fromme and her compatriots. They proclaimed Manson's innocence and they also preached his apocalyptic philosophy to the news media and anyone else who was willing to listen to them. Fromme was not charged with involvement in the murders but she was convicted of attempting to prevent Manson's imprisoned followers from testifying, and she was also convicted of contempt of court when she refused to testify. She was sentenced to serve short jail terms for both offenses.

Around 1973, Fromme started to write an extensive 600-page book about the Manson Family. It included intricate drawings and photos; other family members had also contributed to it. Fromme sent it to publishers, but she dropped her plan to get it published after she discussed it with Clem Grogan, deciding that the project was too incriminating. The book, titled Reflexion, was eventually published in 2018 by the Peasenhall Press.

Murder in Stockton, California

Fromme traveled to Stockton in 1972 with , Priscilla Cooper, and Aryan Brotherhood members Michael Monfort and James Craig, in order to follow through with Manson's deal with the Brotherhood. This group met James and Lauren Willett at a cabin. In November 1972, Monfort and Craig forced James Willett to dig his own grave and then shot him because he was going to tell the authorities about a series of robberies that they had committed after they were released from prison.His body was found with his hand still sticking out of the ground. The housemates were arrested on suspicion of murder, after which Lauren Willett's body was discovered in the basement. She had been shot to death. The Willetts' eight-month-old daughter, Heidi, was found alive in the house. Fromme was released for lack of evidence. She said that she came to Stockton on November 10 to visit William Goucher, who was in jail on a robbery charge, when Lauren died. When Fromme left the jail after visiting Goucher, she called the house on Flora Street to have someone pick her up, and the Stockton Police traced the call and arrested her at a phone booth.

Assassination attempt on President Ford

On the morning of September 5, 1975, Fromme went to Sacramento's Capitol Park, ostensibly to plead with Gerald Ford about the plight of the California redwoods, dressed in a red robe and armed with a Colt M1911 .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol. The pistol's magazine was loaded with four rounds, but there was no round in the chamber. When Fromme pointed the gun at Ford she was immediately restrained by Secret Service agent Larry Buendorf. As she was apprehended, she reportedly yelled "it wouldn't go off" and said "it didn't go off. Can you believe it? It didn't go off" when brought to the ground by Buendorf. In 1980, Fromme told The Sacramento Bee that she had deliberately ejected the round from her weapon's chamber before leaving home that morning, and investigators later found a round on her bathroom floor.

Fromme refused to cooperate with her own defense during her trial. Despite claiming that "I was not determined to kill the guy", Fromme was convicted of the attempted assassination of the president and received a life sentence under a 1965 law that made attempted presidential assassinations a federal crime. After United States Attorney Dwayne Keyes recommended severe punishment, because she was "full of hate and violence", Fromme threw an apple at him, hitting him in the face and knocking off his glasses. She told the press that she "came to get life. Not just my life but clean air, healthy water, and respect for creatures and creation."

Aftermath In 1979, Fromme was transferred out of Federal Correctional Institution, Dublin, California, for attacking fellow inmate Julienne Bušić with a hammer. On December 23, 1987, she escaped from Federal Prison Camp, Alderson in West Virginia in an attempt to meet Manson. She was captured two days later and incarcerated at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell, in Fort Worth, Texas.

Fromme first became eligible for parole in 2005. She waived her right to request a hearing and was required by federal law to complete a parole application before one could be considered and granted. She was granted parole in July 2008, but she was not released because of the extra time which was added to her sentence because of her escape from prison in 1987. and she moved to Marcy, New York, where she and her boyfriend Robert Valdner live. In a 2019 televised interview, Fromme said the following about Manson, "Was I in love with Charlie? Yeah, [...] I still am."

In popular culture In 1975, Fromme was portrayed by Laraine Newman on the third episode of Saturday Night Live, in a sketch titled "Dangerous but Inept", in which she is interviewed on a talk show with that title by its host, Jane Curtin. Fromme is a character in Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Assassins (1990), a musical about nine people who attempted to assassinate a U.S. president. Fromme is played by Kayli Carter in the 2018 Mary Harron-directed biographical drama film Charlie Says. Fromme is portrayed by Dakota Fanning in Quentin Tarantino's film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019).

Books