Notorious cult leader, Charles Manson died at 83 (Details, pics)

The sister of Charles Manson's most famous victim, pregnant actress Sharon Tate, says she prayed for the notorious killer's soul after learning he had died on Sunday.

Manson, the psychopathic cult leader who had been behind bars for 48 years, died of natural causes at 8.13pm on Sunday at a hospital in Kern County, California aged 83.He had been taken to hospital from Corcoran State Prison with an undisclosed illness last week.

The news of his death was confirmed by Debra Tate, the sister of actress Sharon Tate, who was pregnant with film director Roman Polanski's baby when she was stabbed to death by his followers.

'This could be the end of an era or just the beginning,' she said.

'I said a prayer for his soul.'

A statement released by the Association of Deputy District Attorneys of California on Monday morning quoted Vincent Bugliosi, the prosecutor in the trial who died two years ago.

'This could be the end of an era or just the beginning,' she said. 'I said a prayer for his soul.'It said: 'Manson was an evil, sophisticated con-man with twisted and warped moral values.'

Manson's victims are the ones who should be remembered and mourned on the occasion of his death.'

State law says that if no relative or legal representative surfaces within 10 days, it's up to the department to determine what happens with the body.

Prison officials say it's 'undetermined' what will happen to Manson's corpse as he has no next of kin. It's unclear if Manson requested services of any sort. Manson was rushed to a Bakersfield hospital last week for emergency medical treatment.

Witnesses said he looked 'ashen', was covered in blankets and was not expected to last much longer after his health had been steadily declining for months.

In January, he was rushed to Mercy Hospital in Bakersfield for severe intestinal bleeding and a sigmoid lesion. Doctors wanted to operate immediately but Manson had refused.

By the time he changed his mind and was ready for the operation, doctors determined he was too weak for surgery, and he was sent back to jail.

A source at the time said: 'He's not good. His health is failing. 'The 83-year-old had been behind bars for more than four decades, since 1969, after he ordered members of his cult - which he dubbed 'the family' - to go on a murderous two-day rampage.

Three of his followers, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkle and Leslie Van Houten, killed seven people: pregnant actress Sharon Tate, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, Steven Parent and Jay Sebring.

Stephen Parent was a fifth unfortunate victim that night. He had driven to the property to see if caretaker William Garreston wanted to buy his AM/FM Clock radio, and had stayed on for a beer at the guest house. He was shot multiple times when he wound down the window at the electric gate as he left.

He had ordered his family members to slaughter Tate, who was eight-and-a-half months pregnant, and three of her friends at her home above Beverly Hills.

The following night the Family butchered small business owners Leno and Rosemary La Bianca, in their home in Los Angeles.

The murders were carried out in upscale, mostly white neighborhoods of Los Angeles in order to blame the crimes on African Americans, in the hope of sparking what he termed a 'Helter Skelter' race war.

Manson was also later convicted of the slayings of musician Gary Hinman and stuntman Donald 'Shorty' Shea.

During the trial he was convicted of leading a cult in which disaffected young people living in a commune followed his orders and were ultimately turned into killers.

Today Sharon Tate's sister Debra told People she never wished ill of any of the convicted killers. She said: 'Each one of these people and myself now have are spirits or our wills are slightly entangled.'

'My cross in my bedroom still has the flowers that I slipped into Jesus's feet when Susan died,' she says. 'I cried a tear and I asked for forgiveness on her soul. I'll do the same thing when Charlie dies.'

Manson, Atkins, Krenwinkle and Van Houten were convicted of murder and initially sentenced to death for the killings.

Manson, who was not actually present but ordered the killings, applied for parole in 2012 but was denied release and was not eligible to apply again until 2027.The cult leader continued his life of crime behind bars after being locked up, with more than 100 infractions during his time in prison, for charges including assault, making voodoo dolls and hiding a hot air balloon order catalog in his cell.'

He said his main activity was making those dolls. 'Manson was also targeted by other prisoners - on one occasion a Hare Krishna poured lighter fluid on him and set him on fire.

And prior to being moved to Corcoran in 1989, prison guards at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville found a hacksaw blade, marijuana and LSD in Manson's cells according to a report in the LA Times.

The California Department of Corrections said he had spent the past 27 years incarcerated in the Protective Housing Unit at Corcoran, which houses inmates whose safety would be endangered by general population housing.

Before that Manson had also been housed at San Quentin State Prison, California Medical Facility, Folsom State Prison and Pelican Bay State Prison.

Manson even managed to maintain a love life inside, and was recently engaged to 29-year-old Afton 'Star' Burton until she called off the wedding.

Afton, who changed her named to Star a decade ago, crossed the country at the age of 18, leaving her home on the Mississippi river and moving to Corcoran to be closer to the jail.

She struck up a relationship with Manson when she started writing to him after a friend chose him as the subject of a school project.

A marriage license was issued but expired in February 2015 amid lurid reports that Afton had only wanted to marry Manson so that she could take possession of his corpse on his death and use it for profit - charging people a fee to view it. Even people not born when the murders took place shudder when they hear his name.

With a Swastika tattooed on his forehead, Charles Manson was the very embodiment of evil.

The notorious 'mad eyed' killer from Cincinnati languished in prison since 1971 when he was convicted for conspiracy to commit murder.

He directed his mostly young, female followers to murder seven people including actress Sharon Tate, the pregnant wife of filmmaker Roman Polanski.

'Maybe I should have killed 500 people, I would have felt I really offered society something,' he said after he was sent down.

Manson was in reform schools and juvenile centers from the age of 12.His career of crime started with robbing liquor and grocery stores before he stole cars, pimped women, and committed forgery. He ended up orchestrating cold-blooded murders.'

I'm special,' Manson said. 'I'm not like the average inmate. I have spent half my life in prison. I am a very dangerous man.'

Manson was an accident, born to 16-year-old prostitute Kathleen Maddox on November 12, 1934.The alcoholic often left her young son in a relative's care so she could continue with her wild lifestyle.

Manson possibly never met his father Colonel Walker Scott as his mother married laborer William Eugene Manson after his birth.

At one point the teenage mother allegedly sold Manson to another woman for a pitcher of beer.

Manson showed 'dangerous' signs of his penchant for violence at the start of his adulthood.