Steven Parent - Aftermath

Aftermath

Parent's father, Wilfred, was highly critical of the way his son's death was treated. He stated that he was told by telephone of the murder by a Los Angeles Police Department detective. He also criticized the manner in which the media focused on the more famous victims while showing little interest in his son. In recent years, Janet Parent, Steven's sister, began attending the killers' parole hearings. She has also publicly spoken out against Susan Atkins' and Charles "Tex" Watson's requests for parole.

William Garretson, the young caretaker at Cielo Drive whom Parent had visited before being murdered, indicated in a program broadcast in July 1999 on E!, that he had, in fact, seen and heard a portion of the Tate murders from his location in the property's guest house. This comported with the unofficial results of the polygraph examination that had been given to Garretson on August 10, 1969, and that had effectively eliminated him as a suspect. The LAPD officer who conducted the examination had concluded Garretson was "clean" on participation in the crimes but "muddy" as to his having heard anything. Garretson did not explain why he had withheld his knowledge of the events.