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.'

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Cult leader Charles Manson (pictured left in August 2017 and right in October 2014) has died aged 83

Charles Manson is being escorted to his arraignment in 1969 and remained behind bars until his death

The news was confirmed by Debra Tate (left), the sister of one of his victims - pregnant actress Sharon Tate

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.

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.'

Prison officials say it's 'undetermined' what will happen to Manson's corpse as he has no next of kin.

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.

It's unclear if Manson requested services of any sort.

Victims: (top row left to right) Voytech Frykowski, Sharon Tate, Stephen Parent, (middle row left to right) Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Gary Hinman, (bottom row left to right) Leno LaBianca, Rosemary LaBianca, Donald Shea.

Manson was rushed to a Bakersfield hospital last week for emergency medical treatment (picturing in his younger days, arriving for court in 1971)

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.

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.

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.

Manson and three of his followers, Susan Atkins (left), Patricia Krenwinkle (center) and Leslie Van Houten (right) killed seven people: pregnant actress Sharon Tate, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, Steven Parent and Jay Sebring

1971: Charles Manson, with a swastika on his forehead, walks to court in Los Angeles

Charles Manson sits in the courtroom during his murder trial in 1970 in Los Angeles, California

1970: Charles Manson arrives for court with a shaven head, an open shirt, and a swastika carved in his forehead

'Family' members: Patricia Krenwinkle (left) makes a face as Leslie Van Houten and Susan Atkins (right) smile in August 5, 1970 on the way to court

Susan Atkins (left, with Patricia Krenwinkle and Leslie van Houton) took part in several of the slayings, including those at the Tate residence, where she tasted Sharon Tate's blood and used it to write 'Pig' on a house wall

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.

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 is pictured in 1969 during a preliminary hearing

Coroner's office personnel wheel the body of film actress Sharon Tate from her home in Bel Air, California, August 9, 1969

LA County coroner's office take notes and look at the bodies found on the lawn of the Sharon Tate-Roman Polanski home

Speaking to People, retired Los Angeles County prosecutor Stephen Kay, who helped convict Manson of the 1969 murders, said: 'He threw hot coffee on a guard and spit on a guard's face. He had a saw blade in the sole of a shoe.

'He was making little dolls, but they were like voodoo dolls of people and he would stick needles in them, hoping to injure the live person the doll was fashioned after.

'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.

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. He is pictured being taken to jail in 1969 by a group of police officers

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.

'Maybe I should have killed 500 people, I would have felt I really offered society something': How Charles Manson turned from child thief to notorious cult leader

Manson's life of crime began at an early age. At 12 he had been sent to reform school. He escalated from started by robbing stores to stealing cars and eventually orchestrating seven murders. He is pictured in 1966

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.

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

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

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

Patricia Krenwinkel (center) with Manson Family members Susan Atkins (left) and Leslie van Houten in 1969. All three were convicted of murder

Charles Manson is pictured smiling while wearing a suit and tie. His life of crime started young

After serving a 10-year sentence for check forgery in the 1960s, Manson was said to have pleaded with authorities not to release him because he considered prison home.

'My father is the jailhouse. My father is your system,' he would later say in a monologue on the witness stand. 'I am only what you made me. I am only a reflection of you.'

At 18 he was moved to a high security reformatory after he sodomized a boy while a razor was held to the boy's throat.

'If I wanted to kill somebody I'd take this book and beat you to death with it and I wouldn't feel a thing,' Manson said. 'It would be just like walking to the drugstore.'

In prison Manson became obsessed with music and learned how to play the steel guitar. He believed his musical talents would earn him fame and a following.

He was set free in San Francisco during the heyday of the hippie movement in the city's Haight-Ashbury section, and though he was in his mid-30s by then, he began collecting followers - mostly women - who likened him to Jesus Christ. Most were teenagers many came from good homes but were at odds with their parents.

The 'family' eventually established a commune-like base at the Spahn Ranch, a ramshackle former movie location outside Los Angeles, where Manson manipulated his followers with drugs, supervised orgies and subjected them to bizarre lectures.

He befriended rock stars, including Beach Boy Dennis Wilson. He also met Terry Melcher, a music producer who had lived in the same house that Polanski and Tate later rented.

By the summer 1969, Manson had failed to sell his songs, and the rejection was later seen as a trigger for the violence. He complained that Wilson took a Manson song called 'Cease to Exist,' revised it into 'Never Learn Not to Love' and recorded it with the Beach Boys without giving Manson credit.

Manson was obsessed with Beatles music, particularly 'Piggies' and 'Helter Skelter,' a hard-rocking song that he interpreted as forecasting the end of the world. He told his followers that 'Helter Skelter is coming down' and predicted a race war would destroy the planet.

Front page of the Los Angeles Times on January 26 1971 reporting on the conviction the previous day of Charles Manson and three members of his 'Family'

'Everybody attached themselves to us, whether it was our fault or not,' the Beatles' George Harrison, who wrote 'Piggies,' later said of the murders. 'It was upsetting to be associated with something so sleazy as Charles Manson.'

According to testimony, Manson sent his devotees out on the night of Tate's murder with instructions to 'do something witchy.'

The state's star witness, Linda Kasabian, who was granted immunity, testified that Manson tied up the LaBiancas, then ordered his followers to kill. But Manson insisted: 'I have killed no one, and I have ordered no one to be killed.'

His trial was nearly scuttled when President Richard Nixon said Manson was 'guilty, directly or indirectly.' Manson grabbed a newspaper and held up the front-page headline for jurors to read: 'Manson Guilty, Nixon Declares.' Attorneys demanded a mistrial but were turned down.

From then on, jurors, sequestered at a hotel for 10 months, traveled to and from the courtroom in buses with blacked-out windows so they could not read the headlines on newsstands.

Manson was an accident, born to 16-year-old prostitute Kathleen Maddox on November 12, 1934

The American public first heard of Manson and his Family when actress Sharon Tate, 26, was viciously murdered at her home. She was eight months pregnant with husband Roman Polanski's child when she was stabbed to death, with an X cut into her stomach and one of her breasts cut off.

The gruesome Manson Family didn't stop there. In addition to Tate's murder, Manson orchestrated his Family to murder six other victims.

Manson was eventually revealed as the mastermind and convicted of conspiracy of murder. He was given the death sentence but it was changed to nine consecutive life sentences after California abolished the death penalty.

Although Manson did not personally kill any of the seven victims, he was found guilty of ordering their murders.

He was later convicted of ordering the murders of music teacher Gary Hinman, stabbed to death in July 1969, and stuntman Donald 'Shorty' Shea, stabbed and bludgeoned that August.

Manson's life in prison wasn't all grim. He was caught twice with a contraband cell phone and was engaged to Afton Elaine 'Star' Burton when she was 27 and he was 80, in 2014.

In November 2009, a Los Angeles DJ and songwriter named Matthew Roberts, who was adopted at birth, claimed to be Manson's fourth son

Their marriage license expired and were never married. Burton first started seeing Manson when she was 19 after she moved from Illinois to California so she could visit him.

Mason leaves three sons. In November 2009, a Los Angeles DJ and songwriter named Matthew Roberts, who was adopted at birth, claimed to be his fourth son.

Roberts' biological mother claims to have been a member of the Manson Family who left in the summer of 1967 after being raped by Manson. Manson himself has stated that he 'could' be the father.

Manson died Sunday aged 83 one week after he was admitted to hospital.

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.

The Manson family today: From finding God, to winning a college degree and writing a book, the followers of Charles Manson are either behind bars or dead – apart from one

By Kelly McLaughlin

Manson's 'Family' disciples committed at least nine murders, but it was the horrific killing spree of seven people on August 9-10, 1969 that sealed his notoriety - and earned him and many of his followers life in prison.

Since the murders, only one member - Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme, who tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford - has been paroled.

Six other cult members remain in prison, while one, Susan Atkins, died of brain cancer while incarcerated in 2009.

Here, MailOnline reveals what has become of the members of Manson's cult.

Charles 'Tex' Watson, 71: Jailed

Watson described himself as Manson's 'right hand man'.

On August 9, 1969, he and three female accomplices murdered actress Sharon Tate and four visitors at her Beverly Hills home.

The following night, they killed a couple, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, at their Los Angeles home.

Charles 'Tex' Watson, 71, has apologized for the killings. He became a minister in 1981, taking a path similar to some other ex-Manson Family members who also turned to Christianity

Watson was initially sentenced to death in the stabbing and shooting rampage, but the sentence was later commuted to life when the California Supreme Court ruled in 1972 that the death penalty was unconstitutional.

Watson remains in prison near Sacramento, California, after repeatedly being denied parole.

Sharon Tate's sister, Debra Tate — the last surviving member of her immediate family — urged a panel of parole commissioners last year to reject freedom for the man she called 'the most active, the most prolific killer in the Manson family'.

In prison, Watson wrote a book, Manson's Right-Hand Man Speaks Out, saying the charismatic Manson offered utopia, then persuaded his followers to act out his 'destructive worldview'. Watson has apologized for the killings.

He became a minister in 1981, taking a path similar to some other ex-Manson Family members who also turned to Christianity.

Watson also obtained his college degree behind bars.

Susan Atkins, died in 2009, aged 61

Atkins took part in several of the slayings, including those at the Tate residence, where she tasted Sharon Tate's blood and used it to write 'Pig' on a house wall.

She died of brain cancer in a California prison in 2009 at age 61. Atkins had been denied a request to be freed on parole as the fatal illness took hold.

She is the only other cult member - other than Manson himself - to have died.

Atkins admitted stabbing Tate to death as the actress begged for her life and that of her unborn son. Atkins claimed she and other cult followers acted on orders from Manson and were on LSD.

She died of brain cancer in a California prison in 2009 at age 61. Atkins had been denied a request to be freed on parole as the fatal illness took hold

Atkins' death sentence was commuted to life in prison in 1972, after the California Supreme Court abolished capital punishment. Atkins will next be eligible for parole in 2012.

While living with the Manson 'family', she became pregnant and Manson helped deliver the baby boy, naming it Zezozoze Zadfrack. His whereabouts are unknown.

Patricia Krenwinkel, 69: Jailed

Krenwinkel took part in the murders of the LaBiancas and at the Tate residence and has become California's longest-serving woman prisoner.

In June, commissioners again denied parole for Krenwinkel, after a six-month inquiry to look into allegations that she had been abused by Manson or someone else, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Krenwinkel has been denied parole 13 times for the slayings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four other people.

'Family' member: Patricia Krenwinkel took part in the murders of the LaBiancas and at the Tate residence. She has become California's longest-serving woman prisoner

She was a 19-year-old secretary living with her older sister when she met the 33-year-old Manson at a party. She testified that she left everything behind three days later to follow him because she believed they had a budding romantic relationship.

She said in December that her feelings faded when Manson became physically and emotionally abusive, and trafficked her to other men for sex.

She said she left him twice only to be brought back, and that she was usually under the influence of drugs and rarely left alone.

'I thought I loved him. I thought - it started with love, and then turned to fear,' she once said.

Krenwinkel in December recounted how she chased down and repeatedly stabbed Abigail Folger, 26, heiress to a coffee fortune, at Tate's home on Aug. 9, 1969, and helped Manson and other followers kill grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary the following night.

Manson and his right-hand man, Charles 'Tex' Watson, told her to 'do something witchy,' she said, so she stabbed La Bianca in the stomach with a fork, then took a rag and wrote 'Helter Skelter,' ''Rise' and 'Death to Pigs' on the walls with his blood.

Leslie Van Houten, 68: Jailed

Van Houten is serving a life sentence for taking part in the murders of the LaBiancas.

Last year, California Governor Jerry Brown overturned a parole board recommendation that she should be released, saying that Van Houten still posed an 'unreasonable danger to society'.

In September, the parole board again granted her parole, which started a 150-day review process that will likely culminate in a final decision by Brown.

'Family' member: Leslie Van Houten is serving a life sentence for taking part in the murders of the LaBiancas. She was the youngest member of Manson's cult

Van Houten was the youngest member of Manson's cult and was just 19 years old when she took part in the murders of the LaBiancas.

Over two nights in August 1969, Manson's ragtag band of followers killed seven people, including actress Sharon Tate.

Van Houten didn't take part in the first night's killings of Tate and four others, but she helped kill grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary, on the second night.

She said that on the night of the attack, she held Rosemary La Bianca down with a pillowcase over her head as others stabbed her dozens of times.

Then, ordered by Manson disciple Tex Watson to 'do something,' she picked up a butcher knife and stabbed the woman more than a dozen times.

But since her incarceration more than 40 years ago, she has been a model prisoner.

During those years she has earned bachelor's and master's degrees in counseling, been certified as a counselor and headed numerous programs to help inmates.

Bruce Davis, 75: Jailed

Davis is serving a life sentence at the California Men's Colony at San Luis Obispo for the 1969 slayings of musician Gary Hinman and stuntman Donald 'Shorty' Shea.

At the time of his arrest Davis had the Family 'X' carved into his forehead.

Bruce Davis (center) is serving a life sentence at the California Men's Colony at San Luis Obispo for the 1969 slayings of musician Gary Hinman and stuntman Donald 'Shorty' Shea

Davis was not involved in the more notorious killings of Tate and six others by the Manson 'family.'

He long maintained he was a bystander in the killings of the two men but in recent years he acknowledged his shared responsibility because he was present.

He testified at his 2014 hearing that he attacked Shea with a knife and held a gun on Hinman while Manson cut Hinman's face with a sword.

'I wanted to be Charlie's favorite guy,' he said then.

During the half-century since the slayings, parole panels have decided five times that Davis is no longer a public safety risk. Officials have cited his age and good behavior behind bars that includes earning a doctoral degree and ministering to other inmates.

But California Governors, who have the final say on release, have repeatedly denied him parole.

Robert (Bobby) Beausoleil, 70: Jailed

Beausoleil is serving a life sentence for the 1969 murder of Hinman

Beausoleil is serving a life sentence for the 1969 murder of Gary Hinman.

A California parole board last denied his bid on October 14, 2016. He will be eligible for a hearing again in 2019.

Beausoleil was sentenced to death for the 1969 slaying of musician Gary Hinman, but it was commuted to life in prison when the California Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional in 1972.

He was transferred in 1994 to the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem at his request, after he married a woman from Oregon while in prison and fathered four children.

Beausoleil was an aspiring musician and actor before he joined the Manson family.

He was in jail when other Manson followers killed actress Sharon Tate and four others, then murdered grocer Leno LaBianca and his wife, Rosemary.

Lynette 'Squeaky' Fromme, 69: Paroled

Fromme was a member of the Manson Family and attended Manson's trial.

In 1975, she was tackled by a Secret Service agent after she aimed a pistol at then President Gerald Ford.

Convicted of attempted assassination, she was sentenced to life in prison.

She was paroled in 2009 and moved to Marcy in New York state, according to the New York Post.