Raymond's House

Early life

Fromme was born in Santa Monica, California, to Helen Benziger Fromme, a homemaker, and William Millar Fromme, an aeronautical engineer.

As a child, Fromme was a performer for a popular local dance group called Westchester Lariats,^[1] which in the late 1950s began touring the US and Europe, appearing on The Lawrence Welk Show and at the White House. Fromme was in the 1959 tour.^[2]

In 1963, the family moved to Redondo Beach, a suburb of Los Angeles, and Fromme began

 drinking and taking drugs. Her grades in high school dropped, but she managed to graduate in 1966. She moved out of her parents' house for a few months before her father convinced her to consider El Camino Junior College. Her attendance here only lasted about two months, however, before an argument with her father rendered her homeless.

Charles Manson and Manson Family involvement

In 1967, Fromme went to Venice Beach, suffering from depression. Charles Manson, who had been recently released from federal prison at Terminal Island near Long Beach, saw her and struck up a conversation with her. Fromme found Manson's philosophies and attitudes appealing, and the two became friends, travelling together and with other young people such as Mary Brunner and Susan Atkins. She lived in southern California at Spahn Ranch, and in the desert near Death Valley.

After Manson and some of his followers were arrested for committing what would become known as the Tate-LaBianca murders in 1969, Fromme and the remaining "Manson family" camped outside of the trial. When Manson and his fellow defendants, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie Van Houten and Atkins carved Xs into their foreheads, so did Fromme and her compatriots. They proclaimed Manson's innocence and preached his apocalyptic philosophy to the news media, as well as to anyone else who would listen. She was never charged with involvement in the murders, but was convicted of attempting to prevent Manson's imprisoned followers from testifying, as well as contempt of court when she herself refused to testify. She was given short jail sentences for both offenses.

[edit] Murder in Stockton California

Fromme moved to Stockton, California, with friends Nancy Pitman and Priscilla Cooper, a pair of ex-convicts named Michael Monfort and James Craig, and a couple, James and Lauren Willett. After the body of James Willett was found, the housemates were taken into custody on suspicion of murder. Lauren Willett was also then discovered to be dead as well. An infant girl believed to be the Willetts’ daughter was found in the house and placed in Mary Graham Hall.^[3] Fromme was released due to a lack of evidence.

The Sonoma County coroner’s office concluded that James Willett was killed sometime in September 1972 although his body was not found until the beginning of November 1972. He had been buried near Guerneville in Sonoma County.^[3] On the night of Saturday November 11, 1972 the Stockton Police responded to information that a station wagon owned by the Willetts was in the area. It was discovered parked in front of 720 W. Flora Street. "Police Sgt. Richard Whiteman went to the house and, when he was refused entry, forced his way in. All the persons subsequently arrested were in the house except for Miss Fromme. She telephoned the house while police were there, asking to be picked up, and officers obliged, taking her into custody nearby. Police found a quantity of guns and ammunition in the house, and noticed freshly dug earth beneath the building."^[3] The Stockton Police obtained a warrant and dug up the body of Lauren Willett around 5 a.m. the following day. Cooper told investigators that Lauren had been shot accidentally and had been buried when they realized she was dead.^[3] Cooper contended that Monfort was "demonstrating the dangers of firearms, playing a form of Russian roulette with a .38 caliber pistol" and had first spun the gun cylinder and shot at his own head, and when the gun didn't fire, pointed it at the victim, whereupon it fired.^[3] The Stockton Police indicated that Lauren Willett "was with the others of her own volition prior to the shooting, and was not being held prisoner."^[3]

Fromme then moved into a Sacramento apartment with her friend, fellow Manson family member Sandra Good. The two wore robes on occasion and changed their names to symbolize their devotion to Manson's new religion. Fromme became "Red" in honor of her red hair and the redwoods, and Good became "Blue" for her blue eyes and the ocean.

Attempt to contact Jimmy Page

In March 1975, Fromme confronted Danny Goldberg, the publicist for English rock band Led Zeppelin, which was performing concerts in the United States as part of its North American concert tour. She said she had to see Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page because she had foreseen something evil in his future and thought it might happen that night during the band's concert at the Long Beach Arena. She swore that the last time this had happened, she had seen someone shot to death before her very eyes. Goldberg persuaded her to write a long note to Page, after which she left. The note was burned, unread.^[4]

Assassination attempt on President Ford

On the morning of September 5, 1975, Fromme went to Sacramento's Capitol Park (reportedly to plead with President Gerald Ford about the plight of the California redwoods) dressed in a nun-like red robe and armed with a .45 Colt automatic pistol, that she pointed at Ford. The pistol's magazine was loaded with four rounds, but none was in the firing chamber. She was immediately restrained by Secret Service agents, and while she was being further restrained and handcuffed, managed to say a few sentences to the on-scene cameras, emphasizing that the gun did not "go off".^[5] Fromme subsequently told The Sacramento Bee that she had deliberately ejected the cartridge in her weapon's chamber before leaving home that morning, and investigators later found a .45 ACP cartridge in her bathroom.^[6]

After a lengthy trial in which she refused to cooperate with her own defense, she was convicted of the attempted assassination of the president and received a life sentence under a 1965 law (prompted by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy) which specified a maximum sentence of life in prison for attempted presidential assassinations. When U.S. Attorney Duane 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.^[7]

Aftermath

In 1979, Fromme was transferred out of the women's prison in Dublin, California, for attacking a fellow inmate, Julienne Busic, with the claw end of a hammer. On December 23, 1987, she escaped from the Alderson Federal Prison Camp in Alderson, West Virginia, attempting to meet up with Manson, who she had heard had testicular cancer. She was captured again two days later and is now serving time in Texas at the Federal Medical Center, Carswell. Though she has been eligible for parole since 1985, Fromme has consistently waived her right to a hearing.

Seventeen days after Fromme's assassination attempt, Sara Jane Moore attempted to assassinate Ford in San Francisco; she was also unsuccessful.

Fromme's story is one of eight told in Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's musical Assassins. She and John Hinckley, Jr. appear in the duet "Unworthy of Your Love".

Bibliography

Bravin, Jess (1997). Squeaky: The Life and Times Of Lynette Alice Fromme. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312187629.