Leslie Van Houten, the one-time Charles Manson follower long seen as the most likely of his ex-acolytes to win freedom someday, was denied parole Tuesday for a 19th time in the killings of Leno and Rosemary La Bianca.

At the conclusion of the emotional three-hour hearing, the chairman of the parole board, Robert Doyle, said Van Houten was not yet suitable for parole because she had failed to gain complete insight into her crime and its motivation.

While commending her for her adjustment to prison and her work on behalf of other prisoners, Doyle and deputy commissioner Carol Bentley said the crimes involved were so atrocious and heinous that they must be considered in the decision.

Leslie Van Houten, the one-time Charles Manson follower long seen as the most likely of his ex-acolytes to win freedom someday, faces her 19th parole hearing with a new lawyer and new case law which may give her the best chance yet for release.

Van Houten, 60, remains incarcerated at the California Institution for Women at Frontera, the same prison where another Manson follower, Patricia Krenwinkle, is imprisoned. Susan Atkins, the third woman convicted of murder in the crimes directed by cult leader Manson, died in prison last year after parole officials denied her dying request for freedom.

Van Houten’s chances for parole are enhanced by the fact that she has been discipline free since her incarceration in the early 1970s, has positive psychological reports and has been active in self-help groups at the prison including “Golden Girls,” a group for elderly women inmates.

She has a new lawyer, Brandie Devall, who told The Associated Press she will refer to rulings by the California Supreme Court in 2008 and 2009 affecting standards for parole.

The Associated Press reports that Susan Atkins, a follower of cult leader Charles Manson whose remorseless witness stand confession to killing pregnant actress Sharon Tate in 1969 shocked the world, has died. She was 61 and had been suffering from brain cancer.

Atkins’ death comes less than a month after a parole board turned down the terminally ill woman’s last chance at freedom on Sept. 2. She was brought to the hearing on a gurney and slept through most of it.

California Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said that Atkins died late Thursday night. She had been diagnosed with brain cancer in 2008, had a leg amputated and was given only a few months to live.

For the second time in as many years, a state parole board voted unanimously Wednesday to deny one of Charles Manson’s fiercest followers her request for a “compassionate release” so that she can die at home.

Former Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi said it was time for the state to show Atkins mercy.

Susan Atkins, 60, played a central role in the slayings of Tate and others in a bloody two-night rampage in the Los Angeles area.She has served 37 years in prison, longer than any other woman currently a prisoner in California, officials say.Now ill with brain cancer, with one leg amputated and the other paralyzed, Atkins has only months to live, doctors have said.The petition for Atkins’ release ignited debate about what mercy is appropriate, particularly considering the grisly crimes for which she was convicted.

L.A. County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley and other prosecutors are urging the state parole board to deny a ‘compassionate release’ to the Charles Manson follower who has terminal brain cancer.

Atkins and other members of Manson’s cult were convicted in seven murders during a bloody rampage in the Los Angeles area over two nights in 1969. Actress Sharon Tate, the wife of film director Roman Polanski, was 8 1/2 months pregnant when she and four others were killed at her hilltop home in Benedict Canyon.

Investigators and scientists went to Charles Manson’s last hideout to hunt for clandestine graves that could contain other possible victims. The closest thing they found were animal bones.

Of particular interest today were two sites where cadaver dogs and analyses of soil samples produced mixed but somewhat encouraging results that could possibly support lingering rumors that bodies may be buried at Barker Ranch.

For years, rumors have swirled about other possible Manson family victims — hitchhikers who visited them at the ranch and were not seen again, runaways who drifted into the camp then fell out of favor. Until now, in the absence of bodies, they were forgotten. [video]

Van Houten was convicted of murder and conspiracy for participating with fellow Mason family members Charles “Tex” Watson and Patricia Krenwinkel in the Aug. 9, 1969, slayings of grocers Leno and Rosemary La Bianca at their Los Feliz home.

A cleaning crew called the police Friday after discovering satanic markings inside an unoccupied Palm Springs, Calif., vacation home saluting convicted killer Charles Manson — almost 38 years to the day after the cult leader and his followers left similar messages at their now infamous California murder scenes.

Charles Manson was denied parole Wednesday, the 11th time since 1978 that the cult leader was ordered to continue serving life sentences for a murderous rampage in 1969.

Former Charles Manson Disciple Leslie Van Houten Denied Parole for 16th Time in California

CORONA, Calif. (AP)--Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten was denied parole for a 16th time on Wednesday, just over 35 years after the notorious Tate-LaBianca murders.

The infamous Charles Manson still has a disturbingly strong following. Can three new films dispel his cult appeal, asks Stephen Applebaum