Serving a life sentence in connection with seven vicious murders over two nights in 1969, Manson was hurried to the hospital in early January 2017 with an undisclosed issue – but returned to prison without having surgery. He was said to have been suffering "significant intestinal bleeding," but ultimately was deemed too weak to survive any medical procedure. He finally succumbed to lingering health issues on Sunday, Nov. 19, at a Kern County Hospital in Bakersfield, Calif.

Manson's death brings to a close a life defined by lawlessness, and framed by a deeply misguided obsession with the BEATLES.

Born Charles Milles Maddox on Nov. 12, 1934, Manson began life in a troubled home where he was reportedly sold by his mother for a pitcher of beer. Kathleen Maddox had been a teenaged prostitute; Charles' father was one of her boyfriends. His uncle was said to have eventually tracked down the childless woman who'd taken him in order to bring back Charles. The future mass murderer ultimately took his stepfather William Manson's last name; Manson's mom ended up in jail.