Oh, Charlie, ol’ buddy ol’ pal. You are by far one of the most notorious criminals of all time. You are probably on more lists and countdowns than any other person ever in the history of Internet lists about criminals and serial killers.
The only problem is he’s not a serial killer.
Yep, the most famous sociopath in the world is not the thing we often associate sociopath with. True crime aficionados know our buddy Charlie is anything but a serial killer. For some reason, the rest of the world can’t comprehend this. It makes sense to categorize him into the realm of serial killers, which has been a misconception for years.
If he isn’t a serial killer, then what is he?
Manson was charged with conspiracy to commit murder, which legally is just as good as actually committing the murder. What Manson actually did was a murder by proxy a.k.a proxy murder. This is where an individual commits a murder at someone else’s instruction.
Another important detail is that the Manson Murders were not serial killings either, instead they are technically classified as spree killings. The key difference between serial and spree killings is the “cooling-off period.”
Serial killings have a period of inactivity between killings in order to re-live the crime until they feel the need to do it again. Spree killings take place in two or more locations with almost no time lapsed between murders. It’s like Rumspringa for psychos. The Manson killings take place in a two-day span in two different locations, which does classify them as spree killings.
Sources:
A Murder Most Foul 
