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Charles Manson's Grandson Ordered To Take DNA Test Amid Feud With Cult Leader's Pen Pal Over Inheritance
Michael Channels claims the cult leader promised his estate to him and filed a motion asking the courts to determine conclusively if Jason Freeman is Manson's biological progeny.
A California judge has approved a motion ordering a man claiming to be Charles Manson’s grandson to take a DNA test in order to prove he's the progeny of the murderous cult leader.
The judge approved the request, filed by Manson’s penpal Michael Channels, Friday which orders 43-year-old Jason Freeman to take a DNA test to prove he the biological grandson of Manson,
The request was made by Manson pen pal Michael Channels in mid-August amid a dispute over Manson's inheritance. A judge approved the motion Friday, according to a ruling obtained by CrimeOnline.
Channels and Freeman previously fought over Manson’s remains until a judge decided, months after Manson’s death, that Freeman was entitled to them.
Channels argued in his latest motion that there is no proof that Freeman is Manson’s biological grandson. Freeman’s father, Charles Jay White, reportedly won a paternity suit by default in 1986 after Manson failed to make a court appearance to prove paternity.
Channels claims Manson wanted his estate to be left to him, not to any of Manson’s family.
“Channels filed his own Petition, seeking to probate a will allegedly executed by Manson in 2002, which expressly disinherited his sons as well as any other known or unknown children, and which purportedly gives his entire estate to Channels,” the motion claims.
Freeman said last year that he had no intention on taking a DNA test unless he was ordered to by the courts.
“There are people on the other team who are trying to build a case against me. They think that a DNA test would prove something different,” Freeman told the British tabloid The Daily Mail at the time. “If the DNA test was a match nothing changes. If it’s not a match, it does not take away the fact that this man I knew all my life was my grandfather.”
Manson was the infamous leader of the Manson Family cult. He, along with his followers, were responsible for series of horrifying homicides in California, including the murder of actress Sharon Tate. Manson was convicted of seven counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death in 1971 but the death penalty was abolished in California one year later. He died behind bars of complications from colon cancer in 2017.
