ASHLAND, Ky., Jan. 30 — Where was Charles M. Manson — a key figure in the slaying of a Hollywood starlet and four friends — when his uncle was stabbed to death here last May 27?

Police Chief Lewis Mutters said there is a possibility Manson may have been in this area the day Darwin Orell Scott was stabbed 19 times with a butcher knife.

The chief said there were signs of a struggle in Scott’s apartment, plus a number of unidentified fingerprints.

Mutters said Scott’s death came a little more than two months before actress Sharon Tate and four house guests were killed in her home.

An investigation by the Ashland Daily Independent turned up court records indicating Manson was born out of wedlock to Cathleen Maddox and a “Colonel Scott,” on Nov. 11, 1934.

Three years later Boyd Circuit Court handed down a support judgment against Scott, the brother of Darwin. By then the mother had married Willam Manson, who later vanished.

Chief Mutters said he has asked California officials if they can help establish Manson’s whereabouts during the latter part of May.