• Manson Clan: Suspect Used Willet Papers

Manson Clan: Suspect Used Willet Papers

STOCKTON, Nov 18. – One of three men charged in the Oct. 10 slaying of James T. Willett later used the dead man’s identification papers to post bail on robbery charges here, Police Chief E. Jess Delaney said Friday.

When Michael Lee Monfort, 24, and William Gaucher, about 25, were arrested Oct. 30, Monfort used Willett’s name and had his identification papers, Delaney said.

Monfort subsequently was released on bail, but Iast Saturday was re-arrested at a Stockon home where the body of Willett’s wife, Laurer 19, was unearthed. The police chief said Monfort used the name Gerald Foote and had Foote’s papers at the time.

Foote was not further described.

Delaney said two of the three women arrested in Mrs. Willett’s fatal shooting also possessed the identification papers of other persons.

The women are former members of the Charles Manson cult.

“We are concerned about who these people are — and where they are,” the chief said.

Stockton police have queried authorities throughout California to determine who Foote and the others are and if they are living, he added.

Monfort, Gaucher and James T. Craig, 33, were charged in the death of Willett, an ex-Marine whose decapitated body was unearthed at Guerneville, 110 miles northwest of here.

Monfort and Craig ako were charged in Mrs. Willett’s death, along with Priscilla K. Cooper, 21, of San Jose; Nancy Laura Pittman, 24, and Lynnette Alice Fromme, 24, both of Los Angeles and identified as followers of Charles Manson.

Delaney said both Misses Cooper and Pittman possessed the identification of other persons arrested. He declined to give names or other details.

Meanwhile, Sonoma County officials said autopsy and fingerprint tests on Willett, who was only tentatively identified, have not been completed.

A. Thompson Willett, president of Willett Distilling Co. of Bardstown, Ky., has said he assumes the slaying victim is his son.

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