SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 17 — The search for Manson follower Susan K. Murphy and bank bandit Diane Ellis swung north Monday after FBI agents discovered the two fugitives had rented a car here after escaping from a Los Angeles federal prison.

The two escapees used credentials and a credit card taken from guard Melinda Eisenhart, who was overpowered and beaten Sunday when the two fugitives fled from an inmate compound at the Terminal Island prison facility in San Pedro.

Charles Bates, special agent in charge of the San Francisco FBI unit, said Miss Murphy, 34, and Miss Eills, 33, rented a car at the San Francisco International Airport at 2 a.m. Sunday, about eight hours after their escape.

The pair, described as “armed and dangerous,” were believed still in the San Francisco area Monday, driving the rented, two-tone gold Oldsmobile hardtop with California license plates 203NGJ, according to Bates.

FBI agents learned about the car rental during a routine check at the airport and immediately issued a pickup order for the fugitives.

Mrs. Eisenhart, 25, the battered prison guard, suffered wounds requiring more than 80 stitches when she was beaten with a length of metal pipe or a heavy club during the prison break.

The escapees used Mrs Eisenhart’s car to flee from the prison. The vehicle was later found abandoned in nearby Long Beach. Police reported finding a metal pipe and a wooden club in the car.

Miss Murphy, a former roommate of Manson family members Lynette (Squeaky) Fromme and Sandra Goode in Sacramento, was serving a five-year prison sentence for conspiring to send threatening letters to businessmen and politicians, accusing them of harming the environment.

Although only a fringe follower of cultist Charles Manson, Miss Murphy described herself at her court appearance as a “sister in Manson’s church.”

Miss Ellis a native of Nevada City, Calif., was serving an eight-year term for bank robbery when she escaped.

Manson is in prison for his part in the grisly 1969 Tate-LaBianca mass murders. Miss Fromme is serving a life term for attempting to kill President Ford last year and Miss Goode was sentenced to 15 years for her part in the threatening letter plot.