Potential Other Victims of The Manson Family: Doreen Gaul and James Sharp [pt. 1]

Even the most out of the loop person is familiar with Charles Manson, and at least the murder of Sharon Tate. What many people may not know, is that there are many people still speculated to have been murdered before, and after the Tate-LaBianca case. I have covered Marina Habe and Reet Jurvetson (Jane Doe 59) before, but please remember to include them in this following list of people. As a note, I would just like to preface and say that I cannot be sure myself how any of these people were murdered, but many articles, books, and blogs other than mine have speculated about these other murders also.

James Sharp and Doreen Gaul

Doreen Gaul

These two are typically bundled together, because their bodies were found at the same place.

On November 21^st, 1969, a man named Alex Risk was driving down the alley at the rear of 1138 Magnolia St, Los Angeles, when he saw what looked like two drunk people passed out. Risk went to Emmett Rush’s house (I am unsure if Rush and Risk were friends or not. I assume so), telling him what he saw and the two came back together. Alex got out of his car and came near the bodies, seeing blood; he immediately called the police.

The bodies of James Sharp (15) and Doreen Gaul (19) were found in the alley behind the residence of South Magnolia, though they had been killed somewhere else, with the bodies dumped in the found location. There was evidence of blanket fuzz on Doreen’s left leg and head, and multiple threads found on James. Doreen’s body was found nude with the exception of a necklace that was described as “Indian Beads”, and James was fully clothed except his shoes. He had a bracelet on his wrist that identified him, and also depicted him as a member of the Church of Scientology.

It was determined that they had been killed with a long bladed knife or bayonet, and an investigation felt that there was a good possibility that they had both been murdered by a Manson family member. They had been stabbed about 50 times each, their eyes slashed, and potentially whipped with a chain. There was semen found on and in Doreen’s body. Initially, it was thought that they were the victims of shotgun blasts. The bodies also had tire marks from a motorcycle. Detective Lt. Earl A. Deemer stated that, “The wounds of Gaul, Sharp, and Doe 59, looked like the work of a fanatic”.

Reet Jurvetson, who was Jane Doe 59 for over 45 years

As a quick reference, James and Doreen had been found on November 21^st, 1969, and Jane Doe 59 (Reet Jurvetson) had been found on November 15^th, of that same year.

In the police report, Doreen’s wounds were mostly to her chest, neck, and head. All to the front. James had many wounds to the back of him. While he had 15 to the chest, and 3 to the right of him, he also had 8 in the back of his head, 1 in the back of his neck, 1 to the back of his right arm, 16 to the back, and three defense wounds in his left hand. To me this suggests that there were potentially 2 killers, James and Doreen were taken by surprised and potentially even separated, and James was attacked from behind with no warning. The police report goes on to say that there were at least 2 people involved.

James and Doreen were both Scientologists, with Doreen being a “clear” (or in other accounts, about to become a clear. Ironically the rank Manson almost achieved when he studied it incarcerated) that lived in a Church of Scientology house called Thetan Manor, which was at 1032 S. Bonnie Brae St. Thetan Manor was a 14 room commune of which Doreen had only lived in for four days. Previously, she had lived in a place called the Navarro Apartments.

James lived in an old three story apartment building at 921 S. Bonnie Brae St. with an older member named Rudolph Cezak. James had lived with Rudolph from August of that year. Interestingly, Cezak stated that he had seen James the day of the murders, last at 4pm that day. James had told him that he was going to audit “a girl by the name of Doreen at the apartment that evening”, which I assume he meant as their apartment. Cezak confirmed that there was indeed an auditing session that night.

As stated before, Doreen had only moved into Thetan Manor four days before she was murdered. She had left the house at 6:45 pm with a man named John (John O Harris). John came back at around 7:10 pm and waited for Doreen to return. At 9:30 that night, Doreen’s boyfriend (Peter Harbour) came to the manor and said he had been waiting for to show up but she didn’t. She was supposed to come by at 9pm. Her boyfriend and John waited in her room until 2:30 in the morning for her to show up, but she didn’t.

John Harris stated that he spent the late afternoon with Doreen, and walked her to the house where James Sharp lived in order for her to be audited by him.

It is widely believed (though in Helter Skelter this says it was unconfirmed) that Doreen was an ex-girlfriend of Bruce Davis (who if we remember, went to England at one point to study Scientology). Though, at the time she’d been murdered she had been with her boyfriend Peter. I have read that supposedly Davis killed Doreen since she had moved on to date a Black guy, which enraged Bruce (this is alleged). I do not know what race Peter was. In Helter Skelter, supposedly Davis’ whereabouts were unknown at the time when the murders happened.

Bruce Davis

The murders were attributed to Scientology, which the Church disliked, and then there was a connection made with the Church of Scientology and The Process (another group that has been linked in similarity to Manson in Helter Skelter at least). The media tried to portray The Process as a spin off of Scientology, though the closest connection was that the founder, Robert DeGrimston, was a former Scientologist (though a podcast I have listened to tries stating that The Process was started by two high level Scientologists).

Because of the rumors stemming from this case, the Church of Scientology offered a 30,000 dollar reward for anyone to essentially clear their names of any relation to the acts. One part of interest in particular was the third point, which read:

“Causing circulation of falsehoods including allegations that the church membership “includes notorious individuals… never members of the Church of Scientology… but held by police in connection with other charges.”

The notorious individuals, potentially hinting at the Manson family. What is interesting first of all, is that the Church wanted other people to prove who weren’t members, when they could have released the documentation themselves. They did not want to release their membership lists (eventually they did though in the Police Report).

We know that Charles Manson read about Scientology while incarcerated (pre-Haight days), by some reports being ‘Dianetics’ (which is apparently a pre-clear/auditing book for Scientology). We know that Bruce Davis went to England to study Scientology, before being kicked out (for drugs by some reports, for being bad by others) and coming back to America. When Davis came back in April of 1969, he rejoined the Manson family handling the stolen credit cards and fake ID’s, according to the Cielo drive website. Most impressions make it seem like Davis didn’t do anything with Scientology afterwards, but according to other reports, this is just not true.

When Davis came back to America, he was seen hanging around other Scientologists, including those at 1032 Bonnie Brae. Allegedly, Bruce had spent a lot of time at the commune house, dating several other women, along with Doreen.

I will continue this in a second part, as this post is quite long.