Brian Davis Interview with Steven Weiss (the boy in 1969 who found the gun used in

the Tate murders)

Date: September 7, 2014
Location: Internet - tlbradio.com
Length: approx. 19 minutes
Interviewee: Steven Weiss
Interviewer: Brian Davis
Transcriber: GLJ

Date: Sept 8, 2014

Brian:

Coming up tonight an interview which has taken me about two years to

get and the timing could have only been better by one week because 45
years ago this past Monday, then a ten year old Steven Weiss was
playing behind his house when he found the 22 Colt Buntline that Tex
Watson used in the Tate murders. That very same Steven Weiss joins us
to retell that story on TLB radio. I couldnt be more excited. Of course
hes not ten years old anymore, but this piece of the TLB puzzle has
always interested me so much. Im excited to get Steven Weiss on in his
first ever interview since his court testimony. He actually testified on
September 6, 1970 which would be about 44 years ago yesterday.
(Gives contact info with questions and comments).
On September 1st, 1969, 45 years ago and just a few weeks after those
horrific Tate LaBianca murders a ten year old boy was playing behind his
house in Sherman Oaks, California when he found a gun that he took
back to his father, who in turn called the police. The gun set in police
property. It would be almost four months later that police would realize
that they were actually given the 22 caliber revolver used in the Tate
murders on Cielo Drive. That ten year old boy who happened to come
across that 22 caliber guy was Steven Weiss and right now 45 years later
that very same Steven Weiss joins us on TLB radio.

Start:

0:08:27.9

Brian

Mr. Weiss thank you for joining us here on TLB radio and I have to say a
special thank you because it really means a lot to me and I am especially
appreciative. Thank you again.

Steven:

My pleasure, thank you.

Brian:

Well Mr. Weiss its hard to believe its been 45 years since you found that
historic 22, how often if ever do you think back on that day?

Steven:

To be honest with you I dont think about it a whole lot. Except when
perhaps occasionally when one of the Manson family members comes up
for parole, I usually get a number of calls from friends or family you know,
reminding me of that, or when somebody brings it up.

Brian:

I see. If you would though could you bring us back to that day of
September 1st 1969, and tell us how it lead up to you finding that gun.

Steven:

Sure. I was climbing up the hill behind our home where I often played and
I looked behind a bush, that was halfway up the hill below Beverly Glen
and I noticed this gun. I picked it up, I seem to remember my first thought
was thinking whether this was real or a toy gun. When I picked it up, I
realized how heavy it was and that was when I realized it was a real gun. I
picked it up by the end of the barrel and I brought it down the hill to our
backyard and I laid it on the patio table, and I grabbed my father and
showed him what I found.

Brian:

Was this in the afternoon or midmorning, what time of the day was this?

Steven:

Oh, its been 45 years. I seem to recall it being around the middle of the
day when I found the gun. I seem to remember somewhere there was a
report that I had picked it up by the tip of the barrel because I saw thats
how they did it on Dragnet the old TV show. To be really frank with you I
dont ever remember watching that show. I dont know where that report
came from. Thankfully just a couple of months before I found the gun I
was doing a 5th grade report on the desert and my father threw me in the
car and we drove to Vegas and on the way, we stopped a handful of times
and studied the desert and he pulled out his 22 caliber targ et pistol and
showed me how to shoot a gun, we hit some cans out in the middle of the
desert. He showed me how to hold a gun, he showed me to hold it by the
tip of the barrel and never point it at my face. Thankfully because it was
just two months later thatr that I found the gun. That was why I picked it
up by the tip of the barrel. I wasnt trying to preserve fingerprints or
anything like that, because I didnt know any better. I was just doing that
because thats the way I was taught.

Brian:

Thank you Steven for clarifying that. I cant tell you how many reports if
not everyone of them that Ive read; in fact one of the things that stands

out about this story is that you watched that TV show Dragnet and you
picked that gun up and handled it according to the TV show. That is
incredible that you have given us this clarification on that. Interesting.
How far was Sherman Oaks from Cielo Drive? Specifically your house or
where you found the gun.
Steven:

I would say its between about a three and five mile drive from the Cielo
Drive house to the area above where we lived. My understanding was
that after the murders, they took Beverly Glen back to Spahn Ranch and
when you are on that portion of Beverly Glen you dont realize that there
are homes below in that canyon. I seem to remember an interview or
some testimony where somebody stated that they threw the gun out the
window thinking that there were no homes below, that it was just an empty
canyon.

Brian:

Interesting. Now Mr. Weiss according to the book Helter Skelter of course,
by October the media was reporting that police were still looking for a 22.
Now did you or your dad have a feeling that it might be the gun that you
had found a few months earlier?

Steven:

Well as I remember, several months after the murder maybe two to three
months there was a story in the old Los Angeles Herald Examiner that the
prosecutor was looking for a murder weapon and they showed a picture of
the gun in the newspaper. I remember the Herald Examiner at that time
which is no longer in business was the afternoon paper in the city of Los
Angeles, it was a wonderful paper and that was the one my parents
subscribed to and I remember my father showing me a picture of the gun
in the paper and he said to me, Boy doesnt this look like the gun that you
found? I said, Yeah. Thats it. He finished reading the story and he
made the connection and he realized that we had turned the gun in two or
three months prior.

Brian:

Another report that Ive read was that you yourself actually had to call the
police back months later to remind them that they might have that Tate
murder weapon, is that true?

Steven:

No. Thats not true at all. As I remember when we saw the story in the
paper, remember I was only ten years old at the time. My father called
somebody at the LAPD and said, I just read the story in the Herald
Examiner, I think you have the murder weapon. I think at that time it was
either then or maybe a subsequent phone call whoever he spoke to said,
Well its been several months and typically when we find things like this
they send it to the storage room and after a certain period of time we toss
them in the ocean. I remember sitting there listening to my fathers end of
the conversation and I remember my father saying to whoever was at the
other end of the phone, I cant believe that you may have thrown in the

ocean the most important piece of evidence in one of the most heinous
crimes in history. He hung up the phone and a day or two later he called
a friend of his named Clete Roberts. Clete Roberts at the time was the
anchorman of CBS affiliate in Los Angeles. I think it was KNXT. I dont
know how my father knew Clete but he called him and told him what
happened and asked Clete to get involved. Im not sure exactly what
Clete Roberts did but within a matter of days the gun turned up, it was not
destroyed obviously. They found it in the basement at the Van Nuys
division of the LAPD.
Brian:

It makes me wonder what would have wondered had you guys had not of
called back, if it would have set there undiscovered or before the police
would have made that connection.

Steven:

Yeah. I dont know.

Brian:

Were talking with Steven Weiss. He was the then ten year old boy who
found that 22 caliber Buntline used by Tex Watson in the Tate murders.
Mr. Weiss did you realize being that young at the time the importance of
finding that gun?

Steven:

I dont think I did to be honest with you, I dont think at that age I
appreciated just how heinous the crimes were and the level of publicity
that they were getting and just how important this gun was to the
prosecution. It did hit me later. I could tell you now or I could tell you later
in this interview when it did hit me, but it wasnt until I testified.

Brian:

Well let me go ahead and ask then Mr. W eiss, how long after was it
before you did realize the magnitude, the impact of what you had found.

Steven:

Well two things happened that made me realize the importance of finding
the gun. One was when I was called to the stand and I remember walking
down the hallway of the courtroom and the bailiff opened up those
swinging doors they have in every courtroom and I walked through those
swinging doors and I was testifying immediately after Thomas Nuguchi
who was the county coroner and he had just finished testifying and the
crime scene photos were all over the desk of both the defense and the
prosecution. I remember for some reason stopping for just a second and I
saw the crime scene photos and that actually is one of my most vivid
memories of testifying was seeing those crime scene photos. Obviously
somebody should have put those away before a ten year old kid walked
up, but I saw them. That was the first thing that really made me realize
what really happened and the significance of what I was doing. Then
immediately after I testified I went back and set next to my father in the
courtroom and I remember a woman sheriff walked up to us and said that
there were a few people that wanted to interview me out in the hallway,

and my father and I walked out of the courtroom together out in the
hallway in the old LA County Courthouse and there were just dozens and
dozens and dozens of photographers and interviewers shoving
microphones and cameras in my face. Thats when I realized that at
least to a lot of people a very big deal.

Brian:

How long did all the media attention last for you and your family, because
as you just pointed out it might have been a little bit crazy at that time.

Steven:

Once the interviews were done we drove home and the phone was ringing
like crazy and people were coming to the house. It was probably pretty
heavy stuff for a ten year old kid. My parents thankfully put an end to that
real quick and within a day or two they made me realize that stories like
this are big one day, then on to something else the next. They brought
me back down to earth real fast.

Brian:

Can I ask you about your experience at school? What was it like being in
school at that age with a headline following you?

Steven:

I cant remember the exact day I testified. I seem to remember that it was
during summer vacation. It was a little while maybe a week or two before
school started. Everybody at school knew about it and I remember it was
very strange to see my friends doing current events on my testifying. I
thought that was kind of cool as a ten year old kid. That again, that didnt
last very long and a day or two later we are on to the next thing.

Brian:

Well of course the movie was made about the book that the prosecutor
Vince Bugliosi had written during the trial and I found this a bit ironic, the
actors who actually portrayed you and your father in the 76 Helter Skelter
movie, were actually your neighbors in real life.

Steven:

Yeah Im not exactly sure how they got the roles.

Brian:

Did they name drop you and your father you think, or the fact that they
were neighbors of yours?

Steven:

I think what happened was I seem to remember they actually filmed the
scene at the home where we had lived and there was a neighbor who
lived just a couple of doors down the street who was a character actor and
Im not sure if whether or not he had heard that they were shooting the
movie and he introduced himself and they gave him the role. Im not
exactly sure how he got the part but by the time they shot the movie...do
you recall the year they shot that movie?

Brian:

I believe it was around 74-75 or something wasnt it?

Steven:

Right so it was about four or five years after we found the gun. But this
character actor, his son was ten years old. So he was the age that I had
been when I found the gun. I dont remember the kid being an actor but it
was just natural they just had him play me. Then they had me come and
sort of help direct exactly what happened. I was involved a little bit in the
direction, the scenes.

Brian:

So they did use you and your father or at least you as a consultant?

Steven:

Yeah but it was just for maybe ten or fifteen minutes, to show where
things were. But that was it, it was nothing official.

Brian:

What did you do with the reward money, as I understand Bugliosi wrote in
the book that you got a share of a thousand dollars of the reward money,
can I ask what you did with your share?

Steven:

Uh. Well. Nothing. Because I never got it.

Brian:

You never got your reward money?!

Steven:

Yeah. I dont know what happened to it. As I remember, Sharon Tates

husband Roman Polanski and I believe at the time I think his friend
Warren Beatty,the two of them together put up a $50,000.00 reward. That
was my understanding. Im not sure, did anybody get any reward money?

Brian:

Let me pull that up Mr. Weiss, but basically off the top of my head
Bugliosi wrote that Virginia Graham, and I think Ronnie Howard, and you
each got a thousand dollars. Ill find it here because Bugliosi made it seem
as if you all had already collected.

Steven:

Well if you know where it is, give me a call.

Brian:

(laughs)

Steven:

I actually ran into Vincent Bugliosi maybe twenty years ago. I ran into him
at a hotel and we shook hands and said hello and we caught up a little bit
and I told him that what hed written in Helter Skelter about the reward
money and that I had never got it. He seemed very concerned and he
said, Ill look into that. Ill see what happened to the money. But Im still
waiting.

Brian:

Steven were going to see if we can do something about that. Here it is

right here conveniently from Helter Skelter, and I guess the reward was
$25,000.00 He writes: Polanskis attorney working in conjunction with the
LAPD divided the $25,000.00 reward money as follows: Ronnie Howard
and Virginia Graham each received $12,000.00 while Steven Weiss the
young boy who found the 22 caliber murder weapon received $1,000.00.
Neither Danny DeCarlo nor Al Springer was around to share in the reward
- So I guess that was who it was all split amoungst and you didnt get
yours. I wonder if they got theirs then?

Steven:

Well hopefully there is compounded interest on it.

Brian:

That would be a great payoff and well deserved Steven Weiss, Ill tell ya.
One of the more interesting side stories to this unfortunate TLB saga, the
ten year old who found the smoking gun Steven Weiss joining us here on
TLB radio. Mr. Weiss I cant thank you enough for coming on the program
tonight. This really means a lot to me so a special thanks to you and I
very much appreciate you coming on tlbradio tonight.

Steven:

Thank you.

Brian:

Our pleasure, thank you sir.

End:

0:25:50.5