In 1967, Ella Jo Bailey and Susan Atkins were living together as roommates when they met Charles Manson. One day, Bailey and patricia krenwinkel were hitchhiking when they met Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson. Little did she know that her fateful encounter with Dennis Wilson would spark a chain of events that would lead to the murder of Sharon Tate and her friends.
Bailey, was one of the family members known as the “Witches of Mendocino”. Bailey was apprehended after the Manson girls administered LSD to a minor. Upon learning of the murder of Gary Hinman, Ella Jo and her companion Bill Vance began planning to relocate to Florida, though their plans were abruptly halted when Bailey was apprehended in Cleveland, Ohio and subsequently returned to Michigan courtesy of her mother.
In August 1971, Bailey once again returned to Los Angeles to provide testimony for the trial concerning the Gary Hinman killing. After the trial she moved on with her life. Bailey got married and had three children, but the horrific events of that summer would never be forgotten.
Ella Jo Bailey died on September 14, 2015 in Florida at the age of 68.