Security at the scene of the crime

Do homeowners feel the need for extra security if their property was once the scene of a terrible crime? We went to some of L.A.'s most notorious crime scenes in search of answers.

By Bill Brenner, Managing Editor

January 26, 2012 — CSO —

If you bought a house where something terrible happened, would you feel at ease -- secure in the belief that lightning doesn't strike the same spot twice -- or would you turn it into a fortress for fear that copycats might someday try to repeat the crime?

That question was on my mind in November, when I went to L.A. for a CSO dinner. I'm a history buff and have read a lot of true crime books like "Helter Skelter" over the years, and I made time to go see some of the places I've read about.

See our photo gallery of famous crime scenes, then and now

Whenever I read a book about crime, the security journalist in me always surfaces, pondering the following questions:

• If I lived at a former crime scene, would I feel secure in the knowledge that the people and circumstances of those events were long gone, or would I find myself listening for ghosts in the middle of the night?
• If it were the latter, would paranoia take over, with the constant fear that someone was trying to come on the property?
• Would I have tall gates and iron fencing installed in an effort to feel safer?

As I set out in search of these places, I made a mental note to look at the current scenes and compare them to photos of the past. These sites might offer a valuable glimpse into the psychology behind security.

Indeed, a couple sites were hidden behind big gates and strategically placed trees. Other sites looked no different from pictures of 20 and 40 years ago. But after talking to a consultant who designs the security for a lot of Hollywood homes, I realized that some of my assumptions were wrong.

The journey
My first stop was Cielo Drive in Benedict Canyon, where Sharon Tate and four others were brutally murdered by minions of Charles Manson in the summer of 1969. Then I drove to Waverly Drive in the Los Feliz section of L.A., where the Manson Family killers stabbed Leno and Rosemary LaBianca to death the night after the Tate murders. The first thing I noticed at both sites was that they looked more like fortresses than in the black-and-white photos I've seen.

The gate at the end of Cielo Drive allows gawkers no view of the property itself, which has changed considerably over the years. The Tate house was razed in 1994 and a massive mansion was built in its place. But the curious still go to the gate all the time. The gate that was there in 1969 was a simple chain-link model. You could look through the gate and see the grounds and the garage of the old house.

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