Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme (born October 22, 1948) was a member of Charles Manson's "family". She was born in Santa Monica, California to Helen Benziger Fromme, a homemaker, and William Millar Fromme, an aeronautical engineer and New York University graduate. The family's surname is usually mispronounced with a silent "e". It is actually pronounced "frum-me". As a child, Lynette was a performer for a popular local dance group called Westchester Lariats , which performed on the Lawrence Welk Show and at the White House.

However, Fromme's home life was troubled, as her father was known to be both rough and cold, and this extended to his treatment of his daughter. In the end, he refused to speak to her, or even in some cases stay in the same room. In 1963, the family moved to Redondo Beach, a suburb of Los Angeles, and Fromme began drinking and taking drugs and her grades dropped. She graduated in 1966 and moved out for a few months before her father convinced her to attend El Camino Junior College . This only lasted for about two months before an argument with her father left her homeless. She decided to go to Venice Beach to see what was going on, and ended up crying on a bench. Seeing her in this state, a man came up to talk to her; his name was Charles Manson.

Fromme found Manson's philosophies and attitudes appealing, and became friends with him,and began to travel with him. She moved to Stockton, California with friends Nancy Pitman and Priscilla Copper , a pair of ex-cons named Michael Monfort and James Craig , and a couple, James and Lauren Willett. When James and Lauren died within days of each other, the housemates were taken into custody. However, she was released due to a lack of evidence.

She then moved into a Sacramento apartment with her friend Sandra Good. The two wore robes and changed their names to symbolize their devotion to Manson's new religion. Lynette became "Red" in honor of her red hair, and Sandy became "Blue" for her blue eyes.

On the morning of September 5, 1975, Red went to Sacramento's Capitol Park to plead with Ford to do something about the man made destruction of the earth. She pointed an unloaded .45 Colt automatic at President Gerald Ford. She was soon convicted of attempted assassination on the president. In the late 1970s, she was transferred out of the women's prison in Dublin, California for attacking a fellow inmate, Julienne Busic , with the claw end of a hammer. On December 23, 1987, she escaped from the Alderson Federal Prison Camp in Alderson, West Virginia, attempting to meet up with Manson, whom she had heard had testicular cancer. She was captured again two days later and is now serving time in Carswell, Texas . Her projected release date is September 5, 2005.

External links

• Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme