Police to dig for Manson victim graves

AS INVESTIGATORS pore over forensic evidence and consider digging for bodies at a remote ranch where Charles Manson and his acolytes once hid out, new information has emerged to bolster reports of possible clandestine grave sites in the barren California desert, authorities say.

An ad hoc team of detectives and forensic investigators visited Barker Ranch last month to test the soil for evidence of decomposed bodies. Follow-up laboratory testing revealed that at least two sites could be unmarked graves, and the group is urging local investigators to begin excavating.

Former Inyo County detective John Little said on Wednesday he was sent into the desert in 1974 by his former boss to investigate possible human remains buried at Barker Ranch.