Susan Atkins, follower of Charles Manson, dies

61-year-old, who admitted killing Sharon Tate in '69, was fighting cancer.

Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkle and Leslie Van Houten, from left to right, are shown en route to court in Los Angeles, Ca., August 1970. The three women, displaying the symbol X on their foreheads as followers of the Manson cult family, were involved in one of the most notorious mass murders in California history.

LOS ANGELES - Susan Atkins, a follower of cult leader Charles Manson whose remorseless witness stand confession to killing pregnant actress Sharon Tate in 1969 shocked the world, has died. She was 61 and had been suffering from brain cancer.

Atkins' death comes less than a month after a parole board turned down the terminally ill woman's last chance at freedom on Sept. 2. She was brought to the hearing on a gurney and slept through most of it.

California Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terry Thornton said that Atkins died late Thursday night. She had been diagnosed with brain cancer in 2008, had a leg amputated and was given only a few months to live.