According to journalist Daniel Simone, 27-year old Afton Elaine Burton, now known as Star, was hoping to gain possession of Manson's corpse through marriage so she and her friends could put it on display in a glass case in Los Angeles, the New York Post reported.
Burton and her friend, Craig Hammond, planned to lay out Manson’s remains in a glass crypt, Simone told the Post. The pair thought the attraction – a bizarre California version of Lenin’s Tomb – would draw huge crowds and make a lot of money.
Manson, 80, apparently got wise to the plan and now no longer wants to marry Burton. He also saw the plan as impractical, Simone told the Post, as Manson believes he is immortal.
“He feels he will never die,” Simone told the paper. “Therefore, he feels it’s a stupid idea to begin with.”
The marriage license the couple obtained late last year expired last week without a wedding inside a visiting room at California State Prison, Corcoran, where Manson is serving a life sentence. He was convicted of killing seven people, including actress Sharon Tate, in 1971.
According to Simone, Manson entered a prison medical facility for treatment of an infection about two months ago and cannot receive visitors, the Post reported.
After the license expired, James McGrath, a New York City photo agency editor, told the Associated Press that he maintains contact with Burton and that she intended to obtain another license and go ahead with the marriage.
Simone, who is seeking a publisher for his book, “The Retrial of Charles Manson,” said Burton and Hammond hatched their plan to display Manson’s corpse about two years ago. The pair initially asked Manson to sign a document that would let them take his body when he dies.
“He didn’t give them a yes, he didn’t give them a no. He sort of strung them along,” Simone told the Post.
And as long as Manson kept stringing Burton and Hammond along with the prospect of a wedding, the pair kept bringing him toiletries and other items.
When it became clear last year that Manson would not agree to the plan, Burton and Hammond switched to the marriage idea, Simone said. The pair realized that if Burton married Manson, California law would give her possession of Manson’s remains upon his death.
But Simone believes Manson never intended to marry Burton, saying “Manson never consented to the wedding in the first place and never will."
