Who is your daddy and what does he do?

41-year-old pacifist DJ discovers his real father is serial killer Charles Manson
By Brian Kates/DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Who's your daddy?

Oh, damn. It's Charles Manson.

A 41-year-old man, who was adopted as a 10-year-old and raised in Illinois, spoke out recently about the harrowing discovery.

"It was like finding out your father is Hitler," Matthew Roberts told The Sun newspaper.

Roberts found out about his long-lost daddy about a dozen years ago after using a search agency to find his birth mother. The birth mother told him that she had been raped and that the 1960s Helter Skelter killer was his father.

A year after Roberts' birth in 1968, Manson and his 'Family' of followers committed nine murders in Los Angeles over five weeks, including the stabbing of pregnant actress Sharon Tate. She was the wife of film director Roman Polanski.

"I'm a peaceful person - trapped in the face of a monster," Roberts said. "My hero is Gandhi. I'm an extremely non-violent, peaceful person and a vegetarian. I don't even kill bugs."

The truth of Roberts' birth unfolded gradually as he and his mother began to write each other.

At first she refused to pass on details, but ultimately she revealed that she had been captivated by Manson and joined his cult in San Francisco.

When his mother saw Roberts' photograph she said her suspicions were confirmed. The killer and his son share nearly identical facial features and they have the same thick, dark hair.

Roberts has corresponded with his unrepentant father, now 75 and confined for life in California's Corcoran State Prison.


The mass killer confirmed he is Roberts' father, and recalled the times he spent with Matthew's mother in a string of ten rambling handwritten notes and postcards signed with a swastika - the same symbol he has tattooed on his forehead.

"He sends me weird stuff and always signs it with his swastika," Roberts said. "At first I was stunned and depressed. I wasn't able to speak for a day. I remember not being able to eat."

But, he added: "He's my biological father - I can't help but have some kind of emotional connection. That's the hardest thing of all - feeling love for a monster who raped my mother. I don't want to love him, but I don't want to hate him either."

Sorry for the long story but that whole thing is worth a read. This story is a real ball tap for that DJ. But thats the double edged sword of trying to find your biological parents. Sure, sometimes you find a really sweet set of parents who were young and overwhelmed when they gave you up. And sometimes you find out your mom was a gullable hippy and your dad is the most notorious sociopath of the 20th Century. That should give some people pause before they start calling up the adoption agency.

P.S. - Is this guy serious about feeling some connection to Manson? What a joke. I just don't believe in that crap. Having the same genetic material shouldn't foster some kinship. You don't have to love him or hate him. Just ignore him like the flower kids should have in San Francisco.