Lynette Fromme
| Lynette Fromme | |
|---|---|
Fromme as a high-school junior in 1965
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| Born |
Lynette Alice Fromme October 22, 1948 Santa Monica, California, United States |
| Other names | Squeaky |
| Criminal charge | Attempted assassination of U.S. President Gerald Ford |
| Criminal penalty | Life in prison |
| Criminal status | Paroled |
| Parent(s) | William Millar Fromme Helen Benzinger Fromme |
Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme (born October 22, 1948) is an American would-be assassin best known for attempting to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford in 1975. A member of the infamous "Manson family", she was sentenced to life imprisonment for the assassination attempt and released on parole on August 14, 2009, after serving nearly 34 years.
Fromme was born in Santa Monica, California, the daughter of Helen (née Benzinger), a homemaker, and William Millar Fromme, an aeronautical engineer. As a child, Fromme was a performer for a popular local dance group called the Westchester Lariats, which in the late 1950s began touring the United States and Europe appearing on The Lawrence Welk Show and at the White House. Fromme was in the 1959 tour.
In 1963, the family moved to Redondo Beach, California, and Fromme began drinking and taking drugs. Her grades at Redondo Union High School dropped, but she managed to graduate in 1966. She moved out of her parents' house for a few months before her father convinced her to consider El Camino Junior College. Her attendance there lasted only about two months before an argument with her father rendered her homeless.
In 1967, Fromme went to Venice Beach, suffering from depression.Charles Manson, who had been recently released from federal prison at Terminal Island, between San Pedro and Long Beach, saw her and struck up a conversation. Fromme found Manson's philosophies and attitudes appealing, and the two became friends, traveling together and with other young people including Mary Brunner and Susan Atkins. She lived in Southern California at Spahn Ranch, and in the desert near Death Valley.George Spahn gave her the nickname "Squeaky", because of the sound she made when he touched her.
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