Patricia Krenwinkel

Patricia Krenwinkel
Patricia Krenwinkel after her arrest in 1969
Born	Patricia Dianne Krenwinkel (1947-12-03) December 3, 1947 (age 69) Los Angeles, California, U.S
Other names	Big Patty Yellow Marnie Reeves Mary Ann Scott Katie
Criminal penalty	Death, commuted to life in prison after the California Supreme Court overturned the death penalty
Criminal status	Incarcerated
Conviction(s)	Murder

Patricia Dianne Krenwinkel (born December 3, 1947) is an American murderer and a former member of Charles Manson's "Family". During her time with Manson's group, she was known by various aliases such as "Big Patty", "Yellow", "Marnie Reeves" and "Mary Ann Scott", but to The Family she was most commonly known as "Katie".

Following the death of fellow Manson gang member, Susan Atkins, Krenwinkel is now the longest-incarcerated female inmate in the California penal system, along with Leslie Van Houten.

Patricia Krenwinkel was born in Los Angeles, California to an insurance-salesman father and a homemaker mother. She attended University High School and then Westchester High School, both in the Los Angeles area. Patricia was often bullied at school by other students, suffered from low self-esteem, and was frequently teased for being overweight and for an excessive growth of body hair caused by an endocrine condition.

After her parents divorced, seventeen-year-old Krenwinkel remained in Los Angeles with her father until she graduated from Westchester High School. For a time she taught Catechism (Roman Catholic religious instruction) and considered becoming a nun. She decided to attend the Jesuit college, Spring Hill College, in Mobile, Alabama. Within one semester, however, Patricia dropped out and moved back to California. Moving into her half sister's apartment in Manhattan Beach, she found an office job as a processing clerk.

She met Charles Manson in Manhattan Beach in 1967, along with Lynette Fromme and Mary Brunner, who were already known as "Charlie's Girls". In later interviews, Krenwinkel stated that she had slept with Manson the first night they met, and that he was the first person who told her she was beautiful. Mesmerized by Manson's charisma and starved for attention, she decided to go to San Francisco with him and the other two girls, leaving behind her apartment, car, and last paycheck.