The Trail Went Cold - Episode 53 - Ronald Hughes

The Trail Went Cold

Robin Warder

True Crime, Tv & Film

4.5 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 January 2018

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

November 27, 1970. Ventura County, California. While representing Leslie Van Houten during the Manson Family’s murder trial, 35-year old attorney Ronald Hughes leaves to go on a camping trip. He never returns and his decomposed body is found wedged between two boulders in a gorge four months later. While the actual cause of death cannot be determined, rumours circulate about foul play, as Charles Manson had grown angry at Hughes and allegedly threatened him. Was Ronald Hughes’ death nothing more than a tragic accident, or was he an unconfirmed murder victim of the Manson Family? The first “Trail Went Cold” episode of 2018 chronicles the unexplained death of an aspiring attorney whose first and last case turned out to be one of the most famous murder trials of all time. Special thanks to listener Andrew Dodge for providing the opening narration for today’s episode. This episode is brought to you by Aaptiv. Aaptiv produces audio-based workouts created by certified personal trainers available through a mobile app. New members get 50% off an annual membership, so please visit aaptiv.com/COLD. Additional Reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Hughes http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jun/01/local/la-me-manson-tapes-20120601/2 http://www.famous-trials.com/manson/250-keyfigures “Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders” by Vincent Bugliosi & Curt Gentry The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of the Trail Went Cold is brought to you by AFTV.
0:03.2	AFTV produce audio-based workouts created by certified personal trainers available through a mobile app.
0:09.6	New members get 50% off an annual membership, please visit aptive.com slash cold that's a a
0:17.0	AP t i v dot com slash cold thank you and enjoy the show.
0:24.0	November 27th, 1970, Ventura County, California,
0:29.0	while representing Leslie Van Houghton during the Manson Family trial, 35-year-old attorney Ronald Hughes
0:35.1	leaves to go on a camping trip.
0:37.7	He never returns and his decomposed body is found wedged between two boulders and a gorge
0:42.4	four months later.
0:44.4	While the actual cause of death could not be determined,
0:47.4	Charles Manson had allegedly threatened Hughes,
0:50.1	leading to speculation that he was an unconfirmed murder victim of the Manson family.
0:54.7	After that, the trail went cold. Oh, uh, uh, and uh, uh, and uh, uh, uh, uh, and uh,
1:14.0	uh, uh,
1:15.0	uh, uh, uh,
1:17.0	uh,
1:18.0	uh, uh, uh, uh, uh,
1:21.0	uh, First of all I believe it's very clear that Mr Manson always has been denied counsel of his choice in this matter back in December he was asking to have Mr McKissick and Mr Steinberg as his attorneys of record and I would
1:46.2	hope possibly to try and get them involved in this case possibly even to substitute out and
1:52.1	have them substitute in.
1:53.6	Is this your first case that you'll be trying?
1:55.5	Yeah, this would be the first case that I've ever tried.
	...

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