[Dueller]

And you thought you had a bad day?

by Tom Henderson (Subscribe to Tom Henderson's posts) Nov 25th 2009 2:31PM

Categories: Adoption, In The News, Weird But True

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Charles Manson, left, in 1969. (AP Photo). Matthew Roberts, right, was shocked to learn that he may be the secret son of the convicted killer. Credit: AP / Splash News
At some point, every adopted child wonders about his biological parents. Did I get my athletic abilities from my birth mom? Did my birth dad have these brown eyes?

In one particularly stunning case, Matthew Roberts of Los Angeles found out -- to his horror -- that he very well could be the son of convicted murderer Charles Manson.

Roberts, 41, started looking for his roots 12 years ago. Through a social service agency, he located his biological mother in Wisconsin.

She revealed that Manson might be his father. She claims she met the Helter Skelterite in 1967 -- two years before the infamous Manson Family murders -- and was raped by Manson in a drug-fueled orgy. After seeing Roberts' photo, she was convinced he is Manson's son.

Roberts was born March 22, 1968. The time line fits. Manson was released from prison March 21, 1967. He was arrested again Oct. 12, 1969. Any children he fathered near Roberts' age would have to have been conceived during that window.

Manson doesn't deny he might have children no one knows about.

"Every time I get out, I get a woman and a kid, and then she runs off," he said in a typically rambling interview for the 1989 documentary "Charles Manson, Superstar."
"Then the kid shows up 20, 30 years later, fat and acting like his mother."

There is no hard, scientific evidence linking Roberts to Manson. He has only his biological mother's word and recollection as well as a resemblance to the killer.

Roberts notices the resemblance himself. "If I get worked up, my eyes get really big and that's really freaked some people out before," he tells the British newspaper The Sun.

"I've tried to tone that down quite a bit. I don't like having that effect on people," he adds. "I don't even like the fact that I'm big. It makes me even scarier. My hero is Gandhi. I'm an extremely nonviolent, peaceful person and a vegetarian.

"I don't even kill bugs."

Roberts grew up in Rockford, Ill. and tells The Sun he has exchanged some letters with Manson. The killer has even sent him his prison phone number. However, he doesn't want to meet Manson personally.

"I didn't want to believe it," he says. "I was frightened and angry. It's like finding out that Adolf Hitler is your father. I'm a peaceful person - trapped in the face of a monster."