Havard University graduate Abigail Folger was among the unfortunate victims of the August 1969 Tate assassinations by members of the notorious Manson family. Filled with life and making the most of her existence, Folger watched her life be forcibly snatched from her at actress Sharon Tate’s residence by Manson’s notorious murderers on August 9, 1969.
The murders made news for the rest of the year with Tate headlining almost every media platform as the victim. It was of course because of her fame as an actress. Although Folger was not an actress, she also carried a special designation. Learn about Abigail Folger and the horrific Tate murders as you scroll.
Abigail Folger Biography (Age)
She was born on August 11, 1943 in SanFrancisco, California. Growing up, she was very drawn to art and poetry and was very good at them. Her love for the arts pushed her to adapt her professional career to it. Abigail Folger attended Santa Catalina School in California. After graduating in 1961, she went to Radcliffe College in Massachusetts. While in school, Folger was heavily involved in theater productions.
She was known for several theatrical productions and was popular for her works. She didn’t stop there. Abigail’s love of the arts prompted her to study art history at Harvard University after graduating from Radcliffe. She graduated from Havard in 1967. She then got a job at the University of California Museum of Art where she did advertising. Folger also worked for a magazine after moving from California to New York.
Abigail Folger met the screenwriter in New York, Wojciech Frykowski, through Jerzy Kosinski, a Polish author whom she made contact with shortly after arriving in the city. Abigail Folger and Wojciech became very close friends and even took their friendship to another level. Friends and lovers, they began dating and living together in Abigail’s apartment. Wojciech was an up-and-coming screenwriter at the time who hoped to succeed in New York. Abigail was very supportive during this time by meeting his basic needs.
The couple then moved to Los Angeles in 1968 in an attempt to secure better opportunities for Wojciech. In Los Angeles, they met industry figures, including director Roman Polanski and his wife, Sharon Tate, a popular actress. Also in Los Angeles, Abigail Folger did a lot of charity by engaging in social works and defending civil rights.
His family
Abigail came from a wealthy Catholic family. She was born to Inez Mejia (mother) and Peter Folger (father), president of the popular Folger Coffee Company established by JA Folger, her great-grandfather. Abigail Folger was to take after her father and was the heiress to the fortune.
Despite her rich background, she was raised honestly as her parents instilled in her a sense of responsibility. However, in 1952, her parents divorced. Her father remarried in 1960 to another woman whose name is not known.
Abigail Folger’s Murder and Death
Before the day of the gruesome murders, Abigail and her boyfriend Wojciech had gone to dinner with Sharon Tate and Roman Polanski. Their relationship at the time faced many challenges as Frykowski had started stealing from Folger who supported him financially. Nonetheless, she still accompanied him to the Polanski residence at 10050 Cielo Drive.
Sharon Tate was eight months pregnant at the time. Her husband had left to work on a film project in Europe. After midnight, Abigail had put on her nightgown and was in one of the guest rooms while Wojciech had fallen asleep on the sofa. About this time they were invaded by four members of the Manson family; Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian and Patricia Krenwinkel.
One by one they killed the five people they found in the house; Sharon Tate, her friend Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski and Steven Parent. It was in the morning when Winifred Chapman, Polanski’s housekeeper, visited the house where the massacres were discovered. She sounded the alarm and the police came to call afterwards.
Abigail’s bloodstained body was found outside the lawn; she attempted to escape but was captured and stabbed 28 times. Frykowski’s body was also found on the lawn with multiple stab wounds and gunshot wounds. The bodies of Sharon and Sebring were found inside, covered with multiple stab wounds. Steven Parent, then 18, was shot four times and thrown into the front seat of his car at the entrance. Parent was only visiting William Garretson, the caretaker of the property, at the time of his unfortunate death.
