Who should get Charles Manson's body has not been resolved yet, with at least five people claiming rights to it, including two pen pals and someone who says he is the mass murderer's grandson.
The entanglement has led attorneys in Kern County, California, to request Monday that the Los Angeles County Superior Court monitor any future claims to the body, the Los Angeles Times reported.
"This is a really weird legal case," Bryan Walters, a deputy attorney with the Kern County Counsel, told the newspaper. "It's like a circus, and nothing is clear where we should hang our hat on."
Manson, who had been in prison since 1969 after his followers went on a two-night killing spree that left actress Sharon Tate and others dead, died himself on Nov. 19 at a hospital in Bakersfield, California. He was 83 and sufferend from heart failure and colon cancer, according to the New York Daily News.
Manson had been serving time in Corcoran State Prison in California since 1971.
Jason Freeman, who claims to be Manson's real grandson, has contacted Kern County authorities about receiving Manson's body, according to TMZ. Freeman says he has taken a DNA test to prove his link, but he would still have to go to court, the gossip website stated.
TMZ said the person in the best position to receive Manson's body is longtime pen pal Michael Channels. Manson's will leaves everything to Channels and the pen pal informed the county's probate court that he is the will's executor.
Channel had previously told TMZ that he wanted to get Manson's body to a funeral home immediately so he can be cremated and that a service could be held. TMZ wrote, though, that under California law, Manson's kin has 120 days to contest the will.
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