Squeaky Fromme Was a Manson Girl Who Tried to Kill a President — Where Is She Now?

There are a lot of interesting facts about Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, the red-haired Manson follower who professed to loving him until his dying day. One of the most fascinating ones is that she attended high school with the late Phil Hartman, and they were very good friends. Her relationship with Hartman was something of interest to long-time CBS News producer Paul LaRosa, who exchanged numerous letters with Fromme while she was in prison.

Hartman was murdered by his wife in May 1998, which was around the time LaRosa and Fromme were writing to each other. The producer asked the former Manson girl how she felt about that. "I wonder if he had any notion that such was possible or did he not believe her – or did she not say?" mused Fromme. Unlike other members of the Manson family, Fromme was in prison for an entirely different crime. Where is she now? Here's what we know.

Fromme was incarcerated for attempting to assassinate Gerald Ford. She was released in August 2009, reported NBC News, after more than 30 years behind bars. Following her release, Fromme was under supervision for two years. During that time she had to report "regularly to a parole officer, not associate with criminals or own guns or leave the area," said Tom Hutchison, a U.S. Parole Commission spokesman.

A decade after she walked out of prison, Fromme was featured in an ABC News special titled Manson Girls. When asked about her feelings toward Manson, who had died two years earlier, Fromme was brutally honest. "I don't think you fall out of love," she said. "I feel very honored to have met him, and I know how that sounds to people who think he's the epitome of evil."

As of October 2019, Fromme was living in Marcy, N.Y. with her boyfriend, "68-year-old Robert Valdner, [who] reportedly pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 1988 in the shooting death of his brother-in-law," per Fox News. Apparently the two "met" after Valdner began writing to Fromme while they were both in separate prisons. Neighbors say they are quiet and keep to themselves.

According to the Los Angeles Times, 26-year-old Fromme was living in a $100-a-month attic apartment in Sacramento, Calif. when she tried to assassinate then-President Gerald Ford in 1975. Earlier that summer, she spoke with the Associated Press and told them, "If Nixon’s reality — wearing a new Ford face — continues to run the country against the law, our homes will be bloodier than the Tate-LaBianca houses and My Lai put together."

Despite what many would consider to be a threat, no one was on the lookout for Fromme when President Ford was visiting California's capital on Sept. 5. He was walking from the Senator Hotel to Gov. Jerry Brown's office, crossing Capitol Park where Fromme was waiting. The borrowed .45 handgun Fromme had was strapped to her leg beneath her dress. While Ford was shaking hands with a crowd who came to see him, Fromme stepped forward with the gun in her hand.

A secret service agent saw the gun and stepped between Fromme and the president, then grabbed the weapon. During her arraignment, Fromme told the federal judge there must be a halt to logging. "The important part is the redwood trees," she said. "We want to save them. Do you understand this is like cutting down your own arms and legs?" She was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison but tried to escape in 1987 after hearing that Manson was dying of cancer. Fromme was out in 2009.