Did Doris Day save her only son from being massacred by Charles Manson's family? 
 
 That's a possibility suggested by Beach Boys frontman Mike Love in his new memoir, "Good Vibrations." 
 
 According to Love's book, excerpted in this week's People, Day convinced her son -- record producer Terry Melcher, who famously turned down Manson for a recording contract -- to move out of the Benedict Canyon home where actress Sharon Tate and four others were slain by Manson's followers on Aug. 9, 1969. 
 
 The book charts what now seems to be the inexplicable, but six-degrees kind of connection between Day, the perky blond actress and singer who was America's top box office star in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and Manson, a sociopathic ex-con who became one of America's most notorious serial killers. 
 
 Charles Manson is escorted to and from Los Angeles Court December 11, 1969 for arraignment on conspiracy charges in connection with the slayings of actress Sharon Tate and seven others. (AP Photo/File) ( FILE ) 
 
 The connection was Love's bandmate Dennis Wilson, who was friends and colleagues with Melcher. Wilson had formed a friendship with wannabe rock star Manson. He was initially impressed by Manson's song writing and introduced him to Melcher, then one of rock music's hot young producers. 
 
 The only child of Day, Melcher had discovered or nurtured such talents as The Byrds, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Wayne Newton, Glen Campbell and the Mamas and the Papas. He also sang backup vocals on the Beach Boys "Pet Sounds." 
 
 As a member of young Hollywood royalty, Melcher was dating another member of that elite class: Candice Bergen, then a model and rising young movie star who was the daughter of ventriloquist, comedian and actor Edgar Bergen. 
 
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 Melcher and Bergen began dating in 1967 and together rented the Benedict Canyon house at 10050 Cielo Drive. 
 
 As chronicled by Karina Longworth, in her acclaimed Hollywood history podcast, "You Must Remember This," the music industry in L.A. in the late 1960s was a small world but also in upheaval over changing youth tastes in music. Then in his early 20s, Melcher was tasked by Columbia Records to discover the next big thing. 
 
 That's where Manson came in, Longworth describes in her 10-part series "Charles Manson's Hollywood." Manson insinuated himself into a friendship with Dennis Wilson, even getting Wilson to let him and his family members live in his Sunset Boulevard house. Manson managed to convince Wilson and Melcher, for a time anyway, that he was some kind hippie philosopher guru and that he possessed raw musical talent. 
 
 Soon, Manson began joining Wilson and Melcher on their club outings around Los Angeles. 
 
 "Manson was also in the car one day when Dennis dropped Terry off at his rented home at 10050 Cielo Drive, at the top of a steep hill in the Benedict Canyon area," Love wrote. 
 
 In 1969, Melcher made at least two visits to Manson at Spahn Ranch, the former setting for movie and TV westerns, where Manson had taken his followers to set up a commune. Longworth said Melcher may have become intimate with one of Manson's female followers, 17-year-old Ruth Ann Morehouse. 
 
 But Melcher pretty quickly resolved that Manson lacked any real musical talent. After his second visit in June 1969, he told Manson that he wouldn't be signing him to a record deal. 
 
 Apparently that was the turning point in Manson's fixation on inciting Helter Skelter, his apocalyptic race war, according to both Love and Longworth. 
 
 "Manson wouldn't stand for it," Love revealed in his memoir. "Consumed by rage and seeking revenge against a corrupt society, he convinced his followers that the apocalypse was coming in a bloody race war, at the end of which he and his disciples would take over." 
 
 Manson picked the occupants of 10050 Cielo Drive as his first victims. 
 
 Longworth said Manson should have known that Melcher had already vacated the house. Melcher and Bergen moved out in January 1969, and the owner had rented the house to Tate and her husband, director Roman Polanski. 
 
 Longworth cites an incident some months before the killings when Manson stopped by the house, looking to find Melcher. Instead, the scraggly-haired Manson encountered both Tate and a photographer friend of Tate's who told him that Melcher no longer lived there. 
 
 In his book, Melcher suggests that Day, now 94, convinced her son to move out of Cielo Drive and into a beach house in Malibu owned by her. Love said Melcher had told his mother about Manson and his volatile behavior, as well as his "zombie" followers and his habit of brandishing knives. 
 
 But Longworth said Melcher had other reasons for moving. He had learned that his late producer stepfather, Marty Melcher, had squandered the vast fortune his mother had made as a movie star and singer. Melcher thought moving into her beach house would help her out financially. 
 
 In any event, both Melcher and Wilson were freaked out by the killings. Sometime before August 1969, Wilson had distanced himself from Manson after seeing signs of his volatile nature. He died in 1983, never having spoken publicly about his connection to the Tate-LaBianca murders. 
 
 Melcher, who died in 2005, immediately went into seclusion, hired 24-hour bodyguards and could only testify at the trial under sedation. After learning of the killings, Bergen reportedly said to Melcher, "It could have been me," to which Melcher replied, "It could have been US." 
 
 Martha Ross provides celebrity commentary for the Bay Area News Group. Follow her at twitter.com/marthajross. 

 One of the Beach Boys claimed to have witnessed Charles Manson commit a murder. 
 
 The group's co-founder Mike Love, 75, revealed in his new memoir "Good Vibrations" that bandmate Dennis Wilson claimed to have witnessed Charles Manson commit a murder in 1969, People reported. 
 
 The singer recounted the shocking friendship between convicted killer Manson and Wilson, who allegedly watched the murderer shoot a man right before his eyes, according to a chapter from the book obtained by People. 
 
 "I just saw Charlie take his M16 and blow this black cat [man] in half and stuff him down the well," Wilson allegedly told Love. 
 
 Charles Manson and followers sentenced to death in 1971 
 
 Charles Manson is escorted to and from Los Angeles Court Dec. 11, 1969 for arraignment on conspiracy murder charges in connection with the slayings of actress Sharon Tate and seven others. (FILE/AP) 
 
 The gruesome tale surfaced after Wilson spent some time at Spahn Ranch in the summer of 1969, the property where the Manson and his followers lived. Wilson had shown up to his brother Brian's studio that August appearing "visibly shaken," according to Love. 
 
 Manson was a singer-songwriter who knew the Beach Boy's drummer because they ran in a close circle in the L.A. music industry. 
 
 A retired Los Angeles County prosecutor who worked on the case denounced the book's claims, noting the Beach Boy's recollection of events don't add up. 
 
 Mike Love's new book “Good Vibrations: My Life as a Beach Boy” recounts bandmate Dennis Wilson claiming to have witnessed Charles Manson commit murder. 
 
 "I've prosecuted four Tate-LaBianca murder trials and attended sixty parole hearings [of Manson family members] and I've never heard that story before," Stephen Kay told People. "If it was true, I would have heard it before." 
 
 Manson family convicts: Where are they now? 
 
 Only one body was ever discovered on the property. Skeletal remains of a ranch hand named Donald "Shorty" Shea was found in 1977. 
 
 "I don't remember there actually being a well on the property," Kay told the mag. "And if there was one, I doubt they would have thrown a body down there. They would have buried him like they did Shorty." 
 
 The 'Manson Family' murders 
 
 The events left Dennis — who notably abused alcohol and drugs over the years — crippled in fear, according to Love. 
 
 "Dennis was too frightened to go to the police," Wilson writes. "I think he was just hoping that Manson and his family would disappear." 
 
 ‘American Horror Story’ season 6 might be about Charles Manson 
 
 Wilson died in 1983 when he was just 39 years old. He was discovered in the waters off Marina del Rey after drunkenly diving in the frigid surf. Love believed his bandmate was never able to rid of his guilt for being so close to the horrific crimes. 
 
 "Dennis carried that guilt with him for the last 14 years of his life," Love said. 
 
 Manson was convicted of conspiring to commit seven murders in 1971, including that of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. The 81-year-old is serving nine consecutive life sentences at Corcoran State Prison in Corcoran, Ca. 
 
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 Beach Boy Book's Shocking Claim: Is There a New Charles Manson Murder Victim? 
 
 Michael Putland / Getty 
 
 In Beach Boy Mike Love's new memoir Good Vibrations , he recounts a story that fellow bandmate Dennis Wilson told him in the spring of 1969 about allegedly witnessing serial killer Charles Manson murder a man with an M-16 assault rifle then dispose of the body in a well.If true, it would provide a dark new chapter to Manson's already evil legacy.But retired Los Angeles County prosecutor Stephen Kay, who helped convict Manson, now 81, of nine homicides, thinks otherwise.In a chapter from Good Vibrations, Love details the shocking friendship Wilson forged with Manson and his followers – who lived in his spacious home and later slaughtered seven people, including pregnant actress Sharon Tate , along with Leo and Rosemary LaBianca, in August 1969.Months before the murders, Wilson, whose life had been turned upside down by drugs and alcohol, showed up at his brother Brian Wilson's in-home recording studio after spending time at Spahn Ranch, where the Manson family lived in a commune located 30 miles from LA. Love was laying down tracks for a new album at the time when he noticed something looked wrong with his cousin."Dennis was visibly shaken," Love writes, "and I asked what was wrong?"Wilson, according to Love, allegedly replied, "I just saw Charlie take his M16 and blow this black cat [guy] in half and stuff him down the well."The experience, adds Love, left Wilson unnerved and paralyzed with fear. "Dennis was too frightened to go to the police," he writes. "I think he was just hoping that Manson and his family would disappear."Kay, however, isn't convinced that Wilson actually witnessed a murder at the ranch."I've prosecuted four Tate-LaBianca murder trials and attended sixty parole hearings [of Manson family members] and I've never heard that story before," Kay tells PEOPLE. "If it was true, I would have heard it before."For much more on the Beach Boys' dark history with Charles Manson, pickup a copy of this week's PEOPLE magazine, on newsstands Friday.The only body found at the remote property was that of ranch hand Donald "Shorty" Shea, who Manson had his followers kill shortly after the Tate-LaBianca murders and whose skeletal remains were discovered in 1977."I don't remember there actually being a well on the property," recalls Kay. "And if there was one, I doubt they would have thrown a body down there. They would have buried him like they did Shorty."Kay also acknowledges that Wilson had a "serious drug problem" during this period and questions the accuracy of anything Dennis might have told Love. Instead, he believes psychedelic drugs may explain his comment."I would kind of suspect," adds Kay, "it [the explanation behind Wilson's comment to Love] was a tab of LSD that Dennis got at the ranch before he showed up and gave this fantastic story to Mike."When Love, now 75, was asked if he believes that Wilson actually witnessed a murder at the ranch, he replied, "That's what he told me. He was so shaken up, which is understandable. Seeing that would unsettle anyone. He never divulged that story to anybody else to the best of my knowledge."What is clear, however, is that Wilson, who drowned in 1983, could never fully shake the dark memories of his time with Manson and the role he inadvertently played in the carnage that he and his followers unleashed on Los Angeles."Dennis carried that guilt with him," says Love, "for the last 14 years of his life."
– Charles Manson committed a murder that no one knew about—except at least two of the Beach Boys. That's according to Good Vibrations, the new memoir from Mike Love. In the book, Love claims bandmate and cousin Dennis Wilson came to him at a recording studio in 1969 "visibly shaken," People reports. "I just saw Charlie take his M16 and blow this black cat [man] in half and stuff him down the well," Love recalls Wilson telling him. According to the New York Daily News, Wilson and Manson had befriended each other in the Los Angeles music scene, and Wilson had hung out a bit at Spahn Ranch, where Manson was setting up his commune. Love writes that Wilson was too scared to tell the police what he had seen. But he believes the guilt from that decision stuck with Wilson, who had problems with drugs and alcohol, leading to his death in 1983 at the age of 39. Former Los Angeles County prosecutor Stephen Kay helped get Manson convicted and doesn't buy Love's story. "If it was true, I would have heard it before," he tells People, adding that he doesn't recall there being a well at Spahn Ranch. In his book, Love also claims Doris Day potentially saved her son from Manson when she convinced him to move out of a home he was renting with girlfriend Candice Bergen and into Day's Malibu beach house, the Mercury News reports. The two moved out in January 1969; Sharon Tate and four others were killed at that home on Aug. 9 of that year. (A teen slain 46 years ago near the Manson killings was IDed this year.)