The beautiful and enchanting Marina Habe was staying with her mother in West Hollywood during her Christmas break from the University of Hawaii. Driving home alone from a date with a family friend, she pulled into her mother's driveway from where she is kidnapped, loaded into a car, and taken away, as her mother helplessly watches from the window.

Her mother contacted the police. They waited for a ransom call. The call never came.

Three days later, Marina was found in the brush along Mulholland Drive, stabbed to death.

This is not only the story of Marina's grisly murder. But it is also the story of the public's reaction to the murder.

Over the years, scores of writers and bloggers have tried to sensationalize the crime. They have tried to tie the crime to Charles Manson and his Family. They have gone, in many cases, out of their way to insinuate that her social contacts somehow contributed to her demise.

The time has come to dispel the myths.

Tighe Taylor