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Never-before-seen photos of murdered blonde bombshell Sharon Tate have been found in a California garage.
A series of snapshots of the late actress posing on a towel and rocking a green bikini while lounging under the sun was taken by her roommate’s husband on his front lawn in Manhattan Beach, California, in May 1964.
The candids showed the then-21-year-old looking happy and model-esque. Tate was murdered by members of the Charles Manson Family just five years later when she was eight months pregnant.
The photos were discovered in 2017 by Ashley Miller Cabrejas, who is the stepdaughter of Donald Hagen, according to South West News Service. He was married to the silver-screen star’s roommate.
Tate had been pals with Hagen’s first wife, Laurie, whom he married in 1964. Laurie was besties with Tate as they were both aspiring actresses and models and hailed from Tacoma, Washington.
Cabrejas, 46, had been searching for camera equipment to photograph a solar eclipse when she came across the pics.
“They had been sitting in our garage for years until I came across them cleaning his stuff,” the West Los Angeles native told SWNS.
She added that the photos were “totally a casual thing, from before she was even famous.” Tate was just starting to build on her career at the time and was going to a plethora of auditions.
The “Valley of the Dolls” icon was married to director Roman Polanski at the time of her death in 1969. She was 26 years old when she was stabbed.
The snaps showed Hagen with lots of women, including Tate. “Don and Sharon were, I guess, what you would assume normal for the roommate of your girlfriend and future wife,” Cabrejas said of her stepfather. “I went through all his pics. I found out that so was quite the ladies’ man, to say the least.”
The substitute teacher’s stepdad passed away from dementia in 2017 after being with her mother for 25 years. He had no biological children and left his entire estate to Cabrejas.
“That’s why his license plates say DON1, a k a ‘Don Juan.’ Then I started digging and, man oh man, was he a bad boy, but it was the ’60s,” she joked. “He was a playboy and honestly I didn’t really know who he was until he passed. All I knew while he was alive is that he loved us and he had a past.”
She also stated that during holidays, such as Christmas and Thanksgiving, she would hear stories about Hagen’s friendship with Tate. However, because she was going through normal teen angst at the time, she didn’t pay much attention.
“I really wish I would have asked more questions but it was difficult since that life he had was a life before my mom,” Cabrejas added.
The educator admitted that Hagen went to check “went to check out the property” where Tate was killed before he moved his family in.
“I know that it really, really haunted him his whole life,” she said.
“It’s just really cool part of LA history where I live, and pretty amazing that these were sitting in my garage and my family even at distance is part of iconic LA,” Cabrejas continued.
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