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How did Susan Atkins’s statements in jail help solve the Tate murders?

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Charles Manson Cult leader Charles Manson being transported to a courthouse in Independence, California, 1969.

Following her arrest in October 1969 for the murder of Gary Hinman, Susan Atkins was held in jail, where she began boasting to her cellmates about her involvement in the Tate-LaBianca murders.12

These statements provided authorities with critical information regarding the crimes. Consequently, in December 1969, Atkins testified before a grand jury, explicitly stating that Charles Manson had directed her and other members of the Manson Family to commit the murders. Although she later recanted this testimony, her initial disclosures were instrumental in the investigation, leading to the arrest and indictment of the other individuals involved in the killings.132