( CNN ) -- A federal bankruptcy judge in Texas has approved a request from the Los Angeles Police Department to turn over audiotapes that may develop new clues about unsolved killings involving followers of notorious murderer Charles Manson . The tapes are about eight hours of recordings between convicted murderer Charles Denton `` Tex '' Watson and his attorney from 1969 , Bill Boyd of McKinney , Texas , whose law firm is the debtor in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the same state , court papers said . Watson was convicted along with three other members of the so-called Manson family in the grisly 1969 murders of five people , including eight-months pregnant movie actress Sharon Tate . According to court documents , Watson waived his attorney-client privilege to the tapes in 1976 , and his attorney received partial payment for his legal fees when he gave a copy of the tapes to Chaplain Raymond G. Hoekstra , who subsequently wrote a book , `` Will You Die for Me : The Man Who Killed for Charles Manson Tells His Own Story . '' In March , Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck wrote the U.S. court trustee asking for the original recordings . The judge approved the request on Tuesday . `` The LAPD has information that Mr. Watson discussed additional unsolved murders committed by followers of Charles Manson , '' said a letter signed by Beck and Lt. Yana Horvatich , acting commanding officer of the robbery-homicide division . Beck 's letter is dated March 19 , seven days after Watson asked that all legal material relating to his case be turned over to his nephew , Brian Patton , of Rowlett , Texas , according to court papers . `` One last thing : I want to thank you for hunting me down . I 'm so glad these documents did n't get in the wrong hands , '' Watson wrote in a March 12 letter to a U.S. court trustee asking that he forward the legal materials to Patton . In November , Watson , 66 , convicted of seven counts of first-degree murder , was denied parole for the 16th time and will be considered again in 2016 , according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation . In March , Manson , 77 , who is serving a life sentence for nine murders and who led his family of followers in a murder spree in 1969 , was denied parole for the 12th time and will be up for parole again 15 years from now , when he would be 92 .
A federal bankruptcy judge gives audiotapes to the LAPD in its probe of unsolved murders . Tapes were held by attorney of Charles `` Tex '' Watson , a follower of Charles Manson . The attorney is a debtor in a bankruptcy proceeding . Police investigating whether Watson discussed unsolved killings by Manson followers .