The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is now investigating abuse allegations brought against Marilyn Manson, born Brian Warner.
The department confirmed to ABC News that the Special Victims Bureau is looking into incidents that occurred between 2009 and 2011 when Warner resided in West Hollywood.
A representative for Warner did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone‘s request for comment.
Several accusations of abuse against Warner became public this month, starting with actress Evan Rachel Wood’s post on Instagram alleging that her ex-fiance “started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years. I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission. I am done living in fear of retaliation, slander, or blackmail. I am here to expose this dangerous man and call out the many industries that have enabled him before he ruins any more lives. I stand with the many victims who will no longer be silent.” Wood has spoken out against abuse in the past but has never named Manson as her abuser.
The same day, four other women came out with similar stories. “He would tie me up for the first of many times and rape me,” alleged a woman named Gabriella. “I sobbed on the floor of the hotel room and when I looked at him, he was smiling. He told me he knew that’s how I loved him because of my reaction.”
“There was abuse, sexual violence, physical violence, and coercion. I still feel the effects every day. I have night terrors, PTSD, anxiety, and mostly crippling OCD,” wrote another accuser Ashley Morgan. “He made me feel like him cutting me, burning me, his fist in my mouth was ‘our thing.’ There is so much more that happened.”
Soon after, Game of Thrones actress Esmé Bianco joined a growing number of women alleging abuse to share a similar story about Manson; the two dated in 2011 and Bianco says Manson left bruises and permanent scars on her body, once cutting her torso with a knife. She left the musician after he chased her with an ax.
Manson has roundly denied any and all allegations of abuse. “Obviously, my art and life have long been magnets for controversy, but these recent claims about me are horrible distortions of reality.” Warner wrote on Instagram. “My intimate relationships have always been entirely consensual with like-minded partners. Regardless of how — and why — others are now choosing to misrepresent the past, that is the truth.”
Still, Manson has been dropped by his label and from various TV shows he’d been scheduled to appear on. His longtime manager, Tony Ciulla, also parted ways with the singer.
