Police want to review audio recordings of conversations between a Manson family member and his attorney as detectives search for information about unsolved killings.

Los Angeles detectives seeking the material are merely practicing due diligence after receiving a tip that the recordings and other items in the estate of now-deceased lawyer Bill Boyd, who once represented Charles "Tex" Watson, were becoming available, LAPD spokesman Andrew Smith said.

"This whole thing has gotten totally blown out of proportion," Smith said, commenting on a report that first appeared on KNBC-TV.

Homicide detective Dan Jenks and Lt. Yana Horvatich, who made the request, have no specific information on what might be in the recordings, but they want to examine them, Smith said.