Post by cruororism on Oct 10, 2003 9:47:35 GMT
On October 1977, Los Angeles police found the body of a naked woman, who'd been raped and murdered and left on a hillside. By February 1978, the count had risen to 10 and the media was calling the killer "The Hillside Strangler." It turned out to be one of the most notorious, publicized, and terrifying cases in Los Angeles history.
Police later captured two cousins: Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono. This is the story of their gruesome five-month spree and the massive police investigation it triggered.
Bianchi grew up in Rochester, NY. His birth mother was an alcoholic prostitute and he was adopted as an infant. In school he had a reputation as a liar and a manipulator, and for what would become a lifelong obsession: becoming a cop. A psychiatrist who interviewed Bianchi when he attempted to join a Sheriff’s department in the early 1970s recalled that Bianchi had an enmeshed, sick relationship with his stepmother. He was not recommended for hiring.
In 1975, Bianchi moved to Los Angeles and lived with his older cousin, Angelo Buono. Soon after, Bianchi and Buono kidnapped prostitute Yolanda Washington and killed her. She was the first of their victims.
After the tenth "Hillside" murder, Bianchi left Los Angeles to follow his common law wife and child to Bellingham, WA. But within a year, Bianchi had killed again. Working at a security guard company, he lured a former co-worker and her girlfriend to a secluded house. Bianchi raped and killed them both. Police quickly traced the crime to Bianchi, who soon confessed. At first pretending that he possessed multiple personalities, Bianchi then pled guilty in Washington agreeing to testify against his cousin in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.
By late 1981 the trial finally began in Los Angeles. It was one of the longest trials on record: two years and two days. Bianchi was on the stand for six months, giving confusing and contradictory testimony. He eventually pleaded guilty to five of the Los Angeles murders, while Buono was found guilty on nine out of ten. Buono is serving life without parole in California. Bianchi is serving his life sentence in the Washington State penitentiary at Walla Walla.