Brutal Murderers: The Hillside Strangler
Los Angeles Public LibraryKenneth A. Bianchi, the Hillside Strangler who terrorized Los Angeles along with his cousin Angelo Buono between 1977 and 1979.
The trouble started in January of 1976, when Kenneth Bianchi moved to Los Angeles to live with his cousin Angelo Buono.
The pair found themselves short of cash, so they formed a plan to make money as pimps, pressuring teen runaways to prostitute themselves in return for living accommodations.
It was an ill-fated scheme, and when things seemed to be falling apart, they took their anger out on prostitute Yolanda Washington — their first kill.
It was the beginning of a pattern. They began to rape and strangle other runaways and prostitutes, posing as undercover cops and luring the women into their vehicles before dumping the bodies in the hilly area northeast of Los Angeles.
When they started abducting women with no history of drug use or sex work from middle-class neighborhoods, the media sat up and paid attention, giving the duo — assumed then to be just one person — the moniker “the Hillside Strangler.”
As the investigation was heating up in Los Angeles, Bianchi decided to make a run for it. He moved to Washington — but he didn’t stop killing.
Two murders there led authorities straight to him, and the M.O. of the killings matched that of the Hillside Strangler — effectively tying him to the deaths in California.
Los Angeles Public LibraryAngelo Buono, left, is arraigned in the Los Angeles Criminal Courts Building. 1979.
When Bianchi couldn’t convince the court psychologist that he was insane, he flipped on his cousin, and the pair were sentenced to life in prison, bringing an end to the stranglers’ reign of terror.
But the drama very nearly cost one more life when Veronica Compton, Bianchi’s girlfriend, tried to strangle a woman in an effort to convince the authorities that the real Hillside Strangler was still at large.
The attempt failed, and she was caught and arrested — bringing the sad story to a close after a total of 12 murders.
