Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono
October 1977 to January 1979, Los Angeles
For 16 months, women in Los Angeles were terrified by a series of killings attributed to a murderer dubbed the “Hillside Killer” after the site where the first victim was found. But it was only after they’d made their arrest that they realised there were two killers: cousins Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono.
Most of the victims were abducted and tied up, raped and then strangled by both men.
Yolanda Washington October 17, 1977
Washington was a prostitute, and the naked body was found on a hillside near the world-famous Forest Lawns cemetery. Although the body had been cleaned before being dumped, there were marks from being tied up and raped.
Judy Miller November 1, 1977
The naked body of teenager Miller was found dumped on a parkway in a Los Angeles suburb. She had been a sex worker, although she was only 15. She had last been seen talking to two men in a two-tone car who claimed to be undercover police officers. She drove off with them.
Lissa Kastin November 6, 1977
Her body was found naked and dumped near a country club. She had been beaten and raped before she was murdered. She was a dancer, but not a prostitute, and had been taken away by two men who showed them a police badge.
Catharine Lorre Baker November 1977
Baker was the daughter of movie star Peter Lorre, and was approached by two men who showed her police badges. But when they learned who her father was, they went away. She later recognised them when they had been arrested as Binachi and Buono.
Dolly Cepada and Sonja Johnson November 13, 1977
The two schoolgirls had got off a bus travelling home from a mall, when they approached a two-tone car. They weren’t seen alive again, and a week later, a 9-year-old boy found their decomposing bodies. Both had been raped and strangled.
Kristina Weckler November 20, 1977
On the same day as the two schoolgirls were found, hikers found the naked body of 20-year-old Weckler on a hillside between the site of their abduction and their dumped body.
Jane King November 23, 1977
The badly decomposed body of Jane King was found that day, after last being seen near a freeway off-ramp on November 9th. Her body was so decomposed that Police could not tell if she had been raped, but they did know she had been strangled.
Lauren Wagner November 29, 1977
The body of 18-year-old Wagner was found in the hills near Mount Washington. She had been tortured, raped and strangled. A woman saw her being abducted from outside her home.
Kimberley Martin December 14, 1977
Kimberley was a 17-year-old sex worker, and her naked body was found on an empty lot near City Hall. She had worked for a call girl agency and disappeared after going to the address given.
Cindy Hidspeth February 17, 1978
Her body was found in a deserted car that had had gone over a cliff near a highway. She had been raped and tortured, then strangled and put in the trunk of her car before it was pushed off the cliff.
The investigation
In Bellingham, in the state of Washington, Bianchi arranged for two women to house-sit a home. When they were found raped and murdered in a car outside the home, Bianchi was arrested and charged with the two murders. He did not admit to the murderers, but when he spoke to panel of psychiatrists who were assessing him, he claimed to have multiple personalities, one of which was a sex murderer.
Bianchi’s lawyer persuaded him to enter a plea bargain for the two murders in Bellingham plus three in LA, after his attempt to get an insanity plea failed. He also implicated Buono.
After a chaotic trial that Bianchi constantly disrupted, Buono was found guilty and imprisoned for life without parole. Bianchi was also judged to have broken his plea bargain by the way he behaved at the trial, so he was also sent to a high security prison for life.
Buono died of a heart attack in 2002.