Beginning with the discovery of 19-year-old Yolanda Washington’s body on October 18, 1977, Los Angeles was terrorised by a serial killer dubbed the “Hillside Strangler.” Ten females, the oldest being 28 and the youngest being 12, were raped, tortured and murdered, with their bodies being dumped on the sides of the Hollywood Hills or by the side of a road. The case did not gain attention at first due to the fact that the first three victims were sex workers. The killings abruptly stopped in February 1978.
The police soon discovered they were in fact searching for two killers due to DNA evidence and the way in which some of the bodies were positioned. This information was withheld from the public and the investigation carried out proved to be futile. This was until Kenneth Bianchi was arrested in January 1979 following the murder of two young women in Washington. The M.O used in these murders, combined with Bianchi’s former address, linked him to the Hillside Strangler murders. Bianchi implicated his cousin Angelo Buono and both were charged.
After an unsuccessful attempt to raise the defence of insanity, Bianchi agreed to testify against Buono in return for a more lenient sentence. Buono died of a heart attack on September 21, 2002, whilst serving a life sentence, whilst Bianchi still continues to serve his life sentence at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
