Hillside stranglers biography books
The Hillside Stranglers
April 19, 2019
Technology created the serial killer and (fingers crossed) it’s looking like technology has uncreated him too. There were no serial murders before there were cities and plentiful urban transport. When you stay within a 30 mile radius of your village you won’t find many victims. But when you have a nice car and all of LA at your disposal, then the sky is the limit. However, now we have DNA science, so you only get to do one, maybe two murders now before they’re knocking on your door at 5 am. And plus the chilly effect of the internet, which takes victims off the streets, to a great degree. Streetwalking is now done with an app. And who has seen a hitchhiker in 15 years? So let’s hope there will be no more of these ghastly men. And you know that Emily Dickinson says that hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul. I’ll second that emotion.
THE OLD ONE ABOUT MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER
Two of a Kind is the tangled story of Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi. They killed 10 women and children between the ages of 12 and 27 in a short space of time, October 1977 to February 1978, in and around Glendale, Los Angeles. The whole thing was exceptionally gruesome. It’s hard to think that there are guys who could pick up a young woman so they could watch her die just for fun. But there are. Before World war Two, you might have thought that there wouldn’t be many guys who could machine-gun a whole lot of people one day, then the next day another whole lot of people. But it turned out there were plenty of guys who could do this without feeling ill or fainting, it was all okay with them.
Well, I’m drifting away from the subject here.
Eventually there was a falling out between the cousins, and Kenny decamped for Bellingham, Washington, where, flying solo, he killed two other women in one evening (11 January 1979). But without the street smarts of his older cousin to guide him Kenny made real bad mistakes, you would have thought he’d have learned a thing or two, and whereas the 10 LA murders were whodunits that baffled the cops, these two were open and shut cases and Kenny was picked up the next day.
The cops found out he’d moved from LA so they contacted the LAPD and in five minutes they’d all had the lightbulb moment – this was one of the Hillside Stranglers. (The cops knew there were two guys working as a team.) After 18 months of getting nowhere, finally - here he was.
While he was cooling his heels, Ken watched tv, and saw a movie called Sybil, starring Joanne Woodward and Sally Field. He also came across The Three Faces of Eve at the same time, and thought ah, what I will do, because I am clever, is I will convince these police idiots that I have multiple personality disorder. Then I will not go to prison.
Naturally, the two shrinks they got to interview him (at great, vast length) under hypnosis agreed that yes, he had an entity inside him that had done the murders, along with his cousin Angelo.
Eventually, one of the shrinks realized that people facing the death penalty will lie to the authorities to try to avoid their fate. This psychiatrist was shocked! It was all an act.
SERIAL KILLER GROUPIES
As you know, when a notorious criminal is apprehended, and his photos show him to be a handsome young fellow, as Ken was, it will not be long before some females are writing to him and saying all kinds of embarrassing nonsense. One such person was Veronica Lynn Compton, a wannabe playwright with substance abuse issues. Before long Ken and Veronica had cooked up a cunning plan.
Our author Darcy O’Brien did not care for Veronica much. Here’s his remarkable description :
In every sense, she was a striking woman. Twenty-three, in appearance a dark, Latin spitfire, her burnished flesh emanating an equatorial heat… she was a beauty except for her nose, which was upturned to the point of snoutishness and lent her face a porcine effect.
(I hasten to say that Darcy doesn’t write like this very often, which is a great relief. It’s fun but you wouldn’t want a whole true crime book like that. )
TRUTH IN THIS CASE STRANGER THAN FICTION
The cunning plan was that (wait for it) Veronica would visit Ken and smuggle some of his semen out of the prison. Then, she would strangle a woman (anyone convenient) and dump his semen on the victim. Then, when the cops found this new body, the semen would be an exact match with that found on Ken’s previous victims, and this would show that Ken could not have done any of these murders.
Well, how to get the semen out of the jail was a bit of a head-scratcher, but Ken was resourceful. With a snipped off finger from a rubber glove, a piece of twine and a smuggled book, it was done. On to phase two.
You have to keep reminding yourself this actually happened.
Veronica located a victim, got her to come back to her motel room, surreptitiously laid out the rubber semen finger, then attacked the woman from behind with a cord. Had to strangle her like that to make it fit with the other Hillside murders.
The woman tried to draw air, tried to force a scream but only gargled, threw back her arms and grabbed at Veronica’s wrists, held, dug nails in, pulled with everything she had, wrenching from side to side, and with one great effort flipped Veronica up and over her. Veronica lost her grip, cartwheeled, smashed the small of her back going down against the arm of the chair, and collapsed moaning to the floor.
So the poor victim got the hell out of there, called the cops and Veronica was arrested for attempted murder. The crazy plot was discovered and she got a life sentence. As far as I know she’s still inside.
THE FINAL RECKONING
Angelo Buono also got life after a hugely long and ridiculous trial and he died in 2002 at the age of 67.
Ken Bianchi plea bargained and avoided the gas chamber. He got life and he’s still serving time in Walla Walla prison, Washington. He’s now 67 years old, so he’s been inside for more than 35 years.
The twelve women and girls are still dead.
THE OLD ONE ABOUT MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER
Two of a Kind is the tangled story of Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi. They killed 10 women and children between the ages of 12 and 27 in a short space of time, October 1977 to February 1978, in and around Glendale, Los Angeles. The whole thing was exceptionally gruesome. It’s hard to think that there are guys who could pick up a young woman so they could watch her die just for fun. But there are. Before World war Two, you might have thought that there wouldn’t be many guys who could machine-gun a whole lot of people one day, then the next day another whole lot of people. But it turned out there were plenty of guys who could do this without feeling ill or fainting, it was all okay with them.
Well, I’m drifting away from the subject here.
Eventually there was a falling out between the cousins, and Kenny decamped for Bellingham, Washington, where, flying solo, he killed two other women in one evening (11 January 1979). But without the street smarts of his older cousin to guide him Kenny made real bad mistakes, you would have thought he’d have learned a thing or two, and whereas the 10 LA murders were whodunits that baffled the cops, these two were open and shut cases and Kenny was picked up the next day.
The cops found out he’d moved from LA so they contacted the LAPD and in five minutes they’d all had the lightbulb moment – this was one of the Hillside Stranglers. (The cops knew there were two guys working as a team.) After 18 months of getting nowhere, finally - here he was.
While he was cooling his heels, Ken watched tv, and saw a movie called Sybil, starring Joanne Woodward and Sally Field. He also came across The Three Faces of Eve at the same time, and thought ah, what I will do, because I am clever, is I will convince these police idiots that I have multiple personality disorder. Then I will not go to prison.
Naturally, the two shrinks they got to interview him (at great, vast length) under hypnosis agreed that yes, he had an entity inside him that had done the murders, along with his cousin Angelo.
Eventually, one of the shrinks realized that people facing the death penalty will lie to the authorities to try to avoid their fate. This psychiatrist was shocked! It was all an act.
SERIAL KILLER GROUPIES
As you know, when a notorious criminal is apprehended, and his photos show him to be a handsome young fellow, as Ken was, it will not be long before some females are writing to him and saying all kinds of embarrassing nonsense. One such person was Veronica Lynn Compton, a wannabe playwright with substance abuse issues. Before long Ken and Veronica had cooked up a cunning plan.
Our author Darcy O’Brien did not care for Veronica much. Here’s his remarkable description :
In every sense, she was a striking woman. Twenty-three, in appearance a dark, Latin spitfire, her burnished flesh emanating an equatorial heat… she was a beauty except for her nose, which was upturned to the point of snoutishness and lent her face a porcine effect.
(I hasten to say that Darcy doesn’t write like this very often, which is a great relief. It’s fun but you wouldn’t want a whole true crime book like that. )
TRUTH IN THIS CASE STRANGER THAN FICTION
The cunning plan was that (wait for it) Veronica would visit Ken and smuggle some of his semen out of the prison. Then, she would strangle a woman (anyone convenient) and dump his semen on the victim. Then, when the cops found this new body, the semen would be an exact match with that found on Ken’s previous victims, and this would show that Ken could not have done any of these murders.
Well, how to get the semen out of the jail was a bit of a head-scratcher, but Ken was resourceful. With a snipped off finger from a rubber glove, a piece of twine and a smuggled book, it was done. On to phase two.
You have to keep reminding yourself this actually happened.
Veronica located a victim, got her to come back to her motel room, surreptitiously laid out the rubber semen finger, then attacked the woman from behind with a cord. Had to strangle her like that to make it fit with the other Hillside murders.
The woman tried to draw air, tried to force a scream but only gargled, threw back her arms and grabbed at Veronica’s wrists, held, dug nails in, pulled with everything she had, wrenching from side to side, and with one great effort flipped Veronica up and over her. Veronica lost her grip, cartwheeled, smashed the small of her back going down against the arm of the chair, and collapsed moaning to the floor.
So the poor victim got the hell out of there, called the cops and Veronica was arrested for attempted murder. The crazy plot was discovered and she got a life sentence. As far as I know she’s still inside.
THE FINAL RECKONING
Angelo Buono also got life after a hugely long and ridiculous trial and he died in 2002 at the age of 67.
Ken Bianchi plea bargained and avoided the gas chamber. He got life and he’s still serving time in Walla Walla prison, Washington. He’s now 67 years old, so he’s been inside for more than 35 years.
The twelve women and girls are still dead.