Kenneth Bianchi biography

Synopsis

Serial killer Kenneth Bianchi and his cousin, Angelo Buono, went on a killing spree between October 1977 and January 1978, raping and murdering 15 victims in Los Angeles. The men posed as policemen and targeted prostitutes to begin with, moving on to middle-class women and girls. They usually left the bodies on the hillsides of the Glendale Highland Park area, earning the moniker "The Hillside Strangler."

Early Life

Serial killer Kenneth Alessio Bianchi was born on May 22, 1951, in Rochester, New York. Bianchi, whose natural mother was an alcoholic prostitute, was adopted at birth and had a love-hate relationship with women even as a young child. Interested in police work but unable to secure a job, he eventually settled for a post as a security guard.

'The Hillside Strangler'

In 1975, Bianchi left Rochester and moved to Los Angeles, where he lived with his older cousin, Angelo Buono. Bianchi later moved in with his girlfriend, Kelli Boyd, and had a child. A chronic liar, he set up a psychology practice with a phony degree and told Boyd he was dying of cancer.

Before long, he and Buono teamed up for a spree of kidnappings, rapes and murders that claimed 15 victims, mostly in and around Los Angeles, between October 1977 and January 1978. Posing as policemen, the cousins began with prostitutes, eventually moving on to middle-class girls. They usually left the bodies on the hillsides of the Glendale-Highland Park area, earning the moniker "The Hillside Strangler." During the four-month rampage, Buono and Bianchi inflicted unspeakable horrors on their victims, including injecting them with deadly household chemicals.

Capture, Conviction and Sentencing

In October 1979, police captured Bianchi in Bellingham, Washington, where he had relocated to be with Kelli Boyd. He quickly implicated Buono, who was arrested soon after. During his trial, Bianchi fabricated an insanity defense, which led to one of the longest trials in American legal history. He and Buono were eventually sentenced to life in prison.