In the late 1970s, Los Angeles was a hotbed for serial killers.
Randy Kraft roamed Southern California’s seemingly endless network of highways, murdering young men. William Bonin, the “Freeway Killer,” prowled the streets in a beat-up van, killing at least 21 boys and young men.
For four months, starting in October 1977, the residents of South California were gripped in terror, haunted by a monster who strangled and raped women as young as 12, and scattered their naked dead bodies around hillsides.
Following the murders of three sex workers, the Hillside Strangler began abducting young women regardless of race or background, before ultimately disappearing without a trace.
What people did not expect was that the brutal murders were committed not by one but two insatiable killers – cousins Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono.
In the midst of his murderous “career,” Kenneth Bianchi began the process of becoming a Los Angeles police officer.
Perversely enough, Bianchi would join the LAPD on their patrol rides to search for the Hillside Strangler.
The officers openly discussed the murders with Bianchi and became close with him over the weeks.
After sentencing Bianchi and Buono to life imprisonment, Judge Ronald M. George said:
“I would not have the slightest reluctance to impose the death penalty in this case were it within my power to do so. Ironically, although these two defendants utilized almost every form of legalized execution against their victims, the defendants have escaped any form of capital punishment.”
