Latest news with #HillsideStrangler
Hindustan Times
13-07-2025
- Hindustan Times
Who is Kenneth Bianchi? Dreaded Hillside Strangler, 74, denied parole for the 8th time
Kenneth Bianchi, one of the two men behind the horrific 'Hillside Strangler' killings, has once again been denied parole. The decision came this week, meaning Bianchi will stay locked up in a California prison, where he's been serving a life sentence since 1983. Kenneth Bianchi was part of a killing spree that gripped Los Angeles in the late 1970s(@WillSutton78/ X) This is the eighth time he han been refused parole. His first denial came in 1985, and another in 2010. Who is Kenneth Bianchi? Now 74, Bianchi was part of a killing spree that gripped Los Angeles in the late 1970s. Over four months from late 1977 to early 1978, ten women were abducted and murdered. Bianchi later admitted to killing two more women in Washington. He committed those last murders on his own. Bianchi didn't act alone in most of the Los Angeles cases. He carried out the crimes with his cousin, Angelo Buono Jr. The victims were girls and young women between the ages of 12 and 28. They were strangled and left along remote hillsides around the city. That's how the killers got the name 'Hillside Stranglers.' Police arrested Bianchi in Washington state in January 1979. Buono wasn't caught until that October. To avoid a harsher sentence, Bianchi agreed to testify against his cousin. That deal gave him the chance to seek parole one day. Both men were given life sentences, however Buono died in prison in 2002. Also Read: Idaho murders: Who is Murphy? Here's what happened to Kaylee Goncalves' dog after she was killed Kenneth Bianchi held in a prison in Washington state At one point, Bianchi changed his name to Anthony D'Amato, something he did about two years ago. He's currently held in a prison in Washington state. Authorities say Bianchi and Buono posed as police officers to get their victims to cooperate. They would find young women waiting at bus stops or walking near their apartments, flash fake badges, and then take them away. Also Read: Idaho murders: Who were Ethan, Xana, Kaylee and Madison? Remembering the victims Murders caused panic across Los Angeles Once they had them, the cousins would rape, torture, and strangle them before dumping their bodies in remote areas. The murders caused panic across Los Angeles. Women were afraid to go out at night. Police worked for months to figure out who was behind the killings. Bianchi's plea deal was the only thing that kept him from getting the death penalty. His cooperation helped prosecutors convict Buono. But despite the deal, parole has never been granted. Families of the victims have continued to speak out each time Bianchi goes before the board. And each time, the result has been the same: he stays behind bars.
Los Angeles Times
11-07-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Convicted ‘Hillside Strangler' serial killer gets denied parole; will be eligible in a decade
Kenneth A. Bianchi, one of the two men convicted in the so-called 'Hillside Strangler' serial murders that terrorized Los Angeles in the 1970s, lost his most recent bid for parole Thursday after 46 years behind bars. The California Board of Parole Hearings decided to deny Bianchi's parole after hearing testimony from several victims and opposition from prosecutors. The panel determined that he should be eligible for parole again in 10 years, officials said. Behind bars, Bianchi, now 74, changed his name to Anthony D'Amato two years ago, Bianchi has been behind bars, most recently in Washington state, since 1979 when he and his cousin and crime partner, Angelo Buono Jr., were apprehended in connection with 12 murders of women in Los Angeles and Washington state. The two men impersonated police officers to lure in their victims from nearby locales — an bus bench in Eagle Rock, the Tamarind Terrace apartments in Hollywood — before raping, torturing and murdering them, then discarded their bodies on hillsides around the city. Bianchi cut a plea bargain that held out the possibility of parole, and he agreed to testify against Buono. Bianchi pleaded guilty to the five California killings and one count of conspiracy to commit murder, kidnap and rape in October 1979. He later pleaded guilty to the two Washington killings. He is serving his sentences for all the killings at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary in southeastern Washington state but is entitled to California parole hearings. Buono, a Glendale upholsterer, was convicted after a two-year trial of nine of the Hillside Strangler killings in late 1983. Buono was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He died in a California prison in 2002. In January 1979, Bellingham police detectives in Washington state arrested Bianchi as the prime suspect in the strangulation murders of two Western Washington University students, Karen L. Mandic and Diane A. Wilder. He would admit to those killings and then reveal his involvement in multiple murders in L.A. Despite his plea and confession, Bianchi has insisted in appeals over the years on his innocence. Bianchi alleged his confession and guilty pleas were coerced by 'hypnotic manipulation' and that the facts of his confession did not match the physical evidence.
