What Happened To The Hillside Strangler Killers?

Reading about this duo feels like peeling an onion—each layer reveals something worse. Bianchi, the wannabe cop with a god complex, and Buono, the greaseball who enjoyed torture. After their spree, Bianchi tried to start fresh in Bellingham but couldn’t resist killing two more women there. That blunder got him caught, and he rolled on Buono to avoid the death penalty. The trials dragged on for years, with Buono representing himself at one point (bad idea). Their eventual convictions brought closure, but the damage was done—families shattered, LA traumatized. It’s crazy how their story keeps resurfacing in crime lore; I even spotted a reference in an episode of 'Mindhunter'.

Those two were a nightmare team. Bianchi’s still locked up in Washington, last I checked, and Buono died in prison decades ago. The way they operated—using fake authority to gain trust—still gets used as a cautionary tale in safety workshops. Makes my skin crawl just thinking about it.

True crime podcasts got me hooked on this case last year, and wow—the legal aftermath was almost as shocking as the murders. Bianchi’s trial was a circus. He claimed he had an alter ego named ‘Steve’ who made him do it, but prosecutors proved he’d cribbed the idea from a TV movie. The guy even failed his own made-up psychological tests! Buono got life at Folsom Prison and died of heart failure in 2002, while Bianchi’s still rotting in Walla Walla. What sticks with me is how their crimes exposed flaws in how law enforcement handled serial cases back then—jurisdictional gaps let them slip through for way too long. Their victims deserved better.

The Hillside Strangler case still gives me chills whenever I think about it. Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono Jr. were cousins who terrorized Los Angeles in the late 1970s, abducting and murdering young women in a brutal spree. Bianchi later tried to play the insanity card, but his fake 'multiple personalities' act was exposed—turns out, he’d been studying psychology books to craft his defense. Both were convicted, with Buono dying in prison and Bianchi still serving life. What’s wild is how their crimes became this morbid fascination in true crime circles, popping up in documentaries and even influencing horror tropes. The way they lured victims with fake police badges feels like something straight out of a 'Silence of the Lambs' prequel.

What gets me is how Bianchi’s narcissism unraveled his own scheme. After moving to Washington, he couldn’t resist killing again, which led to his arrest. The sheer arrogance of thinking he could outsmart everyone? Classic psychopath behavior. Buono, meanwhile, stayed in California running his upholstery shop like nothing was wrong until the net closed in. Their partnership was this twisted dynamic—Buono’s sadism paired with Bianchi’s need for validation. It’s a case that makes you question how monsters hide in plain sight.