Reason First: The Salesman and the Getaway Driver- The Hillside Stranglers

Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono were cousins, but the brutal murders they committed together bonded them to each other like blood brothers. Without a rational care in the world, the pair indulged their sadistic fantasies when they tortured, sexually assaulted and raped twelve women between them.

Psychologists and detectives alike have studied the two of them extensively, but still haven’t decided who was the more dominant one. They speculate it was Bianchi who lured the girls with his smile and salesman-like charm, while Buono provided the muscle and getaway car. Buono was the more obviously egomaniacal of the two, but neither he nor his cousin even considered living lives of rational egoism; to do so would have meant recognizing other people as separate individuals rather than objects of gratification.

Forensics Specialist Professor Louis Schlesinger described Bianchi as a pathological liar. In a study, he detailed how 97% of adults lie on a daily basis. He also said the remaining 3% lie about lying. Bianchi was an exception to this rule. Whereas most people lie to get out of small trouble, or tell tall tales to add color or interest to their stories, Bianchi made a ritual of lying, like a bad habit he relied on, almost methodically. He made a game of creating as many false truths as he could, and seeing how many people he could persuade to believe them.

From 1977 to 1979, the cousins terrorized the West Coast. As the bodies of young women and girls piled up, investigators desperately needed a break to stop Bianchi’s and Buono’s vicious streak of murders. Glendale, California and Bellingham, Washington were becoming too well-known as hot-spots of horrific violence against women. Initially the public was slightly less alarmed because Bianchi and Buono targeted prostitutes, but when business student Lauren Wagner was abducted and slain in the same manner, pressure mounted for authorities to do something.

Forensics psychiatrist Dr. Helen Morrison created the profile of these serial killers. The way the young women had been displayed in the nude along the hills of California suggested the perpetrator(s) wanted to show off their “work.” As sick as it sounds, Morrison explained, this was their way of proudly broadcasting to the world “look what we did.”

After the first few killings, the media reported the unknown assailant as “The Hillside Strangler,” but after they discovered the body of Cindy Lee Hudspeth, investigators began to develop an evidence-based theory that the strangler had an accomplice. The young woman’s body was found in the trunk of her car on the side of the hill, but investigators observed that it would be too conspicuous, and expose a lone killer to potential witnesses, if they committed the crime, and then casually walked back to the main road at night. Prosecutor Robert Boren pieced together the idea that someone “wouldn’t” walk where police might sight him, so he must have had an accomplice. Thanks to the addition of this evidence to the profile, the “Hillside Strangler” became “stranglers,” plural.

After they were finally in custody, Boren was able to use the evidence and the psychological profiles of these killers to build his case against them. They were sane, he argued, but psychopathy and sanity are not mutually exclusive. They knew well enough to plan and lie, and they derived pleasure from their crimes. He described how Buono in particular would flash a false badge at prostitutes and initiate false arrests just for the thrill of scaring the poor women. Sadly, that was the least of what “thrilled” him.

Bianchi helped Boren torpedo the duo’s defense, with the help of hero Dr. Martin Orne. Bianchi had entered a plea of insanity, claiming he was suffering from multiple personality disorder, but Dr. Martin Orne, who didn’t believe him, devised a way to test Bianchi’s claim. He pretended to hypnotize Bianchi, and believing himself to be hypnotized, Bianchi lied about having visual hallucinations. Dr. Orne then showed that multiple personality disorder does not cause visual hallucinations, so Bianchi was clearly lying. Bianchi tried to cop a plea after that, but it was too late. His obsession with lying sealed his fate.

Bianchi and Buono were convicted in the end, and received life sentences. Buono died in jail in 2002.