The Murder Of Kenneth Bianchi

Beginning October 16, 1977, two cousins by the name of Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono Jr, began terrorizing women aged 12 to 28 years old in the Los Angeles area. Out of the ten victims, three were prostitutes and the other seven were from middle class neighborhoods. These victims were subject to this pair’s “trademark method of operation” (Chavez & Gorman, 2002), in which the pair posed at policemen and brought the women to a van that transported them to Buono’s Upholstery Shop, “where they were sexually assaulted in all manners, tortured, and strangled to death” (The Hillside Stranglers, 2018). From there these cousins meticulously cleaned the victims and then dumped the naked, mutilated bodies in plain sight among the hillsides of Glendale

Kenneth Bianchi was born May 22, 1951 in New York, to a seventeen year old alcoholic prostitute who put him up for adoption (Kenneth Bianchi Biography, 2018). Bianchi was then adopted at a young age by Nicholas and Frances Bianchi in August of the same year and was raised as an only child. Bianchi’s childhood was characterised by a love- hate relationship with women, which continued into adulthood and he was known to be a compulsive liar with a quick temper, in which he was prone to throwing violent tantrums (McClary, 2008). This temperament helped distinguish him as a rabble rouser in school, “who took pleasure in manipulating his fellow students” (McClary, 2008). Despite his above average intelligence, this temperament also kept him from achieving academically and he was known as a poor student (McClary, 2008). Even though he had a turbulent relationship with women, Bianchi married his high school sweetheart, Brenda Beck, in 1971. This marriage ended after only 8 months, due to Bianchi’s philandering habits. Bianchi’s impulsivity seeped into his work environment as well, since due to his theft from these businesses he had to frequently change jobs (McClary, 2008). It was Bianchi’s dream to be a policemen, due to his want for power and control over others, but he was turned down by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department, and the Los Angeles and Glendale Police Departments after moving to

Starting in adolescence Buono starts to “boast to his friends about sodomizing and raping girls” (Cable et al., 2012), which was mirrored by the way he referred to women, even his other as “demeaning names like “whore” and “cunt”” (Cable et al., 2012 ). This behavior continued into early adulthood, when at 21 he impregnated a 17 year old school from high school, married her and then left her a week later (Cable et al., 2012). Buono went on to get married two other times and spawned eight children all together, which he is later accused of assaulting and refused to help raise. School was just as turbulent and he dropped out at 16 and was referred to remedial school, after already accumulating several arrests and had a ongoinging relationship with the prison system for the majority of his life for a variety of crimes including larceny and petty theft (Cable et al., 2012). During this time of adolescents he looked up to a notorious rapist, Caryl Chessman, and “considers Chessman his hero” (Cable et al., 2012). After opening his upholstery shop, his self importance grew and he began referring to himself as “The Italian Stallion”, in which he attracted the affection of young women and sought after his son’s girlfriends (Cable et al.,