Kenneth Bianchi & Angelo Buono | The Hillside Stranglers - Part 2
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Welcome to the Serial Killer Podcast. The podcast dedicated to serial killers. Who they were, what they did, and how. Episode 209. I am your humble host, Thomas Roseland Weyberg Thun. And tonight, we continue the tale of the Hillside Stranglers. Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Bono.

We left off last episode with a lead-up to one of their first major murders. In this episode, we take a closer look at what happened and more. Enjoy.

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the old Garden of Allah Hotel, once home to Eastern literary refugees like Scott Fitzgerald, used to be here, its Moorish bungalows by the time Bianchi and Buono rolled by, replaced by a white monolith building called Great Western Savings. Almost five decades later, today, the building still stands, but no longer houses a bank.

Beyond this point, Sunset Boulevard curved in and out, among giant billboards announcing a new album or a Las Vegas act, motels with adult movies, the Body Shop offering burlesque amateur contests Mondays and Wednesdays, and various bars and restaurants, until the boulevard straightened out and entered the heavily policed hush.

off beverly hills about half-way along the strip bono and bianchi noticed a petite girl standing alone on the sidewalk she stood in a driveway next to carney's express limited a diner converted from an old union pacific railroad car bono drove well past her and pulled over bianchi got out as planned and crossed the road

There he sat down on a bus bench to wait. He was at the corner of Sunset and Sweetser, just down from the Golden Crest Hotel, its marquee proclaiming, and I quote, Retirement living at its finest. Most luxurious residence in L.A. End quote.

He could see the girl across the street still standing in the driveway of the railroad diner, obviously, offering her body for sex in exchange for money. A minute later he caught sight of the Cadillac coming up sunset again. Bo'ono drove slowly past the girl and turned left, heading around the block once more. He was making it look, Bianchi figured, as though he had just spotted her.

He would have made eye contact with her, continuing on as if he had not yet decided if he wanted to use her services. Then he would return. This time, Bono pulled into Carney's driveway. The girl came up to his window and they talked. Then the girl went around to the passenger side and got in next to Bono. They sat chatting for a bit until the traffic thinned.

The Cadillac then backed out onto Sunset, made a U-turn, passed the bench where Bianchi waited, and turned right on Sweetser, rolling slowly down the side street. Bianchi, sensing that Buono did not want to work the scam where there was so much traffic, followed on foot. Sweetser ran down a steep hill, the lights of the city glimmering to the south. At the next corner, Buono turned right and pulled over.

In seconds, Bianchi was there. He opened the front door on the girl's side, leaned in, and said, showing his badge, that he was the police and that she was under arrest. The girl did not seem surprised, only disappointed. Bianchi told the girl to get into the back seat, which she willingly did, and he followed in beside her.

Bianchi closed the rear door, and Buono pushed a button that locked all the doors. Bianchi, attempting his best to imitate a police officer, told the girl he needed to put her in handcuffs. He handcuffed her, palms outward. As Buono drove off, he said, and I quote, There was a guy standing in that parking lot. You got a pimp? End quote.

The girl denied this, but Bono was not convinced. He headed back up Sunset and glanced into the parking lot of the Railroad Diner. It was empty. He headed east, not rushing, obeying the traffic laws. The girl, still under the impression she was under arrest by real law enforcement, asked if they were heading for the Hollywood Division.

Bono told her they were not. Instead, they were taking her to a special unit. The girl was silent as they drove through Hollywood, turning east on Franklin to Weston, north on Weston to Los Feliz, east on their way to Glendale. Finally, she asked why she was being arrested. Bianchi told her she was being arrested for solicitation.

then asked her if she had been arrested before. She had not. Bianchi studied her. She was tiny. She was wearing a light blouse and slacks and a dirty suede jacket. Her small leather purse sat in her lap. The handcuffs made her lean forward, her straight brown hair obscuring her face. She looked fourteen, sixteen at the outside.

By his estimation, she wouldn't give them much trouble. The young girl said nothing more until Buono pulled all the way into his driveway, under the metal awning that joined the house and the shop. The orange-grove apartments overlooked the shop and the house from the rear, but peering down from a second or third floor apartment, all anyone could see was the roof.

the two men was confident that they enjoyed complete privacy there were no risks of prying eyes and since the house was located where it was no outsiders could hear anyone scream bono got out and walked over to the laundry-room door at the side of the house unlocking it

Sparky, the dog, was waiting on the steps but knew not to enter the house. When the girl asked what kind of place they had brought her to, they replied that the house was in fact a satellite police station, quite unique. The men guided the girl into the house.

She did not resist. She was still under the impression that the men were police officers, and that all she had in store was a night in jail, and perhaps a fine. Worst case scenario, a few months behind bars. As Buono secured the deadbolt, Bianchi guided the girl into the living room, and sat her down in the brown vinyl easy chair. He put her purse on the dining room table.

Buono switched on some lights and approached the girl, telling the girl to sit tight. The men went into the kitchen to agree to a game plan, decide how they would go from there. Buono reached under the sink and brought out a roll of masking tape about three inches wide. By blindfolding the girl, she would not be able to run away, even if she somehow managed to break free from her restraints.

Then Buono lit up with a smile, told Bianchi to keep the girl busy talking while he fetched some items from his garage. Bianchi went into the living room and stood over the girl. She stared at the fish tank, avoiding his eyes. When he asked the girl her age, she replied that she was fifteen years old.

To this, the much older man sneered and commented that she was a bit young to be, and I quote, out-whoring. The girl wasn't much fazed by this. She had been insulted and stepped on all her life. But she knew then that she was not in any kind of police station and told Bianchi as much. He simply told her to shut up.

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never skip therapy day with better help visit betterhelp.com slash serial killer today to get 10% off your first month that's better help h-e-l-p dot com slash serial killer when bono returned he called bianchi into the kitchen again from his shop bono had retrieved an orange work rag

and a brick-sized piece of white foamy polyester material he used in stuffing car seats. He cut the foamy stuff in half with a pair of scissors and explained that they would put the material over each eye, secure it with tape, stuff the rag into her mouth, and secure that with the tape as well. It would be a good idea to make sure the masking tape went all the way around her head.

Bianchi was offered to do the task, to gag the girl, but he asked if Buono could do it instead. He was getting a bit nervous. Buono shrugged and said, OK, he would do it. But he needed Bianchi to stand behind the girl and hold her fast so that she did not squirm and thrash about too much. The two men returned to the living room, Buono holding the materials behind his back. They walked slowly up to her.

and Bianchi moved behind her, resting his hands on her shoulders. Knowing that something was very wrong, the now very concerned girl asked what the hell was going on and started to get up. Bianchi pressed down. She started to scream. Being a very petite girl, she was no match for the athletic Bianchi to hold down.

Boono produced the orange rag, rolled it into a ball, stuffed it into her mouth, unreeled a length of tape, sealed it over her mouth and wrapped the tape around her head three times, snipping it off with the scissors and rubbing it flat on the side of her face. Then he brought out the two pieces of foamy stuff and approached her eyes. She lowered her head, trying to avoid him.

Bianchi shoved her down as she squirmed and tried to rise again. Bianchi pulled back on her forehead with one hand and yanked back on her hair with the other. Smiling, Buono pressed the foam into her eyes and wrapped it with tape around her head three times. The girl slumped, defeated. Buono took the tape back into the kitchen, replaced it under the sink, and put the scissors away in the drawer.

Again, the two men retreated to the kitchen while the girl sat in the living room, trembling in utter terror. Bono and Bianchi could not care less about the well-being of their captive. Their main concern was how they most effectively could get the girl naked, which was what they discussed in the kitchen. They returned to the girl. When commanded to stand up, the girl tried to obey, but lost her balance and fell back into the chair.

They each took an elbow and helped her up and away from the chair. Bono found the handcuffs key on his key ring and removed them. He pulled off her jacket, walked with it over to the dining area and dropped it to the floor. A gold-smoked mirror wall behind the dining room table reflected the scene. Bono stared into the mirrored wall and liked what he saw. Everything was working.

It was going to be great. In the smoky mirror, he watched Bianchi remove her blouse. Bono unhooked her bra as Bianchi placed her blouse on her jacket. Bono commented on how small the girl's breasts were. He rolled up the bra and tossed it to Bianchi. Then he put the handcuffs back on her so that she was forced to push out her chest. He liked that.

Bianchi stood behind her again, holding her upper arms to steady her while Buono unzipped her pants. They eased her back into the chair. Buono removed her shoes and socks, told her to stand up again, and slid off her pants, telling her to lift one leg at a time. The girl complied. He let her stand there for a moment, nude, except for her underpants.

Then he pulled off her underpants, smiled up at Bianchi and gave the okay sign. He put her pants and underpants with the rest of her clothes, returned and grabbed an arm. While he led her into the spare bedroom, he kept reassuring the girl that she did not need to worry about anything. They were just going to have sex, and it wasn't as if she was a virgin now, was it?

The idea was to try and keep the girl as calm as possible, until she again was properly restrained. The spare bedroom on the east side of the house, between the master bedroom and the bathroom, had nothing in it except a single bed. No other furniture, nothing on the walls. The spare bedroom had a simple function.

He sat the girl on the bed and told her to lie down on her back, helping her get her legs up. She lay there, nude, gagged, blindfolded, handcuffed. Bono passed through the beading that hung down in place of a door between the spare bedroom and his bedroom. He turned on the light in his room and checked to see if it shone enough into the spare bedroom. Satisfied, he returned to Bianchi.

The men discussed who should rape the girl first. In the end, they decided to flip a coin over it. Buono dug into his pocket and pulled out a quarter. Buono won. Grinning, he looked at the girl's nude body as he spoke to Bianchi. He told his cousin to rifle through the girl's possessions while he had his fun. She might have some money or valuables, which would be a nice bonus. Bianchi followed Buono's instructions to the letter.

In her purse, he found two dollars and some change in a wallet with nothing else in it, except a snapshot of two little boys, one about eight, the other maybe four. He went through her jacket pockets, but found nothing. He heard noises. Buono's voice, indistinct but harsh, commanding, and female squeals. He must have taken the gag off.

Bianchi had a pretty good idea what his cousin was doing to the girl, and he liked it. The squeals turned him on. He wanted to see what Buono was doing. He imagined Buono's big penis thrusting in and out of the petite girl. Bianchi waited until it was quiet, then entered the spare bedroom through Buono's room, parting the hanging beads. His cousin had left his socks on.

He was lying atop the girl, who was on her back now, unmoving, knees up. The tape across her mouth had been partly ripped off, and the orange rag lay on the bed next to the wall. Bianchi figured Buono had gotten one or both of the things he liked best. As he suspected, Buono did not mind Bianchi entering the room. He smiled and told the younger man to bring his Polaroid camera. He wanted to document the scene.

Bianchi fetched the camera from the bedroom closet. It had film in it and a flash attached. Bianchi took the picture and tore off the film. Buono got off the girl and told her to put her legs down. He took the camera and film from Bianchi and told him it was his turn. Bianchi said he wanted to see how the photo came out first. They waited a minute in the dim light. Buono peeled back the photograph.

They were happy with the result, and Bianchi took off his clothes and climbed onto the guttle. After a few strokes, he breathed at her and said, and here I quote, Did he fuck you in the ass? Did he? Did he? Well, turn over, bitch. Turn over. Get ready for it. End quote. When Bianchi emerged from the spare bedroom, Buono had arranged her clothes in a neat pile on the dining room table.

The two dollars and change were gone, and the purse sat atop the pile. The men smiled at each other. Then Buono told Bianchi to gag the girl again. He found a rag on the bed, told the girl to open her mouth, stuffed the rag back in, and sealed her mouth with a few strips of tape. He returned to Buono and watched him put the clothes and purse into a large green garbage bag.

Buono ripped up the photograph and the negative and dropped them into the bag as well. Then, in a matter-of-fact voice, Buono said, and again I quote, Well, how are we gonna do this? How are we gonna strangle her? We gotta strangle her. It's the only way to do this, unless you got some other ideas. End quote.

Bianchi was slightly taken aback by this, that they actually would go through with murder, but eagerly agreed. They had already agreed on strangulation. Buono had been eloquent on the subject. He always liked talking about the best ways to kill. Shooting was too dangerous, he said. Gunshot wounds told too much of a story. They were messy, and bullets could be traced.

Other methods, bludgeoning to death, chopping her up, poisoning, introduced too many complications. They had never worked out the details, but strangulation was definitely the way to go. Besides, the thought of watching a girl gasping for breath was appealing in itself, they agreed.

When they returned to the bedroom, Buono approached the bed. In a soothing voice, he told the girl to sit up and explained that they would put her clothes back on. He eased on her underpants and slacks. He zipped up the slacks. Then he motioned to Bianchi that he was going to put her on the floor. Bianchi prepared to catch her. Buono lowered her to the floor. There, Bianchi bound her ankles as tightly as he could.

Buono came back, holding a plastic vegetable bag, the kind dispensed free at supermarkets. He seemed delighted with his ingenuity as he took a long cord from Bianchi and slung it around his neck. Buono was ready. He flexed his fingers and stood there, looking as efficient as a professional hangman. The girl lay on her back on the floor. Buono knelt behind her head.

He looked up at Bianchi, nodded vigorously at him, and Bianchi lowered himself quickly onto the girl's legs, facing her, sitting on her knees. She started fighting back then, as she more than suspected that the man was planning on doing something terrible, and she fought for her life.

She screamed behind her gag, tried to roll to the side, tried to rise up at the waist. Bono pressed his knees down onto her shoulders. He opened the plastic bag with both hands, jammed it over her head, pulled the cord from around his neck and wrapped it quickly once around her neck, sealing the bag. Bianchi raised his legs, letting his full weight press down through his butt on her knees.

Buono started to pull on the two ends of the cord, then shifted around and put one of the ends under his right foot, catching the knot against the side of the sole of his shoe, putting all his weight on that foot. Then he pulled on the other end of the cord with both hands and rose up, pulling, yanking. She was trying to buck and flex now.

Her bagged, roped head hit Bono's foot, and he lost his balance, falling over backward, cursing. He regained his position, one foot on the end of the cord, both hands on the other end. He yanked with all his strength, pulling upward and backward, letting out grunts of effort which mingled with the gargling death-rattles of the girl, who arched her back, fighting for her life.

The pain and fear the girl must have felt is almost unimaginable. As I so often tell you, dear listener, strangulation is not a kindly murder method. It is one of the most sadistic ones. The vegetable bag puffed frantically in and out with her breathing, then less frantically, then barely, and then it stopped puffing. She stopped flexing. She stopped breathing.

It was over. Buono and Bianchi had murdered their first victim together. This back-to-school season, you can count on Whole Foods Market to do the ingredient homework for you. They ban over 300 food ingredients, like high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated fats, and more. That's comforting when getting ready for back-to-school. From snacks to the condiments, their standards are truly best in class.

Speaking of, their best in class event is happening now, including an unmatched selection of allergy friendly options without nuts or dairy. Start the school year off right at Whole Foods Market. Hello, hello. This is Brooke DeVard from the Naked Beauty Podcast. And this is Sir John. And you and I both share this in common. We love a good pair of sunglasses. Oh, my God. Oh, yes. Even as we go into fall, a good pair of sunglasses can reset the whole mood. It's glamour flaging. Yeah.

Yes. And for sunglasses shaped, you find yourself going towards like more circular or angular. I love like a little bit of a cat eye. I know it sounds crazy. I try to push the limits when it comes to a genderless profile. I will tell you, Sunglass Hut has amazing customer service. You can get frames engraved in store. They can switch out lenses and make them prescription for you. They can help you find a gift. I always get amazing service when I go there. So get yourself a great pair of shades for every shade of you.

Hi, this is Jonathan Fields, host of The Good Life Project, where each week I talk to listeners about investing in their future by increasing their own vitality. But when it comes to those financial goals, whether it be saving for a home renovation, growing your child's college fund, or travel, life can make it difficult to stay the course. By working with a dedicated Merrill advisor, you get a personalized plan and a clear path forward. Having the bull at your back helps your whole financial life move with you. So when your plans change, Merrill's with you every step of the way.

Go to ml.com slash bullish to learn more. Merrill, a Bank of America company. What would you like the power to do? Investing involves risk. Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc., registered broker-dealer, registered investment advisor, member SIPC. And with that, we come to the end of part two in this series, which will be several episodes covering the saga of the Hillside Stranglers.

In two weeks I will bring to you part three. So, as they say in the land of radio, stay tuned.