Spotlighted : October 2004

(see Angelo Buono)

 

 

 

Investigators connected the murders being that of a serial killer due-to the calling card of all victims having the five-point ligature marks on they're ankles,wrists,and neck.After Wagner's & Miller's murder,two witnesses(Beulah Stofer & Markust Camden)came forward with information of seeing two men abducting both the victims.While police were investigating these murders in California,police in Washington were looking into the disappearence and murders of Mandic & Wilder.The day after they disappeared,Mandic's boss came forward telling of something about a friend of Mandic's that was a security guard in Bayside that had just gotten Mandic a house-sitting job,the security guard's name was Kenneth Bianchi.They called Bianchi and asked where he was the night Mandic disappeared-he told them that he was attending a Sheriff's Reserve meeting,but when police investigated into this,they found out that Bianchi had never shown up at the meeting that night.Police issued a search warrant on Bianchi's home,where they found various stolen goods from homes Bianchi had watched as a security guard,but among those things,they found a ring that belonged to the first victim,Washington.Tests were conducted at the home in which Mandic was going to be house-sitting,and the test results came back:hair from Bianchi was found,and police also found carpet fibers from the home on Bianchi himself.Police found similarities between these murders,and the Hillside Strangler murders in California-they then found out,with futhur research,that Bianchi had lived in Los Angeles during the time of the infamous murders,and also in the same building as one of the victims(Weckler).Washington police contacted the Los Angeles Police Department and sent a photo of Bianchi to them,along with information they had found out about him.Los Angeles' police released the photo into the newspapers,and they recieved a phone call from a lawyer(David Wood),whom stated that he had had saved two women(Becky Spears & Sabra Hannan),whom had been held captive and forced into prostitution by Bianchi and another man,Angelo Buono.A photo lineup was shown to the two witnesses from before(Camden & Stofer),Stofer pointed out Bianchi as the man she had seen that night.Bianchi was questioned and he eagerly began to confess to the murders,but stating that Buono had started them and helped him through them.

 

Bianchi pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity,claiming he had amnesia and was schizophrenic.Three doctors were brought in to talk to him,but only the last one figured out Bianchi was lying;with these findings,the insanity plea was thrown out.A deal was then made,stating that if Bianchi pleaded guilty and testified truthfully against Buono,he would recieve life in prison without parole in California(the thought behind this,is because,according to statistics,prisons in California are more "humane" then those in Washington),but if Bianchi didn't agree to the deal,he would be elgible for the death penalty-Bianchi agreed.Bianchi did not go to trial due-to pleading guilty.He was sentenced to two life sentences in Washington,but must serve time in California first,for the murders he help commit there.While Bianchi was in prison,he met a woman named Veronica Compton,whom fell "in love" with him suddenly and Bianchi convinced her to go to Bellingham and strangle a woman so that the investigators would believe that the Hillside Strangler is still at large-unfortunately,Compton agreed to do this.Before she left,Bianchi gave her a glove with his semen inside to plant on the women when she was dead(at this time,DNA could not be extracted from semen).Compton's attempt failed,the woman(Kim Breed)overpowered her and Compton went back to California,but before she left,she sent a letter and tape stating that Bianchi isn't the Hillside Strangler,that the attempted strangling of Breed was by the "real" Hillside Strangler.Officers didn't believe the letter/tape,and they traced in back to Compton,whom was placed under arrest and was sent to prison for attempted first degree murder.Bianchi is currently in Walla Walla prison in Washington-records state that he is elgible for parole in 2059.