L.A. SUSPECT CONFESSES TO HILLSIDE STRANGLINGS: THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 20, 1979

Since the fall of 1977, Los Angeles had lived with a name and no face. On Friday, October 19, 1979, the face wept in a courtroom in Bellingham, Washington. Kenneth Bianchi, 28, a security guard who, as the UPI story put it, had always wanted to be a policeman, stood before Judge Jack Kurtz wearing a bulletproof vest under a three-piece suit and gave up his insanity plea. He pleaded guilty to murdering two Western Washington University students, confessed to the Hillside Strangler killings, and named the man who had done them with him: his cousin.

Angelo Buono Jr., 44, an upholsterer, was arrested at his home in Glendale less than half an hour later. He had always denied any part in the killings and had even sued the Los Angeles Police Department for naming him as a suspect. Bianchi took two consecutive life terms in Washington, and Los Angeles District Attorney John Van De Kamp announced the rest of the bargain: Bianchi would plead guilty to five of the Los Angeles murders, and California would not seek his death as long as he testified truthfully against Buono. "I can't find the words to express the sorrow for what I have done," Bianchi told the judge.

The story jumps to page 2A, and there the dead begin to have names. Yolanda Washington was last seen on a Hollywood street corner on October 17, 1977, and found the next day near Griffith Park. Cindy Lee Hudspeth, 20, vanished from her apartment on February 16, 1978, and was found the next day in the trunk of her car at the bottom of a ravine. In Bellingham he killed Karen Mandic, 22, of Bellevue, and her roommate, Diane Wilder, 27, of Bremerton. Under hypnosis he had blamed an alter ego, Steve Walker. Four experts called it a fake. The local prosecutor believed Bianchi "finally cracked and agreed to cooperate because he could see there was just too much evidence stacking up against him."

This is wire copy written the day the case broke, not a court record. The paper gives Yolanda Washington's age as 20; she was nineteen. It counts the series as 13 young women, ten of them charged; ten is the number of Hillside Strangler killings, and the other deaths once attached to it were later taken off. It places the killings at Buono's apartment, where other accounts give his upholstery shop in Glendale. The caption spells the cousin "Bueno" and says Bianchi changed his plea to insanity, the reverse of what happened. Bianchi pleaded guilty to seven murders, two in Washington and five in California, and is serving life at Walla Walla. Buono was convicted in 1983, sentenced to life, and died in prison in 2002.

The Salt Lake Tribune printed this United Press International story on October 20, 1979, with an Associated Press Laserphoto of Bianchi in court. The scan comes from Utah Digital Newspapers at the University of Utah's J. Willard Marriott Library, which rates this issue In Copyright. No copyright notice was found on the article or on the issue as a whole, and the citation and the library's rights rating sit under the scan.

Both parts of the story were transcribed word for word, with nothing illegible. On the front page the first column runs longer than the second, so it was captured in three crops: the headline with both columns, the foot of the first column, and the photograph with its caption; the continuation on page 2A follows in full. The jump line reads "See Page 2, Column 5." Kept as printed: "judge Jack Kurtz" in lower case, "bullet proof," "grey suit" and the caption's "Bueno."

Transcription

Transcribed word for word from the page scans. Original spelling, punctuation, capitalisation and typographical errors have been kept exactly as printed. Unreadable words are marked [illegible]. Nothing has been modernised or corrected.

Page 1

L.A. Suspect Confesses To Hillside Stranglings

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (UPI) — Kenneth Bianchi, a security guard who always wanted to be a policeman, pleaded guilty Friday to the murder of two Washington coeds and confessed to the Los Angeles "Hillside Strangler" slayings in a deal to save himself from the gallows or the gas chamber.

Bianchi, 28, also named his cousin, Angelo Buono Jr., 44, an upholsterer, as his accomplice in the slayings of 10 of the 13 young women whose killings terrorized metropolitan Los Angeles in 1977 and 1978.

Buono was arrested at his home in suburban Glendale, Calif., less than half an hour after Bianchi entered his guilty pleas in a Bellingham courtroom to the slayings of the college coeds.

Bianchi was sentenced to two consecutive life terms for the Washington killings. A short time later Los Angeles County District Attorney John Van De Kamp announced he had agreed to plead guilty to five of the "strangler" slayings.

No Death Penalty

Van De Kamp said California would not seek the death penalty if Bianchi — who could have been hanged in Washington or put to death in the California gas chamber under its capital punishment law for unusual homicides — appeared as a truthful witness for the state in Buono's trial.

Trembling and weeping at times, Bianchi wore a bullet proof vest under a three-piece grey suit when he appeared before judge Jack Kurtz and changed his plea to guilty from one of innocent by reason of insanity.

"I can't find the words to express the sorrow for what I have done," he told the judge.

"In no way can I take away the pain I have given to others and in no way can I expect forgiveness from mothers."

Cousin Involved

Buono had maintained he had no part in the killings and even has sued the Los Angeles Police Department for naming him as a suspect, but Bianchi claimed he was equally, if not more, involved in the "strangler" slayings.

A complaint by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office detailed how Bianchi and Buono allegedly picked up the girls, took them to Buono's apartment in Glendale, strangled them and tossed their naked bodies onto the slopes of the Hollywood Hills.

Although Bianchi confessed only five of those murders and Buono was charged with 10, there was little doubt that police felt they were jointly or

See Page 2, Column 5

[Photo caption] —Associated Press Laserphoto Kenneth Bianchi sobs after pleading guilty to murders of two coeds. Bianchi changed his plea to innocent by reason of insanity and named his cousin Angelo Bueno Jr. as his accomplice.

Page 2A

L.A. Suspect Confesses To Hillside Stranglings

Continued From Page One

individually responsible for all 10.

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates said he now considered the "strangler" case closed.

Gates said an investigation would continue in the deaths of three other victims originally linked to the "strangler" slayings and indicated he did not expect Bianchi or Buono to ever be charged in those killings.

First Victim

The first victim named in the complaint against the two suspects, Yolanda Washington, 20, was last seen alive on a Hollywood street corner Oct. 17, 1977. Her body was found the next day near Griffith Park.

The last victim in the string of slayings was Cindy Lee Hudspeth, 20, who vanished from her apartment Feb. 16, 1978. Her body was found the next day in the trunk of her car at the bottom of a mountain ravine.

Bianchi moved to Bellingham later that year. It was there that he continued his rampage, killing Western Washington University students Karen Mandic, 22, of Bellevue, Wash., and her roommate Diane Wilder, 27, of Bremerton, Wash.

Bianchi was scheduled to appear in Los Angeles Municipal Court Monday for arraignment on a complaint listing 25 felony charges. Buono was to be arraigned later in the day.

Both suspects were charged with eight counts of conspiracy to commit murder, rape, kidnapping; one count of conspiracy to commit murder, rape, kidnapping and sodomy; one count of conspiracy to commit pimping and pandering; and a count of conspiracy to commit extortion.

Both are also charged with one count of pimping. In addition, Bianchi is accused of one additional count of sodomy and Buono of two such counts.

An Alter Ego

Washington authorities said that, under hypnosis, Bianchi assumed the identity of an alter ego named Steve Walker who admitted five of the strangler murders. They said that it was while under hypnosis that Bianchi first implicated his cousin.

However, two mental health experts picked by the prosecution and two others appointed by the court concluded that Bianchi was faking and the alter ego was bogus. They and two defense experts all agreed that he was mentally competent to stand trial.

Bellingham prosecutor David McEachran said he believed Bianchi "finally cracked and agreed to cooperate because he could see there was just too much evidence stacking up against him."

"The only reason that the death penalty was not sought," he added, "was our concern in prosecuting Bianchi's accomplice in the California murders.

"My major responsibility is the protection of society."

Notes: Kept as printed: "judge Jack Kurtz" (lower-case "judge"); "bullet proof"; "grey suit". The photo caption gives the cousin as "Angelo Bueno Jr." while the story says "Buono". The page-1 jump line says "See Page 2, Column 5". On page 1 column 1 runs further than column 2, which ends above the "Inside The Tribune" box. So page 1 is supplied as ARTICLE-CROP-PAGE-1.jpg (headline and both columns), ARTICLE-CROP-PAGE-1-PART-2.jpg (the foot of column 1) and ARTICLE-CROP-PAGE-1-PHOTO.jpg (the photograph and caption). No words were illegible.