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Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono terrorized Los Angeles for several months in late 1977 and early 1978, raping and killing 10 victims together before Kenneth Bianchi went off on his own, killing two more victims in Seattle before finally being caught. Kenneth Bianchi: On May 22, 1951, Kenneth Alessio Bianchi was born to his mother, a 17-year-old prostitute and alcoholic, in Rochester, New York. Only two weeks after Kenneth was born, his mother gave him up. Just three months later, a couple, Nicholas Bianchi and Frances Scioliono, decided to adopt Kenneth. It wasn't long before problems arose with Kenneth. Early on, his mother noticed very worrying signs...her son seemed to be a compulsive liar, he had violent temper tantrums, he did poorly in school despite seeming to have an above average intelligence, he wet the bed often as well as having infrequent daytime accidents, and there were times where Kenneth would stare off into space and his eyes would roll back into his head. After bringing her son to the doctor several times, the five-year-old Kenneth was diagnosed with petit mal seizures. In an attempt to correct her son's behavior, Frances sent Kenneth to a private Catholic school early on where he showed some aptitude for writing, but did not apply himself elsewhere. His time at this school seems to be where he developed his skewed perspective of women. It put it in his head that women should be the perfect example of Catholic purity, and reality disappointed him everywhere he went. Learning the truth about his birth mother would have worsened his views of women even more. At the age of 10, Kenneth was diagnosed as having a passive-aggressive personality disorder. At 11, it was found that Kenneth had an IQ of 116. Then, when Kenneth was 12, he pulled down a 6-year-old girls underwear, saying that he "liked doing it." When Kenneth was 13, his father died of pneumonia, and it is said that Kenneth did not show any signs of grief whatsoever. The death of his father forced his mother to go back to work, which meant he was sent back to public school. He continued to underachieve in school, but did manage to graduate in 1970. Not long after graduating from Gates-Chili High School, Kenneth married his high-school sweetheart, Brenda Beck. However, the marriage only lasted for eight months, and Brenda supposedly left him without warning or reason why. Enrolling in community college, Bianchi took classes in police science and psychology in the hopes of becoming a police officer later on in life. Unfortunately, his lack of effort in school made him drop out before he could graduate. He did apply at the sheriff's department after dropping out of college, but his application was rejected. After the rejection, he took a job as a security guard at a jewelry store. Bianchi stole from his job often, taking valuable jewelry to give to his girlfriends or prostitutes he met. Because of the constant petty crimes he committed, Bianchi moved around a lot. Eventually, however, Bianchi moved all the way to Los Angeles, where he met up with his older cousin, Angelo Buono, who would later become his partner in the horrific crimes he committed. Angelo Buono: Not much is known of Angelo Buono's childhood. He was born on October 5, 1934 in Rochester, New York to Italian immigrants. Buono racked up a sheet of multiple crimes, including failure to pay child support, grand theft auto, assault, and rape. Then, when Buono was 41-years-old, his cousin, Kenneth Bianchi, met up with him in Los Angeles. Murders: Bianchi and Buono started off working together as pimps when they first met up. Before long, this turned into more, and they would become known as the Hillside Stranglers. Their first two victims were two teenagers, Sabra Hannan and Becky Spears. However, these two girls luckily escaped after a few weeks of captivity. Unfortunately, this escape led them to go looking for more girls to hold prisoner. They began to drive around in Buono's car with fake badges, luring girls into their car and saying they were police officers, explaining the plain car as an undercover vehicle. Yolanda Washington: Only 19 years old and a mother to a 2-year-old daughter, Tameika, Yolanda was the first victim to be killed by Bianchi and Buono. She was last seen by a music store owner, Ronald LeMieux, who told police he'd seen two men with badges handcuff her and push her into the back seat of their car. Her body was found on October 18, 1977 in Glendale, California near the hills of Griffith Park. She had been raped and had been tied around the neck, wrists, and legs with fabric. Judith Miller: Just 15 years old, Judith was a runaway trying to survive on the streets. She was last seen outside Carney's Diner on Halloween 1977, talking to Bianchi and Buono. Her body was found naked on a hillside in La Crescenta on November 1, 1977. She had also been raped and sodomized and had ligature marks on her wrists and ankles. Lissa Kastin: A 21-year-old waitress, Elissa Kastin, was last seen leaving the restaurant where she worked on November 5, 1977. On her way home, Bianchi and Buono pulled her over, presented their fake badges, handcuffed her, and told her they needed to take her in for questioning. Her body was found the next day near the Chevy Chase Glendale Country Club. She had ligature marks on her neck, wrists, and ankles and had been raped before being strangled. Catharine Lorre Baker: In early November 1977, Bianchi and Buono approached the daughter of famous actor Peter Lorre. Intending to abduct and kill her, they pulled her over, but when she presented her driver's license, they saw a picture of her sitting on her father's lap and let her go, not wanting the attention of killing a celebrity's daughter. Dolores Cepeda and Sonja Johnson: On November 13, 1977, 12-year-old Dolly Cepeda and 14-year-old Sonja Johnson boarded a bus in front of Eagle Rock Plaza on their way home. They were seen getting off the bus before being approached by two men in a sedan. Seven days later, on November 20, 1977, a 9-year-old boy found their bodies on a hillside near Dodger Stadium. They had both been raped and strangled, and their bodies had already begun decomposing when they were found. Kristina Weckler: 20 years old, Kristina was an honors student at the Art Center College of Design. Her body was also found on November 20, 1977, a few hours before Dolly Cepeda and Sonja Johnson were found. She had the same ligature marks on her neck, wrists, and ankles and had also been raped and sodomized. However, she also had puncture marks on her arm despite her not being a drug addict. It was later found that she had been tortured by being injected with an ammonia-based window cleaner, Windex. Evelyn Jane King: A 28-year-old aspiring actress, Evelyn had gone missing on November 9, 1977. Her body was not discovered until November 23, 1977, and while the stage of decomposition made it hard to determine whether she had been raped, she had been strangled like the others. Lauren Rae Wagner: 18-year-old Lauren Wagner was a business student who lived with her parents in San Fernando Valley. She had been expected home before midnight, but when her father found her car across the street with the door wide open, he talked to the neighbor, who claimed she saw two men grab Lauren, who screamed, "You won't get away with this!" Her body was found on November 29, 1977 on the hills around Mount Washington in Los Angeles. She had the same ligature marks and had burn marks on her hands from being tortured. Kimberly Martin: 17 years old, Kimberly was a prostitute who recently joined a call girl agency for better protection from the men kidnapping girls off the streets. Bianchi and Buono placed a call through her agency from a library pay phone and she was dispatched. Police found the apartment she had been dispatched to, and it had been broken into and vacated. Her naked body was found on December 14, 1977 on a deserted lot near Los Angeles City Hall. Her body also showed signs of torture. Cindy Hudspeth: 20-year-old Cindy was a part-time waitress and student who went to Buono's upholstery shop for work on her car. Her body was found in the trunk of her car, an orange Datsun, which had been abandoned on a cliff on the Angeles Crest Highway on February 17, 1978. She had ligature marks and had been raped and tortured. Arrest and Trials: Bianchi and Buono were charged with the crimes in January 1979. Bianchi, who had been in a relationship with a woman named Kelli Boyd, gave birth to their son Ryan just days after the last murder. Just a few weeks later, Boyd broke it off with Bianchi and moved to Bellingham, Washington. Bianchi followed her in May of 1978. Then, on January 12, 1979, Bianchi kidnapped and murdered two Western Washington University students. However, he was clumsy and didn't cover his tracks well, leading to his arrest the next day. Because he killed the girls the same way he'd killed the girls in Los Angeles and was carrying a California driver's license, police realized he was the Hillside Strangler. Once threatened with capital punishment, Bianchi gave up Buono as his partner. During the trial, Bianchi attempted to plead insanity and that he had multiple personality disorder, but that was unsuccessful. He then plead guilty to the ten California murders and the two Washington murders and testified against Buono to avoid the death penalty. Bianchi received six life sentences. Buono pleaded innocent to the ten murders, but was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, as the jury voted against capital punishment. As the trial ended, Judge Ronald George said to the court, "Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi slowly squeezed out of their victims their last breath of air and their promise for a future life. And all for what? The momentary sadistic thrill of enjoying a brief perverted sexual satisfaction and the venting of their hatred for women. If ever there was a case where the death penalty is appropriate, this is the case. I would not have the slightest reluctance to impose the death penalty in this case were it within my power to do so. Ironically, although these two defendants utilized almost every form of legalized execution against their victims, the defendants have escaped any form of capital punishment." While in prison, Angelo Buono married Christine Kizuka, who was a supervisor at the California State Employment Development Department and a mother of three. Buono ultimately died in September 2002 of a heart attack while still incarcerated at Calipatria State Prison. Kenneth Bianchi is still serving out his prison sentence at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla. He married a Louisiana pen pal in 1989. His 2010 request for parole was denied, and he will be eligible for parole again in 2025.

The Ramsey family: John Bennett Ramsey, Patsy Ramsey, 9 year-old Burke Ramsey, and 6 year-old JonBenet Ramsey. They lived in an 11,000 square foot home in Boulder, Colorado. John Ramsey was a multi-millionaire, working at a business called Access Graphics, and Patsy Ramsey was a former beauty queen, having been crowned Miss West Virginia of 1977. Because her mother had been a beauty queen, Jonbenét was put in pageants very early on and had won several titles. On the night of the murder, the Ramsey family was at a Christmas party hosted by close friends of theirs, Fleet and Priscilla White. They were some of the last people to see Jonbenét alive. The Ramsey's reportedly left the White's house around 10 pm. According to both John and Patsy, Jonbenét fell asleep in the car and they brought her straight upstairs to bed before going to bed themselves, as they had an early flight the next day. The Murder: On December 26, 1996, at 5:52 am, Patsy Ramsey called 911. On the call, she told the dispatcher that there was a ransom note on the staircase and that her daughter, Jonbenét, was gone. Police arrived at the home no more than seven minutes later, and not long after, several friends of the Ramsey's arrived, having been called by Patsy and asked to come over immediately. John Ramsey and Fleet White search the whole house together. Fleet found a broken window in the basement, which John claimed he had broken earlier that year when he locked himself out of the house. Fleet also opened the door to the wine cellar, but couldn't find a light switch, so he didn't look much further. Unfortunately, even once police arrived, the scene was not properly sealed off, and friends of the family were coming in and out of the house constantly, contaminating the crime scene and making it difficult to investigate the scene. Detectives arrived nearly two hours after police first arrived. Only one detective brought a tape recorder with them, which was hooked up to their phone in case of a ransom call, which never came, despite the ransom note stating they would call between 8 and 10 am. At around 1 pm, Detective Linda Arndt suggested that John and Fleet go and search the house again. This time, John was the one who looked into the wine cellar in the basement, and that's when he found Jonbenét's body. By that time, rigor mortis had already set in. Her arms were raised above her head, and her hands were tied loosely with rope. There was duct tape over her mouth, and a thick nylon cord wrapped around her neck. Her body was also partially covered with a blanket. John immediately removed the duct tape from his daughter's mouth, picked his daughter up, holding her out in front of him at arms length, and rushed upstairs with Jonbenét. All of this contaminated the crime scene even further, making it even harder to collect evidence. Autopsy Results: The autopsy revealed that the cause of death was asphyxiation by strangulation, however, there was also an 8 1/2 inch crack in Jonbenét's skull from blunt force trauma that doctors say also likely would have killed her. This blow likely knocked her out, but it did not break the skin, so all the bleeding was inside her skull. Her dinner from the previous night was completely digested, but pineapple was found in her stomach, indicating she hadn't gone straight to bed like her parents said. There were also abrasions found on her lower back and cheek, which are said to be consistent with stun gun marks, however, some people think they are from wooden train tracks that her brother Burke often played with. There were also blood and wood fibers from a paintbrush in her vaginal canal, indicating she had been sexually assaulted. Unidentified DNA was found under Jonbenét's fingernails as well as in her underwear. Evidence: Ransom note: there was a three page ransom note left on the bottom of the staircase. It was written on a pad from the Ramsey kitchen with a pen from the Ramsey house. It asked for $118,000 -- the exact amount John had received as a bonus that year -- and that they not contact the police or tell anyone about the kidnapping or they would kill Jonbenét. Once it was discovered that it had been written inside the home, all of the Ramsey's and close friends gave handwriting samples. Patsy was the only one who couldn't be cleared. There was a broken window in the basement that John claimed he broke earlier in the year. There was a suitcase under the window and a bootprint on the suitcase. However, there were cobwebs around the window, indicating it may have been staged. There was DNA found under Jonbenét's fingernails and in her underwear, along with a matching fingerprint on her long johns that has never been identified. There was a bowl of pineapple and milk on the kitchen counter that had Burke's fingerprints on it. Some of that pineapple was found in Jonbenét's stomach. Several items were never found, including the roll of duct tape, the unused section of rope used for the garrote, the object used to cause the head trauma, some of the pages from the notepad with practice ransom notes, and part of the broken paintbrush used to make the garrote. Several experts have also said that they heard Burke's voice in the background of the 911 call, meaning that Burke was not actually asleep like John and Patsy kept stating. Burke's baseball bat was found outside the home, and had no fingerprints or DNA, indicating it had been wiped clean. It also contained fibers from the carpet in the basement, which proves it had recently been in the basement. Burke has been documented having issues with anger before, once hitting Jonbenét with a golf club out of anger. The maid who worked for the Ramsey's had also seen Burke 'playing doctor' with Jonbenét on several occasions. Patsy had on the same makeup and clothing as she did the night before and her bed did not seem to have been slept in. Experts have determined that Jonbenét showed previous signs of sexual abuse. Theories: There are a lot of theories surrounding this case. Some people believe an intruder did it, others believe that Burke did it and that John and Patsy helped cover it up. Others believe that John or Patsy did it alone and that they are (possibly) covering for each other. Theory 1: An intruder did it: In this theory, an intruder broke into the house, possibly through the broken window, after the Ramseys had gone to bed, took Jonbenét from her room, possibly intending to truly kidnap her. Jonbenét fought back, so they hit over the head with something heavy, knocking her out, and they then sexually assaulted her. It's possible they'd already written the ransom note and decided to leave it, or that they wrote it after accidentally killing her to avoid them finding her body, giving them enough time to get out of town. Theory 2: Burke did it, and John and Patsy covered it up: In this theory, Burke may have gotten hungry and gone downstairs to make himself a snack, which explains the pineapple and milk on the counter. It's possible Jonbenét wandered downstairs and grabbed a piece of pineapple from the bowl. Burke got mad, and hit her over the head, not meaning to seriously hurt her, but he accidentally cracked her skull open and she was knocked out. He took her down to the basement, where he 'experimented' with her, which would explain the traces of wood in her vaginal canal, and he strangled her, which ended up killing her. Patsy and John see what he's done and panic. They decide they don't want to lose both their children, and they begin to stage the scene, duct taping her mouth, loosely tying her hands above her head, covering her body with the blanket, writing the ransom note, and telling Burke to go to bed. They call the police and their friends, who immediately come over, which contaminates the crime scene. When John 'finds' her body, he removes the duct tape, picks her up, and carries her upstairs to further contaminate evidence. 3. Theory 3: John did it: In this theory, it's possible that the previous signs of sexual abuse had been from John. He went into her room after Patsy had gone to bed, intending to molest her. Maybe Jonbenét threatened to tell on him, or maybe he accidentally went too far and hurt her. She was crying, so he took her downstairs for some pineapple and milk. She was still upset with him, and he realized he couldn't keep it going like it was, so he grabbed something heavy and hit her over the head. He realized what he had done and brought her down to the basement, where he strangled her and staged the scene. Maybe John went upstairs and wrote the ransom note, trying to disguise his handwriting, not even realizing it looked like Patsy's. Or maybe Patsy realized what he'd done and didn't want what. had really happened to get out, so she wrote the ransom note to help cover it up. 4. Theory 4: Patsy did it: In this theory, it's possible that Jonbenét wet the bed and Patsy just got upset. with her. Maybe she was downstairs with her mother, eating the pineapple her mother prepared her, when Patsy accidentally shoved her, making Jonbenét fall and crack her head open. Patsy panics, so. she takes her down to the basement and strangles her and stages the scene. She writes the ransom note, 'finds' it on the stairs and immediately calls 911, saying her daughter has been kidnapped. Has anybody been charged with the murder? To this day, nobody has ever been charged with the murder of Jonbenét Ramsey. However, John and Patsy Ramsey were put up on charges early on, where the grand jury on the case voted to indict them on charges of child abuse resulting in death. Despite this, the District Attorney at the time decided not to sign the indictment, stating there was not enough evidence, and the grand jury was dismissed. There has also been over a hundred other suspects in the case. John Mark Karr once confessed to the murder, but he was released when his DNA did not match the DNA found on Jonbenét's body. Police also looked into a man named Bill McReynolds, who worked as a Santa Claus at the party the Ramseys had gone to, and who had reportedly given Jonbenét a note that read, "Something special will happen to you after Christmas." However, he was cleared of the murder. Another suspect was Michael Helgoth, who owned a pair of Hi-Tec boots, which could have been the boots from the bootprint under the broken window, as well as a stun gun, which could have matched the marks on Jonbenét's back and cheek. He died of suicide shortly after her death, and the police also cleared him after his DNA did not match.

Hi, I'm Avery! I've always had a passion for true crime and I've lurked around Youtube and other blogs for years before now finally deciding to make my own! My main goal with this blog is to spread the word about some lesser known cases to get justice for those victims as well as cover some of the more well known cases out there.