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Welcome to the Serial Killer

0:37

Podcast. The podcast

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dedicated to serial killers.

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Who they were, what they did and

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how. Episode 211. I

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am your humble host, Tomas Roseland

0:50

Weiborg Thun. And tonight

0:53

we continue the tale of

0:55

the hillside stranglers Kenneth

0:57

Bianchi and Angelo Buono.

1:00

We left off last episode with the

1:03

continuation of the pair's gruesome

1:05

reign of rape, torture and murder.

1:08

Tonight we continue where

1:10

we left off and there is still

1:12

more murder and mayhem to come.

1:16

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don't miss out, and join now. The

3:23

young woman sat inside

3:25

the Cadillac, with a leering

3:27

Buono next to her, and Bianchi

3:30

driving. Buono,

3:32

who smelled of cheap cologne and

3:34

sweat, insisted on putting

3:36

her in handcuffs. She refused.

3:39

There was no way this was normal police

3:42

procedure. But the

3:44

large Italian-American insisted,

3:47

and she realized there was nothing

3:49

she could do. She was inside

3:52

the car, and it was speeding down the

3:54

highway. The night lights of

3:56

LA flashing by, as if from

3:59

some other world.

3:59

world entirely.

4:03

From time to time, as they drove

4:05

toward Glendale,

4:07

Lytha Castin continued to protest,

4:10

and when at last Bianchi pulled into

4:13

Buono's driveway and cut

4:15

a motor, she refused to get

4:17

out of the car. But

4:19

Bianchi coaxed her into the house,

4:21

suggesting that she had no choice,

4:24

which she did not.

4:27

From that point on, the procedure

4:29

was the same as with Judy Miller,

4:32

except that Buono worried that

4:34

this girl might fight.

4:36

So he kept her handcuffed and

4:38

cut off her clothes with a big pair

4:41

of upholstery scissors.

4:43

Naked, she tried to beg, pleading

4:46

with both cousins for her to be let

4:48

go.

4:49

Buono was put off by her

4:51

unshaven legs and derided

4:54

her as quote-unquote, some

4:56

kind of a health nut. He

4:58

decided to pass up to sex this

5:00

time, not even bothering to flip a

5:02

coin, growing sullen and

5:04

resentful at this affront to his

5:07

intentions. Washing

5:09

Bianchi, trying to work up some enthusiasm

5:12

for rape in the spare bedroom,

5:14

Blono handed him a root beer bottle.

5:18

This Bianchi violently inserted

5:21

into the young woman's vagina, causing

5:23

significant pain

5:24

and bleeding. Bianchi

5:27

applied the bottle with such eagerness

5:29

and animation that he made

5:31

her bleed quite significantly, much

5:34

to Buono's irritation.

5:36

Not out of pity for the woman,

5:38

but because blood would stain his

5:40

sheets and carpets.

5:43

To make sure she did not bleed on the carpet

5:45

when she was strangled, Buono

5:47

spread a piece of her coat on the

5:49

floor. The murder itself

5:51

went as before, except that Buono

5:54

added one new twist, tightening

5:57

and then slackening the cord, bringing

5:59

her to the

5:59

the brink of death and the back again,

6:02

several times over,

6:04

the lighting in the absolute

6:06

power of it.

6:07

At Bianchi's request,

6:09

the cousins traded places,

6:11

with Bianchi doing the final killing,

6:14

while Bono,

6:15

sitting on her knees and showing

6:18

real passion for the first time that night,

6:20

shouted,

6:22

and here I quote,

6:23

Die, can't, die.

6:29

Her belongings safely in the dumpster,

6:31

her body in the trunk, Bono

6:34

headed the Cadillac north towards

6:36

the hills. After a

6:38

few minutes, they were in the hills,

6:40

but not high up this time.

6:43

It was the beginning of a canyon

6:45

dotted with expensive, rather new

6:48

houses, then on the left,

6:50

the golf course of the Chevy

6:53

Chase Country Club. It's

6:55

a bend in the road where there were

6:57

no houses on the right,

6:59

and the golf course, fenced and

7:01

bordered by big eucalyptus trees,

7:03

was on the left.

7:05

Bono drove ahead until he

7:07

could make a U-turn, came

7:10

back down to the relatively secluded

7:12

spot beside the golf course, stopped

7:14

the car, and cut the headlights, but

7:17

left the motor running. Bianchi

7:19

reached into the glove compartment

7:21

and pushed the trunk button.

7:23

The wind blew hard. With all

7:26

the trees, it was very dark.

7:28

Between the golf course fence and the road,

7:31

lay a deep drainage ditch, then

7:33

a steep embankment, then

7:36

a metal guardrail about three feet

7:38

high. They swung

7:40

the body over the guardrail,

7:42

trying to heave it into the ditch,

7:44

but she landed heavily and rolled

7:46

with a rustling of leaves down the embankment

7:49

until about 15 feet,

7:51

and came to rest against a wire holding

7:53

up on your utility pole.

7:55

Up the road, Bono spotted headlights,

7:58

as Bono nipped around the road. the back of the Cadillac,

8:01

he grabbed from the trunk a remnant

8:03

of Lisa Castin's coat, which

8:06

he had used to keep the body from bleeding

8:08

onto the car, and slammed the lid.

8:11

The other car passed them as they drove

8:14

off. The elder

8:16

cousin was furious about the whole

8:18

night.

8:19

Nothing had

8:20

turned out the way he had fantasized

8:23

about. Bianchi tried to console

8:25

him by pointing out how great

8:27

torturing the woman had been, strangling

8:30

and letting her breathe, and then strangling

8:32

her again. Oh, no, agreed,

8:36

but it was not enough. He

8:38

had not gotten his rocks off. He

8:40

had wanted to rape a girl, one

8:42

that actually shaved her legs, and

8:45

hopefully her vagina. Next

8:47

time, he said, he would pick the victim

8:50

more carefully. Also,

8:52

it would certainly not belong until

8:55

they would be on the hunt again. Uno

8:58

was far from satisfied, and

9:01

he intended to remedy that post-haste.

9:05

It was a mere four nights later that

9:07

they decided to go for it again. There

9:10

had been no public notice, as

9:12

yet,

9:13

of Lisa Castin's death.

9:15

The city knew nothing of the act, and

9:17

to Bono and Bianchi,

9:20

it had become an irritating non-event.

9:22

Unfinished business.

9:26

On Wednesday evening, the ninth

9:28

of November, Bianchi dropped

9:30

in to see Bono. They

9:32

were going to discuss strategy.

9:35

Bianchi found Bono out back,

9:38

stroking his rabbits in the darkness,

9:40

sparky barking jealously at his

9:43

feet.

9:44

Inside,

9:45

they rehashed again the inadequacies

9:48

of Lisa Castin, sheltered by

9:50

the house that had now concealed

9:53

two successful murders. They

9:55

grew more and more enthusiastic.

9:58

Bono walked about. about, straightening,

10:01

dusting, checking the fish, as Bianchi

10:03

talked. They had the perfect

10:06

set-up. It would be a crime

10:08

not to take better advantage

10:10

of it. How many other guys

10:13

had a chance like this,

10:15

they said to each other.

10:16

There had never been such a scare.

10:19

As long as they were careful, it

10:21

would work again. And again.

10:27

After lengthy planning and discussing,

10:29

the Stranglers headed out into

10:32

the night again in the Cadillac.

10:34

They cruised to the red-light district.

10:37

But what few women of the night there were

10:39

did not meet their new and hatened

10:42

beauty standards. Frustrated,

10:45

Bianchi suggested they drive to his

10:47

home street. Their use-rear

10:49

was a lot of young women hanging around there.

10:53

Around Franklin, they passed two

10:55

young girls walking together.

10:57

Considered them, passed them up.

11:00

Then, in

11:01

front of the Mayfair market, at

11:03

the corner of Franklin and Bronson, they

11:05

observed a girl

11:08

standing alone next to a bus-bench.

11:11

She was slim

11:13

and blond,

11:14

wearing tight jeans rolled at the buttons.

11:17

Bianchi slowed. They

11:20

took a good look, cruising past.

11:24

The Cadillac rolled slowly around

11:26

the block. They agreed that

11:28

this one

11:29

looked prime, at

11:31

first glance, anyway.

11:33

But Wojono wanted another look. He

11:36

told Bianchi to approach the bus-bench

11:39

on Franklin again. A

11:41

block or so east of the bus stop, they

11:44

pulled up to the curb, stopped and

11:46

looked.

11:47

She was sitting on the bench now,

11:49

apparently

11:49

waiting for the bus.

11:51

She had her long legs out in front of

11:54

her,

11:54

crossed at the ankles.

11:57

The cousins switched places.

12:00

and the bow now let Bianchi out in

12:02

the parking lot and took off.

12:04

Bianchi approached the bus bench.

12:07

He sat down next to the girl and

12:09

looked her over unobtrusive.

12:11

She was beautiful,

12:13

blond and angular,

12:15

a model type.

12:17

Her high-heeled shoes were silver

12:20

below her rolled tight jeans.

12:23

High, he said.

12:24

Excuse me, do you know when

12:26

the bus is coming?

12:29

He had turned on his charm to the

12:31

max and the girl obviously

12:33

took interest in the muscular tall

12:36

and dark gentleman who had come

12:38

out of the night. The two

12:41

started talking

12:42

and when the girl revealed that she was into

12:44

Scientology,

12:46

Bianchi rolled with it and soon

12:48

they had great chemistry going.

12:51

Then, of course, planned

12:53

but appearing as incredible

12:55

luck, Bruno came driving

12:58

the Cadillac and offered his friend

13:00

the lift. Being

13:02

a perfect gentleman, Bianchi

13:04

offered the girl to also get

13:07

a lift, which she happily agreed

13:09

to. The girl's name

13:12

was Jane King. This

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Bianchi switched on some music, and

14:43

Jane King did not even seem to

14:45

notice how far they were going up

14:48

over the Hollywood Hills,

14:50

down along Forest Lawn Drive,

14:52

and on to Glendale. It

14:55

was after eleven at night. Traffic

14:57

was light. Jane King

15:00

stared ahead, nestled between

15:02

the Samaritans, content

15:05

with her good luck, listening

15:07

to the music and rhythmically

15:09

chewing on the gum Bianchi had given

15:12

her.

15:13

She hummed the tunes she

15:15

recognized. Bianchi

15:17

commented on her ring.

15:19

It was called a mood ring, she said.

15:22

It changed colors with her

15:24

mood.

15:25

She said

15:27

she was in a good mood at the time.

15:29

Bianchi kept expecting

15:31

her to ask how far they were going,

15:34

and when she did not,

15:36

he wondered whether she was spaced out

15:38

on something.

15:39

He wished he had had a joint on him.

15:42

He would have offered her a toke.

15:45

It was so easy, and he was so

15:47

proud of his negotiating

15:49

skills.

15:51

In the driveway, Buono switched

15:54

off the motor. Sparky, the dog,

15:56

ran up. For a moment, the

15:58

three of them sat there. Jane

16:00

King, waiting for Buono to get out

16:03

and Bianchi to drive her home. Bianchi

16:07

looked at Buono behind Jane King's

16:09

head and saw him

16:12

give a slight nod. Buono

16:14

grabbed her left arm, Bianchi her

16:17

right. She started squirming.

16:20

They pushed her forward and forced

16:22

her hands together behind her back, and

16:24

Buono snapped on the cuffs. He

16:27

grabbed her purse. Inside

16:30

they sat her down in the easy chair. The

16:34

elder cousin went to the shop

16:37

to get the materials. This

16:39

time he brought some sponge

16:42

rubber, a white rag and

16:44

coarse brown twine.

16:46

With the tape and scissors from the

16:48

kitchen he was ready.

16:50

He worked quickly.

16:52

Jane King,

16:53

now trembling violently, was

16:56

gagged and blindfolded in seconds.

16:58

He stood her up and

17:00

removed the handcuffs, saying

17:03

that she wasn't going to be in any trouble

17:06

but as soon as he had removed

17:08

her light jacket she began flailing

17:11

her arms, so he clapped on

17:13

the cuffs again and cut her blouse

17:16

and bra free with the scissors. Her

17:19

skin was pale. Her

17:22

frail ribcage heaved.

17:25

Buono unzipped the fly

17:27

of her jeans and with great

17:29

effort began to drag them down.

17:33

Then he stood back, pointing,

17:36

grinning, doing a little hop

17:38

from foot to foot like Geppetto

17:41

gleeful at a new puppet. Worldlessly

17:44

pointing, he motioned Bianchi

17:46

to come around from behind her for a look.

17:50

He stood there, a moon-tinted

17:53

offering, slender,

17:55

bound,

17:57

a silvery nymph,

17:59

her narrow thin thighs pressed together

18:01

and quivering,

18:02

tapering upward to an absence.

18:05

She had no pubic hair.

18:08

The cousins had never seen this before

18:10

outside of porno mags and were

18:13

ecstatic. Bono

18:17

permitted himself a long, appreciative

18:19

gaze at her.

18:21

So helpless,

18:23

her hands linked behind her

18:25

back, her vagina bare

18:28

as a girl child. Blindfolded

18:30

and gagged,

18:31

her narrow feet self-consciously

18:34

pressed together.

18:36

She was everything Angelo Bono could

18:38

desire, a tender virgin

18:40

vessel,

18:41

soft-hued as ivory,

18:43

immaculate,

18:45

enslaved.

18:47

He led Jane King into the spare

18:50

bedroom, put her on her

18:52

back on the bed, and told

18:54

her in a low, paternal voice

18:56

that nothing was going to happen to

18:59

her. He returned to the

19:01

living room and found Bianchi already

19:03

putting her belongings into a garbage

19:06

bag. Bono

19:09

won the coin toss

19:11

and raped the girl first,

19:13

then Bianchi.

19:15

The girl squealed and resisted

19:17

all she could

19:18

and stated that although she could not fight

19:20

them off, she would not pretend

19:23

to like what they were doing to her.

19:25

Such obstinance angered Bono

19:28

and he wanted to, in his words,

19:31

teach her

19:32

a lesson.

19:35

He wrapped twine around

19:37

her ankles, turned her over,

19:39

forced her legs backward towards

19:42

her arms,

19:44

and wrapped the twine around

19:46

her handcuffed wrists hog-tying

19:49

her.

19:50

Bianchi, taking up his cue,

19:52

mounted her from behind as

19:54

Bono watched,

19:56

pulling out his penis, feeling

19:58

himself at the end of the

19:59

bed.

19:59

ejaculating as Bianchi reached

20:02

his own climax. From

20:04

the kitchen, he brought a vegetable

20:06

bag, and Bianchi

20:09

still, inside her from behind,

20:11

forged the bag over her head and

20:14

wrapped the twine around her throat.

20:16

Bruno

20:17

pulled the cord. Bianchi

20:20

pumped his penis in and out at the same

20:22

time. Jane King screamed

20:25

within the bag, tried vainly

20:27

to suck air. Building

20:30

on his technique with Lisa Castin,

20:33

Bruno let the twine slacken, reviving

20:36

her, then pulled again.

20:38

He repeated the pulling and

20:41

slackening several times as

20:43

Bianchi rutted,

20:45

but finally Jane King had no

20:47

more breath.

20:49

Bianchi finished after she was dead,

20:52

technically making the rape

20:54

and murder necrophilic as well.

20:56

Searching her purse,

20:59

they were surprised to learn from

21:02

her driver's license

21:03

that she had been born in 1949. Bruno stated, and

21:05

I quote,

21:10

We let her die gorgeous. We

21:12

did her a favor.

21:17

Later when they both felt sated

21:19

and had put the beautiful corpse

21:22

in the trunk of the Cadillac,

21:24

Bruno pointed vaguely in the direction

21:26

of Dodger Stadium, holding

21:28

a steady fifty-five on the Golden

21:31

State Freeway, but he slowed

21:33

as he approached the Los Feliz

21:36

off-ramp. On the off-ramp,

21:39

curved and dark with trees

21:41

and heavy shrubbery,

21:43

he suddenly pulled over to the side.

21:46

They threw Jane King deep into

21:48

some bushes

21:49

and quickly drove away,

21:51

the dark swallowing up everything except

21:54

the red glare from their receding

21:57

taillights.

21:58

Jane's dead corpse

22:00

lay cold and alone in the bushes,

22:03

waiting for

22:04

sunlight.

22:07

Jane King lay mouldering beside

22:10

that golden-state off-ramp during

22:12

that week and the next.

22:15

Her roommate and her boyfriend

22:18

reported her missing. The roommate,

22:21

a young man she had met through an

22:23

apartment sharing service, who

22:25

lived with her only to share rent

22:27

and to enjoy safety in numbers,

22:30

had seen her near six o'clock that

22:32

Wednesday evening. They had eaten

22:34

TV dinners

22:35

before she had gone off to her Scientology

22:38

class. Her boyfriend

22:40

had not been with her since the previous

22:43

Friday,

22:44

when she had spent a night with him.

22:46

They had quarrelled a couple of days later,

22:49

because he had not wished to spend an

22:51

additional night with her,

22:53

but he had telephoned Wednesday evening

22:56

and had been told she was at a

22:58

Scientology class.

23:00

Her fellow students at Scientology

23:03

Manor described her as

23:05

a quiet girl, introverted,

23:08

fond of exercise and salads. One

23:11

of her friends there, a girl

23:14

who had roomed with her that past

23:16

summer,

23:17

said that she had offered Jane

23:19

a ride home after class at

23:22

eleven,

23:22

but Jane had preferred to take the bus.

23:25

On other nights, Jane

23:28

had complained that she was wary

23:31

of sitting alone at bus stops

23:33

and often preferred to hitchhike. That

23:37

way you could select the person

23:39

to hitch a ride from, Jane had said.

23:42

According to her, one could tell

23:44

by looking at a person whether he was

23:47

all right. Jane

23:49

had not been known for logic.

23:53

Her friends like to call her

23:55

Jupiter Jane.

23:59

During the next few days,

24:02

they talked about what a great success

24:05

the Jane King murder had

24:07

been.

24:08

Bono could not get over the

24:11

pleasures of her shaved pubis.

24:13

The weekend arrived

24:15

without any press or television coverage

24:18

of their latest act. Impunitas

24:22

Semper ad de Torreoria in

24:24

Vitat goes the Latin

24:26

legal maxim. Impunity

24:29

always invites to greater crimes.

24:33

They were beginning to feel invincible.

24:36

There was no telling what they might be able

24:39

to get away with. Buono,

24:41

still praising Jane King, began

24:44

suggesting the next logical

24:46

step to abduct

24:48

a very young girl, a

24:51

school girl,

24:52

unspoiled, inviolate,

24:55

barely ripe and

24:57

helpless, a girl, Buono

24:59

emphasized, who did not have

25:02

anything to shave or only the first

25:04

fuzzy hints of womanhood. Bianchi

25:07

said that he had never been with so

25:09

young a girl,

25:11

but had often fantasized about it,

25:13

the buttery baby skin, the thin

25:16

little voice, the hairless

25:18

smallness.

25:20

Buono assured him that there was

25:22

nothing comparable to very young

25:25

girls. Their helplessness,

25:28

their fear, their crying

25:30

out. To make a sacrifice

25:32

of one that would, in Buono's

25:35

view,

25:36

be something to make life truly

25:39

worth living.

25:41

If they could find one and quote unquote

25:43

break her in

25:45

and then kill her, she would

25:47

have lived just for them.

25:49

They would be her beginning

25:51

and her end. That

25:54

would be the ultimate rush.

25:58

And so it was. that on Sunday,

26:01

the 13th

26:03

of November, four days after

26:05

the murder

26:06

of Jane King,

26:07

Buono and Bianchi

26:09

drove over to the Eagle Rock

26:12

Plaza in search of their

26:14

Vestal Virgin. And

26:18

with that, we come to the end

26:20

of part 4 in this series,

26:23

which will be several episodes, covering

26:25

the saga of the Hillside Stranglers. In

26:29

two weeks, I will bring you part 5.

26:33

So as they say in the land of radio.