Kenneth Alessio Bianchi American serial killer Date of Birth: 22.02.1951 Country: USA

1. Biography of Kenneth Alessio Bianchi
2. Early Life
3. Murder Spree with Angelo Buono Jr.
4. Legal Proceedings and Imprisonment

Biography of Kenneth Alessio Bianchi

Kenneth Alessio Bianchi, born on May 22, 1951, in Rochester, New York, is an American serial killer. He is famously known for being one of the 'Hillside Stranglers' alongside his cousin Angelo Buono Jr., who was a pedantic individual. Bianchi is currently serving a life sentence in Washington. He is also suspected of three unsolved murders in his hometown of Rochester, which were referred to as the 'Alphabet Murders'.

Early Life

Bianchi's mother was a 14-year-old prostitute who gave him up for adoption two weeks after his birth. He was taken in by a childless couple, Frances Scioliono and Nicholas Bianchi. At the age of five, he was diagnosed with mild epilepsy, and by the age of ten, he was diagnosed with passive-aggressive disorder. Bianchi displayed troubling behavior from an early age, with his adoptive mother describing him as a "compulsive liar who started deceiving people from the cradle." Despite having above-average intelligence, Bianchi underachieved academically and had a quick temper.

After Nicholas Bianchi's death in 1964, his widow began working while Bianchi attended high school. He graduated from Gates-Chili High School in 1971 and soon after married his high school sweetheart. Their marriage ended after eight months. Bianchi dropped out of college after one semester and held various jobs until eventually becoming a security guard at a jewelry store. This job allowed him to steal valuable items, which he often gifted to his girlfriends and prostitutes to show his affection. Due to his criminal lifestyle, Bianchi frequently changed his place of residence.

Murder Spree with Angelo Buono Jr.

In 1977, Bianchi moved to Los Angeles, where he began associating with his older cousin Angelo Buono, whom he admired for his fashionable attire, jewelry, and ability to charm women and put them in their place. The two cousins eventually became pimps and, by the end of 1977, turned to murder. By the time of their arrest in early 1979, they had raped and killed ten young women. Typically, Bianchi and Buono roamed Los Angeles in Buono's car, using fake police badges to convince women that they were law enforcement officers. Their victims, from various social backgrounds, ranged in age from 12 to 28. The brothers would take the women to their home, where they would torture and ultimately kill them.

Both men would rape the women before strangling them. Additionally, they experimented with various methods of killing, including lethal injection, electric shock, and carbon monoxide poisoning. During this period of murder, Bianchi managed to secure a job with the Los Angeles Police Department. He even participated in several police raids aimed at capturing the Hillside Stranglers. Over time, criminal psychologists began to consider the possibility that the stranglers had participated in the investigations under the guise of assisting, allowing them to return to the crime scenes and observe the progress of the investigation. Upon gathering information, it was revealed that Kenneth Bianchi, born in 1951, had volunteered twice, coincidentally being near the locations where the bodies were found. When Buono learned that Bianchi had been questioned about the Hillside Stranglers case, he threatened to kill him if he didn't flee to Bellingham, Washington. Bianchi escaped in May 1978.

On January 11, 1979, Bianchi lured two college students into a house he was guarding and strangled them. He told them that they needed to watch over the house until security personnel changed the alarm system, making it seem like a routine task. The victims were 22-year-old Karen Mandic and 27-year-old Diane Wilder from Western Washington University. Prior to this, Bianchi had always acted with Buono, who expertly covered their tracks. However, without Buono's assistance, Bianchi left behind numerous pieces of evidence and was arrested the following day. His California driver's license and subsequent routine check linked him to two of the Hillside Stranglers' victims. After his arrest, Bianchi admitted that he and Buono had stopped a young woman named Catherine Lorre, masquerading as police officers in 1977. When the brothers pressured her, Catherine claimed that her father, Hollywood actor and manager Peter Lorre, would "destroy them." They released her. Only after Bianchi's arrest did Lorre discover the true nature of the men she had encountered in the past.

Legal Proceedings and Imprisonment

During his trial, Bianchi pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, claiming that another personality within him named Steve Walker was responsible for the crimes. He even managed to convince several expert psychiatrists of his alternate personality's existence. However, the lead psychiatrist, Martin Orne, exposed his deception by stating that in genuine cases of such disorders, there are usually three or more personalities involved. Bianchi then suddenly spoke of a third personality named Billy. Ultimately, the police found a collection of books on modern psychology in his possession, revealing his aptitude for deception and his attempt to practice psychology under the name of a real psychologist named Steve Walker. In exchange for leniency, Bianchi implicated Buono. In 1980, he contacted writer Veronica Compton, who planned to strangle a woman, plant Bianchi's semen, and stage a rape and murder similar to the Hillside Stranglers' crimes to confuse the investigation. However, the scheme was uncovered, and Compton was imprisoned, although she eventually managed to escape.

In 2025, Kenneth Bianchi will have another opportunity to apply for parole, having been denied in 2010.