In April 1979, The New York Times reported that police in Los Angeles, Calif. had solved 10 of the 13 deaths connected to a killer or killers known as the Hillside Strangler. Los Angeles police chief Daryl Gates told the outlet he believed more than one person was behind the murders.
One suspect was already in custody in Bellingham, Wash., for his connection to the deaths of two local women. Police arrested 28-year-old Kenneth Bianchi and charged him with the murders of two female students at Western Washington University. When investigators discovered Bianchi previously lived in Los Angeles near an area that was the hunting grounds for the so-called Hillside Strangler, they wondered if he was their guy. Where is Kenneth Bianchi now? Here’s what we know.
Kenneth Bianchi, one of the Hillside Stranglers, is still in prison.
In June 2024, Bianchi, who changed his name to Anthony D’Amato, was denied parole following testimony from victims and arguments from the prosecution, per the Los Angeles Times. He has been in prison since 1979. According to The Bellingham Herald, Bianchi’s sentence was downgraded in 1990. He went from life imprisonment to a sentence of 118 years. If he doesn’t get in trouble behind bars, Bianchi could be released in 2065 at the age of 114.
Despite confessing to the two murders in Washington state; five murders in California; and one count of conspiracy to commit murder, kidnap, and rape; Bianchi always maintained his innocence. He initially pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and claimed to suffer from what was then called multiple personality disorder. This was later debunked. Bianchi was then diagnosed with antisocial personality and sexual sadism disorders…