Angelo Buono, Jr.
With Kenneth Bianchi, known as the“Hillside Stranglers”
Information summarized by
Jennifer Cable, Travis Hall, Brittney Hawks Meredith Hornsby,
Amanda Howe
Serial killer researched by
Kathy Futrell, Sean Reardon, Lauren Sade, Aaron Shank, Brandon Torrence
Department of Psychology
Radford University
Radford, VA 24142-6946
Date
Age
Life Event
October 5, 1934
0
Angelo Buono is born in Rochester, New York.
1939
5
After his parents divorce, Angelo moves to Glendale, California with his mother Jenny, and his sister Cecilia.
1948
14
Angelo boasts to his friends about sodomizing and raping girls.
He idolizes Caryl Chessman, a notorious rapist known as the “red light bandit”. He considers Chessman to be his hero even though he thinks that Chessman should have killed his victims, instead of just sexually assaulting them. He begins calling his mother demeaning names like “whore” and “cunt”.
1950
16
Angelo drops out of school and is arrested several times for larceny.
He is sent to reform school but escapes.
1951
17
Angelo is recaptured by the California Youth Authority
1955
21
Angelo impregnates Geraldine Vinal, a 17 year-old girl from his high school. He marries Geraldine only to leave her less than a week later.
January 10, 1956
Michael Lee Buono, Angelo’s first child, is born.
He divorces Geraldine and refuses to pay child support. He also refuses to let Michael call him “father.”
Late 1956
22
Angelo’s second son, Angelo Anthony Buono III, is born. The child’s mother is Angelo’s current girlfriend, Mary Catherine Castillo.
April 5, 1957
Angelo marries Mary Castillo.
1957
Mary gives birth to their second child Peter (Angelo’s third child).
1958
24
Mary gives birth to their third child Danny (Angelo’s fourth child).
1960
26
Mary gives birth to their fourth son Louis (Angelo’s fifth child).
1962
28
Mary gives birth to their fifth child, and first daughter, Grace (Angelo’s sixth child).
Angelo is jailed for five days
1964
30
Angelo is jailed again, this time for petty theft.
Angelo is believed to have raped his two year-old daughter, Grace.
(Not enough supporting information was found to elaborate on this event)
Mary files for divorce because of Angelo’s perverse sexual desires and his violence. He shows no concern of the fact that his children had witnessed all of the abuse he inflicted on their mother.
May 1964
29
Mary tries to reconcile with Angelo. He handcuffs her and threatens to kill her after shoving a gun into her stomach. She does not try reconciling with Angelo again.
1965
31
Angelo moves in with Nanette Campina, a 25 year-old single mother of two children. He treats Nanette the same way he had treated Mary. Nanette doesn’t leave him for fear that he will kill her if she does.
1967
33
Angelo is arrested for stealing cars and sentenced to one year in prison. However, because of his large family, the sentence is suspended so that he may work.
(There are conflicting dates as to when this arrest actually occurred. Some sources report it as being 1967 while others report it as 1968)
Nanette gives birth to her and Angelo’s first child together (Angelo’s 7th child), Tony.
1969
35
Nanette gives birth to their second child together (Angelo’s 8th child), Sam.
1971
37
Angelo begins to abuse Nanette’s 14 year-old daughter and claims that “she needs breaking in.” Angelo brags to his friends about raping the girl and claims that he then turned her over to his sons for their pleasure.
Nanette decides to risk everything to get away from Angelo. She takes the children and leaves the state.
1972
38
Angelo marries Deborah Taylor. The two never live together, and never bother to get a divorce.
1972-1975
38-41
Angelo’s roommate witnesses him masturbating as he watches school children with binoculars from their apartment window. Angelo admits to his roommate that he had forced his sons to rape his daughter and that he had sodomized one of his sons.
(There are conflicting dates as to when Angelo’s confession to his roommate actually occurred. Therefore a precise date is not available).
1975
41
Angelo moves into his own place and opens up an upholstering shop in the back.
He frequently forces women to perform oral sex on him and often has sex with his sons’ girlfriends.
He has the reputation for being a “stud” and refers to himself as “The Italian Stallion.” Many young girls are attracted to Angelo and he begins dating a teenager and gets her pregnant twice. The girl aborts the first child and suffers a miscarriage during the second pregnancy. She stays loyal to Angelo, but he is promiscuous and keeps several other girlfriends at the same time.
Angelo’s adoptive cousin, Kenneth Bianchi, moves to L.A. to love with him.
September 1977
42
Angelo and Kenneth discuss the idea of getting young girls to work for them as prostitutes. It is Angelo’s idea as a way for them to get money (as they are short on cash). They purchase a list of names of men who frequent prostitutes from Deborah Noble. Unbeknownst to Angelo and Kenneth, Deborah delivers a “trick list” and deceives them.
October 1977
43
Deborah Noble and her friend Yolanda Washington deliver the list of men to Angelo. Yolanda is 19 years-old, a part-time waitress and a prostitute. Yolanda tells Angelo that she usually works a particular stretch on Sunset Boulevard.
Angelo and Kenneth soon find out that the list is a fake and seek out to get revenge for the money they paid.
October 17, 1977
Angelo and Kenneth begin their rampage. They seek out Yolanda Washington, rape and strangle her in the back seat of Kenneth’s car.
October 18, 1977
Washington’s boy is found near Universal City in a cemetery. She still has the fabric around her neck that was used to strangle her.
October 31, 1977
Victim Two-Judith Miller, a 15 years-old runaway and prostitute.
November 1, 1977
Miller’s body is found with ligature marks on her ankles, wrists, and neck. She has also been raped.
November 5, 1977
Victim Three-Elissa Kastin, a 21 years-old waitress.
November 6, 1977
Kastin’s nude body is found on a highway embankment. She is found with ligature marks similar to those found on Judith Miller. She has also been raped and sodomized.
November 9, 1977
Victim Four-Jane King, a 28 year–old aspiring actress.
November 13, 1977
Victims Five and Six- Sonja Johnson age 14 and Dolly Cepeda age 12.
November 20, 1977
A nine year-old boy finds the bodies of Sonja Johnson and Dolly Cepeda in Highland Park. They too are found nude with ligature marks and had been raped.
Victim Seven- Kristina Weckler, a 20 year-old college student. She is found the same day with ligature marks on the inner arm and on her neck.
November 23, 1977
Jane King’s body is found near Los Feliz off-ramp on the Golden State Freeway. She has been sodomized and strangled.
(sources on the condition of King’s body coincide. Some say she had been raped, while others report that the body was so badly deteriorated that rape could not be definitively determined)
November 28, 1977
Victim Eight-Lauren Wagner, an 18 year-old student.
November 29, 1977
Lauren Wagner’s body is found nude, strangled, and with electrical burns on her palms. She also has ligature marks on her body and had been raped.
December 13, 1977
Victim Nine - Kimberly Martin, an 18 year-old call girl who went by the name of Donna*. Her body is found the same day in a vacant lot on a hillside.
*(some sources report Martin’s name as Kimberly Diane Martin, while others say she went by “Donna”)
January 1978
Angelo’s mother dies.
February 17, 1978
Victim Ten-Cindy Hudspeth, a 20 year-old college student. Her body is found in the trunk of her car which had been pushed over a cliff. She is also found nude, raped, and with ligature marks on her body.
This is the last murder that Angelo and Kenneth participate in together, and Angelo’s final murder before being arrested and ultimately sent to prison.
October 22, 1979
45
Angelo Buono is arrested after Kenneth Bianchi tells police of his and Angelo’s involvement in the murders.
July 6, 1981
46
At the preliminary hearing Kenneth Bianchi testifies in court that he does not know if he was telling the truth or not when he told police of Angelo’s involvement in the murders. Due to this unexpected testimony by Bianchi, Roger Kelly, Buono’s attorney, moves to dismiss all 10 counts of murder against Angelo and to drop prosecution against him as a Hillside Strangler.
July 21, 1981
Judge Ronald M. George, who had been appointed to hear the Buono case, denies Kelly’s motion to dismiss the charges against Angelo explaining that a dismissal would not be “in the furtherance of justice.”
1981
The District Attorney’s office withdraws from Angelo’s case and Attorney General George Deukmejian brings in two new attorneys for the prosecution, Michael Nash and Michael Boren. A special investigator, Paul Tulleners, is assigned to assist the new prosecutors in evaluating the evidence. After deciding that the evidence against Angelo is sufficient enough to prosecute him, it is decided that George Deukmejian will prosecute the case in court.
November 1981
47
Angelo’s case finally goes to trial, but is disrupted by continuances which the defense appeals all the way to the California Supreme Court.
1982
Jury selection in the trial begins which lasts for three and a half months
Spring 1982
Angelo’s trial finally begins and eventually becomes the longest trial in United States at the time.
1982 – 1983
47-49
Angelo’s trial continues for over a year.
Some of the witnesses in the trial include some of the girls that Angelo had abused and tormented, Becky Spears and Sabra Hannan.
Judge George and members of the jury were taken to the actual hillsides where the victims were found and were given a presentation by the key detective at each site.
The prosecution finally produces a key witness, a young girl whom Angelo had a run-in with the night he and Kenneth killed Kimberly Martin. The girl testifies that Angelo had harassed and terrorized her in the Hollywood Library. She was able to testify that Angelo had used a payphone in the library to call Kimberly Martin and lure her to him and Kenneth. These payphone calls had been part of the clues in Kimberly Martin’s death, but detectives could never prove who had made the calls.
The defense efforts of Angelo’s trial are short due to his non-cooperation with his attorneys.
October 21, 1983
49
The jury in Angelo’s trial begins deliberations.
October 31, 1983
The jury comes to the agreement that Angelo is guilty in the murder of Lauren Wagner.
November 3, 1983
The jury finds Anglo not guilty in the murder of Yolanda Washington.
November 1983
The jury finds Angelo guilty of the murder of Judy Miller, Dolores Cepeda, Sonja Johnson, Kimberly Martin, Kristina Weckler, Lisa Kastin, Jane King and Cindy Hudspeth.
After this decision Angelo is considered a “multiple-murderer” under California law, and will face either life in prison or capital punishment.
1983
Angelo takes the stand after jury deliberations end and claims “My morals and constitutional rights has been broken.”
After the jury deliberates for an hour, they recommend life in prison without the possibility of parole for Angelo and spare him of the death penalty. The judge upholds the sentence.
Angelo is initially sent to Folsom Prison. Here he refuses to come out of his cell for fear of injury by other inmates.
1983-1986
49-62
Angelo is transferred from Folsom Prison to Calipatria State Prison in California.
(exact date unknown)
1986
62
Angelo marries Christine Kizuka while in prison. She is a supervisor at the Los Angeles office of the state employment development department and a mother to three children. She had met Angelo in prison when she came to visit her husband whose cell was next to Angelo’s. Kizuka had divorced her husband in 1983 and continued to visit Angelo in prison. Prison officials agreed to never allow conjugal visits between Angelo and Christine due to the nature of Angelo’s crimes and his history of violence against women.
September 21, 2002
67
Angelo Buono dies at Calipatria State Prison from a heart condition. He is alone in his cell at the time of his death and officials rule out the possibility of any foul play.
General Information
Sex
Male
Race
White
Number of victims
10
Country where killing occurred
United States
States where killing occurred
California
Childhood Information
Date of birth
October 5, 1934
Location
New York State
Birth order
1st of ?
(some sources report that Angelo had 2 sisters, while others say he had only one)
Number of siblings
1 or 2
(see comment above)
XYY?
Unknown
Raised by
Mother – Jenny
Birth category
Unknown
(some sources report Angelo as being the oldest while others say his sister was 4 years older than him)
Parent’s marital status
Divorced
Family event
Parents divorce, and moves from New York to California with his mother and sister
Age of family event
5
Problems in school?
Yes –disruptive, demonstrates perverse sexual obsessions from a young age
Teased while in school?
Unknown
Physically attractive?
Yes
Physical defect?
No
Speech defect?
No
Head injury?
Unknown
Physically abused?
Unknown
Psychologically abused?
Unknown
Sexually abused?
Unknown, although his early interest in odd forms of sexual thrills may indicate some type of sexual abuse as a child.
Father’s occupation
Unknown, very little is known about Angelo’s father
Age of first sexual experience
Unknown
Age when first had intercourse
Unknown
Mother’s occupation
Unknown
Father abused drugs/alcohol
Unknown
Mother abused drugs/alcohol
Unknown
Cognitive Ability
Highest grade in school
9th, dropped out of school in 10th grade
Highest degree
None
Grades in school
Poor
IQ
Unknown
Work History
Served in the military?
No
Branch
N/A
Type of discharge
N/A
Saw combat duty
N/A
Killed enemy during service?
N/A
Applied for job as a cop?
No
Worked in law enforcement?
No
Fired from jobs?
No
Types of jobs worked
Specialty trades (ex. – reupholstering)
Employment status during series
Angelo had been running his own re-upholstering shop in Los Angeles
Relationships
Sexual preference
Heterosexual
Marital status
Married a total of 4 times (including once while in prison); unmarried at time of murders
Number of children
8
Lives with his children
Does not live with children after he divorces their mothers
Living with
Kenneth Bianchi at the time of the murders
Triad
Animal torture
Unknown
Fire setting
Unknown
Bed wetting
Unknown
Killer Psychological Information
Abused drugs?
No
Abused alcohol?
No
Been to a psychologist?
Unknown
Time in forensic hospital?
No
Diagnosis
Sexual sadism, pedophile, anti-social personality disorder
Killer Criminal History
Committed previous crimes?
Yes
Spend time in jail?
Yes
Spend time in prison?
Yes
Killed prior to series? Age?
No
Serial Killing 10-17-77 thru 2-16-78
Number of victims
10
Victim type
Vulnerable young women (prostitutes, low-income, students, low scale models and actresses)
Killer age at start of series
43
Gender of victims
Female