Lissa Kastin, a 21-year-old Caucasian female, met a tragic end on November 5, 1977. She was a dancer and waitress working in North Hollywood and one of the founding members of the LA Knockers, a female cabaret dance ensemble popular in the 1970s and 80s. On that fateful day, she encountered the notorious Hillside Stranglers, Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono Jr., who were responsible for a series of brutal murders in Los Angeles between October 1977 and February 1978.
Lissa Kastin was assaulted and murdered by the duo, and her body was discovered on an embankment on Chevy Chase Drive near the Chevy Chase Country Club in Glendale.
The Hillside Stranglers, as they came to be known, were a pair of serial killers who terrorized the women of Los Angeles during this period. Initially, it was believed that only one person was responsible for the killings, but investigators later deduced that two criminals were working together. The uncle-nephew duo, Bianchi and Buono, were eventually apprehended and convicted of kidnapping, raping, torturing, and murdering ten females together, with Bianchi committing two additional murders on his own. Their victims ranged in age from 12 to 28, and the bodies were typically found on hillsides surrounding the city, often showing signs of strangulation.
The investigation into the Hillside Strangler murders was extensive and complex. An elderly neighbor of one of the victims witnessed and reported her kidnapping, providing crucial information that confirmed the involvement of two individuals. The police eventually arrested Kenneth Bianchi in January 1979 for the murder of two young women in Washington state, which led to the linking of his past to the Strangler case. Angelo Buono Jr. was arrested later that year. Both men were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Lissa Kastin's death was one of the many tragic losses during this harrowing time in Los Angeles. Her murder, along with the other victims, highlighted the terror and fear that gripped the city as the Hillside Stranglers continued their killing spree. The case remains a chilling reminder of the dangers that lurked in the shadows of Los Angeles during the late 1970s.
