In the autumn of 1977, a wave of terror gripped Los Angeles as a serial killer, soon dubbed the Hillside Strangler, began a series of brutal murders. The second known victim in this horrifying spree was a 15-year-old girl named Judith Lynn Miller. Born on June 23, 1962, Judith was a former student at Hollywood High School who had recently become a runaway.
She was navigating a difficult path, having left her home only a month or two before her life was tragically cut short.
On Halloween night, October 31, 1977, Judith was last seen on Sunset Boulevard. Witnesses recalled seeing the petite teenager talking to a man in a large, two-toned sedan. This encounter would be her last. The men inside the car were cousins Angelo Buono Jr. and Kenneth Bianchi. Posing as undercover police officers, a tactic they used to lure their victims into a false sense of security, they convinced Judith to get into their vehicle. They then took her to Buono's auto upholstery shop at 703 E. Colorado Street in Glendale, the site of unspeakable horrors for many of their victims.
The following morning, November 1, police were called to Alta Terrace Drive in the quiet, middle-class community of La Crescenta, about 12 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. A homeowner had discovered the nude body of a young girl on a parkway and, in a compassionate effort to shield neighborhood children on their way to school, had covered her with a tarp. The victim was soon identified as Judith Lynn Miller. An examination revealed she had been sexually assaulted and killed by ligature strangulation. The tell-tale marks on her neck, wrists, and ankles indicated to investigators that she had been bound before her death. Her body had been cleaned and dumped far from where she was murdered.
Judith’s murder was one of ten committed by Buono and Bianchi between October 1977 and February 1978, a period that left the city's women terrified to go out after dark. The victims ranged in age from 12 to 28 and came from all walks of life. The investigation into the string of killings was massive, but a key piece of forensic evidence came from Judith's case. Investigators discovered a small piece of light-colored fluff on her eyelid, which was later linked to material the killers may have used.
The break in the case came in early 1979 when Kenneth Bianchi was arrested in Washington state for two other murders. To avoid the death penalty, Bianchi began to cooperate with authorities, implicating his cousin, Angelo Buono Jr., in the California slayings. Buono was arrested on October 22, 1979. His trial, which began in 1981, became the longest criminal trial in California history at the time, lasting nearly two years.
In November 1983, Angelo Buono Jr., then 50, was convicted for the murder of Judith Lynn Miller, one of nine first-degree murder convictions he received in the Hillside Strangler case. He sat impassively as the guilty verdict for Judith's death was read in court. The jury also found him guilty of special circumstances, rape, and assault, among other charges.
Buono was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, ensuring he would never be free again. He died in his cell at Calipatria State Prison from a heart ailment on September 21, 2002. His accomplice, Kenneth Bianchi, also received a life sentence and remains incarcerated. While the legal chapter on the Hillside Strangler case is closed, the memory of the victims, including a 15-year-old girl who was just beginning her life, endures as a tragic reminder of the terror that once haunted the hills of Los Angeles.
