New 2004 Edition, updated by the author.

"It began as a training exercise.  At 8:30 A.M. on Friday, January 12, 1979, Terry Mangan, the new chief of the Bellingham, Washington, Police Department, was alerted that two women students at Western Washington University were missing.  Normanlly this meant that the lure of northern Washington state's ski country had overwhelmed any thought of attending Friday classes. Young men and women periodically took long weekends without telling their friends or coworkers where they were going. It was hoped that the current situation would be the same, though Chief Mangan and his men had the "gut" feeling that this case was different, that something was much more seriously wrong."


West Coast newspaper readers had begun to dread the headlines. One by one, the missing Hollywood young women were discovered brutally strangled after being sexually violated time after time. There seemed to be no end to the killing—and no clues to the killer.

Certainly Ken Bianchi was not a suspect. Ken was handsome, gentle, friendly, married, a doting father and a member of the Sheriff’s Reserve. No one suspected the truth about Ken Bianchi— not even Ken Bianchi himself.

For two years, while the infamous Hillside Strangler terrorized the West Coast, Ken Bianchi watched protectively over the woman he loved, fearing she would become the killer’s next target. But it was Ken himself who was to be the Hillside Strangler’s most tragic victim.

This book is the dramatic psychological study of a brutal killer, whose crimes of rape and murder were gruesome secrets he kept even from himself.

Victim of a multiple personality disorder, Ken Bianchi led a strange and terrible triple life. He worked hard to support Kelli and their infant son, Sean. But as the shadowy, amoral Billy, he watched a third personality, the vicious, vengeful Steve strangle well over a dozen young women after sexually assaulting them.

Bianchi seemed absolutely sincere in his claims of innocence when the police finally traced the crimes to him. But months of psychiatric examinations and hypnosis revealed to his shock and horror that, although he had no recollection of the murders, the evidence against him was so overwhelming, he could no longer deny his involvement.

Written with exclusive information gleaned from countless conversations with Bianchi, his girlfriend, his psychiatrists, as well as policemen and journalists involved with the case. The Hillside Strangler is the inside story of one of the most elusive and bizarre mass-murders in American history.

New 2004 edition, updated by the author. A feature movie, The Hillside Strangler produced by Chris Phillips (“Nightstalker”) and starring Clifton Collins, Jr, is currently being filmed.

 

A New York Times best-selling author, Ted Schwarz has written more than 100 books including The Peter Lawford Story; Rose Kennedy and Her Family, and De Lorean. 

Reviews

"Emotionally wrenching!"

 —Publishers Weekly

"A very fine job!"

 —Kirkus Reviews

"Like The Three Faces of Eve...a work of fascination!"

 —Chattanooga Times