a criminal's mind

a collection of known serial killers, what they did, who their victims were, and their stories.

warning: may contain nudity and gorey images

Diane Martin, scene of the crime

Diane Martin, scene of the crime

Three weeks later, the cousins ordered a prostitute, Diane Martin, by phone for one of teh tenants of the Tamarindo apartments. From there, she was taken to Buono’s house. After raping her, they got rid of the body by abandoning it in a building...

Three weeks later, the cousins ordered a prostitute, Diane Martin, by phone for one of teh tenants of the Tamarindo apartments. From there, she was taken to Buono’s house. After raping her, they got rid of the body by abandoning it in a building under construction.

The murder spree of the Thanksgiving season was almost over. On Monday, November 28, 1977 followed the car of a redhead. When Lauren Wagner parked outside the house of his parents, Bianchi showed his police badge and said he was arresting her. While...

The murder spree of the Thanksgiving season was almost over. On Monday, November 28, 1977 followed the car of a redhead. When Lauren Wagner parked outside the house of his parents, Bianchi showed his police badge and said he was arresting her. While she protested and the neighborhood dog barked non-stop, he forced her to get into the car and accelerated. Lauren realized that the purpose was to rape her and pretended to cooperate. She behaved as if she were enjoying it, but her performance was not appreciated. He strangled her anyway.

A Witness

The killers took the holiday weekend off, but that was all. On Tuesday, November 29, Grogan was called to the hills around Glendale’s Mount Washington area. The naked body of a young woman was found lying partially in the street. The ligature marks on her ankles, wrists and neck were the Hillside Strangler’s calling card.

But something was different: it looked as though she had burns on her palms. Like the strange puncture marks on Kristina Weckler’s arms, it looked as though the killers were experimenting - possibly with methods of torture. There was also something else that was different - a shiny track of some sticky liquid, which had attracted a convoy of ants. If this substance was semen or saliva, there was the possibility that the killer’s blood type could be determined. Tests on semen found in the earlier victims had revealed nothing.

Lauren WagnerLauren Wagner

That same day, the young woman was identified as Lauren Wagner, an 18-year-old student who lived with her parents in the San Fernando Valley. Her parents had gone to bed the previous night, expecting her to come home before midnight. The next morning, they found her car parked across the street with the door ajar.

When Lauren’s father questioned the neighbors, he found that the woman who lived in the house where Lauren’s car had been parked saw her abduction. Beulah Stofer, the neighbor, said that she had seen Lauren pull over to the curb around nine o’clock in the evening.

Two men had pulled their car beside hers. There was some kind of disagreement and Lauren ended up in the car with the two men.

Grogan went to talk to Beulah immediately. Her Doberman barked furiously at him as he went to her door. Beulah was a bespectacled asthmatic in her late fifties and almost at the point of nervous collapse. She had just had a phone call from a man with a New York accent.

“You the lady with the dog?” he asked her. When she said that she had a dog, he told her to keep her mouth shut about what she had witnessed or he would kill her. Beulah did not realize that Lauren had been abducted. She thought that she had just witnessed a quarrel and she wasn’t even sure it had been Lauren.

Beulah described the killers’ car as a large and dark with a white top. One of the men had dragged Lauren from her car into his. She heard Lauren cry out, “You won’t get away with this!”

Beulah was so terrified by the incident that she did not even tell her husband who had been home the whole time. The horror of the whole thing had thrown her into a violent asthma attack.

She was sure that there were two men: one was tall and young with acne scars; the other one was Latin-looking, older and shorter with bushy hair. She was certain that she could identify them again.

Even though Beulah claimed that she was standing at her window when Lauren was attacked, her descriptions of the men were too vivid to have been seen at such a distance. The window was a good 30 feet from the street. Grogan was sure that Beulah had really been out in her front yard and hid in the bushes when the commotion began. Otherwise, with her dog barking the whole time, she could not have heard Lauren tell her captors that they would never get away with it. Perhaps, Beulah would tell the whole truth when and if it became necessary.

Now with the abduction of Lauren Wagner, the killers saw the whole city as their cruising ground. Nowhere was safe. At least when the crimes were confined to Hollywood and Glendale, police could intensify their efforts in those areas. Now, it was a crapshoot. Nobody knew where the stranglers would strike the next time

Bob Grogan Investigating Kristina Weckler

As he searched her apartment at 809 East Garfield Avenue in Glendale, Grogan was overcome by sadness followed by rage. Her effects and her diary showed her to be a loving and serious young woman who should have had a bright future ahead of her.

He could not help but think fearfully of his own teenage daughter. Wehn Kristina’s devastated parents came from San Francisco to pick up her belongings, Grogan pledged to them that he would find her killer or killers. On November 23, the day before Thanksgiving, another young woman’s body was found, this time near the Los Feliz off ramp of the Golden State Freeway. Her maggot-covered body was estimated to have been there some two weeks. She had been strangled like the others, but it was not certain if she had been raped.

The next victim was an art student who had met Bianchi when he lived in East Garfield, Hollywood. Kristina Weckler had despised the work of Bianchi at the time. Bianchi and Buono now knock on her door. Bianchi told her that he had joined the police...

The next victim was an art student who had met Bianchi when he lived in East Garfield, Hollywood. Kristina Weckler had despised the work of Bianchi at the time. Bianchi and Buono now knock on her door. Bianchi told her that he had joined the police force, and that someone had crashed into Kristina’s car. At the foot of the stairs, he tied her up, put her in the car, and killed her in Buono’s house.

Kristina Weckler was a 20-year-old honors student at the Pasadena Art Center of Design. As

At Buono’s home, both were raped and murdered. Their bodies were dumped in a landfill and debris. By then police were certain that whoever had left the bodies there must have known the area very well.
The two dead girls had been found by a...

At Buono’s home, both were raped and murdered. Their bodies were dumped in a landfill and debris. By then police were certain that whoever had left the bodies there must have known the area very well.

The two dead girls had been found by a nine-year-old boy who had been treasure hunting in a trash heap on the hillside. It was a pretty horrible sight, made all the more grotesque by the decay and army of insects that had taken over the flesh.

Again, there was no idication that the murders had occurred where the bodies were found, nor was their any evidence that the bodies had been dragged there. Small as the young girls were, there was the probability that more than one killer was involved in dumping their bodies on the hillside.

It did not take long to identify the girls as Dolores Cepeda, 12, and Sonja Johnson, 14, both of whom had been missing for about a week from St. Ignatius School. The girls had been last seen getting off a bus and going over to a large two-tone sedan to talk to someone on the passenger side. Information that there was a person on a passenger side corroborated the theory that there were two killers, probably both men.

Four days later, Bianchi and Buono discovered two young schoolgirls. They were Dolores Cepeda and Sonja Johnson. Bianchi and Buono looked at them when they boarded a bus at Eagle Rock Plaza. They followed the bus, and when the girls fell near their...

Four days later, Bianchi and Buono discovered two young schoolgirls. They were Dolores Cepeda and Sonja Johnson. Bianchi and Buono looked at them when they boarded a bus at Eagle Rock Plaza. They followed the bus, and when the girls fell near their homes, called for them to approach the car. Bianchi was passed again by police, warning the girls that a dangerous thief hovered around. Both girls were very vulnerable. They had just stolen jewelry valued at $100 a department store. Therefore, would not dismiss the orders of police officers.

Jane King’s body

Jane King’s body

“I still cannot get used to the idea of killing someone, but I try to think of it as a real possibility.”

—   Kenneth Bianchi