Kenneth Bianchi Denied Parole

Kenneth Alessio Bianchi was denied parole by a state board in Sacramento, California, today.

Bianchi and his cousin Angelo Buono, Jr., together are known as the Hillside Stranglers. He is serving a term of life imprisonment in Washington. Bianchi is also a suspect in the Alphabet murders, three unsolved murders in his home city of Rochester.

At his trial, Bianchi pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, claiming that another personality, one "Steve Walker", had committed the crimes. Bianchi even convinced a few expert psychiatrists that he indeed suffered from multiple personality disorder, but investigators brought in their own psychiatrists, mainly the psychiatrist Martin Orne. When Orne mentioned to Bianchi that in genuine cases of the disorder, there tends to be three or more personalities, Bianchi promptly created another alias, "Billy". Eventually, investigators discovered that the very name "Steven Walker" came from a student whose identity Bianchi had previously attempted to steal for the purpose of fraudulently practicing psychology. Police also found a small library of books in Bianchi's home on topics of modern psychology, further indicating his ability to fake the disorder.

Once his claims were subjected to this scrutiny, Bianchi eventually admitted that he had been faking the disorder. To acquire leniency, he agreed to testify against Buono. However, in actually giving his testimony, Bianchi made every effort to be as uncooperative and self-contradictory as possible, apparently hoping to avoid being the ultimate cause of Buono being convicted. In the end, Bianchi's efforts were unsuccessful, as Buono was in fact convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

In 1980, Bianchi began a relationship with Veronica Compton, a woman he met while in prison. During his trial, she testified for the defense, telling the jury a false, vague tale about the crimes in an attempt to exculpate Bianchi and also admitting to wanting to buy a mortuary with another convicted murderer for the purpose of necrophilia. She was later convicted and imprisoned for attempting to strangle a woman she had lured to a motel in an attempt to have authorities believe that the Hillside Strangler was still on the loose and the wrong man was imprisoned. Bianchi had given her some smuggled semen to use to make it look like a rape/murder committed by the Hillside Strangler.
Bianchi is serving his sentence at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Washington.

Bianchi will be eligible to apply for parole again in 2025.

Serial Killer Bedtime Stories: Marcel Petiot

Going to sleep early to get ready for your doctor's appointment in the morning? Then you'll really love tonight's serial killer bedtime story about Marcel Petiot.

While in medical school Marcel was already considered a thief. As a young doctor he was no better. It is believed that he killed three of his patients in Villanueve, France. Forced to leave the area, he moved to Paris where he continued his career as a swindler and a crook. During WW2, Doctor Petiot saw a golden opportunity to make lots of money. He bought a house in Rue Lesueur and customized it to become a sound-proof killing machine. There he killed up to 63 people, mostly Jews and others trying to escape the Nazis. The crafty Doctor told his victims that he was a member of the French Resistance and was able to arrange for their safe passage to South America for a steep fee. After receiving the money the doctor gave his victims a lethal injection saying it was a "vaccination" against foreign diseases. He would then lead them to a sound-proof room where he told them to wait for their Resistance escort. By then the poison would take over, the good doctor enjoyed watching their deaths through specially built peep-holes.

A thorough annihilator, he would mutilate the corpses and drop them into a lime pit. Later he started incinerating his ever increasing pile of dead. In early 1944 he was arrested and held briefly when he choked the neighborhood with the fetid smell of burning corpses coming from his incinerator. Policemen called to the scene found 27 mutilated bodies in the basement which, he said, were Nazis killed by the Resistance. Claiming to merely be doing his patriotic duty he convinced the cops to let him go. Free again, Marcel promptly disappeared.

After the war Parisians still remembered the stacks of bodies found in the Doctor's home. A newspaper accused Petiot of being a Nazi sympathizer and that the dead were patriots killed for the Gestapo. Wanting to clear his name the doctor sent a letter to the papers claiming that the Nazis had set him up and planted the bodies in his basement.

He was arrested again in October 1944 and charged with 24 murders. During his trial he claimed to have killed up to 63 enemies of France. No one believed his ties to the Resistance. He was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to death.

The deadly doctor was guillotined on May 26,1946. It is widely believed that Marcel killed many more and dumped corpses into the Seine. Authorities believe that Petiot was also responsible for several dismembered bodies found in Bois de Boulogne near Paris in 1942.

Sweet dreams, and may you forever remain Crazy 4 Crazies.