Hi, crime junkies, Britt here. And if you're a Midwestern or like me, I can guess you're probably

craving the sunshine, too. We are officially getting into Chile territory here, and a little

jaunt over to California for some quintessential Los Angeles sunshine would do me some justice.

But not nearly like the type of justice we've seen over the last few decades of prolific cases in California.

Because the 70s and 80s in California were absolutely terrifying.

There weren't just one or even two serial killers, but a handful of them.

Some which took decades to identify, like the Golden State killer.

And others, while they were caught within a short window of time from when they started committing their crimes, managed to cause

just as much devastation. Kind of like the case I'm going to re-share with you today.

Hi, crime junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And you guys know that on our show,

we are big into personal safety and we've given you several rules to follow to help keep yourself

safe. One of those rules is to remain skeptical of everyone all the time, your coworkers,

your neighbors, even figures of authority because you never really know anyone

ever. This rule has come into focus throughout several of our episodes, but this rule is perhaps

best exemplified in today's story, which is one of the scariest crime sprees that maybe you've

never heard of. This is the story of the Hillside Strangler. Our story begins on October 18, 1977, when a detective is called out to a crime scene just outside of Los Angeles, California, along the Ventura Freeway.

The body of a young woman had been abandoned just off the freeway, and she appeared to

have been brutally murdered. As the detective examined her body, he quickly spotted the marks

around her neck, her wrists, and her ankles. It was clear that she had been bound with a rope

before being strangled, and this was later confirmed by a coroner to be her cause of death.

The coroner also determined that the victim had been raped before her death.

More than the ligature marks or cause of death, there was something that stuck out.

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