About
Over five months in the fall of 1977 and the winter of 1978, Angelo Buono and Kenneth Bianchi committed a series of crimes known as the Hillside Strangler murders.
In the new podcast HILLSIDE, author Joseph Rodota revisits the investigation into these slayings, followed by the longest murder trial in U.S. history. Rodota interviewed more than 40 people connected to the case – detectives, friends and families of the victims, defense attorneys and prosecutors, journalists, and the presiding judge – and unearthed new documents about the case from archives and private hands.
HILLSIDE answers a number of lingering questions about this case:
Why were these crimes so difficult to solve?
Why did the Los Angeles District Attorney attempt to drop all murder charges against one of the killers?
And why, decades later, did the case continue to haunt someone very close to one of the victims?
HILLSIDE is a riveting story of crime, politics and personal redemption.
Hillside team
Joseph Rodota
Creator / Writer / Narrator
Joseph Rodota first dug into the Hillside Strangler case 30 years ago, when he was one of the nation’s leading “opposition researchers.” He is the author of THE WATERGATE: INSIDE AMERICA’S MOST INFAMOUS ADDRESS (William Morrow, 2018) the first history of the midcentury apartment complex that became synonymous with scandal. Rodota has worked at the highest level of state and national politics for more than three decades and is a graduate of Stanford University.
CHERYL DEVALL
Editor
Cheryl Devall recently relocated from her native California to Southwest Louisiana, the birthplace of Zydeco and Cajun music, to become general manager at NPR affiliate KRVS. She’s edited multiple podcasts and longform radio documentaries, and for Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, Southern California Public Radio and Marketplace. As a correspondent for National Public Radio and an independent editor, she has shared in four Alfred I. duPont-Columbia awards over four different decades. The latest was in 2022 for the podcast series Blindspot: Tulsa Burning from WNYC Studios, KOSU and The History Channel.
Chris George
Executive Producer
Chris George started his entertainment career in at Artists Management Group, quickly moving into the company’s production division, Artists Production Group. Most recently, Chris produced Blue Miracle, starring Dennis Quaid, which Netflix released in May of 2021.
JOAQUIN ALVARADO
Executive Producer
Joaquin Alvarado is the Founder of Studiotobe, a development and production company headquartered in Oakland with satellites in Fresno and Seattle. Studiotobe produces the original shows Cooking by Ear, Self-Evident and Force of Law. He is currently in production on a scripted podcast noir series-Kyoto Crime Story, due out Spring 2020.
Kaitlin Bruce
Producer
Kaitlin Bruce manages all aspects of production for Last 5 Percent Media as well as their voluminous digital and print archive. Before joining the team that became Last 5 Percent Media, Kaitlin was a literary researcher, a freelance photographer and catalogued pieces of the Sacramento State Art Department Art Collection. Kaitlin received her BA in Art History from Sacramento State University, an AA in Photography from Sierra College and a certificate from UC Berkeley in podcasting.
Adam Mellion
Research Manager
Adam Mellion is Last 5 Percent Media’s lead researcher, with over a decade of experience diving deep into the weeds of politics, true crime, and cultural intrigue. Based in Minneapolis, he has helped develop and launch several podcasts specializing in historical non-fiction stories. He previously worked as a public policy research consultant for statewide initiatives and legislative campaigns. Adam has a B.A. and M.A. in political science from the University of Rhode Island and Georgetown University, and a Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Julie Checkoway
Consulting Producer
Julie Checkoway is a New York Times bestselling author and filmmaker and radio producer, working in a variety of media and many platforms. She has produced work for NPR’s Morning Edition and for This American Life. Her feature documentary, Waiting for Hockney, premiered at Tribeca and on the Sundance Channel. She is currently producing a film in development with director Martin Scorsese and has agented books by a range of authors, including the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower and more recently, Russia’s most prominent political cartoonist, Sergey Elkin, who was recently named by Vladimir Putin as a foreign agent.
Bob Salladay
Consulting Producer
Emmy-winning editor, write and producer based in California. He has worked as the investigative editor for ten McClatchy papers in the West, as well as editorial director, managing editor and executive producer at The Center for Investigative Reporting for nine years. While there, he helped launch the nationally distributed Reveal podcast and public radio show.
Sound Engineers: Jeremy Dalmas and Craig Thomas
Composer: Craig Thomas
Website and Logo Designer: Edgar Guerra