In the 1970s, Los Angeles saw a spike in its crime rates, with the Center for Disease Control reporting a homicide rate of 23.0 per every 100,000. As the 1970s drew to a close, two high profile serial killer(s) cases had been sensationalized in the media, and residents were still reeling from the aftermath. The Hillside Strangler, actually two men, Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono Jr., had strangled several women and dumped them in the Los Angeles hillside. They operated from 1977 to 1978. The Skid Row Slasher, Vaughn Greenwood, first killed in 1964, and after a 10-year stint in prison, he killed nine men, slashing their throats while they slept. Gang violence was also quickly rising, and law enforcement was scrambling to solve the cases piling up on their desks. Kirk Mellecker, a retired LAPD detective who worked on the Hillside Strangler case, recalled the surge in serial killings, "Los Angeles had some propensity for serial killers particularly in the 70s and 80s. It seemed like one after another. It was a great place for these types of people to stalk their prey."
