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Autopsy shows 'Hillside Strangler' died of heart attack

EL CENTRO, Calif. (AP) Autopsy results released Tuesday indicate Angelo Buono Jr., one of two men convicted in the gruesome ``Hillside Strangler'' slayings of the 1970s, suffered a fatal heart attack while sleeping in his prison cell.

Buono was found dead Saturday by guards at Calipatria State Prison in Imperial County.

Gary Hayes, a county deputy coroner, said an autopsy showed Buono, 67, had coronary artery disease and suffered a heart attack.

``It appears he died in his sleep,'' Hayes said.

In November 1983, Buono was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole after being convicted of nine of 10 strangler slayings.

His adoptive cousin, Kenneth Bianchi, pleaded guilty to five of the murders and testified against Buono.

Bianchi is serving a 118-year sentence at the Walla Walla State Penitentiary in southeastern Washington state.

Buono and Bianchi were accused of kidnapping, raping, torturing and killing girls and women ranging in age from 12 to 28 during a four-month period in 1977 and 1978.

The two would pose as police officers while driving in their car at night, pull over an unsuspecting woman driver, then abduct her and take her back to Buono's suburban home.

The killings were known as the ``Hillside Strangler'' slayings because the victims' bodies were dumped on hillsides around Los Angeles.

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