About this Book

AN ANTHOLOGY OF SELDOM TALKED ABOUT TRUE CRIMESMICHAEL BRUCE ROSSOf the many, many criminals who end up on death row, Michael Ross's situation is one of the most complex. Some reluctant guests of the row are vicious and wicked; men and women filled with pure evil. Others are innocent. These are victims of a system which is far from fool proof and frequently driven by political expediency as much as a search for justice.And some people are killers despite themselves, criminals in need of help as well as punishment. Ross fits comfortably into none of those categories. And that is what makes his case so interesting. There is no doubt that he committed murder; there is no doubt he committed rape. He admits as much himself. For that reason, this story needs also to be about his victims - the suffering they and their families endured goes beyond anything we feel for Ross. We should never forget that.But this truth should not distract from the fact that Michael Ross's crimes, his arrest, his subsequent trial and ultimate execution are matters that should not be allowed to float away into the darkness. Yes, wickedness flowed from him, but his story is not that simple. BOBBY BEAUSOLEILBobby Beausoleil was a budding actor who got some bit parts in movies until the met up with the Svengali-like Charles Manson who led him into a life of crime and murder. KENNETH BIANCHICousins Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, Jr. are collectively known by their media epithet "The Hillside Strangler". These two men were responsible for the murders of at least nine females, ages 12 to 28, during the late 1970s in Los Angeles, California, and Bianchi killed two more in Washington. After their first three victims did not gain much attention because they were prostitutes, Bianchi and Buono decided to abduct and murder middle-class "nice" girls. Five victims were found on hillsides in the Glendale-Highland Park area during Thanksgiving weekend in 1977 and the resulting panic led to the coining of the moniker "Hillside Strangler".