Hillside Strangler @ MindSay

"Can you take a key that's stuck in the lock out, and, not touch it with your fingers?"

"Yes"
"You sure?"

"Yes. Is the door open or shut?"

"Does it make a difference?"

"No. Just a couple of ways to do it"

"Okay G, I need you out here pronto. Where are you, exactly?"

 

I was in Laguna Beach just about to listen to the bartender's story . . . he was buying so I was listening. I was having sushi there one night with my "love" and changed the combo on their safe when one of the managers "had personal problems" . . . It took me about 5 minutes and he picked up our sushi tab . . . more than what I would have charged anyway. My "love" could eat a lot of sushi . . . . I asked him to join us . . . He knew "her" and was one of the first to know we were engaged since we'd been regular customers. He brought hot Saki that night to toast our future and baaabies . . . ("Nine months to the day" . . . she said blushingly)  He and I had been friends ever since.

 

I came in tonight to work on my billing and to have a drink or several . . . . He had just told me . . . his girlfriend (gorgeous, tall, l-o-n-g black hair and a smile as sweet as her heart) had gotten a call from her doctor after a smear . . "come back for more tests"  . . . He lost his mom to cancer, he's terrified . . . . He was drawing beer and pouring shots . . .

                                             . . . . and then I got the call from LA Sheriff's . . .

"Gotta go G?"

"Yeah, but I'll come back Thursday when it's slow and we can talk."  

"Okay G . . . she's going in Thursday and me too . . . Make sure huh?"

"K"

 

It took a little over an hour to get to the address the Deputy gave me. It was between Eagle Rock and South Pasadena, up in the hills with those tiny narrow roads . . . everyone parking there and you had to be prefectly sober to keep from clipping your mirrors. This is the area where the Hillside Strangler(s) operated and dumped the bodies years ago. That was the only case of serial killers working in tandem. The name "Hillside" came from a favorite ravine (hillside) where they dumped the bodies from the road and they fell down about 150ft into heavy brush. I was going over the very spot now . . . .

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The original house had been "converted" into three tiny apartments and there had been "improvements" made by the tenants over the years . . . the "laundry" was outside on the "patio deck" which was right next to the "new closet"  . . . it made sense to put the laundry outside . . . that's where the hot water tank was installed and you could hook the hot water line to the washer up from the nippled drain on the bottom of the hot water tank . . . made sense  to me . . . and, why waste venting on a dryer when it was outside? The architechure for the window coolers and The Penhouse (3rd apartment) . . .  we'll go into another time . . . 

 

They had paid rent without problems for 29 years and the elderly "owner" had not visited the property in 20. A grandson collected the rent now from OC and never came up but dealt with the tenant over the phone "when he was needed" . . . They had "improved" the property, sharing expenses as they could over the years. From the "patio" you could see the MetroLink train yards down below right next to the 5 Hwy . . . Dodger Stadium was just a little further up . . . Gene Autry Museum just out of sight the other way  . . .

 

I looked around at the markers put along the stairs as I was escorted up by a Deputy  . . . so I wouldn't disturb bits of evidence.  I saw the front door was not damaged, and the key was in the deadbolt lock. The detective met me and pointed to the key . . .

 

"That's it. I need it out and we weren't positive on how to get it out. It didn't come out easily so I called you."

"Okay"  I had a rolled pouch and took out a tool and a pair of hemostats and took out the key.

"Goddamn G . . . just like that?"

"Sure . . . when you know the trick. That's why I get the big money" He held open a very small manilla envelope and I dropped the key in.

"The bad guy unlocked the door?"

"Yeah, I think so . . . . Attacked her on the stairs. There's blood, that why the Deputy escorted you up. She was brought in here and attacked, here and then the kitchen. That's where the guy from upstairs found her. I need the back door and this re-keyed. Here take one of these . . ."

 

He handed me a "Venti" coffee and I took a sip and reached for the first lock . . .

 

"No donuts"

"NO!"

"Just asking, just asking"

"That was sweet how you did that"

"Thanks, and for the coffee too"

"Shit what's in Laguna Beach? I didn't answer . . .  "Oh, I need to talk to you about my place. I want you to look at it"
"No problem."

"Uhhh . . . what do you . . . ?

"No tab for cops. Want something like I did for Gary?"

"Yeah . . . Thanks G"

"K . . .What happened here?"

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The stairway-entry off the street was cut out of the hillside rock . . .winding stairs that were poured in concrete (1939 stamped in the one leading from the street) . . . and it made a narrow winding climb to the front door. The front door was on the west, exposed to the hot afternoon sun and had been shaded by a do-it-yourself-patio-latticed-cover with night blooming Jasmine covering it.

 

You could smell the Jasmine tonight and feel the "mist" units that were still running . . .  Angels Trumpets were growing alongside and their fragrance was drifting with the sweet smell of the Jasmine . . .

 

The lattice work and Jasmine protected against the afternoon sun  . . . but it also made for a pitch black narrow walk up from the street to the front door . . . someplace that was easy to get trapped in if someone was waiting for you to come home after dark. That's what happened.

 

The tenant was a retired RN that worked for "years" in LA's toughest Emergency Rooms and had-seen-it-all. Her friends that I met that night said that she'd lost her fear of gangs, drunks, dopers and loser's years ago . . . She'd been threatened countless times over the years, punched out a few times from patients and family members, when she didn't have the money they demanded or she just said no . . . She never drank, and sometimes had to be drug, kicking and screaming,  to Mass . . . . 

 

The apartment above hers was a retired LA City bus driver who wasn't home when the attack occured . . . the other apartment (The Penthouse) belonged to the woman's granddaughter, who was now in custody . . . suspected of knowing who the attacker was and probably was the original intended target of the attack . . . her grandmother just happened to come home first . . . The dealer confronted her for the money the grand daughter owed . . . and probably killed her as a signal to the girl . . .

 

G.

P.S.  This was the first attack since she helped form the Neighborhood Watch from the retired residents several years ago . . . the granddaughter moved in 3 months ago . . .

 

Her grandmother had been on "Neighborhood Watch" tonight and went home early to fix dinner for her granddaughter . . . The man who lived upstairs continued the watch . . . and didn't walk her home . . . probably saved his life . . .

 

 . . .  The lingering question was . . . did her granddaughter witness the attack . . . and not call?