LOS ANGELES -- Angelo Buono Jr., the infamous Hillside Strangler who sexually tortured and killed at least nine women in 1977 and 1978, was allowed to get married last year in prison, it was reported Monday.
Buono, 52, married Christine Kizuka, 35, a supervisor at the Los Angeles office of the state Employment Development Department, one year ago Tuesday in a brief ceremony in a small visiting room at Folsom Prison, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner reported.
Department of Corrections officials, however, said it is unlikely Buono will ever spend a night alone with his new wife.
One of the key prosecutors in his case called Buono and his adoptive cousin, Kenneth Bianchi, who participated in the murders, 'the two most vicious serial killers ever tried and convicted in Los Angeles County.'
For two years, jurors listened to often grisly testimony about how Buono and Bianchi, kidnapped, raped, tortured and killed 10 women ranging in age from 12 to 29 over a four-month period. Buono was convicted in November 1983 of nine of the killings and sentenced to life in prison.
Bianchi, who testified against Buono, also was sentenced to life in prison.
The state's Department of Corrections allows any inmate to marry while in prison. The only requirement is that the prisoner be single or legally divorced.
Why Kizuka, an attractive mother of three young children, married Buono remains a mystery.
'I have nothing to say,' she said when telephoned by the newspaper, and hung up. Her lawyer, who knew of the marriage, also declined to comment.
Acquaintances said she has kept her marriage to Buono secret from many of her closest family members. However, the marriage license is on file at the Sacramento County Courthouse.
'She is a very bright woman. She has a college degree and a teacher's credential. I just don't know why she made this move,' said one person close to Kizuka who asked to remain anonymous. 'I think he has brainwashed her to the point that he has made her believe he is not guilty.'
Kizuka got to know Buono through her first husband, who spent five months in a cell next to Buono's at the Los Angeles County Jail while serving an 18-month jail term for assault with a deadly weapon in 1983. At the time, Buono was on trial.
According to acquaintances of the couple, Buono had free use of the jail telephone three times a day, ostensibly to help him prepare for his legal defense. He first contacted Kizuka on behalf of her husband and from those initial telephone conversations their relationship grew.
Kizuka and her first husband divorced shortly after his release from jail in May 1983. After Buono was convicted and transferred to Folsom, sources told the Herald that Kizuka talked frequently to Buono on the telephone and began visiting him sometime in 1984 or 1985.
Kizuka has continued visiting Buono regularly since his transfer earlier this year to the Tehachapi Correction Institues east of Bakersfield.
Buono has refused all requests for interviews since he was transferred, said Richard Lennon, a state public defender who is handling his appeals.
He acquired the name the Hillside Strangler because the bodies of his victims were dumped on the hillsides around Los Angeles.
