Hillside Strangler Copycat, Admirer Escapes Prison
A woman who tried to kill a cocktail waitress in 1980 to divert suspicion from the Hillside Strangler escaped from prison by cutting through four fences with pruning shears, an investigator said today.
Veronica Lynn Compton, 31, broke out of the Washington Corrections Center for Women about sundown Tuesday along with a woman serving time for drug offenses, Candice L. Burk, said Pierce County Sheriff’s Sgt. Tom Miner.
Their trail led through dense brush to a highway, where a tracking dog lost the scent.
Compton was convicted in 1981 of trying to strangle Kim Breed, 26, in a Bellingham motel so authorities would think the Hillside Strangler who killed 10 women in Los Angeles and two in Bellingham was still at large. Compton had said she was in love with Kenneth Bianchi, who pleaded guilty to the slayings of two college students in Bellingham and to five of the Los Angeles killings. He is serving seven consecutive life sentences at the Washington State Penitentiary.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
