Horizon Season 1984 Episode 12 The Mind of a Murderer - The Case of the Hillside Strangler

The popular British documentary series Horizon delves into the fascinating world of forensic psychology in its season 1984 episode 12 titled "The Mind of a Murderer - The Case of the Hillside Strangler." This episode explores the story of two notorious American serial killers, Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono, who terrorized Los Angeles in the late 1970s.

The show begins by introducing the audience to the Hillside Strangler case - a high-profile murder investigation that kept the entire nation on edge in the late 1970s. The series explores the complex psychoanalysis of these two individuals whose heinous crimes left the nation in shock.

Horizon very carefully explores the profiles of these murderers while touching on the importance of capturing the psychology of each one to gain insight into their behavior. The documentary features exclusive interviews with psychiatrists, detectives, and victims’ families to stitch together the story of Bianchi and Buono.

The show breaks down the psyche of these two criminals, who had histories of troubled childhoods. They seemed to mask their deep-seated feelings of inadequacy, insecurity, and inferiority complexes with aggressive and violent behavior. This episode unfolds how these men operated as a team, torturing and killing young women across Los Angeles. The series focuses on specific cases and circumstances, with law enforcement officials narrating the incredible efforts that ultimately led to the apprehension of the killers.

The episode also probes how forensic psychologists of the time were able to unravel the personalities of the convicted murderers by interviewing them in-depth. Horizon interviews the doctors who worked on the cases with insights into the criminal mind drawing on clues such as the way light views Bates eyes or how Buono placed tape over his victim's mouths. They expound on techniques used to help get Angelo Buono to confess while in jail, and how they turned Kenneth Bianchi to help convict his partner.

The show probes the multiple steps law enforcement took to solve this crime and get to the truth of the killers' minds better. The crucial role that psychiatric evaluation plays in such cases is also a significant part of the documentary. The law enforcement officials discuss how forensic psychology, and analysis of the killers' backgrounds, patterns, and behavior, helped not only in nabbing them but also in constructing solid cases against them.

At its core, the episode looks at how serial killers' minds are a lot more complex than they seem. Horizon shows how forensic psychology can unlock the minds of killers through profiling, interview techniques, and other methods to gain insights into the inner workings of the killer’s mind helping catch them quicker. It is an incredibly humanizing aspect to the killers – to be able to understand them, not sympathize with them-- but to see how they operated as damaged individuals.

Overall, this episode of Horizon brings to light how the Hillside Strangler murderers were “incompetent robbers,” who time and time again turned to violence as a last resort. The show doesn't exploit the violent nature of the crimes, but focuses on the processes and procedures taken to catch the killers. The viewer leaves the documentary with an abridged understanding of the complicated nature of serial killers and the vital role forensic psychologists play in solving such cases.