What was the MO for the Hillside Stranglers?

Answer 1

The MO or modis operandi means the way a criminal carries out his crimes. It should not be confused with signature.

For the the Hillside Stranglers their MO involved using fake police badges, abduction in their car, the victims were taken to a predesignated place, (Angelo Buno's house) where they were kept alive for a certain amount of time, they were raped repeatedly, and then were tortured beyond belief before finally being killed. Then the bodies were taken into the hills surrounding Los Angeles and dumped.

A killer's MO can change and evolve over time. Killers get better at what they do, or they can become bored and need to 'push the envelope' just to achieve the same thrill. Like a drug addict that needs more and more of the drug to achieve the same 'high'. The MO helps law enforcement predict what a killer will do to a certain degree. It also helps establish a profile which helps narrow the possiblities of suspects down to a more managable number.