Hill dumped his victims' corpses along California State Route 60, known as the "East-West Highway", contributing to his nickname.

On Christmas in 1968, Hill's father shot his mother in the face with a .22 caliber rifle and was sent to prison.

Suffering from financial difficulties, Hill began leading a criminal lifestyle in early 1979, committing several thefts.

[7] As a minor, Hill was found guilty of complicity in murder, but he received a short sentence due to cooperating in the investigation.

[8] After his release, Hill spent a lot of time in the San Gabriel Valley, constantly changing his place of residence.

Bates, of Montclair, was a sex worker in the Los Angeles area; she was convicted twice for prostitution in 1991, and twice more the year she was murdered.

A strip of duct tape with a lipstick stain was found in a trash bin near her body; a piece of rope, shoelaces, and a sheet of black fabric were used to strangle her.

Goldsmith was a wife and mother of three children, and worked as a medical technician before descending into a downward spiral of addiction and petty crime.

On the first day of his trial, gruesome images of the victims presented on a giant screen caused women to run out of the courtroom.

[19] During the sentencing phase of his trial, Hill's mother testified, hoping for leniency, to the physical and mental abuse he endured at the hands of his father.

[20] Despite this, on January 2, 2007, a jury ordered the death penalty for Hill,[10] and on March 21, 2007, a judge upheld his sentence.

[22] As of November 2019, the 58-year-old Hill is still alive and awaiting execution on San Quentin State Prison's death row.