Search results
Jan 6, 2021 · A close call: How serial killer Rodney Alcala appeared on 'The Dating Game' and won. Alcala has been convicted of killing seven women in the 1970s. By Amanda Karrh, Tim Gorin, and Anthony Rivas ...
- 7 min
- Early Life
- Criminal History
- Arrest, Trials and Death
- Additional Victims
- In Media
- See Also
- External Links
Rodney Alcala was born in San Antonio, Texas, the third of four children born to a Mexican-American couple, Raul Alcala Buquor (August 3, 1906 – January 8, 1962) and Anna Maria Gutierrez (January 10, 1909 – February 18, 1999). In 1951, Alcala's father moved the family to Mexico, then abandoned them three years later. In 1954, when Alcala was aged 1...
Shapiro assault
On September 5, 1968, a passing motorist named Donald Hines called police after witnessing Alcala lure Tali Shapiro, aged 8, into his Hollywood apartment. Shapiro, who was residing at the Chateau Marmont with her family, was approached by Alcala on her way to school when he pulled up beside her in his car and asked if she needed a ride. Shapiro initially refused, but when she heard him say that he knew her parents she got into his car. Alcala then took her to his apartment, where he told Shap...
Move to New York
To evade the arrest warrant stemming from the Shapiro assault, Alcala left California and enrolled at NYU, using the name "John Berger." In 1971 he obtained a counselling job at a New Hampshire arts camp for children using a slightly different alias, "John Burger." During this time, Alcala began to work for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, where he worked in an office with serial killer Richard Cottingham. Neither man has claimed to have been aware of the other, nor is there any eviden...
Crilley murder
Cornelia Crilley, a 23-year-old Trans World Airlines flight attendant, was found raped and murdered in her Manhattan apartment on June 12, 1971. Alcala had strangled her with her own nylon stockings, leaving her dead in her apartment at 427 East 83rd Street.It is believed that Crilley met Alcala as she moved into her new apartment and that she might have accepted his help in moving some furniture. Her murder remained unsolved until 2011.
Alcala was arrested in July 1979 and held without bail. He went on trial for Samsoe's murder, was found guilty in May 1980, and sentenced to death in June. However, the verdict was overturned by the California Supreme Court in 1984 because jurors had been improperly informed of his prior sex crimes.In May 1986, after a second trial virtually identi...
Unidentified photographs
In March 2010, the Huntington Beach, California and New York City Police Departments released 120 of Alcala's photographs and sought the public's help in identifying them, in the hope of determining if any of the women and children he photographed were additional victims. Approximately 900 additional photos could not be made public, police said, because they were too sexually explicit. In the first few weeks, police reported that approximately 21 women had come forward to identify themselves,...
Morgan Rowan
Following Alcala's death in 2021, 68-year-old Morgan Rowan contacted Steve Hodel, one of the original investigators on the Shapiro case, and described being attacked by Alcala in July 1968, when she was 16. Rowan claimed that while she was living in Hollywood, she was approached by Alcala at a teen nightclub on the Sunset Strip and entered his car believing he would be driving to an IHOP restaurant. Instead, Alcala drove to his apartment a few blocks away, where he said he was having a party....
Pamela Lambson
In March 2011, investigators in Marin County, California, north of San Francisco, announced that they were "confident" that Alcala was responsible for the October 9, 1977, murder of 19-year-old Pamela Jean “Pam” Lambson, who disappeared after making a trip to Fisherman's Wharf to meet a man who had offered to photograph her. Her battered, naked body was subsequently found in Marin County near a hiking trail. With no fingerprintsor usable DNA, charges were never filed, but police claimed that...
A biographical film about Alcala's life titled Dating Game Killer was directed by Peter Medak and broadcast on the American television network Investigation Discovery produced December 3, 2017. In 2021, Netflix announced a biographical film, Rodney and Sheryl, directed by and starring Anna Kendrick which depicts the story of Alcala's appearance on ...
"Federal Judge Overturns Alcala Conviction 2001", Los Angeles Times Archived February 22, 2010, at the Wayback MachineRodney Alcala at IMDb"'48 Hours Mystery:' Rodney Alcala's Killing Game", CBS Archived November 21, 2013, at the Wayback Machine"Serial Killer's Secret Photos", CBS Archived October 24, 2013, at the Wayback MachineJul 24, 2021 · Rodney Alcala, a convicted serial killer who was on California's death row, has died, authorities said Saturday. Alcala, 77, died of natural causes at 1:43 a.m. Saturday at a hospital in the ...
- 52 sec
Feb 8, 2024 · Updated February 21, 2024. Known as "The Dating Game Killer," Rodney Alcala murdered at least four people before his television appearance — and would kill again soon after. YouTube Serial killer Rodney Alcala during his infamous 1978 appearance on The Dating Game that took place in the middle of his string of grisly murders.
Jul 24, 2021 · Rodney Alcala, who was known as the “Dating Game Killer” and was convicted in the murders of six women and one girl in the 1970s, died on Saturday at a hospital in Kings County, Calif. He...
Oct 3, 2023 · 'The Dating Game Killer' In September 1978, Alcala appeared as Bachelor No. 1 on The Dating Game, a TV show that had men and women cheekily interview prospective dates, sight unseen. At...
Jul 24, 2021 · By Carlos Lozano. July 24, 2021 1:38 PM PT. Convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala, who once appeared on the “Dating Game” TV show, died early Saturday of natural causes at Corcoran State...
