Rodney Alcala was at the height of his murderous spree in the 1970s when he put himself in the spotlight of primetime television — winning a date with a woman on the hit TV show “The Dating Game.” It was decades before authorities discovered he was a prolific serial killer.
Alcala has been connected to the murders of at least eight women, according to authorities. He pleaded guilty to murdering two women in New York City and was convicted of murdering a 12-year-old in Orange County, California. In 2003, DNA from four missing women in Los Angeles, California, were connected to Alcala. He was charged with their murder and stood trial in 2010. He was found guilty and sentenced to death. In 2016, He was also charged in a murder in Wyoming, but authorities decided not to extradite him for trial due to his failing health.
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Police found a trove of Alcala’s photos and do not know how many, if any, other victims are pictured in the collection. They released hundreds to the public in hopes of identifying them.
Alcala often posed as a friendly photographer, luring women and girls by approaching them on the street and offering to take their picture, before taking them to a secluded place and attacking them. He had been known to be violent and dangerous as early as when he was a young private in the Army.
Alcala prowled from coast to coast for victims, one of which was as young as 8 years old, and used different names. After going AWOL in the Army, he was caught and admitted to assaulting a woman in New York, then was demoted in rank and discharged honorably without facing assault charges. He was caught again by the FBI and charged with the rape and attempted murder of a child, but took a plea deal that only required him to plead guilty to child molestation, and served three years in prison. After, he was released on parole and was given permission to travel to New York, where he assumed a new identity. After the murder of a New York woman, he was questioned by the FBI but was released because there was no evidence.
He continued his killing spree until 1979, when a trove of jewelry that belonged to some of his victims was discovered, and authorities have connected him to an unsolved murder as recently as 2016.
He was convicted and sentenced to death three times for a 1979 murder, after twice having the verdict overturned in appeals. Now 77 years old and confined to a cell in a California prison, he refuses to disclose whether there are other victims.
With Alcala’s long history as a photographer, in 2010 police made public hundreds of Alcala’s photographs found in a storage locker. Police said it was unclear if the people in the photos are victims but hope the public might be able to help identify the individuals in the pictures.
