This Latino Serial Killer Took Fashion Photos Of His Victims And It’s Creepy AF
Serial killers are some of the most terrifying yet intriguing figures. They should never be idolized, admired, nor romanticized because they do represent the worst of society. This article is about the lesser known, yet just as deplorable, serial killer Rodrigo “Rodney” Jacques Alcala, also known as The Dating Game Killer.
This is Rodrigo “Rodney” Jacques Alcala, once a contestant on “The Dating Game.”
Credit: The Dating Game / ABC
He appeared on the popular game show on Sept. 13, 1978, as Bachelor No. 1. The host of the show introduced him as a successful photographer who enjoyed skydiving.
What viewers (and show producers) didn’t know was that the dashing young man with long, flowing hair had a very dark past.
Credit: The Dating Game / ABC
^^ That was his response when asked his favorite time of day. Like, it could be romantic but listening to a serial killer give this answer is just terrifying.
That response might sound flirty, but everything changes when you learn he’s a convicted serial killer.
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Alcala terrorized southern California in the ’60s and ’70s during his murderous rampage targeting young women.
When Alcala was on the show — he actually won a date with the bachelorette — he had already served time for a despicable crime.
Credit: The Dating Game / ABC
Ten years before being a contestant on “The Dating Game,” Alcala was tried, convicted and spent time (34 months to be exact) in prison for the rape and beating of an 8-year-old girl. The girl survived the attack.
But, it doesn’t end there. In the ’70s, Alcala went on a killing spree.
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Between 1971 and 1979, Alcala killed several people with victims discovered in New York, Seattle and Los Angeles. Alcala was killing people before and after being on “The Dating Game.”
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Alcala would pose a photographer looking for models to lure victims.
Credit: 48 Hours / CBS
Alcala had countless photos of young women, several underage, that he collected during his years of killing. He would pose a photographer looking for models and would photograph the women in public places in an attempt to gain their trust.
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credit: Huntington Beach Police Dept.
credit: Huntington Beach Police Dept.
credit: Huntington Beach Police Dept.
credit: Huntington Beach Police Dept.
His victims varied in age, with the youngest being 12 and the oldest being 31.
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His preferred method of killing was to either strangle or bludgeon his victims to death. All were sexually assaulted.
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Alcala had a particularly sickening method of torture involving strangling the victims and resuscitating them and torturing them.
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Many of his victims would be choked until they lost consciousness. Then, he would resuscitate them and begin to sexually assault and beat them.
The gruesome death of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe was the death that led to a manhunt for Alcala.
Credit: 48 Hours / CBS
Samsoe was riding her bike to a ballet class in Huntington Beach when she was abducted. Her decomposed body was found days later at the Angeles National Forest. In 2014, Samsoe was honored with a plaque in Huntington Beach.
In 1980, Alcala was convicted for the murder of his youngest victim, Robin Samsoe, and was sentenced to death by a judge.
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But a series of appeals led to his death sentence being overturned, twice, on technicalities.
In the early 2000s, Alcala, who had avoided the death penalty twice, was charged with four additional murders.
Credit: California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
A new trial would start with Acala charged for five murders (including the murder of Robin Samsoe). “If there is a hell, I hope Rodney Alcala burns eternally,” one of Alcala’s victim’s sister told the court, according to CNN. “I wish he would experience the terror that he put his victims through.”
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In 2003, DNA testing linked Alcala to the murder of four women in Los Angeles.
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The total number of victims that Alcala was accused of murdering was at seven, including Samsoe, when the trial happened in the early 2000s. Alcala was accused of murdering two women in New York: Cornelia Crilley and Ellen Hover. He was also accused of murdering four women in Los Angeles: Georgia Wixtead, Jill Barcomb, Christina Thornton, and Charlotte Lamb.
Finally, Alcala was convicted of seven murders and received the death penalty.
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Alcala was then sent to San Quentin before also being convicted in the deaths of two New York women.
Decades after the show, during the trial, one of the contestants on stage with Alcala in 1978 broke his silence about the day he met this killer.
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“Oh yeah, I remember it quite clearly,” Jed Mills, a fellow contestant who sat next to Alcala in 1978, told CNN. “He was creepy. Definitely creepy.”
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Watch Alcala’s creepy appearance on “The Dating Game” below:
Credit: The Dating Game / ABC
Alcala is still on death row at the San Quentin State Prison in California.
