Serial Killer Rodney Alcala aka The Dating Game Killer (Crime Documentary)
- 5 years ago
Rodney James Alcala (born Rodrigo Jacques Alcala Buquor), a.k.a. ""The Dating Game Killer"", is a convicted serial killer and rapist currently on trial for additional murders.
Alcala's first known victim was an eight-year-old girl named Tali Shapiro, whom he abducted as she was on her way to school. After he lured her into his car, a witness followed him back to his apartment on De Longpre Avenue and called the police. By the time they arrived, Alcala had struck Shapiro with a steel rod and raped her. When they knocked on the door, he escaped out the back and evaded arrest. He was placed on the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted list. Though badly injured, Shapiro survived. He fled to the East Coast and enrolled in the NYU. In 1971, Alcala is believed to have raped and strangled Cornelia Crilley, a Trans World Airlines flight attendant, in her Manhattan apartment.
The same year, two children at the camp saw the FBI's Wanted poster and told the camp's staff about it. They reported Alcala to the authorities, leading to him being extradited to California. Because Shapiro's family had moved to Mexico and wouldn't let their daughter testify, Alcala got off with a guilty plead for a lesser assault charge. He received indeterminate sentencing, which meant he would be released from incarceration when he proved himself rehabilitated (the system was popular in the 1970s when sex offenders were convicted). After 34 months, in 1974, he was released and kidnapped a 13-year-old girl named as ""Julie J."" in court records, forced her to smoke marijuana and kissed her. In spite of what he had done, he was only found guilty of giving marijuana to a minor and violating his parole and was released after two more years of indeterminate sentencing.
In 1977, Alcala got permission from his parole officer to visit relatives in New York City. Shortly after arriving (coincidentally during the time that Son of Sam was active), he is believed to have killed Ellen Jane Hover, a 23-year-old socialite. Her datebook showed that she had a meeting with one ""John Berger"", Alcala's alias, on the date of her disappearance. Upon returning to L.A., Alcala got a job as a typesetter for the Los Angeles Times. When the FBI connected him to his old alias, they questioned him. He confessed to knowing Hover but denied committing the murder. Since her body hadn't yet been found, he was let go. He was also questioned as a convicted sex offender in connection with the Hillside Strangler investigation. In 1978, in spite of his criminal record, Alcala was admitted as ""Bachelor No. 1"" to The Dating Game. The host introduced him as a successful professional photographer. Though Alcala won the contest, the female contestant wouldn't go on a date with him because she thought he was ""creepy"". Criminal profiler Pat Brown later suggested that this rejection angered Alcala further since he afterward killed at least three more women within two years. His last known victim was 12-year-old Robin Samsoe.
Alcala's first known victim was an eight-year-old girl named Tali Shapiro, whom he abducted as she was on her way to school. After he lured her into his car, a witness followed him back to his apartment on De Longpre Avenue and called the police. By the time they arrived, Alcala had struck Shapiro with a steel rod and raped her. When they knocked on the door, he escaped out the back and evaded arrest. He was placed on the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted list. Though badly injured, Shapiro survived. He fled to the East Coast and enrolled in the NYU. In 1971, Alcala is believed to have raped and strangled Cornelia Crilley, a Trans World Airlines flight attendant, in her Manhattan apartment.
The same year, two children at the camp saw the FBI's Wanted poster and told the camp's staff about it. They reported Alcala to the authorities, leading to him being extradited to California. Because Shapiro's family had moved to Mexico and wouldn't let their daughter testify, Alcala got off with a guilty plead for a lesser assault charge. He received indeterminate sentencing, which meant he would be released from incarceration when he proved himself rehabilitated (the system was popular in the 1970s when sex offenders were convicted). After 34 months, in 1974, he was released and kidnapped a 13-year-old girl named as ""Julie J."" in court records, forced her to smoke marijuana and kissed her. In spite of what he had done, he was only found guilty of giving marijuana to a minor and violating his parole and was released after two more years of indeterminate sentencing.
In 1977, Alcala got permission from his parole officer to visit relatives in New York City. Shortly after arriving (coincidentally during the time that Son of Sam was active), he is believed to have killed Ellen Jane Hover, a 23-year-old socialite. Her datebook showed that she had a meeting with one ""John Berger"", Alcala's alias, on the date of her disappearance. Upon returning to L.A., Alcala got a job as a typesetter for the Los Angeles Times. When the FBI connected him to his old alias, they questioned him. He confessed to knowing Hover but denied committing the murder. Since her body hadn't yet been found, he was let go. He was also questioned as a convicted sex offender in connection with the Hillside Strangler investigation. In 1978, in spite of his criminal record, Alcala was admitted as ""Bachelor No. 1"" to The Dating Game. The host introduced him as a successful professional photographer. Though Alcala won the contest, the female contestant wouldn't go on a date with him because she thought he was ""creepy"". Criminal profiler Pat Brown later suggested that this rejection angered Alcala further since he afterward killed at least three more women within two years. His last known victim was 12-year-old Robin Samsoe.