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He posed his victim?

She is posed on the floor.

with her arms behind her back displayed
like a subject of a photo shoot.

And this is the killer's way of
objectifying her as worthless.

It's for shock value on those who
discover her, of course, but it's more

of what he thinks about his victims.

Welcome to Very Scary People. I'm Donnie
Wahlberg.

Serial killer Rodney Alcala was a
charming monster.

His good looks and winning smile hid his
true nature.

He was a psychopath.

He selected his victims carefully.

Beautiful, vulnerable young women and
girls.

Even children were not safe.

An aspiring photographer, he sometimes
posed his dead victims after torturing

and raping them. In a chilling testament
to his charisma, Alcala was chosen to

be a contestant on the popular TV show
The Dating Game, where he would compete

against other eligible bachelors for the
affections of a pretty bachelorette.

Will he be the winner who gets to take
her on a dream date?

This is part two of The Dating Game
Killer.

1977 was just really a terrible,
terrible year in New York City.

Son of Sam was running around, and they
had the blackout.

23 -year -old Ellen Hover was living in
Manhattan.

She had a date with Rodney Alcala the
day after the big blackout.

When her parents didn't get her nightly
call, they called the police to do a

welfare check.

She wasn't there.

However, her calendar was open, and on
July 15th, written right there, John

Berger, photographer.

John Berger was an alias for Rodney
Alcala.

The FBI did interview him in connection
with Ellen Holver.

He said he had been on a date with her
but brought her back, and that was all

knew. That was it. They had to drop it
at that point.

They hired private detectives.

She just vanished.

Cornelia Crilly was a TWA flight
attendant. She was quite beautiful,

popular amongst her friends.

She was murdered.

And under her body is an envelope with a
fingerprint.

One of the injuries was a bite mark.

on her breast.

Rodney Alcala is a dangerous predator
and he was purposely moving around Los

Angeles, New York and places in between
looking for people to target.

Rodney Alcala is the main suspect in the
rape and abduction of eight -year -old

Tally Shapiro.

Rodney escaped and he's on the run.

I knew that We had not heard the last of
him.

Rodney Alcala has gone from New York
across the United States back to L .A.

where he's comfortable when he finds his
next victim.

Georgia Wickstead was a 27 -year -old
nurse.

She had recently moved out of her house
and gone on her own in Malibu.

She was supposed to pick up a friend on
the way to work, and she never showed

up.

Law enforcement did a welfare check and
found that there was evidence of forced

entry into her apartment.

A screen had been removed from her
window and a box had been moved over so

somebody could step up.

Her apartment was in complete disarray.
Blood everywhere on her bed, the walls,

the floor, the bedsheets.

She was completely naked.

She had been brutally assaulted.

Georgia was found in this posed
position.

She was also strangled.

and had bite marks.

Posing is very rare in homicides. I
think it's about one or two percent of

murders are posing, which is the worst
of the worst, the most evil.

After two brutal murders just four weeks
apart, Alcala doesn't strike again for

six months.

Charlotte Lamb was a legal secretary,
very beautiful woman.

She lived in Santa Monica and called up
some friends to go out to a bar. Her

friends were not able to go with her,
but her car was parked in a location she

had intended on visiting.

32 -year -old Charlotte Lamb was
discovered in the laundry room of a

apartment complex in El Segundo.

She was... found naked with her arms
bent and propped up behind her back,

to protrude her chest area.

We believe for him taking his death
pictures after the crime.

She didn't have her earrings, and she
had gone to the club the night before

earrings in her ears, so they were
removed and missing, presumably by the

who killed her.

Her body is found in a building where
she has no contact.

Even people that resided in that
building did not know Charlotte.

Rodney Alcala had to move her into that
apartment.

It really goes to his sense of
confidence and to the fact that that

-taking does not bother him whatsoever.

In fact, it probably makes the crime
even that much more interesting and that

much more erotic for him.

My mother called and said the worst has
happened.

This is Bill McCreary in North Tarrytown
with a story about the discovery of the

body of a millionaire's daughter missing
for the past 11 months.

Almost a year passed before Ellen
Hover's body was discovered.

And it happened after detectives got a
tip that Ronnie Alcala liked to watch

sunsets in the cliffs up by the
Rockefeller Estate in Westchester.

Then they found her skeletal remains.

And it was through dental records that
they were able to identify that it was

indeed Ellen Hover.

Police say they do have the identity of
a possible suspect in this case. Right

now, the body of Ms. Hover is in the
medical examiner's office up here, where

they're trying to determine if foul play
was involved in her death.

Because the remains were all
skeletalized, we didn't really have a

death. All we know is that because they
were buried, it was homicidal.

People don't die and bury themselves.

It's just a horrible, random, tragic
thing that happened.

What if she hadn't been where she was
when she met him? What if it had been a

different day?

It was such a chance encounter.

And he pursued her and pushed for the
date. And she was kind and sweet, and

agreed to go on it. What if that had not
happened?

It was horrible and an incredible
tragedy.

During the 1970s, there were so many
serial killers.

Everyone was running around scared of
serial killers.

There seemed to be an endless amount of
them. Green River Killer and the

Hillside Strangler and Son of Sam.

There seemed to be no end.

To top it off, none of these were being
resolved quickly. People just kept on

getting killed and it didn't seem to
end.

In an age before internet, before the
police were coordinated, before...

we could actually trace and track
similar homicides and realize there was

serial killer in our midst.

Rodney Alcala capitalized on all of
that.

Shortly after Charlotte Lamb's murder,
Rodney Alcala was filmed as

a contestant on The Dating Game.

Around Hollywood, the dating capital of
the world.

Yes. The dating game was back in the
70s, a

popular game show.

You had three single guys behind this
partition, and the eligible bachelorette

would ask questions without seeing them.
And after a series of questions, she

would decide which bachelor she would go
out with.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank
you.

In 1978, on a Saturday afternoon, Rodney
came in, you know, he was one of

several bachelors that came in to apply
for the show. And the way that worked

was mostly by referral.

Somebody that would come in for the show
would give us a sheet of other people

that they knew that were single that
they thought might enjoy being on the

We really didn't vet people in those
days. I don't think any television shows

any kind really did.

It was a different era.

And even if we wanted to, we wouldn't
have the same kind of access.

I mean, we didn't have Google. So you
couldn't just look someone up.

I do recall that he seemed strange to
me. I picked up on something

about him that I absolutely didn't like.
He was, I hate the word to use the word

spooky, but there was something
devilishly spooky about the guy. And I

said. I'm not going to put him on the
show.

Michael and I did not agree on this
particular person. It was very rare to

disagree. And me and my assistant were
like, uh, what?

No, no, you don't understand.

He was really smart and he went to UCLA
and he was a photographer and he was

like so happening. He had the long black
hair and he was attractive, very

attractive. And they said, you got to
use him, you know.

So I did.

Well, let's see. Bachelor number one is
a successful photographer who got his

start when his father found him in the
dark room at the age of 13, fully

developed.

Between takes, he might find him
skydiving or motorcycling. Please

Rodney Alcala.

Rod, welcome.

He's wearing this brown leisure suit. He
has his hair feathered out and back.

He's a handsome man.

Number one.

Would you say hello to Cheryl, please?

We're going to have a great time
together, Cheryl.

And he comes in with the attitude that
he's going to win this contest, and he

makes it very clear to the other two
bachelors that are there with him. I

remember that he was very strange and
obnoxious in posing and trying to be

smiley and friendly at the same time,
not giving you a chance to speak when he

was speaking.

He convinced a lot of women that he was
harmless and that he was approachable

and he had a beaming smile.

Bachelor number one.

Yes. What's your best time?

The best time is at night.

Nighttime is when it really gets good.

During that show, Rodney seemed to be
the most playful and certainly the one

got on best with. Bachelor number one.

you for dinner oh what are you called
and what do

you look like i'm called the banana and
i look really good

can you be a little more descriptive
peel me

the crowd is eating it up everyone's
loving this banter back and forth

later bachelor one later

We know that the dating game of the 70s
was very contrived, and the whole point

was to use a lot of sexual innuendo,
tremendous over -the -top flirtation,

because that's what the crowd wanted.

And Alcala played the part perfectly.

Number one, would you say hello to
Cheryl, please?

We're going to have a great time
together, Cheryl.

Alcala is a master manipulator, and he
does this by role -playing. And by going

on the dating game, remember the cat and
mouse that he does with the cops? He's

now doing it with the audience.

I'm a drama teacher, and I'm going to
audition each of you for my private

Bachelor number one.

You're a dirty old man.

Take it.

Come on over here.

Rodney James Alcala is one of the most
dangerous types of serial killers you

could come across in the sense that he's
good looking. He's articulate,

charming, high IQ, intelligent, able to
manipulate almost anybody about

anything. I'm called the banana, and I
look really good.

And then the moment of truth.

Would he get picked for the date?

You've heard from the bachelors, you've
got some great dramatic presentations,

some good answers, but now I'm going to
ask you a question. Will that date be

bachelor number one, bachelor number
two, or bachelor number three? Who gets

dates? Well, I like bananas.

So I'll take one. Number one. That's
your number one. All right.

No one would ever dream that a serial
killer is winning the girl on the

dating game. Say hello to Rodney Alcala.

Rodney, come on and say hello.

But during the commercial break, when
they were together,

She got, as she said, very creepy vibes
from him. She felt very uncomfortable.

She called me at the office, and she was
like, Ellen, I can't go. I can't go out

with this guy. I mean, he is a creep.
I'm not going. I can't. And I went,

God, no, don't go. I mean, you don't
have to go.

And she was extremely relieved.

So she didn't go on the date.

I think it may have saved her life for
sure.

My sense is Rodney would have been very,
very angry that she would have the

nerve to reject him. And afterwards, he
may have made the decision that he was

going to get back into following women,
predating, and ultimately committing

more murders.

In February of 1979, Alcala picked up a
15 -year -old hitchhiker, Monique Hoyt.

He ended up taking her about 75 miles
outside of Los Angeles and took her out

a wooded area.

He asked her to pose for some
photographs.

She agreed.

As they were taking the photographs, he
bashed her over the head

with a rock.

She woke up with her hands and feet
bound.

He beat her. He sexually assaulted her,
raped her, and strangled her.

She went unconscious, but eventually she
woke up.

When she awoke, she was tied up, but she
started talking to him.

apologizing to him, telling him, this is
my fault. I'm sorry. I put you in this

position.

With that, he started talking to her
more.

And Rodney Ocala broke down crying for
some reason.

He took off the clothing that was
binding her, and she asked that,

okay, can I go clean up?

She asked him if she could stop at a gas
station to use.

the restroom.

And that is when Monique Hoyt saw her
moment and she ran to safety and called

authorities.

Rodney is arrested.

He is charged with kidnapping and sexual
assault.

And what's particularly interesting is
that when he was arrested, he was only a

$10 ,000 bail signed to him.

And his mother paid that.

And so he was free and in the public
while he was waiting his trial.

After Monique Hoyt, his cooling off
period is four months before the murder

Jill Parenteau.

She was found naked, strangled, sexually
assaulted.

Prior to her murder, she had actually
been in a pub where she and a friend had

met up with Rodney Akala.

He definitely wanted Jill.

And so he's willing to take the extra
risk of going to her home.

When you see an offender do that, that
tells me as a profiler that that is the

victim that he wants. He's taking the
extra risk to get that victim.

No other victim is going to satisfy him
at that point.

Welcome back to Very Scary People.

Rodney Alcala has left a trail of dead
bodies in New York and California and

successfully eluded the police.

But he is losing control.

It's not a matter of if he will kill
again.

It's a matter of when.

In the late 70s, Huntington Beach is a
surf capital.

Everybody allowed their kids to go to
the beach. They could ride their

They could take the bus, ride their
skateboards.

Robin Thamso was a 12 -year -old girl.

She was a typical young, precocious,
preteen girl.

She loved to dance. She loved her
friends.

She loved her brothers and sisters. She
just loved life, as any 12 -year -old

should, without a care in the world.

On June 20, 1979, Robin and her friend
Bridget went down to the beach in the

afternoon to play in the sand and have a
cartwheel competition.

While at the beach, they were approached
by a man with curly hair who had a

camera and wanted to take their
pictures.

They were a little bit reluctant.

He was saying that he was a photographer
and he wanted to take their photographs

and enter into a photo contest.

And if they won, he could get some money
and he would be willing to share it.

He was taking their pictures and all of
a sudden out of the blue, A neighbor

approached them to see if everything was
okay.

When she approached, the photographer
turned his face away from them and then

walked off in a quick fashion.

He approached two 12 -year -old girls.

Who does that? Just as creepy in 1979 as
it would be today.

Shortly after that, Robin was supposed
to be at her ballet class at 4 o 'clock,

so... Bridget suggested Robin take her
bicycle to get to the ballet class

quicker, and then Robin left and went on
her way.

A few hours later, the ballet studio
called Robin's mother and said, why

she show up?

And, of course, then right away they
knew there was something wrong and

the police.

Robin was missing.

Huntington Beach did an extraordinary
job on the investigation.

They tracked down the people on the
beach. They tracked down the woman who

seen this photographer approaching these
two girls.

Her friend Bridget met with a sketch
artist and had a composite drawn of the

person that she talked to.

That composite was put out and a parole
officer called the Huntington Beach

Police Department.

and said that looked like a former
parolee of his, Rodney Alcala.

At that time, detectives found out who
Alcala was, obtained his photograph,

which bore a striking resemblance to the
composite.

Shortly after, the investigator in the
case goes home and is watching TV, and

the dating game episode from the summer
before is now airing on his television.

Good luck, gentlemen.

Jim Lang from The Dating Game introduces
bachelor number one. Please welcome

Rodney Alcala.

Rod, welcome.

The detectives immediately started
calling the police department, trying to

a hold of the sergeants and supervisors
to let them know that he had just seen

Rodney Alcala on TV.

And then the FBI called me, us, Chuck
Beres Productions, and...

wanted to know all about him.

So they came to the office, and that's
really when we found out what we were

even dealing with.

And we sat down with them and gave them
a copy of the form that he had filled

out. The show was instrumental in having
identified him to the police.

The best time is at night.

After that, the detective obtained a
copy of the program, and that program

shown to Bridget.

And she positively identified Rodney
Alcala as the one that was taking her

photograph. Nighttime is when it really
gets good.

After getting him identified, they
located him living at his mother's house

Monterey Park, California, and they
began round -the -clock surveillance,

to find out his habits and patterns.

They started digging more and more,
finding out about his background,

out about his conviction for kidnapping
the 8 -year -old in Hollywood in 1968,

finding out about another girl he
kidnapped in Huntington Beach in 1975.

They started developing more and more
information on him.

They canvassed the neighborhood.

They find a business that was a bike
shop that somebody left a bike that

to have been the bike that Robin
borrowed.

They believe sold.

A lot of circumstantial stuff is being
developed that's tying Rodney to Robin

Samson's kidnapping.

Twelve days after her disappearance,
Robin's body is found up in the area of

Sierra Madre. There have been a lot
of... animal activity and decomposition.

There wasn't much left. She was pretty
skeletal. There was some hair.

It was to the point where they could
only identify her through her dental

records.

On July 24, 1979, police show up to
Alcala's mother's house to arrest

him in the death of Robin Samso.

He was arrested and taken to the
Huntington Beach Police Department for

interview.

There's been a gross miscarriage of
justice for being found guilty of

that I didn't do.

At Rodney's house, they find
photographs, photographs of kids and

of dress.

But nothing that ties him to Robin
Samsell's disappearance.

During the course of the search
warrant...

One of the sergeants at the house saw a
receipt for a storage locker out of King

County, Washington, in Alcala's name.
The receipt wasn't on the search

so he didn't take it. However, he did
write down all of the information on it

his notebook.

Later, at the Huntington Beach Police
Department, during the course of his

interview, Alcala asked if he could
speak with his sister, who was at the

department.

Detectives allowed them to converse with
each other, them not knowing that it

was still being recorded and monitored.

Rodney said to his sister, at least they
don't know about the storage locker, at

which time bells went off in the
sergeant's head, and he pulled out his

and gave the information to the
investigation team.

Then they discovered that Rodney drove
to Seattle and rented that storage

locker a couple days after the murder.

The very next day, two detectives were
on a plane to the state of Washington to

obtain a search warrant and go through
that storage locker.

We conduct a search on the storage
facility with the assistance of Seattle

recover many rolls of undeveloped film
and many photographs of potential

victims that Rodney Mays targeted.

They found over a thousand pictures of
young girls and boys that were in

explicit and sexually provocative poses
and a lot of them were naked.

They found a few other items, including
a pouch that had jewelry in it.

That jewelry included earrings, which
became extremely important.

And remember, he had taken mostly
earrings from his victims' bodies or

their jewelry boxes.

The jewelry seemed to be, if we could
prove it, trophies that would remind

Rodney of a particular victim.

Robin Samso's mother was able to
identify two gold ball earrings as

that were hers that little 12 -year -old
Robin had borrowed from her mother and

was wearing the day she disappeared.

Trophies are often taken so that the
offender can relive the homicide, relive

the sexual assault.

And it's a reminder to them what
happened.

Just believe that if you want, but
Rodney wanted to remember.

Those earrings were never recovered
until they were recovered in that

locker in that pouch.

Those became very significant piece of
evidence.

Nearly a year after Robin Samsoe was
found murdered, Rodney Alcala went on

and Every seat in the courthouse was
taken.

Two mothers in the gallery, one of whom
is Rodney Alcala's mother, holding her

rosary beads.

The other mother is Marianne Frazier.

She's Robin's mother, and she's holding
her handbag on her lap with her hand

inside, and that hand is clutching a
gun.

She is ready to pull that gun out, point
it at Rodney Alcala, and pull the

trigger. so that he can never do this to
another child ever again.

At one point, she began to reach in her
purse, and she felt Robin's hand touch

hers and could smell Robin's shampoo and
knew that it wasn't right and that

Robin wouldn't want it.

The trial lasted two and a half months,
and on April 30th, The

jury reached a decision.

They came with the verdict of guilty.

And in the penalty phase, they sentenced
him to death.

I think that his strategy has been the
classic witch hunt strategy, and I think

the case will be reversed on appeal.

Will Rodney Alcala ever be put to death
in your estimation?

Not if I can have anything to do with
it.

But shortly after that, that case was
reversed on appeal.

In 1984, the California Supreme Court
overturned the conviction in Alcala's

because they argued that the trial judge
should not have allowed for the jury to

hear about his previous child rape and
kidnapping convictions.

I just can't believe that we have to be
punished for what he did.

He's got nothing to do but gain.

All we have to do is...

Be destroyed and be pulled down a little
bit further. I don't know if we can,

really. They had to retry the case in
front of a new jury. A new jury

him again and sentenced him to death
again.

Rodney Alcala sat on death row for 23
years going through numerous appeals.

And again, his case was overturned on
appeal for the second time.

This time it was because of evidence
that the judge ruled.

Alcala should have been allowed to
present.

Every time this happens, it's like
losing Robin all over again, you know?

I don't know if you've ever lost a
child, but there's nothing,

nothing that hurts like that, nothing.

Now, we had to come back after 30 years
and...

Present the evidence anew for the third
time in the Robin Samsoe case.

While Rodney Alcala was awaiting his
third trial in the Robin Samsoe case,

forensic science began gaining on him.

Police in California and New York were
looking into cold cases.

During the time that Alcala was active
in the 1970s.

When we were looking at the Holman and
Prilly homicides and we were going

through the boxes, John Berger's name
popped up in there and we're like, who's

this guy? Why would they talk to him?
And then we looked into him and we knew

his name was really Rodney Alcala.

What we had that was the most probative
was the fingerprint for.

Miss Crilly's murder on that letter. We
also had bite mark evidence from her

breast. Detectives actually visited
Rodney Alcala in prison just so that

could obtain his dental impression for
comparison.

The dentist, he was able to match up her
bite marks to that imprint exactly.

We also had gotten a fingerprint card
from them of his prints.

And a very good latent print examiner, a
detective, told us, hey, that's your

guy, that's his print, that's on that
envelope.

With Miss Hover, we really had no
evidence other than what was in her

apartment. They knew that in her
calendar, she had written down John

photographer.

At this point, they also now know that
John Berger was Rodney Akala.

There were other people that were
interviewed that put him in place, even

that put him with Ms. Hoover.

So we're just connecting the dots,
connecting the dots.

While authorities in New York were
building their case, the third trial for

Robin Samsoe's murder was ramping up in
California, and prosecutors were about

to have their own breakthrough.

When Matt Murphy and I were preparing to
try the Robin Samsoe case for the third

time, DNA technology caught up with
Rodney Alcala's crimes.

Thanks to the DNA forensic technology
advancements, Rodney Alcala was attached

to four other murders.

We started one by one analyzing each of
those murder cases and showing that

Rodney Alcala's Semen was found inside
the bodies of each of the L .A. victims

of Georgia Wickstead, Jill Barkham, and
Charlotte Lamb.

Jill Parenteau, we had his connection to
the basic serology blood, so we

believed that Rodney Alcala was a serial
killer.

Rodney Alcala ended up being indicted
and tried of all five murders at the

time.

I was able to attend the trial in Orange
County, and Gina Satriano and Matt

Murphy were the district attorneys
representing the victims.

Representing the defendant was Rodney
Ocala.

They say

a lawyer

who represents himself has a fool for a
client.

That's the way it went.

Rodney Alcala hardly cross -examined
anybody with respect to the evidence in

L .A. case and ignored those victims as
if they weren't even important.

He focused on the Robin Samso murder.

We felt very strong about the evidence
in our case, being able to present the

jury with a full picture of Rodney
Alcala's crimes.

He got her into his car, and he drove
her up to those mountains.

And Rodney Alcala smashed her face in,
and she was still alive.

He brutalized her.

In closing arguments, District Attorney
Murphy painted a picture of a man with

no soul, and he asked the jury to do the
right thing.

Robin Samson's day in court is today.
You make sure that he is held

for what happened that day.

We, the jury, in the above entitled
action, find the defendant, Rodney James

Alcala, guilty of murder in the first
degree.

The jury found Alcala guilty of all five
murders.

You know that those families in that
moment have a piece of

justice that's handed to them after such
a long wait of 30 years

for their loved ones.

In the penalty phase, the jury returned
a verdict of death.

I have prayed about this, and I've given
my hatred all to God, because

I've let this feeling consume me for 31
years,

and I'm not going to give him no more
power over me.

If anybody deserves the death penalty,

Rodney Alcala is screaming for it.

The terror he's left behind.

He's destroyed families.

He should have gotten out before he did
to me, much less the next person or the

next person.

That's the shame of it.

When he offered to plead guilty at 25 to
life on both cases, we were thrilled.

And no matter what happened in
California,

This plea would stand forever.

Shocking photos from a dating game
killer's picture book. They were

in a storage facility he had. These are
some of them. The question is, do they

point the way to more of his victims?

Shortly after the trial concluded, the
Huntington Beach Police Department

released 110 photographs that were taken
out of the thousands that Alcala had in

his storage locker.

They decided to release them.

because there was hope that family
members might see somebody who had gone

missing and never seen again that might
lead to more homicide cases.

Making those photos public is huge. If
anyone can put something together and

have closure for a family, that would be
amazing.

I come out on the other side of it, and
I was blessed, but there were so many

other people suffering.

On the cold case squad.

We feel the dead person should not be
forgotten.

Their family should not be forgotten.

I'm like, we got them, and you can rest
now.

Lack of evidence allowed Alcala to elude
prosecution on several cases, but

detectives refused to give up.

Finally, with the advances in DNA
forensics, they got their man.

They're still closing cases.

In 2016, Rodney Alcala was charged with
the 1977 murder of Christine Thornton.

She was one of the women identified in
his photo collection.

He's also been named a suspect in
unsolved murders in several states.

Investigators believe Alcala may have
murdered more than 100 victims across

United States.

I'm Donnie Wahlberg.

Thanks for watching.

Good night.

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