Original subtitles

[narrator] The sadistic monster Rodney Alcala

tortured and posed his victims.

Robbie Alcala was a predatory, vicious serial killer

from the '60s all the way up to 1979.

He preyed on young women and children.

And I hope and believe that he will rot in hell.

[Alicia Dennis] He even had the audacity

to appear on a TV game show

causing the media to dub him

"The Dating Game Killer."

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

[Alicia] And there are potentially many, many more victims

that we may never know about.

[Matt Murphy] When they found those photographs

every hair on the back of their neck stood up.

[Alicia] At People Magazine we're telling the story

of someone who survived this man's rampage.

And it's a huge responsibility because they're trusting us

to share the truth with the world.

She should have died, but she was a fighter.

This woman kept her story a secret for 50 years

until she realized she wasn't the only survivor.

[theme music playing]

[Steve Hodel] The myth of Hollywood in the '60s

was just that, it was a myth.

Kids would come out expecting to find peace and love,

but a lot of juveniles were taken advantage of by the mean streets

and some really rough characters in Hollywood.

[Morgan Rowan] In 1965, I was 13 years old

and I lived in North Hollywood, California.

My family moved from Rochester, New York

for my father to work a classified government job.

My mom and my dad had both been marines.

I went to a Catholic girls' school,

and it was very restrictive.

My sister, who was six years older than me,

had gone to that school.

And my sister was the golden child,

but I had a hard time in school because

I was timid, and shy,

and was always just kind of on the edges.

Morgan Rowan's home and school life

is conservative in the mid-60s,

but she and her friends would soon discover

a different side of Los Angeles.

[Morgan] My old neighborhood.

Where I lived. Where I played.

By 13, I was really branching out,

and from here you just walk onto the corner

and you're right on the other side

of the mountain from Hollywood.

And Hollywood was the place to be

when I was a teenager.

All the teenagers went there.

Was very easy for us to just walk there,

hitchhike, and go across the canyon.

And I think going into Hollywood

was kind of a way to convince myself

that I'm not a Catholic school girl.

Was really a pretty innocent time,

and it just got in my blood, you know. [chuckles]

This, at one time, was The Hullabaloo Club.

It was probably the biggest, uh, nightclub for teenagers.

They didn't serve alcohol, so people of all ages went there.

Everybody who was ever famous in the 60s

pretty much has played at The Hullabaloo Club.

It was the place to be.

[Christine Pelisek] The club was a completely different

experience for her.

It was all free love, and friends,

and so it was a lot different than what she was used to

compared to that strict upbringing she had.

But Morgan soon discovers

that it's not all about love, peace, and harmony.

[Morgan] It took me 50 years to finally tell this story.

It was a tough decision but,

[sniffles] it's important to me.

-When I... when I first met Rod? -[producer] Mmm-hmm.

One second.

[chuckles]

[sniffles] Um...

[sniffles]

I was 13 when I first met Rod.

That day we'd gone down to The Hullabaloo Club

to watch the bands come in.

We were standing in the parking lot,

and there were two older guys there.

My friend said, "Hey, that's Rod.

He was very charismatic.

He really drew people to him.

He was tall, attractive,

laughed easily, told stories.

Young girls loved him. They just loved him.

I never saw that as dangerous,

but actually it was.

He kept looking over at us, smiling, winking, playful,

and eventually he kind of waved us over.

And after a few minutes my girlfriend saw somebody that she liked,

and she kind of took off and said, "I'll be back."

I wanted his attention

so I kind of lightly scratched his arm with my fingernails,

and he put his arm around me,

hugged me tight, smiled, and laughed.

So a couple of minutes later I did it again,

and then he needed to go,

so he would start kind of hugged me harder like, "Stop,"

and said, you know, "Don't do that again."

And as I was 13 and stupid so I did it again.

And he grabbed my arm

and dragged me into an alley at the back of the club.

I think he slammed my head against the wall

because I was unconscious.

When I woke up

I had, uh, something pressing hard against my chest.

What it was was a big industrial dumpster.

He had put me behind it and pushed it against me.

I ran and pounded on the door,

and the owner of the club called his wife.

She helped me,

and put ice on my head,

and cleaned me up a little bit.

After that I would make sure I stayed away from him.

[Alicia] Over the next three years

Morgan is sure to steer clear of Rod

until one night in early August of 1968.

[Morgan] So when I'm 16 years old

I found out that we were moving back to New York.

My father's job was done,

and we would be transferring back.

I was so upset by it.

I didn't want to leave my friends.

I thought moving from Los Angeles to New York

was like moving back 20 years.

[Christine] Four days before she's set to move back to New York with her family

Morgan and her friends decide to go celebrate on the Sunset Strip.

[Morgan] Huge crowd of people, and Rod just suddenly appeared in the crowd.

And I was absolutely creeped out.

Maybe an hour or so later

my two friends came up and said,

"Come on, we're all going to IHOP.

You want to go?"

So we got in a car.

My friend Mike was on one side.

My friend Evie was on the other.

I was in the middle.

Then suddenly, Rod got into the driver's seat

and just took off.

He kept looking up in the rearview mirror,

and just with this weird look on his face,

which was disturbing.

So we went in the restaurant,

and he pretty much ignored me.

I got up, and I went to go to the bathroom,

and I past a pay phone,

and my dad always taped a dime inside all of my shoes

so I'd be able to call for help if I was in trouble.

So I took the dime.

And I just kind of stood there thinking about

that I had four days with my friends,

and I wanted to be with my friends,

and I didn't call my dad.

If I could go back I would have called my dad.

When I turned around Rod was just standing there watching me,

and he said, you know, "We're ready to go. I'll take you back."

So I got back in the car.

We were driving back towards the Strip,

and he suddenly made a turn,

and drove a couple of blocks, stopped in front of a house,

and he said, "Come in, guys, I've got pot."

My friends thought that was great.

Everybody was sitting around.

Loud music. People talking.

I was anxious to leave,

and I didn't want to sit down so I would just pace.

As I walked into the other room

Rod grabbed my arm

and threw me into a bedroom.

And when I turned around he was holding a metal bar.

He had brackets on both sides of his door,

and he dropped the bar down into the bracket

so you couldn't open the door.

I started to know I was in trouble,

and I kept backing up until I was against the wall.

He took his belt off and wrapped it around his fist.

I tried to...

...be brave and I said,

"You know you can't keep me here."

And he just punched me between my eyes

as hard as he could.

And my head hit the wall,

and sparks just flew.

I dropped to my knees.

I was seeing stars.

He had a knife,

and he cut the tie off of my neck.

I could feel blood start to flow down my chest,

and I remember thinking,

"He cut my neck. I'm going to die."

[narrator] The sadistic monster Rodney Alcala

tortured and posed his victims.

[reporter] Alcala faces charges

in the brutal slayings of four women in LA County.

[Alicia] A serial killer can act like an animal

that is trying to get his prey.

In early August of 1968,

inside Rodney Alcala's bedroom

Morgan is fighting for her life.

His face was red and swollen, and his eyes were glassy,

and he was just out of control.

He just looked like an animal.

He took the belt, and he folded it,

and he pushed it in my mouth,

and it blocked my airway, and I was fighting for breath.

And he started punching me in the stomach

until I could feel my ribs breaking.

Then he took the knife and cut the rest of my clothes off.

And he stood up to take his pants off, um,

put the knife down,

and I could see it next to me,

and I kind of fixated on it, and I kept thinking,

"If I can move to where I can get on top of the knife,

he can't pick it up and kill me with it."

And he raped me.

Um, I fought really hard.

I was a virgin. This was...

...devastating.

I couldn't get up. I couldn't move.

I couldn't even find reality anymore.

I started to feel like I was falling down a well.

Just a really long dark well.

[Alicia] Despite the loud music and partying,

Morgan's friend Mike and her other friends

noticed that she and Rodney are missing from the living room.

[Morgan] He was on me,

and then there was a lot of commotion,

and my friends were pounding on the door,

but I kept slamming up against the metal bar.

[banging at door]

And then suddenly there was a feeling of cool air

-and glass breaking... -[glass shatters]

...and noise,

and my friend Mike had

broken through the window.

And he got off of me, then he went to the door,

took the metal bar off the door.

And he stood there,

my blood all over his shirt,

and he just said, "Take her."

If my friend Mike hadn't broken the window

I would definitely not be here today.

He was definitely going to kill me.

There is no doubt in my mind he was going to kill me.

I ran out of the house.

I had just a ripped blouse on, nothing else.

And I just couldn't take it anymore,

and I just walked out in the middle of the street

-and walked in front of a moving car. -[tires screeching]

[Alicia] The car screeches to a halt

with a man and woman inside,

and Morgan and her friends forced their way into the car,

and they all drive off.

[Morgan] I really don't know where we went.

A woman just held me, and I think she was praying.

I looked up at her face and just the pain in her eyes.

You know, I just... I could just see my mother.

At that moment I just knew I could never ever

doubt my mother and my father.

I could never do this to my mother, ever.

My mother was fragile.

My mother would not have been able to handle it.

And my friend Michael took me to his apartment out at the beach.

I called my parents,

told them I'd be home in time to leave,

that I wasn't coming home.

I didn't tell them why.

Michael's neighbor was a male nurse.

He helped me cough the blood out of my lungs,

and wrapped my ribs in tape,

and butterfly-closed all the open wounds.

Michael took care of me for four days.

And he really saved my life.

She eventually goes home,

and her parents are outside in the driveway

just ready to drive back to New York.

And so she climbs into the back seat of the car,

and then they drive seven days back to New York.

[Morgan] When I got to New York

the person that I had been was gone.

I was morose, and quiet, and troubled.

I couldn't sleep at night,

and I would sleep next to my parents' bed at night.

This is the only way I could sleep.

My parents just thought, you know,

that I was sad from leaving California,

and I was upset.

Morgan does her best to forget the assault,

holding all of the horror of it secret,

but just a few weeks later, back in Los Angeles,

Rodney Alcala will show what a monster he really is.

I believe that people need to know the truth

about what goes on.

For the first time in more than 50 years

Donald Haines is publicly sharing his story

of what happened on September 25th, 1968.

[Doanld Haines] In 1968, I was a sales representative,

and I drove a lot that day.

I drove up to Hollywood,

and I was going along Wilshire Boulevard,

and I wanted to turn around,

but there was a car in the crosswalk.

Inside was a man,

and he was talking to a young girl,

evidently, on her way to school,

and he was smiling and talking to her,

just fixated on this little girl.

That disturbed me.

He sees this little girl getting into the car with this man.

[Donald] He had that little girl in the backseat.

All the warning signs were there.

He didn't like what he saw, and he got worried.

So he ended up following the car.

Donald Haines follows the car a few blocks

until it pulls over on the side of De Longpre Street.

Donald watches the man and the girl exit the car and enter a house.

And I thought, "What the hell do I do now?

He may have a gun. Who knows?"

So I thought, "Well, I'll go find a pay phone

and I'll phone the police."

[Chris Camacho] In 1968, uh, I was right, right at this intersection,

and I received a call to see the man

about a possible kidnapping at Las Palmas and Sunset.

There's a gentleman right on this corner waving me down.

Donald tells the LAPD officer what he saw,

and then he shows him where the house is.

Two backup officers arrive,

and Officer Camacho approaches the front of the house.

I'm knocking at the door and I hear somebody inside,

and finally coming to the front door.

He pulled the covering aside enough

that I could see he was completely naked.

He had a rage in his eyes.

I told him, "Open the door and get some clothes on."

He said, "Give me one moment."

I put my ear to the door and I'm hearing moaning.

Within seconds I kicked in the door.

As I entered, the first thing I saw

was a little girl laying on the floor

with blood around her.

There was a bar across her neck.

She had a white dress, white shoes, white socks.

She was unresponsive.

That kind of violence,

it still haunts me.

[Alicia] With no sign of the attacker anywhere in the house,

the officers return to the little girl

who isn't moving.

[Chris] I went back into the kitchen to check on the little girl.

There were three officers. We all thought she was dead.

The bar was still on her neck.

And I removed that bar from her neck.

And that's when he heard the little girl

starting to gag for breath.

-[siren blaring] -[Alicia] An ambulance rushes the child to the hospital

as she clings to life.

[Chris] As we're searching the house,

I found a wallet on an end table,

and I picked it up, I opened it.

I found ID belonging to a Rodney Alcala.

[Morgan] Back in New York, I got a letter

from the girl that I had been with that night.

I went up to my bedroom, shut the door.

When I opened the letter,

a newspaper clipping, uh, fell out on the floor,

and I picked it up,

and it said that Rod had raped and tried to murder

an eight-year-old girl in the same house.

And I was overwhelmed. It was my fault.

I hadn't done anything. I could have stopped it.

I should have told my parents. I should have done something.

I should have gone back to the house and killed him myself.

[Morgan] I just fell to my knees,

and thank God to forgive me, it was my fault. [sniffles]

I fully felt that it was my fault,

that I should have done something. [sniffles]

So I...

I, uh, I tried to call, um, [sniffles] back to LA,

tried to get a hold of somebody

to see if she was alive.

I didn't even know if she was alive.

No one could tell me

because of privacy and because of her age.

So no one could even tell me if she was alive.

And it broke me.

I had a real hard time after that.

I dreamt about her all the time.

She had no name, no face.

She was just kind of a ghost.

[Matt] This is 1968.

So Rodney James Alcala has no arrest record with the LAPD.

And when police start looking in his background

they find that he grew up in Monterey Park.

He went to Cantwell High School.

He was actually a successful student.

Gone to UCLA Film School.

And they also learned

that he was previously in the army.

And they diagnosed him as a antisocial personality disorder,

but they also realized that he had a very high IQ of 135.

So they learn a tremendous amount about Rodney Alcala.

Except what they didn't learn was where he was.

Alcala is in the wind. He's gone.

We have no idea where he is.

He's left the neighborhood.

He's probably left the city.

We're not finding him.

So we needed help.

We need to get this guy on the FBIs Most Wanted.

So that's what we did.

Soon, wanted posters of Alcala are hanging in every police precinct

and post office in the country.

In New York, I thought about that eight-year-old girl all the time.

I would go to the library

and look up LA Times on microfilm,

and look for anything that told me whether she lived or not.

[Matt] Fast forward now. It's 1971.

You have two girls that are attending an all-girls' summer camp

in New Hampshire,

and go into a local post office,

and the look up on the wall and they see

one of their camp counsellors, Mr. Burger,

only the name is different,

and the name is Rodney James Alcala.

They immediately alert camp counsellors

who immediately alert police.

And next thing you know Rodney Alcala is arrested in the state of New Hampshire

and extradited back to Los Angeles.

Rodney Alcala is prosecuted for the attack on the eight-year-old girl,

but the prosecution takes an unlikely turn.

[Matt] Rodney Alcala's originally charged with attempted murder,

rape, kidnapping,

but when the prosecution learned that this eight-year-old girl

would not be available to testify

they decided to give him

what is known as a plea deal

where Rodney Alcala agreed to take a reduced charge of a simple child molest

in exchange for receiving a sentence of one year to life

in California State Prison.

[Morgan] Around that time

I went down to the library and looked it up,

and it said that the eight-year-old girl

had been unable to testify.

And that broke my heart.

I thought that she was badly brain damaged.

I didn't think she would have a life.

I was really, really hurt.

[Christine] At the time in California

your sentencing was up to the parole board.

And after 34 months in prison

a psychiatrist deemed him no longer a threat.

So the parole board released him after 34 months.

Then he's arrested less than two months later,

kissing and smoking marijuana with a 14-year-old girl.

They returned to state prison and they released him again.

[Alicia] Rodney Alcala manages to evade the LAPD for the next several years.

That is until June of 1979.

[Matt] June 20, 1979, Huntington Beach, California.

about 3 o'clock in the afternoon,

Robin Samsoe is on the beach with her friend Bridget,

and they are right about 12, 13 years old,

and they get approached by a man who says,

"Hey, I'm a photographer. You're beautiful.

Let me take your picture."

This is the type of thing that Rodney Alcala would do.

He would seek out girls

and convince them that he was a legitimate photographer,

and he was going to do a magazine layout.

[Matt] And one of the neighborhood moms sees this,

and it doesn't look right to her.

So she comes over,

and this photographer kind of scurries off.

Robin is late for her ballet lesson,

and she had to go home, jump on her bike,

and she was riding to her ballet lesson.

And that's the last anybody ever saw of her.

Police ask Robin's friend to describe the man she saw to a sketch artist.

[Matt] Police release this sketch to every TV station

and every newspaper in Orange County

and pretty much Southern California.

[Christine] Twelve days after she was abducted

Robin Samsoe's animal-ravaged body

was found in the foothills of Sierra Madre.

A knife is found next to her body,

and police believe she's been murdered.

[Matt] So we have the composite sketch.

Everybody is trying to figure out who the suspect is.

And Detective Jenkins with the Huntington Police Department

gets a phone call late afternoon

from a parole officer who says,

"Hey, I've got a parolee who looks awfully similar to that composite sketch.

You need to look at him. His name is Rodney Alcala."

So this is towards the end of the day.

Um, these police are working 18-hour days, if not longer.

And Jenkins needs a break, so he goes home,

and sits down on his couch,

and turns on the TV,

and there's a rerun of The Dating Game.

And there is Rodney Alcala on TV winning The Dating Game.

[host] He's a skydiver, so he's got a lot of nerve.

He's into motorcycling.

He's also a fine photographer.

Say hello to Rodney Alcala.

You can't... You can't make this up.

And she actually picks him to go on a date with.

I'll take One.

[host] Number one. Bachelor Number One.

All right. Rodney, come on and say hello.

[audience applauding]

Unbelievable that this guy could have the huevos rancheros

to go on TV.

I mean, you talk about...

...ego.

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

Authorities arrest Alcala at his mother's house and search it.

[Christine] They don't find any forensic evidence linking

Rodney Alcala to the murder of Robin Samsoe,

but they do find a receipt for a storage unit in Seattle.

They get up to Seattle, they open it up,

and it was a bonanza of evidence.

What they find are hundreds and hundreds of photographs of young women,

girls and boys in positions of vulnerability.

[Matt] When you look at those photos,

I mean, you're talking about legions of people

that are unidentified,

that are almost certainly victims of Rodney Alcala,

and you realize the prolific nature of Rodney Alcala

and how many victims he must have.

Investigators also find a silk pouch that's filled with jewelry

Police immediately realize that these are Alcala's trophies.

These are items that a serial killer has taken from his victims.

[Matt] And they show them to Robin Samsoe's mom.

She immediately identifies two gold-ball earrings

that Robin Samsoe was wearing when she disappeared.

They didn't have any DNA evidence at that time,

but now we have something that links Rodney Alcala

to Robin Samsoe.

In 1980, Rodney Alcala is tried and convicted,

and sentenced to death for kidnapping, raping,

and murdering Robin Samsoe.

There's been a gross miscarriage of justice

for being found guilty of something that I didn't do.

[Christine] Over the next two decades

his conviction is reversed twice.

Each time he's retried,

he's convicted, and given the death penalty.

Until the case is reversed again in 2003,

which is when it was assigned to me.

As soon as it landed on my desk,

he was clearly a psychopath,

clearly he killed multiple people.

We just didn't know who yet.

[Alicia] Alcala's DNA is already in the CODA system.

So they compare it to DNA and forensic evidence from other unsolved cases

around the time of Robin Samsoe's murder,

and there's several matches.

[Matt] Jill Barcomb was a young woman from New York

who came to Los Angeles like millions of others

to... to pursue her dreams,

and smashed her face into a rock.

On December 16th, 1977,

Georgia Wixted's body was found in her apartment in Malibu.

She had been beaten to death and raped with a blue hammer

that was found next to her body.

Charlotte Lamb was a legal secretary

whose body was found on June 24th, 1978,

in an apartment complex in El Segundo, California.

She had been raped, and strangled with the lace of her own shoe.

They also link Rodney Alcala to the murder of Jill Parenteau.

She was a 21-year-old keypunch operator

who was living in Burbank.

Her killer had left his blood on the window sill,

and so that blood was eventually traced back to Rodney Alcala.

[Matt] Charlotte Lamb and Jill Parenteau

were posed in this knee-to-chest position.

Jill Barcomb was also posed in almost the exact same position.

There's no doubt in any of our minds

that after Rodney Alcala completed those murders

he was taking photos of those women.

We took Rodney Alcala to trial,

and this time it wasn't just for one murder,

it was for five murders.

In 2010, Alcala is convicted of all five murders.

And during the sentencing phase

there is one witness called

whose presence shocks the courtroom.

It's the eight-year-old girl who was attacked in 1968,

but managed to survive.

It was the first time I ever had a name for her.

First time I'd ever seen her face,

and it was pretty overwhelming.

I was just so happy to see her alive.

[Tali Shapiro] My name is Tali Shapiro,

and when I was eight years old I survived a serial killer.

[Tali] In 1968...

...I live in Los Angeles,

and I am eight years old.

Growing up in Los Angeles,

my father was in the music business.

So we had a lot of colorful characters

in and out of our house.

Mama Cass.

Jim Morrison was one of my mom's best friends,

so he was always around.

Lenny Bruce introduced my parents.

Just a slew of colorful characters.

Tali and her family lead a very Hollywood lifestyle,

but in 1968,

a fire leaves them without a place to call home.

[Tali] When the house burnt down we moved to the Chateau Marmont,

and I was supposed to take the public bus to school

'cause it was only blocks away,

but I didn't like taking the public bus by myself.

Tali is a precocious and resourceful kid.

And on September 25th, 1968,

as she's walking by herself to school,

she crosses paths with a serial killer.

[Tali] Car approaches me.

So he had his window down.

I'm on the sidewalk,

and I'm talking to him through the passenger window.

He tells me knew my parents,

which is totally possible.

There was so many people in and out of my house.

It was Grand Central Station so it's quite possible.

He says he wants to give me a ride to school.

I got in the car.

At that point he says he would like to show me a poster that he has

because he's a photographer.

And we headed off to his house.

I followed him in.

And that's all I remember.

That's... There's nothing else to remember.

I mean, he obviously hit me over the head right after that.

So that was... That was it.

By some miracle that day,

Donald Haines sees her get into the car

and follows her to that house.

[Donald] I'd saw it, and so I couldn't just drive away

and forget about it.

I just thought that if it was my kids

that I'd want somebody to do something about it.

After her attack, Tali Shapiro was in a coma for 32 days.

[Tali] I woke up at the Chateau Marmont.

I do not remember being in the hospital.

At this point, I don't realize I've been raped.

I don't realize I had been in a coma.

My parents never spoke about any of this,

and neither did anyone else.

[Alicia] Two and a half years later,

Tali's parents refuse to let her testify

in Rodney Alcala's trial,

and further traumatize her.

[Tali] I'm so grateful my parents did not have me testify.

None of this was my knowledge,

and I didn't need to know about those things, you know.

Knowing about them years and years later,

I could digest that 'cause it's not part of me.

I didn't have to live with it,

but it would have totally messed up my childhood.

[Christine] In 2010, Matt Murphy contacts Tali Shapiro

and asks her whether she would be interested in testifying

during the death-penalty portion of Rodney Alcala's trial,

and she agrees.

Years later, I didn't have any feelings

except of duty,

and of justice.

[judge] We, the jury, determine that the penalty

to be imposed upon defendant Rodney James Alcala to be death.

[crowd applauding]

[Tali] I never once looked his way.

I consciously didn't want to give him any energy whatsoever.

I didn't glance at him. I didn't acknowledge him.

I never spoke his name.

I wasn't going to give him any satisfaction.

[Alicia] But there's someone at court

that Tali has been waiting to meet for a long time.

[Donald] I was with a group of people,

and she came running up to me

and said, "Mr. Haines, Mr. Haines."

And I said, "Who are you?"

She says, "I'm Tali Shapiro."

And I said, "Oh, I'm so glad to see you."

She said, "You're the only reason I am here."

And that... that was...

...really, really something.

That got to me.

God's will.

I mean, I had some guardian angels around me.

The good samaritan, and I had the policeman.

Without those two people I would not be here today.

[Matt] Following his conviction, we made the decision

to release 120 photographs to People Magazine

and to the Orange County Register

of various unknown people

and photographs that were found

in Rodney Alcala's storage locker.

People Magazine publishes numerous photos

of these potential victims,

and the magazine is actually able to locate some of these people

and confirm that they are in fact alive,

but there are many more that still remain unknown.

And as a result of that,

we got tips and phone calls from across the United States.

In 2010, it's been 42 years since Morgan was attacked,

and she's still haunted by it.

[Morgan] Rod's face was on the news

and I started to have a panic attack.

It was so startling to hear a serial killer.

I had told my husband what had happened.

-[glass shatters] -Told him the whole thing.

I had blamed myself for so long,

and then I finally could see that nothing I was going to do

was going to change what happened.

As Morgan comes to grips with the horror of her attack,

she feels that there is one big thing she has to do.

[Morgan] Tali finally had a name.

I wanted to contact her,

but how do you say to somebody...

..."We were both raped by the same guy in the same house?"

I mean, just, I felt so much guilt.

I thought she'd hate me.

I spent a couple of days

trying to write the perfect thing

to just apologies to her, you know.

And I sent her the letter.

She let me know that she had great regret, and sorrow

that she held and carried this guilt.

I said there was nothing to forgive.

I don't hold you responsible for anything that happened to me.

I mean, and I don't think that there is anything

either of us could have done to have changed

the way things happened.

Tali saying she forgave me...

...changed everything.

It was definitely a huge step to my recovery.

When I went to see her I told her, you know,

I said, "For years I've wanted to hold you,"

and are you okay with that?"

And she said, "Yes."

Just grabbed her, you know.

And I just hugged her. I couldn't let go.

It was just wonderful.

We spent a couple of days together,

and we were like sisters.

[Tali] She cares for me immensely.

I... I love her.

We just have a bond. Just... I can't explain it.

And she became very important to me.

A very important relationship for me.

[reporter] The so called "Dating Game Killer"

died early this morning whilst still awaiting his execution.

[Morgan] When Rod died...

...I cried,

and I couldn't stop crying.

And I always thought when he died I would laugh,

and dance, and sing, you know.

It was never more real to me than that day.

I don't know why.

I couldn't stop thinking about

all the darkness and all the pain he had brought into the world.

When evil touches you, it changes you,

but evil will never own you.

I try very hard to live that way,

that I just will not let evil own me,

or change my decisions.

[Steve] Both Morgan and Tali beat the odds.

They've survived a serial killer.

They've gone on to have productive lives.

They were very lucky.

It doesn't, you know,

just doesn't happen.

[Morgan] Will I forget?

No, never.

Sometimes when I close my eyes at night he's still there...

...but I'll be okay. [sniffles]

We have cleared multiple cases

since Rodney Alcala was convicted.

There's nine absolutely that he committed,

but we know that he's responsible for many, many more.

He was prolific.

If you see something, say something.

I mean, thank goodness, or I wouldn't be here today.

The world is always a better place when citizens get involved.

When as a society we put blinders and walk away,

that will be our downfall.

I want to share my experience

so that maybe another 16-year-old girl

doesn't bow to peer pressure,

and go some place she shouldn't be,

and that she calls home for help.

You know, Rod brought so much darkness into this world.

I... I just...

I really want to bring a little light into all that darkness.

I just want to make a difference.

I don't know how she survived...

I can still see him standing there.

...but she did.

He stabbed me in my neck.

He said "I'm going to take your son",

and I said, "Take me instead."

I feel right into the trap like a trapped animal.

It was said his total was 30 something people.

There really are monsters.

His plan is to kidnap these women,

keep them in the basement and impregnate them.

I was ready to be shot in that garage.

At this moment I'm thinking "Okay, I'm going to die."

Is this guy going to bury me here?

You can choose to be a victim or you can be a survivor.

I chose to be a survivor.

If I do make it through this

I'm going to know every detail of your face

because I'm going to get you someday.

I survived a serial killer.