What did Rodney Alcala do?
Rodney Alcala was an American serial killer who committed at least 8 murders between 1971 and 1979, but he is suspected of being responsible for many more. Authorities believe the number of his victims might be as high as 130, which is a shocking figure, making him potentially one of the worst serial killers of all time.
Alcala was known to torture his victims by strangling them until they lost consciousness and waiting until they were revived, before repeating this process many times and finally murdering them. Alcala became named the ‘Dating Game Killer‘ due to an appearance on The Dating Game television show in 1978. It’s eerie to think this performance came right in the middle of his brutal killing spree.
Alcala was a known target for law enforcement as far back as 1971 when the FBI placed him on the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Alcala was arrested in the same year, convicted of child molestation, and given 3 years prison time, rather than being charged with rape and attempted murder due to the parents of 1 of his victims not being willing to have her testify against him.
Alcala was paroled in 1974 after serving just 17 months. Less than 2 months after his release, he was re-arrested for assaulting a 13-year-old girl. Alcala served just 2 years for this crime after being granted parole in 1976.
What happened during the trial?
Alcala was arrested in July 1979 for the string of murders he committed after being given parole in 1976. He was found guilty in May 1980, and sentenced to death the following month. The verdict was overturned by the California Supreme Court in 1984 because jurors had apparently been improperly informed of his previous sex crimes. In 1986, a second trial convicted him once more, and he was re-sentenced to death.
He received an additional sentence of 25 years to life after pleading guilty to 2 more murders he committed in New York in 1971 and 1977.
In addition to this, he was charged with the 1977 murder of a woman identified in one of the many explicit photos he took of his victims in 2016.
Where is Rodney Alcala now?
Rodney Alcala died of unspecified natural causes in 2021. He was 77 years old.
A drama about Alcala’s life called Dating Game Killer was directed by Peter Medak and shown on Investigation Discovery in 2017.
In 2024, Netflix will release a film about Alcala called Woman of the Hour, directed by and starring Anna Kendrick. It tells the story of Alcala’s appearance on The Dating Game during his brutal murder spree.
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