July 10, 2021 – In Breaking News – CNN
A convicted serial killer known as the “Dating Game Killer” died early Saturday morning at a hospital near Corcoran State Prison in central California, prison officials said.
Rodney James Alcala, 77, had been on the state’s death row since being condemned in 2010 for the murders of four women and a 12-year-old girl, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
(Officials said convicted serial killer Rodney Alcala died Saturday morning from natural causes in a King’s County Hospital. He was called the “Dating Game Killer” as a result of appearing on the reality game show “The Dating Game.” Courtesy of CBS Los Angeles and YouTube. Posted on Jul 24, 2021.)
Alcala was first sentenced to death in 1980 for the 1979 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe, but his conviction was reversed by the California Supreme Court and he was granted a new trial.
He was sentenced to death again in 1986 after a second trial, but that sentence was overturned by a federal appeals court in 2003 and a third trial was granted.
After being convicted in 2010 of five California murders, Rodney Alcala pleaded guilty to murdering two women in New York in the 1970s.
(In 1979, Rodney Alcala, otherwise known as the “Dating Game Killer,” was arrested after police suspected him to be linked to several murders in the California area. He earned his name as the “Dating Game Killer” after he was the winning contestant on the TV game show “The Dating Game” in 1978. Courtesy of Inside Edition spoke and YouTube. Posted on Jan 8, 2021.)
By the time of his third trial in 2010, Alcala’s DNA had been connected to four other homicides and an Orange County jury convicted him of five counts of first-degree murder.
He was sentenced to death a third time for Samsoe’s murder and for the 1977 deaths of 18-year-old Jill Barcomb and 27-year-old Georgia Wixted; the 1978 death of 32-year-old Charlotte Lamb, and the 1979 death of 21-year-old Jill Parenteau.
After Alcala’s conviction, authorities released more than 100 photos of unidentified women and children found in a storage unit that belonged to the killer in an attempt to find out if there were further victims.
Robin Samsoe’s earrings had been found in the same unit.
(One of Five Parts available on YouTube. Rodney Alcala questioned for murder but released when no body was found: Part 5 Alcala killed Ellen Hover in New York. He was questioned and released by FBI because no evidence had been found. Alcala killed Jill Barcomb, Georgia Wixted and Charlotte Lamb in Los Angeles. Courtesy of ABC News and YouTube. Posted on Jan 9, 2021.)
Continue reading… ‘Dating Game Killer’ dies of natural causes, prison officials say
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Serial killer Rodney Alcala’s photographs: Do you recognize anyone?
In January of this year Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy requested the public’s help in identifying men, women and children in over one hundred photographs which were seized from a Seattle storage locker rented by serial killer Rodney Alcala.
The Huntington Beach Police Department remain hopeful of identifying the individuals, to determine whether he may have victimized them.
To view the complete cache of photographs, please go to https://www.flickr.com/photos/scpr/albums/72157623600695928/.
If you know the identity of anyone in the photos, contact Huntington Beach Sgt. Sam Shepherd at (714) 536-5947, or Detective Patrick Ellis, via phone at 714-375-5066, or e-mail at pellis@hbpd.org.
(Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. spokes after Rodney Alcala admitted to killing two women in the 1970s. Courtesy of CNN and YouTube. Posted on Jan 7, 2013.)
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