‘Dating Game Killer’ dies in California prison while awaiting execution

24 July 2021, 21:54

Rodney Alcala
Rodney James Alcala. Picture: PA

Rodney James Alcala was convicted of the murders of four women and one girl, but is believed to have killed many more.

A serial murderer dubbed “The Dating Game Killer” has died at the age of 77 while awaiting execution in California, authorities said.

Rodney James Alcala died of natural causes at a hospital in San Joaquin Valley, California, prison officials said in a statement.

Alcala was sentenced to death in 2010 for five murders in California between 1977 and 1979, including that of a 12-year-old girl, though authorities estimate he may have killed up to 130 people across the country.

He received his nickname after his appearance on US TV show The Dating Game in 1978.

Rodney James Alcala
Rodney James Alcala at a court appearance in New York (AP)

Alcala received an additional 25 years to life in 2013 after pleading guilty to two homicides in New York.

He was charged again in 2016 after DNA evidence connected him to the 1977 death of a 28-year-old woman whose remains were found in a remote area of south-west Wyoming.

But a prosecutor said Alcala was too ill to face trial over the killing of the woman, who was six months pregnant when she died.

California’s death row is in San Quentin State Prison near San Francisco, but for years Alcala had been housed more than 200 miles away at a prison in Corcoran where he could receive medical care around the clock.

Prosecutors said Alcala stalked women like prey and took earrings as trophies from some of his victims.

The Dating Game Killer
Alcala is thought to have killed many more women (The Orange County Register/AP)

“You’re talking about a guy who is hunting through Southern California looking for people to kill because he enjoys it,” Orange County, California, prosecutor Matt Murphy said during his trial.

Investigators say the true total of Alcala’s victims may never be known.

Earrings helped put him on death row, though California state governor Gavin Newsom has imposed a moratorium on executions so long as he is in office.

The mother of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe testified at Alcala’s murder trial that a pair of gold ball earrings found in a jewellery pouch in Alcala’s storage locker belonged to her daughter.

But Alcala claimed that the earrings were his and that a video clip from his 1978 appearance on The Dating Game shows him wearing the studs nearly a year before Samsoe died.

He denied the killings and cited inconsistencies in witness’ accounts and descriptions.

There is murder and rape and then there is the unequivocal carnage of a Rodney Alcala-style murder

Victim's brother Bruce Barcomb

California prosecutors said Alcala also took earrings from at least two of his adult victims as trophies.

Investigators said one victim’s DNA was found on a rose-shaped earring in Alcala’s possession, and his DNA was found in her body.

He had been sentenced to death twice before over Ms Samsoe’s murder, but both convictions were overturned.

Alcala was charged with the killings of the four adult women more than two decades later based on new DNA and other forensic evidence.

After the verdict, authorities released more than 100 photos of young women and girls found in Alcala’s possession in the hope of linking him to other unsolved murders around the country.

“There is murder and rape and then there is the unequivocal carnage of a Rodney Alcala-style murder,” Bruce Barcomb – the brother of 18-year-old victim Jill Barcomb – said, as Alcala was sentenced to death.

By Press Association

Latest World News

See more Latest World News

Virginia Giuffre

Woman driving Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre during crash that left her with 'four days to live' breaks silence

Exclusive
'Donald Trump has made Putin comfortable,' Mikhail Khodorkovsky has warned

'Trump has made Putin comfortable' despite massive Ukraine war losses, exiled former oligarch tells LBC

The bodies of Andrew Searle and his wife Dawn were discovered by a neighbour.

British couple found dead in south of France home being ‘treated as murder-suicide’

The vehicle was later extinguished after the driver, covered in flames, emerged from the vehicle.

Amsterdam Dam Square car explosion sees driver engulfed in flames - just days after mass stabbing

d

Pictured: US tourist arrested for sailing to remote island and leaving a can of Coke for world's most isolated tribe

The Sentinelese are a pre-Neolithic tribe that rejects contact with the modern world

US tourist arrested for sailing to remote island and leaving a can of Coke for the world's most isolated tribe to try

The Trump administration has been ridiculed after imposing tariffs on uninhabited islands

'No one is safe, not even the penguins': Trump administration ridiculed after imposing tariffs on uninhabited islands

World leaders react to US tariffs

'This is not the act of a friend': World leaders react to Trump's 'unwarranted' tariffs

British couple

British couple found dead in New Zealand named - as police probe possible murder-suicide

Virginia Giuffre said she had been left with 'four days to life' after the crash

Bus driver breaks silence on Virginia Giuffre crash that left her 'with four days to live'

Foreign Secretary David Lammy

David Lammy to urge Nato allies to increase defence spending in bid to make alliance 'stronger, fairer and more lethal'

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen

EU threatens further countermeasures against US tariffs after 'major blow to world economy'

Lord Sugar labels Trump tariffs 'a disaster' as Apprentice star teases potential US Presidential meeting

Lord Sugar labels Trump tariffs 'a disaster' and warns that the president 'hasn't thought it through'

Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations in Gaza

Israel expands ground attack on Gaza to seize 'large areas' - despite pleas from hostage families

Police said two people died on Palliser Road, Roseneath.

British couple found dead at home in New Zealand - just months after moving to 'begin new chapter'

Virginia Giuffre warned it was a "very bad situation" after she claimed a school bus ploughed into her car

Virginia Giuffre was charged with breaching restraining order days before crash that 'left her with days to live'