The Killing Game - Did this monster murder 30 more? Rodney Alcala
54:04 Share

As the trusted leader in digital advertising, AdRoll drives strong ROI with high-performing ad campaigns across display, native ads, and paid social in one platform. Visit AdRoll.com to talk to an account expert today.

- Hi friends, how are you today? If you're new here, my name is Bailey Sarian and on Mondays I sit down and I talk about a true crime story that's been heavy on my noggin and I do my makeup at the same time. I know, what am I doing? I don't know. If you're interested in true crime and you like makeup, I would say hey.

Subscribe if you want to. Today's story takes place in 1970, well the 70s, and look, I've watched enough true crime documentaries and just all things true crime related to know that in the United States during the 70s, it was very different. People were carefree.

Maybe a little too much in some cases, which might have something to do with why so many serial killers we cover always seem to come from this decade, right? People were just living and not making smart choices. Huh? That's okay. We can't blame them. They were living in the moment. Anyway, so today's story, yeah. Nowadays we have DNA testing, security cameras are literally everywhere, right? And then of course we have the internet.

But back then, none of that was there. Now, some see this as a pro,

Others, not so much. Even something as simple as a background check was much more difficult to perform back then. And if you were convicted of a serious or violent crime, there wasn't a whole lot stopping you from just moving on with your life afterwards and giving yourself a new name. They'll never know, 'cause they wouldn't. It's wild. You could get away with so much back then. And I think that's why serial killers really thrived, in my opinion, I don't know. With all of that being said,

It brings me to today's topic. We are going to be covering a killer who, because of everything I just mentioned, was able to operate across the entire United States for over a decade. A man suspected of kidnapping and assaulting little girls and boys in California, murdering women in New York, and some shit going down in between, okay? And yet, this killer, this ugly, vicious killer,

still made an appearance on one of America's most popular television programs at the time. Today's story has been asked for since I started Murder, Mystery, and Makeup. Today we are talking about Rodney Akala, the dating game killer. Which, can I just throw something out there really quick? He's known by the dating game killer, but really he should be called the photographer killer because that's mainly what he did. Can I rename him?

I'm going to. Okay, let's get into it, baby. Now, of course, we know him today as Rodney Alcala, but when he was born, he was given the name Rodrigo Jaquez Alcala Bucuo.

And he was born in San Antonio, Texas. I think I nailed that. Growing up, the family would not stay long in Texas. They actually moved to Mexico with his mother and father. But when he was a teenager, his father ended up abandoning the family. After that, his mom and two siblings, they all moved to Los Angeles, California. A big move.

to the sunny city. And this is where most of our story takes place. Rodney, he grew up going to public schools where he impressed everyone because he had a very likable personality. Plus he was super smart, like really smart. Aren't they always? Aren't they always? Not really, no. Sometimes. Anyway, so he's super smart. Everyone loves him. He's got a great personality. And by the time that he was in his late 20s,

teenage years many would say that he was very handsome he had some groovy hair and a bitchin personality rodney seemed like the type that you would bring home to like meet your parents you know he had everything going for him but still some people were like something's a little off with him

Don't know what it is, but something. In 1960, Rodney, he joined the army. And at this time, he was 17 years old. And he was stationed on or at Fort Campbell, which is like on the border between Kentucky and Tennessee. So he spent a few years there. And then in June of 1963, he went AWOL, which I always thought was like just...

Slang, but it actually stands for something. Absent without leave. I knew that, but I didn't, but I did. Anyways, that's what it means. So he went AWOL. He went, he disappeared. He ran away. At this time, he had been given a weekend pass to visit Nashville. He asked, can I take a little weekend trip to Nashville? And they're like, sure. But Rodney, he used the pass to instead steal a car

and also a credit card. And then he drove himself all the way to New York City, baby. Which this was like a 13 hour drive, but okay, he did it. Soon after he got to New York, he went straight to like different bars and just really doing his own thing. And then it wouldn't take long until he like became violent, okay? One night,

He's in New York and he's leaving one of the bars he was just at. And he notices this woman walking alone. See, see guys, this is why we are scared to walk alone, especially at night, because this could happen. So this lady's walking down the street, minding her own damn business, living her life. And for whatever reason, Rodney, he would say he felt this deep urge inside to like chase and attack her. Yep, something inside him was saying, chase and attack her.

Great idea. That's the best idea you had today, Rodney. So what did he do? Well, he's following her. And then he's like kind of moving quicker, moving quickly. And then he catches up to her and he attacks her with a Coke bottle, but one of those old school glass Coke bottles. So he just is hitting her with his bottle. Luckily, the girl that he attacked, she was able to get away and she went straight to police. And Rodney was arrested straightaway.

shortly afterwards and then the u.s army who had been searching for this man they're able to find him because he had done this assault police get in contact with them they pick him up and they're like okay we're bringing you back to base now rodney seems to be a free spirit he doesn't like people telling him what to do so they're like we're taking you back to base and rodney was like i'm

No, you're not. He plays along and then somehow he manages to escape the U.S. Army guys who have to take him back. He escapes. I guess what had happened, this is the only information I could find, because like how do you escape? They were getting on a train, but the train had stopped and they had to like get to another train. So it was kind of crowded because people are moving and grooving. So when they were switching trains, Rodney just...

disappeared in the crowd. So Rodney escapes and I have no idea how because I couldn't find any information but he somehow makes it all the way back to California to go um

back to the family home. He must have stolen a car or something again, that's my assumption, but couldn't figure that out. So the family had welcomed Rodney back into the home. You know, his mom was happy, like, "My son's back, yay." They noticed, well, his mom did notice something was different with him. Like he was acting quite unusually is how they put it. I mean, not only had he run away/escaped from his army base on the other side of the country, but when he got home,

He was a different person. I guess what happened was Rodney started like coming on to his younger sister, going as far as like exposing himself to her at random times. Yeah. And at this point, you know, the family had no idea what to do with Rodney. But luckily for the family, I guess. No, I don't really know. There's no luckily in this story. Eventually, the military caught up with him again and Rodney,

Once he was back in their hands, Rodney pleaded guilty to the AWOL charges against him. Yeah, because that's illegal. He had a psych evaluation done and was ultimately convicted, resulting in...

a fine. Convicted for going AWOL, but also the attack on the woman in New York. So yeah, he had to pay a fine. That's gonna stop him, huh? And then for some odd reason, he was honorably discharged from the military. Now normally honorably discharged means that,

You are honorably discharged. It just doesn't make sense because Rodney was found committing assault in New York and the evaluation found him, quote, totally unsuitable for further military duty, but they still gave him honorable discharge. I don't think that's very honorable, attacking a woman, but.

Okay, who am I? No one comes to me for ideas. Yeah, so honorably discharged, great. And the whole thing was chalked up as a nervous breakdown. No big deal, he'll be fine.

Have a good life Rodney. And that was it. He was out of the military. This guy's like a mystery though Rodney because like through all the research it's hard to find like any direct quotes from him. I guess he wrote a book at some point or he worked with someone on a book but I couldn't figure out what book. I don't know he's still like a mystery after all the research and stuff stuff I did for this story. It's just like I don't understand him. The whole reason I do murder mystery makeup is to understand these people and some of them I'm like I still don't get it. I don't kind of

Weird. Well, after all of this, Rodney tried to get back on like the straight and narrow, you know? So he ended up enrolling at UCLA and he was a photography major. And this is where he made like a lot of friends. I mean, despite the persona that seemed to be emerging underneath Rodney,

Rodney was, again, a quite charming guy. People loved him. People would say that when they saw him, he was always smiling. He had a camera in hand, taking pictures of everything, everyone. And he was quite popular on campus. Everyone seemed to say nothing but something positive about the guy. It was easy for him to make friends in college because he had a camera in hand. He could just like go up to just about anyone and ask questions.

to take their picture for a project of course you know or he's practicing not because he's like doing anything weird with the photos no why would you think that yeah so he would go up to people and be like hey can i take your picture and again back then 70s people were flattered to get their picture taken like oh my god me he was a likable guy in september of 1969

Rodney was out for a drive and he was like just down the street from this hotel called Chateau Marmont. And it's like one of the most famous and oldest hotels in West Hollywood, California. I should do a dark history on it. Fascinating story. But he was over there. Great. So as he was driving past the hotel, he noticed a young girl walking alone down the street.

Oh, yes. Her name was Tali Shapiro and she was eight years old. Yeah, eight years old. So Tali, she was walking down the street on her way to school and she was wearing like this cute, bright sundress. Her family, they were actually staying at the hotel because they had a fire at their home and it completely damaged it.

So they were staying at the hotel and Tali was pretty used to walking herself to school, even in this West Hollywood area. Her parents told her, do not talk to strangers. She knew that. Her parents taught her how to be safe on her walk every day, trying to do the right thing and instilled this in her. But Rodney, he sure had a way with words, I guess.

"Shit, it must be like the smile or the hair, I don't know." So Rodney sees her, he pulls the car up alongside the sidewalk, you know? So he's like right next to the curb, rolls down the window.

He's like, "Hey, do you need a ride?" So Tali actually says, she says, "No, no." And she keeps walking to school. But Rodney, he kept at her continuing to drive like at the edge of the sidewalk curb street, just trying to stay close to her on the sidewalk. And he's like going slowly. And eventually Rodney told Tali that he knew her parents

got her with this one. Tully still didn't want to get into the car, but she also remembered something else her parents had taught her, to respect her elders. So she thought that if this adult was a friend of her parents, you know, and he's an older gentleman, he's older to her, she probably should listen to him. She believed him. And she got into the car. Damn. I probably would have believed him too. Oh, you're, you know, my parents. Oh,

When Tali hopped into the car, she told Rodney when her classes started and he decided that they had, quote, plenty of time, end quote, before she needed to be there. And instead he drove his car straight back to his apartment.

Luckily for Tali, or unluckily for Rodney, depending on how you want to look at it, maybe both, someone else was watching her that day. Now, we don't know exactly who it was, but what we do know is that someone thought it was a little odd to see this car along the curb, like following this little girl.

So a person sees this, thought it was a little odd for a small girl to be getting into what seemed like a random car from off the street. I mean, they don't know they're an eyewitness, but they could tell like something wasn't right. So this eyewitness actually followed Rodney's car back to his apartment.

and good for them. I love this little investigator. This is some shit I do. Then they saw Rodney force Tali, the little girl inside, which is about as suspish as it gets. So this person, this eyewitness calls police.

Love to see it. Love a good Samaritan, love a good eyewitness. Thank you. Police come out pretty quickly. And the first officer who showed up was Chris Camacho. Now you can see many, many interviews with Chris Camacho because of what he does.

Let me tell you. So Chris Camacho is concerned as soon as he got to the front door. He could hear someone on the other side of the door, but they weren't responding to him, like knocking. So he's knocking, nobody's answering. It sounds like a shuffle.

And then Chris, the police officer, he said it sounded like then there was like a struggle going on. And a second later, the police officer says that the curtains opened up because there's like a window facing outwards, right? Curtains open up and standing in the apartment's front window was a completely butt-ass naked Rodney.

- Hi. - And the officer's like, "Hi, can I speak with you?" Like, what the hell? Rodney tells the officer through the door that he had just gotten out of the shower and told the officer to wait while he got dressed. But this officer knew

This doofus was lying because when he opened up butt naked, Rodney was completely dry head to toe, not dripping with water or wet hair, you know, not like a glisten of waterness, nothing. So the police officer's like, you did not get out of the shower, you liar.

lie detected. So I mean, this officer responds quickly. He kicks down the door, he gets inside, but by then Rodney had already headed out the back door. Now the officer found Tali on the ground near Rodney's kitchen and she was not in good shape.

Her clothes had been tossed aside and she was bleeding heavily. And the police officer's like, there's no way that this little girl, like, this is all her blood. There's no way because it was insanity in there. And on top of that, she had a really heavy metal bar. I guess she was like on her back on the floor and the metal bar was black.

placed across her neck and it was like pinning her down. Rodney may have gotten away that day, but because of that officer, Chris Camacho, Tali did too. Oh yes, she survived.

incredible. She ended up staying at a nearby hospital for months. She spent over a month in a coma and most doctors were not sure that she would even wake up from it. And doctors were like, even if she does wake up, they were not optimistic about her recovering afterwards. She was in really bad shape. But little Tali, dude,

Dude, she fought hard. She survived. And I believe she's still alive today. I'm pretty sure. So the police end up searching the rest of Rodney's apartment and they found a school ID from UCLA. So they knew exactly who this person was. But then on top of that, the police officers came across a collection of photographs.

There were dozens of photos of little girls and boys who looked like they had been treated exactly like Tali did, you know? And it was just so many photos. He took photos of all of this and they were like, oh my fucking god. But now they're like, okay, this guy is obviously unwell and doing some real fucked up shit. But where'd he go? He seemed to have vanished. Rodney, he ran off to a familiar place.

New York City. This time though, he decided to change his name. So Rodney changed his name to John Berger. And he ended up enrolling at the New York University's School of Arts where he studied film. I guess back then you could be like, "Yeah, my name's John Berger. I wanna go to college." And they'll be like, "Sure."

you're in. I'm not really sure, I didn't look into that but that's what it sounds like. So he's going by John Burger now which is like hilarious to me. It's kind of hilarious to me because I in my mind I imagine like he's like I should come up with a name and he's like okay John because John's a very safe name and he's probably like looking around sees a Burger King and he's like burger? John Burger? That's my you know

That's just what I imagine in my mind. John Berger. Okay. After attending NYU, Rodney, or John, started working as a camp counselor in New Hampshire. A camp counselor at a camp for children.

Yeah, before there was background checks, time was just wild. You could do whatever you want. So one day, two camp kids had been walking from camp down to the post office when they noticed something strange. Back then, post offices around the country, they often had posters for missing children and wanted men on their walls, like on display. Maybe they still do. You

I can't remember. Well, these two kids, they go to the post office and they see a poster featuring the FBI's most wanted criminals across the country, right? So they're like, as kids do.

Sorry. Okay, look, one of the faces on the posters that they saw looked very familiar to them. They were like, wait a minute. It was a picture of a man named Rodney Alcala and he was wanted in California. Now these kids, they were not familiar with the name, but one look at that poster and they said to themselves like, hey, doesn't that look like Mr. Burger?

Looks just like him. So the kids, they go back to the camp and they go straight to the people in charge and tell them what they saw. Sure enough, the people in charge, they also recognize the picture that's labeled Rodney Alcala. And shortly after that, the New Hampshire FBI came and picked Rodney right up. Now, pop quiz, what do you think happened?

Answer now. If you guessed Rodney is a freaking magician and always had an exit plan, then you're right. Because once again, boom, magician, he disappeared. Where'd he go? Where'd he go? I thought he was in custody. No, he's not. It was just a little escape. He was caught quickly after, but I just wanted to mention that because he was some kind of escapee, wasn't he? So he is captured.

He is arrested and he's placed in jail waiting for his trial. This trial was regarding the attack, assault, and almost freaking murder on Tali. Remember Tali, the young girl? That's what he's being tried for.

Rodney waiting in jail, waiting for trial. Finally, it's time for trial. Unfortunately though, Tali and her parents, they had moved down to Mexico to get away from where she had been attacked. They wanted to go somewhere safe. So they went to Mexico and lived there.

So when prosecutors asked them to allow Tali to testify against Rodney, the family said, absolutely not, no way. Tali had already been through enough and she's just a little kid. Like, no, we can't do it. Unfortunately, without Tali's testimony about what Rodney had done to her, the police were not able

to charge him with anything in the case regarding Tali. I know. I'm sure we can understand why the family didn't want her to testify, but also it's like... So instead, he got a plea deal for having committed child molestation, which unfortunately is a much weaker charge that does not carry much punishment.

Ah, yep. I know, makes no damn sense. Back in those days, the state of California was using an indeterminate sentencing model. I know, I was like, okay, what's that mean? Basically, this meant that a parole board was in charge of like how long Rodney would be in prison instead of a judge.

So now it's like a judge. Rodney, again, I've mentioned this before, but he was a smooth talker. People loved him. I don't know what it was. He was though. And he knew exactly what to say and like how to act when his case came up for review. And because of that, he was released in just,

34 months. Yeah, just under three years. And just like that, Rodney was a free man. What's even more crazy is that almost right after he was released, he was arrested again in California for, I guess he was found like smoking marijuana with a 13-year-old girl.

So after that, he was sentenced to another two and a half years in prison and was once again released on parole in June of 1977. Bro, we haven't even gotten to the murders. I know. Speaking of which, 1977 literally is like serial killer prime time. Oh, all the famous serial killers. John Wayne Gacy. I think like, yeah, all the serial killers were like thriving at this time.

Okay, so Ronnie's free after his marijuana charge and for some godforsaken reason, his parole officer lets him go to New York for a summer vacation. And boy, it was a hell of a summer in the city that year.

The heat was unlike anything New York City had seen ever before. There were literal mounds of trash piling up on the street because at the time there was a sanitation worker strike. Violence was at an all-time high. It was also the year of the infamous New York City blackout when entire sections of the city went without power for days. Oh, it's wild. If you don't know, Google it. The things that happened...

Not good.

Chaos. So Rodney Alcala was there through it all. And he spent most of his time like just roaming the streets and asking people to take their picture. He's still using that one and it worked for him every time. Like if he liked them, he'd chat them up, get to know them a little bit. And then sometimes he would arrange a meeting for more photo sessions. He's like, hey, do you want to model for me or something? You know? So Rodney seemed like a professional enough guy. He

He had a nice camera, so it's like he wasn't lying about being a photographer. And it's like, come on, who doesn't love having their picture taken? It was just a little too easy for him. Well, one woman he took pictures of was Ellen Hover, the daughter of a well-known nightclub owner. I'm serious. She has like a whole other story. Anyway, on July 15th, literally the day the blackout ended in New York,

So that same day, the police went to her apartment and found an entry on her calendar. For that very day, the entry said John Williams.

burger. So the FBI, they actually immediately recognized the name. They were like, that's Rodney. And they came straight to him for questioning. The downside is that they were not able to arrest him because Ellen was still considered missing. They had no body. They had no evidence. They just had his name written on a calendar. So Rodney tells police that

He and Ellen had simply met up for pictures. And then once they were done, she went home. He never saw her again. I mean, he's like, that's all pinky promise. So the FBI knew like something was up, but again, they didn't like have anything to pin on him. So 11 months go by and that's when police discover the skeletal remains in the woods of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve of Ellen. Yep, they found her.

So once her skeletal remains were found, by then Rodney was already gone. He had left New York. He was back in Los Angeles. And it would be decades before the police learned it was Rodney who even left her there. They thought it was him, but they didn't know it was him. You get it.

You get it. So Los Angeles in the late 70s was much like that of New York. There were several killers on the loose and bodies were like piling up. LAPD was overwhelmed and a lot of cases just

ended up going unsolved for decades. I don't know why I said it like that, decades. So Rodney, he comes back to this warm welcome and he is like, "I am home, baby. This is my new playground." So Rodney, while he was back home, he went to the beaches, the mall, any type of like popular social spot, he was going there all with camera in hand, asking to take pictures of anyone that he found.

So he would go up to these women and he would really zhoosh them up. "Wow, you're so beautiful. You should be a model. Can I take a picture? Can I take a picture of you?" Again, charming guy. He had a way with words. So between 1977 and 1979, Rodney spent time taking pictures of, well, he took pictures of many different women, but there were four women that he took pictures of that were all coincidentally found dead.

Later on, their bodies would show signs of extreme physical abuse and sexual assault. The first of these women was Jill Barcombe, a 19-year-old from New York who was actually just in Los Angeles visiting. The second was Georgia Wick.

a 27 year old who was a local nurse. The third was 32 year old Charlotte Lamb. And finally, Jill Parentu, she was 21 years old and a college student who lived in Burbank. So all of the victims had signs of a serial killer who

like raped his victims. But unfortunately, all of them were thought to be victims of other killers on the loose. So police were just like not linking any of these murders together. They're like, nope, can't be. Nope, they always do this, don't they? Why? So all of this brings us to Rodney's namesake.

"The Dating Game." In case you weren't watching daytime television in the 1970s, "The Dating Game" was a show on television that ran mostly throughout the '60s and '70s where contestants would compete for a blind date with one of the others. Oh yeah. It actually sounds fun, right? So the breakdown of this show, it usually went like this. There'd be like one woman who was sitting on one side of the stage and then

visual three men who would be sitting on the other side of the stage. And there would be like a partition or a wall in between the lady and the three men who wanted to win a date with her. Yeah. These men want to date her. Got it? Visuals! So,

they can't see each other right and it's all about asking the right questions to figure out who you or the bachelorette wanted to date and it's so cheesy when you watch it now oh i want to die so the bachelorette would take turns asking the men each questions that were so simple but also they always always

had a sexual undertone. No matter what, it was turned sexual. For example, I'll be the contestant. I mean, I'll be the bachelorette. It'd always be like, it'd go like this. And this is spot on. Contestant number one, my favorite snack is fruitcake. If you were a fruit, what fruit would you be? And then contestant number one on the other side would be like, I'd be a banana because many say I have quite the banana myself. Then it would go back to the girl and she'd be like,

"Contestant number one, would you say you're shaped like a banana?" And then he would respond with something extra cheesy, "Oh yeah, baby. And I've got just the banana split for you." And this is literally how every question on that damn show goes. They turn everything sexual, which is fine, but like,

This is literally how every question goes on that damn show, okay? I was spot on. Anyways, good times, fun show. But at the end of the show, the bachelorette, she would pick her choice. Who's she like most connected with? And then the two of them would get to go on some fabulous date as a prize. You know, you just wanted to find love. Well, it sounds pretty fun, right? Well, not for Cheryl Bradshaw.

She was the Bachelorette on the show on September 13th, 1978. Now it wouldn't be a very good time for her because sitting on the other side of that wall was none other than the young, many would say handsome, Rodney Alcala. Yeah, he got on the show. Yeah, Rodney somehow managed to get on television. My God.

I know, it's wild. He's contestant number one, I think. So on the dating game, they would always like introduce the contestants, give a little bio. So when Rodney was on the show, they introduced him as a successful photographer, which is like only accurate in ways that they were not intending. But okay. To be fair, back then, these shows, they didn't do background checks on contestants.

Yeah, which this just proves that. I did come across an interview with a couple of the show's lead staff from back in the day who actually remembered putting Rodney on the show. There's this woman named Ellen. She was like working as the contestant coordinator and she worked with Rodney and actually is the one who brought him on the show. She said in the interview, immediately she thought Rodney would be perfect for the show. She described him as perfect

Striking, striking. And according to her, that's enough. You're in. Get your ass over here. You're striking. So that's how he got on. Jill Parentu, the victim from Burbank I mentioned a little bit earlier, Rodney had actually killed and tortured her two months before showing up on the dating game. It's even more weird because it was two months almost to the freaking day. Like two months to the day that he had killed and tortured Rodney.

Poor Jill. And now he's on this fucking show. Just creepy. He really did that. He really thought that was a good choice. Anyway, Rodney, he ended up winning a date with the bachelorette, Cheryl. But good for her because after she met him, she ended up calling like the dating game show, their staff. She said, quote, "I can't, I can't go out with this guy. There's weird vibes that are coming off of him. He's very strange and I am not comfortable."

end quote. Pretty straightforward and very alarming. It's one of the only windows we have into like how Rodney was behind closed doors when he felt like no one was watching. And yes back then they said weird vibes in the 70s. Groovy. I just thought that was cool. They she said weird vibes. I was like ah same. Good for Cheryl.

Luckily, she listened to that intuition of hers and she did not see Rodney again. I don't know what happened. Nobody knows what happened, but something happened enough to spook her, call the staff,

never see him again, right? So several months after Cheryl had ghosted him, Rodney claimed his final victim. So he's still living in Los Angeles at this time. And Rodney was walking up and down Huntington Beach, just looking for more people willing to let them, let him take their picture. And he wasn't being subtle either. Like,

He was reported to police for offering multiple little girls marijuana as he roamed around. I mean, I'd probably take it, but you shouldn't. So yeah, he had lots of complaints on him. Eventually he comes across two girls. One, her name is Robin and she was 12 years old and she was with her friend Bridget who was around the same age. So Rodney walked up to the girls and like asked them, hey, can I take your guys' pictures?

I will submit them for a swimsuit competition if you let me and maybe we'll win." So the two girls agree, Rodney and the girls, they kind of like walked around the beach to just find different poses and backgrounds and stuff.

But for Rodney, like his focus was on Robin, the little girl Robin. So before he could lure Robin away, once again, someone else was watching. Yeah, eyewitness. So someone was watching them on the beach and what they saw was like some older creep taking photos of these really young girls in their bikinis. And this person was like, ah, no, inappropriate. So they walked on over to Rodney and were like,

Get the fuck out of here. I don't know what they said, 'cause I couldn't find that, but I'm assuming they were like, "Well, the ruler," you know? Anyways, so Ronnie actually just runs off. Somebody also called police and the police came out. The girls gave a police report as to what happened. So once they're finished with the police report, they start to head out and that's when Robin realizes like what time it is. And she's freaking out because

She has dance class that night and she's gonna be late, you know? To help her get there on time, Robin's friend lent her bicycle to her and told Robin, like, don't stop for anyone, just go to your dance class and then come back. Give me my bike back. So Robin left the apartment on the bike a little before 4 p.m. But as you may be guessing, she did not make it.

make it. Somewhere between her friend's apartment and her dance class, Robin disappeared. Bridget, Robin's friend, got a call from one of Robin's siblings asking like if she knew where she was. When Bridget told the person on the phone that Robin had left an hour ago with her bike, that's when Bridget found out that Robin never made it to class. So sad. It just happened so fast. So

So that same night, Robin was reported missing and with no bike and no body to be found, the police once again had nothing to go on. So 12 days later, Robin's shoes were found in the Sierra Madre Mountains, which is in California, and her shoes were found by a park ranger. So Robin's body was close by, but it had already been scavenged by animals. It was said that there was barely a skull left.

but it was her. So thanks to the police report, Robin and Bridget gave police the day on the beach. Remember? Yes. The police ended up asking Bridget for a description of the man they met at the beach. Now get this. The sketch artist was chef's kiss because the sketch artist

produced a picture that eventually made it back to Rodney's parole officer who immediately recognized him. And when you look at this sketch of Rodney, it looks just like him. You're like, yep, that's him. That's Rodney. So the police located and arrested Rodney on suspicion of kidnapping. And they also had a search warrant in hand. Hmm.

Hmm, gotcha, gotcha bitch, gotcha. So they start searching Rodney's home and that's when they find receipts for a storage locker out in Seattle, Washington. Whoa, a serial killer with a storage locker is never a good combo, right? Come on, that's true, facts. And once they searched that locker, the picture of Rodney Alcala started to really come into focus, okay?

They figured out this guy. So in the storage locker, they see that at the time, Rodney was working as a pornography photographer and he was sending pictures he took to a publisher in New York. So allegedly at his house, it was filled with explicit photos he took of women, but...

It was what he had in a storage locker that like really threw the investigation into high gear. So in the storage locker, they found graphic photos that were very explicit and very violent, but they also found a small satin beaded

Like what's this? And they open it up. What's inside? They see a set of earrings, actually two sets of earrings. They were different and each of them were unique. Like they would be recognizable pieces. So police actually go to Robin's mother and they show her a picture of the earrings police had found.

And she right away recognized the pair of earrings as the set that her daughter was wearing the day she had disappeared. It was obvious to investigators that Rodney was keeping trophies from each of his victims. So now the officers had concrete evidence.

And with this, finally, Rodney was charged with Robin's murder. So get this, you're not gonna believe this. This part is what threw me for a loop. I was so confused because this would kick off the beginning of a 30 year trial.

30 year trial. Do you understand 30 years? Yeah, you get it. But can you believe that 30 year trial? Yes, it happened. So I'm gonna save us 30 years and summarize Rodney's trial saga. You're welcome. So Rodney was put on trial in 1980 for Robin's murder. And hey, guess what?

thanks to that discovery of his storage locker in seattle he was convicted and sentenced to death as you deserve rodney but much like every other time rodney should have been put away this man he's had so many tricks up his sleeve

Boo. So on Rodney's appeal, his lawyers were able to argue that the jury in his trial had been influenced by the prosecution. Basically, they said that the jury's decision came more from the knowledge that Rodney was a convicted child molester from back in the 70s, rather than the evidence that they had on Robin's death.

That's what they're saying. So he had a retrial in 1986 with a new prosecutor. Now this was seven years after he murdered Robin, okay? And guess what? Once again, Rodney was convicted and sentenced to death again. And because this goes on for 30 years, you can probably believe me when I say it was overturned once again.

Yes. During the retrial, Rodney's lawyers, they had argued that his lawyers in the previous case hadn't been able to put forward a cohesive argument to defend him. So basically they were saying his lawyers were bad and they could have done better to argue with prosecution.

And I know, I didn't know you could do this. I don't know if he could still do this. I'm hoping not, but whatever. And boom, baby, he's back in prison awaiting a third trial. I mean, it's exhausting because this goes on for years, but I mean, it's what he was best at. He had been escaping punishment his entire life. He was gonna keep doing that. It was working for him. And it really was, I can't even deny that.

It was working for him. Maybe because he'd had enough of his previous failures in court or he is just a plain psychopath. God, the worst always do this. Rodney decided to represent himself in his final trial, which took place in 2010.

Yes, 2010. This is where the 30 years comes from. They were busy, I guess. I hope the family of Tollies was still around and got to see Justice. I hope so. So as you know, or at least I hope you're aware, but doing this representing yourself is a pretty ballsy move. You have to be so full of yourself to do that. Rodney must have thought of himself as...

pretty high and mighty to think he could do a better job. And well, that's what the jury thought too. So most of Rodney's arguments were literally him just rambling, rambling and rambling. Rodney told the court that he was at Knott's Berry Farm at the time of Robin's abduction. So it wasn't him.

He was like, I was on the log ride with Snoopy, of course. How dare you? This, obviously, it conflicted with testimony from other eyewitnesses who reported seeing him at the beach at the very same time.

So sorry, Ronnie. No Snoopy. No log ride. So that went out the door for him. But I think the worst thing of all was the fact that Rodney, he was allowed to cross-examine Robin's mother because she took the witness stand. Since he was his own lawyer, he...

he was the one to question her. And that is something I believe that should be 100% not allowed, right? That does not make sense. Anyways, I mean, honestly though, saying that he questioned her is a pretty strong term. He mostly argued with her. He tried hard to discredit her own testimony, but she held strong. I just couldn't imagine having to take the witness stand, give whatever your testimony to the court,

And the guy who's asking you the questions is the person who killed your kid. The killer of your child. I wouldn't be able to sit there and just talk. I'd be like, I'm gonna kill you. Sorry, I'm getting a little deep. I've been added to some kind of list because of that. But I couldn't imagine.

talking to the killer of your child. Like that should be illegal, right? Jeez. So by the time they're doing all this, it had been two decades since he killed Robin and the prosecution had new tools. They had a whole new set of tools. That's right, baby. DNA testing has come into the picture. Ooh, they got him. That's when the game changed. Gifts.

So the prosecutors in charge of putting Rodney away a third time knew how big of a case this was and wanted to make absolutely sure that there was no way he could get out of this again, right? They're exhausted by this loser. So they had the earrings they found in Rodney's locker DNA tested to see exactly like where they came from. And that's when everything came to surface.

It wasn't just Robin's DNA that came back from the earrings. There was also DNA from Jill Barcombe, Georgia Wickston, Charlotte Lamb, and Jill Parentu. I think I'm saying her last name wrong. I'm so sorry. And because of DNA testing,

Just like that, it goes from one murder charge to now five. Thank God for DNA testing. I don't know how anyone solved mysteries. I really don't. It must've been so hard. So get this. Guess who makes an appearance in the courtroom? You'll never guess.

Tali Shapiro, the girl in the beginning of the story? Yeah, she comes to court. She's now a full grown adult and she testifies against him. So I watched an interview with Tali and she said before the trial, Rodney had approached her and threw her for a loop. I guess he had recognized her. And she said that he looked directly in her eyes and just apologized.

Period. He apologized. Tali would say in the interview that she actually heard nothing. Like it was in one ear, out the other, and it didn't matter if he apologized to her or not. She knew she had to testify and put this man away. Good for her. So for the bajillionth time, the jury found Rodney guilty. And once again, he was sentenced to his third death sentence.

Yeah, I mean third time's a charm, I guess. Shit, it took a while, but they got him. I mean, luckily, like when he was waiting for trial, he was sitting in jail the whole time. Like, at least they do that shit.

you know? Could you imagine if they didn't? Now whatever happened to that Ellen Hover girl, right? The girl who disappeared in New York after the blackout? She had the uh thing on her calendar about meeting Rodney or uh John Berger. So was that ever solved? Well I got to looking into that and it was actually yes. Investigators linked him to her death in 2013

And they also linked him to another death. It was an airline stewardess named Cornelia Crilley. She lived also in New York and she was there while Rodney was living there in 1971. Cornelia, she was found strangled to death in her own apartment.

I know. And because of DNA testing and all of that, like they probably never would have figured it out. Okay, so then you're probably wondering, well, how many people did Ronnie Alcala actually kill? Unfortunately, my friends, we may never really know the answer to that. But for these seven women, he was convicted and he lived out his days in prison until his death at the age of 77 years old. And that got me thinking, cause like, I didn't get me thinking, I just kind of,

I was like, "What?" Because seven women he was convicted for and then he died at 77 years old. 777. I was like, "Damn, he's lucky even when he died." Told you, magician. Just before Rodney died, he may have let one final admission slip. See, back in the summer of 1972, right after Rodney would have been in New York,

a woman named Christine Thornton, and she was from Texas, she went missing. At the time of her disappearance, she was pregnant, yeah, and she was traveling with her boyfriend, and they were going to Montana. Somewhere along the way, the two of them separated, and then no one had seen her since, or the baby. That shit freaks me out. So five years after she went missing, the bones of, uh,

adult women and a small child were found in the Brush Desert of Wyoming, which is like, where was, Rodney was everywhere. I don't like them. So years later, the police, they actually published all of the photographs of the women that they had found in Rodney Alcala's storage locker and Christine Thornton's sister.

She went and saw the photos and she recognized Christine as one of the women that Rodney had taken a picture of. Yes, the FBI, they uploaded all of the photos, not all of them, but like a lot of the photos they found from Rodney's collection onto their website. Nothing graphic. So if you're like, "Ooh, let me go look." They're all just normal pictures. So because of this, they were asking for help from the community. And luckily her sister saw the picture.

So fast forward to 2016 and investigators were able to confirm the bones were from Christine and Rodney was back on the hook for another murder. Christine. By this time he was in his early 70s and he was bound to a hospital bed and he was just sitting in prison pretty much waiting to die. Investigators, they go down to Rodney's cell

And they show him the picture Christine's sister had recognized of her. And they asked him, like, hey, do you know who this is? And, of course, he denied it. But it was odd because while he was laying in bed, he was holding the picture of her. And he kept, like, according to investigators, police, he kept, like, tracing her outline with his index finger.

Just being all weird and creepy. And the people in the room with him could see his eyes darting back and forth like he was remembering something intense. All the while tracing the outline of Christine's body on the photo. Now, he never admitted to killing Christine, but they had DNA evidence to prove the connection. It's like, damn, how many did he really kill? Like, what if he killed every person he took a picture of?

They even found the exact spot Ronnie's picture of her was taken. But before he could be put on trial for her murder, Ronnie died alone in his cell on July 24th, 2021. Yeah, I know. I know. I didn't know it was 2021. I was like, what? Missed that one. Anyways, he had ultimately spent more of his life behind bars than he had spent free. Aw, sad.

Oh, poor guy. And I'm glad he didn't spend that much time free because he probably would have gotten way worse and we would have found more bodies. Great. And that is the story about another monster, Mr. Rodney Alcala. The dating game killer. Wait, the dating show killer. The dating game killer? The photography killer is what I'm calling him. Okay, when I was researching, it was like every page I turned about this guy just made me feel, ugh.

more and more sick. The fact that he killed Christine raises even more questions than it answers. With how much freedom Rodney had throughout the 60s and the 70s, I mean, he could have killed dozens more. Some in the police even think his body count is probably most likely in the triple digits. Police, again, they had released some of the photographs from Rodney's possession in hopes to locate

slash get names of more of the people in the photographs. Again, no, they are not graphic images, you weirdo. They are just normal, normal ones with clothes on. Anyways, this, my friends, is a story about Rodney Alcala. He's still a mystery to me after doing all this research because again, he never really gave much like

direct quotes. So it's like, I still don't understand this guy. I still don't understand. He freaks me out because he's the type that at least it wasn't mentioned, but he didn't really have like one of those

crazy upbringings that we've mentioned numerous times before on these Monday episodes. You know what I'm talking about, where they are just tortured by their own parents. And with this one, we don't know, but in the research, it said that, you know, it was pretty normal family home. And if that's the case, then this type of person really freaks me out because it's just one day he like decided to attack a woman and it was all downhill from there. Like what the

You know? I'm sure he attacked way more and we just don't know, which is unfortunate, but I digress because he's dead and yeah.