The American Serial killer Rodney Alcala known as the “THE DATING GAME KILLER” who was awaiting execution in California has died Saturday, prison officials said.
Rodney James Alcala, 77, died of natural causes at a hospital in San Joaquin Valley, California, prison officials have confirmed. In the period 1977-1979 California had almost five counts of murder, was sentenced to be hanged by the court in 2010 after his conviction.
Rodney Alcala was first charged in 1980 and was given the death penalty for the kidnap and murder of a 12-year-old kid, Robin Samsoe previous year in Los Angeles, California. He also was charged for two other murders in New York and three more in California. Authorities believe that he had killed at least 130 people across the United States.
He got the infamous name “THE DATING GAME KILLER” has he appeared on The Dating Game show in 1978 and American T.V Show while he was involved in kidnapping, aggravated assaults, and murder. The clip still on YouTube gives chills to people who have seen how heinous his crimes were.
The contestants on the show stated that he was very creepy from the moment he entered the show and he commented how he always gets girls on live T.V not only that the woman who was to chose from the row of guys for a date chose him but her lucky she denied to go to date with him otherwise she would have ended up as one of his victims.
Rodney Alcala was sentenced to an additional 25 years in prison in 2013 for the murder of two others in New York. Alcala was convicted again in 2016 of involvement in a DNA-based case involving the body of a 28-year-old woman found dead in the 1977 Wyoming area of Wyoming. The judge revealed that Alcala Alka was still on trial in the murder case of a six-month-pregnant woman.
Although sentenced to death, Rodney Alcala spent most of his time at his residence, rather than in prison for medical care. Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on executions when he was governor.
Authorities said Alcala would take the earrings of the women he killed as trophies. The matter came to light when the woman who testified in the case said that the gold earrings previously worn by Alcala belonged to her daughter Robin Samsoe which was his infamous murder that terrified the whole country.
But Rodney Alcala claims that the earrings are his own. Alcala told the court that he wore these gold earrings almost a year before Samsoe died. He denied the allegations against him.
Investigators found the victim’s DNA in a pink earring near Alcala and found Samsoe’s DNA from her body. He was sentenced to death twice in this case. But two indictments were tampered with.
Two decades later, in New York Rodney Alcala was charged with the murder of four women, based on new DNA and other forensic evidence. Following the verdict, authorities released more than 100 photos of young women and girls, Alcala’s victims.
He has died of natural causes in prison while serving his death sentence.
Also Read: America’s Infamous Unsolved Serial Killer Case: The Zodiac